76 QUEBEC. 



expanse of blue water and glorious sky ; what masses of 

 rock and forest, with the rugged and sharply defined 

 Laurentide mountains in the background, rising appa- 

 rently sheer out of the water ! There are not many cities 

 in the world so favoured. But everyone to his taste. 

 Yankees look upon Quebec (" Queebec " as they call it) as 

 a miserable place, a " finished city," a place that does not 

 go ahead. It is in fact an Old-World city, and as such 

 inexpressibly refreshing to the Old-World tourist, whose 

 eye is wearied of the level uniformity and terribly regular 

 rectangular cities of the west. It is devoutly to be hoped 

 that no improving lord mayor or energetic municipal 

 council will ever try to adapt Quebec to the sealed 

 pattern of American cities. But even if they did their 

 worst, I fancy that nature would thwart them. 



The old war-worn parapets of the citadel are crumbling 

 away. Peace bears harder upon them than war. One 

 cannot help thinking that the richest country in the 

 world might well afford to keep such a fortress in repair. 

 In former times large sums of money were lavished on 

 the fortifications, as well as on others at Kingston and 

 elsewhere. By-and-by came a change of government, and 

 the historic guns of Quebec were sold by auction as old 

 iron, the sentry-boxes sent to Woolwich, and the whole 

 affair left to go to ruin, while millions were laid out in 

 constructing new fortresses in other outlying portions of 

 the empire, such as Bermuda, Malta, &c., which some 

 future change of policy will probably also leave to ruin. 

 A regiment or two of soldiers (like the old Canadian 

 rifles), made up of picked men who had served their time 

 in the line, would be invaluable to Canada, both for the 



