Sulpice is supposed to be very rich,
the amount of the immense revenues never being made public. They were
the feudal lords of the Island of Montreal in the earlier chapters of
its history. Through their zealous efforts and the generosity of their
parishioners was opened in the year eighteen hundred and twenty-nine the
grand church adjoining, that of _Notre Dame_, built on the site of the
original parish church. Viewing it from the extensive _plaza_ in front,
its imposing proportions fill the beholder with the same awe as when
looking at some lofty mountain peak, but its symmetry is so exquisite
that its size cannot at first be appreciated.

In imitation of its prototype, _Notre Dame de Paris_, twin towers rise
in stateliness to a height of two hundred and twenty-seven feet, and are
visible for a distance of thirty miles. The facade is impressive, the
style a modification of different schools adapted to carry out the
design intended. Three colossal statues of the Virgin, St. Joseph and
St. John the Baptist are placed over the arcades. The sublime structure
belongs to a branch of the Gothic, in the pointed arch type of
architecture which was brought home from the Crusades,--a style which
has come down from the time-honoured architecture of the old world, when
religious thought that now finds expression in books was written and
symbolized in stone.

From a vestibule at the foot of the western tower, an ascent of two
hundred and seventy-nine steps offers a most enchanting view of
mountain, river, street and harbour, with such a wilderness of dome,
steeple and belfry, that the exclamation involuntarily arises--this is
truly a city of churches!

On the descent, a pause on a platform gives the opportunity of admiring
"_Le Gros Bourdon_," or great bell, and one of the largest in the world.
It weighs twenty-four thousand, seven hundred and eighty pounds, and is
six feet high. Its mouth measures eight feet, seven inches in diameter.
The tone is magnificent in depth and fullness. On occasions such as the
death of high ecclesiastics or other solemn events, its tolling is
indescribable in its slow, sonorous vibrations. In the eastern tower
hang ten smaller bells of beautiful quality, and so harmonized that
choice and varied compositions can be performed by the eighteen ringers
required in their manipulation. On high festivals, when all ring out
with brazen tongues, caught up and re-echoed from spire to spire in what
Victor Hugo