same city four
years later. Sister Bourgeoys of Troyes founded at Montreal in 1659 the
Congregation de Notre-Dame for the education of girls of humble rank;
the commencement of an institution which has now its buildings in many
parts of Canada. In the latter part of the seventeenth century Bishop
Laval carried out a project for providing education for Canadian priests
drawn from the people of the country. Consequently, in addition to the
great seminary at Quebec, there was the lesser seminary where boys were
taught in the hope that they would take orders. In the inception of
education the French endeavoured in more than one of their institutions
to combine industrial pursuits with the ordinary branches of an
elementary education. But all accounts of the days of the French regime
go to show that, despite the zealous efforts of the religious bodies to
improve the education of the colonists, secular instruction was at a
very low ebb and hardly reached the seigniories. One writer tells us
that "even the children of officers and gentlemen scarcely knew how to
read and write; they were ignorant of the first elements of geography
and history." Still, dull and devoid of intellectual life as was the
life of the Canadian, he had his place of worship where he received a
moral training which elevated him immeasurably above the peasantry of
England as well as of his old home. The clergy of Lower Canada
confessedly did their best to relieve the ignorance of the people, but
they were naturally unable to accomplish, by themselves, a task which
properly devolved on the governing class. Under the French regime in
Canada the civil authorities were as little anxious to enlighten the
people by the establishment of public or common schools as they were to
give them a voice in the government of the country.

Evidence of some culture and intellectual aspirations in social circles
of the ancient capital attracted the surprise of travellers who visited
the country before the close of the French dominion. "Science and the
fine arts," wrote Charlevoix, in 1744, "have their turn and conversation
does not fail. The Canadians breathe from their birth an air of liberty,
which makes them very pleasant in the intercourse of life, and our
language is nowhere more purely spoken." La Gallissoniere, a highly
cultured governor, spared no effort to encourage a sympathetic study of
scientific pursuits. Dr. Michel Sarrasin, who was a practising physician
in Que