the
live and dead stock that go or are taken on board; the centre of the
boat (if such it can be called) is occupied by four lean, ill-favoured
hacks, who walk round and round, as if in a threshing machine, and work
the paddles at each side. There is a sort of pen for the cattle.
I am told there is a monument erecting in honour of Wolfe, in the
governor's garden, looking towards the St. Laurence, and to be seen from
Point Levi: the inscription has not yet been decided upon*.
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[* Since the period in which the author visited Quebec, Wolfe's monument
has been completed. Lord Dalhousie, with equal good feeling and good
taste, has united the names of the rival heroes Wolfe and Montcalm in
the dedication of the pillar--a liberality of feeling that cannot but
prove gratifying to the Canadian French, while it robs the British
warrior of none of his glory.
The monument was designed by Major Young of the 97th Regiment. To the
top of the surbase is fourteen feet from the ground; on this rests a
sarcophagus, seven feet three inches high, from which rises an obelisk
forty-two feet eight inches in height, and the apex is two feet one
inch. The dimensions of the obelisk at the base are six feet by four
feet eight inches. A prize medal was adjudged to J.C. Fisher, LL.D. for
the following inscription on the sarcophagus:--
Mortem virtus communem
Famam Historia
Monumentum Posteritas
Dedit.
On the surbase is an inscription from the pen of Dr. Mills, stating the
fact of the erection of the monument at the expense of Lord Dalhousie,
Governor of Lower Canada, to commemorate the death of Wolfe and
Montcalm, Sept. 13 and 14, 1759. Wolfe fell on the field; and Montcalm,
who was wounded by the single gun in the possession of the English, died
on the next day after the battle.]
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The captain has just returned from the town. He very kindly brought on
board a basket of ripe apples for me, besides fresh meat, vegetables,
bread, butter, and milk. The deck is all bustle with custom-house
officers, and men unloading a part of the ship's freight, which consists
chiefly of rum, brandy, sugar, and coals, for ballast. We are to leave
Quebec by five o'clock this evening. The _British America_, a superb
steam-vessel of three decks, takes us in tow as far as Montreal. I must
now say farewell.
LETTER III.
Departure from Quebec.--Towed by a Steam-vessel.--Fertility of the
Country.--Different Object
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