— 79 — 



On the loth January, His Excellency, left at 9 a. m. 

 for Montreal with his staff, Duchesnay, captain of his 

 guards, Merelles, his secretary, his lackeys and two 

 soldiers, whilst five or six carioles, with his equipage 

 preceded his vehicle to beat the road. 



On his leaving, Intendant Bigot, came to the front 

 and took his place. He then suggested that the remain- 

 ing company should spend that day at Pointe-aux- 

 Trembles, adding that his Majordomo had brought 

 ample supplies of good things and that they would all 

 drive back the next day after dinner ; motion carried, 

 nem. con. 



The gambling was brisk " Von yjoua beaucoup" and 

 the entertainment was on the same elegant style, as at 

 Bigot's palace, in Quebec. Next day, was cold, but 

 bright and sunny : the whole cavalcade retraced their 

 steps in the direction of Quebec, stopping merely, at the 

 ferryman's house, at St. Augustin for the ladies to go in 

 and warm themselves. 



5 o'clock p. m. — by the way, the fashionable hour 

 for a five o'clock tea — found the party re-entering the 

 city, where a sumptuous meal, awaited them at Madame 

 Pean's elegant mansion in St.- Louis street ; the party 

 broke up there at 10, in the evening. 



Such is the short but graphic sketch furnished by an 

 eye-witness, Col. Franquet, of a winter partie de plaisir 

 at Quebec, in 1753. 



Franquet has left a spicy description of a summer 

 excursion, with the gay Intendant, by water from 

 Quebec to Montreal. Bigot, evidently from the first, 

 considered that such an important official as Col. Fran- 

 quet, ought to be " dined and wined " properly, when 

 he asked the Epyal Inspector to join him in a voyage 

 to Montreal. The Government Gondola a long flat 

 bateau, propelled by sails as well as by oars, left the 

 Cul-de-Sac, at Quebec, on the 24th July, 1752. It 

 could carry 8,000 lbs, burthen, with a crew of fourteen 

 sailors. In the center there there was a space about six 



