CANADA. 91 



"on the side of a hill, and gradually rising, like the seats 

 " of a theatre, from the lower town on the water-side to 

 " the upper town, and on to the lofty heights of Abra- 

 " ham, far exceeded in grandeur even my raised antici- 

 pations. When the officers of quarantine had visited 

 " us we went on shore and took lodgings. In the 

 " evening we enjoyed a pleasant walk to the Heights." 

 They had intended to settle, as has already been said, in 

 the London district of Canada, on the shores of Lake 

 Huron. But already, at their first arrival, their hopes 

 were dashed. Those in Quebec who knew the interior, 

 and who were sympathetic with their inexperience, gave 

 an account of that country which was very different from 

 the roseate descriptions of the advertisements. At all 

 events, said these new friends, decide nothing until you 

 have at least seen the eastern townships of the Lower 

 Province. Thither accordingly, after four days spent in 

 Quebec, they all proceeded in an open carriage, and visited 

 a partially cleared farm in the township of Compton. 

 This they agreed to buy, and ten days later they all came 

 back to Quebec. This excursion, taken in the height of 

 summer and when everything looked its very best, was 

 admirably fitted to confirm the party of settlers in their 

 conviction that they had found a land flowing with the 

 milk and honey of prosperity. The profusion of butter- 

 flies, which of course he could not stop to catch, dazzled 

 Philip Gosse's imagination, so that the important matter 

 of selecting a scene of residence and occupation for life, 

 since that was their intention, never once arrested his 

 serious thought. He wrote long afterwards, in reference 

 to this settlement at Compton, " I felt and acted as if 

 butterfly-catching had been the one great business of life." 

 They immediately removed from Quebec, with their 

 slender store of goods, to Compton, and took possession of 



