QUEBEC. 



flight walU are a fufficient defence ; and in fome places, 

 where the rock is inacceffiblc, no walls are necelTary. Heie, 

 however, are feveral redoubts and batteries. The principal 

 battery, which points towards the balon, confifts of twenty- 

 two 24-pounders, two French 36-pounders, and two large 

 iron mortars : this battery is flanked by another of fix guns, 

 that commands the pailes from the lower town. On the 

 land fide the fortifications are ftupendous. When general 

 Wolfe attacked this place, he thought it a vain attempt to 

 make an aflault on the fide of the town which lies towards 

 the water, where the rock is fo fteep, and fo eafily de- 

 fended. In order to carry on the attack on the land fide, 

 he firil attempted to land his troops fome miles below the 

 town, near the Falls of Montmorenci ; but here he was re- 

 pulfed by a large divifion of the French forces with lofs. 

 Foiled in his firll attempt to get on (liore, the brave Wolfe 

 formed the bold defign of afcending to the top of the banks 

 above Quebec, commonly called the Heights of Abraham. 

 After previous preparation, the foldiers clambered up the 

 heights with great difficulty, and the guns' were hauled up 

 by means of ropes and puUies fixed round the trees, with 

 which the banks are covered from top to bottom. At the 

 top the plain commences, and extends clofe under the walls 

 of the city. Here the memorable battle was fought, in 

 which the much lamented general fell, at the moment when 

 all his noble exertions were about to be crowned with the 

 fuccefs which they fo eminently merited. The fpot where 

 the illuftrious hero breathed his lall is mai'kcd with a large 

 floiie, on which a true meridional line is drawn. Although 

 the great Wolfe found it fo difficult a taflc to gain polTeffion 

 of Quebec, and it has been rendered much ftronger fince his 

 time, the people of the United States imagine, that, in cafe 

 of a rupture with Great Britain, it might be eafily taken ; 

 and yet at the clofe of the year 1775, and the commence- 

 ment of 17-76, an attempt was made by American troops, 

 under the command of Arnold and Montgomery, without 

 fuccefs. On this occafion Montgomery fell, and Arnold's 

 attempt, on the prafticability and fuccefs of which he had 

 previoufly boalled, proved fruitlefs. St. John's gate, which 

 he endeavoured to force, and the adjoining walls, are ftu- 

 pendous ; and the mere fight of them may convince any per- 

 fon, that an attempt to itorm them muft be altogether in- 

 effeftual, without the aid of heavy artillery, with which the 

 Americans were not provided. 



Independently of its fortifications, and fituation on the 

 fummit of a rock, Quebec owes much of its ftrength and 

 fecurity to the long duration and extreme feverity of the 

 winter ; as in that feafon it is wholly imprafticable for a 

 belieging army either to carry on any works, or to blockade 

 the town. Mr. Weld fays, that 5000 foldiers are neceflary 

 to man the works at Quebec completely. A large garrifon 

 is always kept in it, and abundance of ftores of every de- 

 fcription. The troops are lodged partly in barracks, 

 partly in block-houfes near Cape Diamond, which is the 

 moft elevated part of the point, and is reckoned to be up- 

 wards of I ceo feet above the level of the river. The Cape 

 is ftrongly fortified, and may be confidered as the citadel of 

 Quebec : it commands the town in every direftion, and alfo 

 the plains on the outfide of the walls. The evening and 

 morning guns, and all falutes and fignals, are fired from 

 hence. Notwithftanding the great height of the rock above 

 the river, water may be readily obtained even at the very 

 top of it, by linking wells of a moderate depth ; and in fome 

 particular places, at the fides of the rock, it guflies out in 

 large ftreams ; and the water is of a very good quality. It 

 13 fuppofed, fays Mr. Weld, that including the upper and 



lower towns and fuburbs, there are at lead 2000 dwellings ; 

 and the number of inhabitants, allowing fix to a houfe, may- 

 be cilimated at 12,000. Mr. Heriot fays, that, in 1806, 

 the number of inhabitants amounted to 15,000; and if this 

 ilatement be correct, the incrcafe muft have been very rapid, 

 for, in the year 1784, Quebec contained only 6472 in- 

 habitants. About two-thirds of the inhabitants are of 

 French extraftion. The fociety is agreeable, and very ex- 

 tenfivc for a place of its fize, which is owing to its being 

 the capital of the lower province, and therefore the refi- 

 dence of the governor, different civil officers, principal law- 

 yers, &c. The large garrifon always maintained in it con- 

 tributes to make it gay and lively. 



The lower town is moftly inhabited by the traders who 

 are concerned with the (hipping, and it is a very difagree- 

 able place. Tiie ftreets are narrow and dirty, and, on ac- 

 count of the height of the houfes in moft of them, the air 

 is much confined ; and in the ftreets next the water, there 

 is an intolerable ftench from the ftiore when the tide is out. 

 The upper town, on the contrary, is extremely agreeable ; 

 from its elevated fituation, the air is very pure, and the inha- 

 bitants are never opprelied with heat in fummer ; it is, how- 

 ever, far from being well laid out, the ftreets being narrow 

 and very irregular. The houfes are generally built of ftone, 

 and, except fome few, built of late years, fmall and incon- 

 venient. The chateau, in which the governor refides, is a 

 plain building of common ftone, fituated in an open place, 

 the haufcs round which form three fides of an oblong fquare. 

 It confifts of two parts. The old and the new are feparated 

 from each other by a fpacious court. The former Hands 

 juft on the verge of an inaccelTible part of the rock ; behind 

 "it, on the outfide, there is a long gallery, from whence, if a 

 pebble were let drop, it would fall at leaft fixty feet per- 

 pendicularly. This old part is chiefly taken up with the 

 public offices, and all the apartments in it are fmall and 

 ill contrived ; but in the new part, which ftands in front of 

 the other, facing the fquare, they are fpacious, and tolerably- 

 well finifhed, but none of them can be called elegant. Thi« 

 part is inhabited by the governor's family. The chateau i» 

 Ijuilt without any regularity of defign, neither the old nor the 

 new part having even an uniform front. It is not a place of 

 ftrength, as commonly reprefented. In the garden adjoin- 

 ing to it IS merely a parapet wall along the edge of the 

 rock, with embrafures, in which a few fmall guns are 

 planted, commanding a part of the lower town. Every 

 evening during fummer, when the weather is fine, one of the 

 regiments of the garrifon parades in the open place before 

 the chateau, and the band plays for an hour or two, at 

 which time the place becomes the refort of numbers of the 

 moft genteel people of the town, and has a very gay ap- 

 pearance. 



Oppofite to the chateau there is a monaftery belonging 

 to the Recollets, or Francifcan friars ; a very few only of 

 the order are now left. Contiguous to this building is the 

 college belonging to the Jefuits, whofe numbers have dimi- 

 niflied even ftill fafter than that of the Recollets. 



The nunneries are three in number, and as there is no 

 reftriftion upon the female religious orders, they are all. 

 well filled. The largeft of them, called L'Hofpital Gene- 

 ral, ftands in the fuburbs, outfide of the walls ; another, 

 of the order of St. Urfule, is not far diftant from the 

 chateau. 



The engineer's drawing-room, in which is kept a variety 



of models, together with plans of the fortifications of 



Quebec and other fortrefi'es in Canada, is an old building, 



near the principal battery. Adjoining to it ftands the 



Hh 2 " houfc 



