try boys do not go up the chimneys, as in England; but two
men, one at the top and the other at the bottom, sweep them, by pulling
up and down a bundle of twigs or furze, tied to a rope.

The _streets_ of the Lower Town are, for the most part, narrow and
irregular. St. Peter's street is the best paved, and the widest of the
whole. It contains several good and substantial _houses_, which are
chiefly occupied by merchants and traders; but, from the colour of the
stone of which the houses are constructed, and of the iron roofs, all
the streets of Quebec have a heavy and gloomy appearance.

A street, called _Mountain Street_, which leads to the Upper Town,
winds, in a serpentine direction, from the market-place up the hill, and
terminates near the Upper Town market-place. This street, in winter, is
extremely dangerous. The quantity of snow and ice, which here accumulate
in large masses, renders it necessary for the inhabitants to wear outer
shoes, that are shod with iron spikes. The boys of Quebec have a
favourite amusement, in lying at full length with their breast upon a
small kind of sledge, and sliding along the snow, from the top of the
hill to the bottom: they glide down with astonishing velocity; yet,
with their feet, they can guide or stop themselves, at pleasure.

The _shops_ or stores of the traders in the Lower Town, do not exhibit
any of that diversified and pleasing appearance which is so remarkable
in London. Here the stranger sees nothing but heavy stone buildings,
gloomy casements, and iron-cased shutters, painted red. If any show is
made at the window, it is with paltry articles of cooking, earthen and
hardware: there is, however, a tolerable display of bear-skins,
seal-skins, foxes-tails, and buffalo-robes.

The _taverns_ in Quebec are numerous; yet a stranger is much surprised
to find only two houses which deserve that high-sounding appellation.
This arises from the vanity that possesses all our trans-Atlantic
brethren, to designate their paltry public-houses or spirit-shops, by
the more dignified title of "tavern;" for through the whole of America,
every dirty hole, where a few glasses of rum, gin, or whisky, are sold,
is so called.

Of the _public buildings_ in Quebec, the most important is the
government-house, or castle of St. Louis, a large, plain, stone edifice,
which forms one side of an open place or square, called the parade. Its
front resembles that of a country gentleman's house in England;