One word about another element-a law-abiding one -in our complex population, felt, but whose origin remains yet to be enquired into by our ethnologists: the German element. Whence and at what date came among us these notable men-the Wurtele, Hoffman, Hesse, Ampleman, Ruthven, Von Koenig, Von Iffland, De Rottenburg, Idler, Seybauld, Bowen, Stæpleben, Reinhart, Colback, Hind, Wolff, Eckhart? How many of them can seek for their ancestors amongst the Brunswickers and Hessians, who landed at Quebec in 1776 under Baron Rediesel and with the various shiploads of Germans, chiefly from Wurtemburg, who emigrated to Canada to escape conscription during the early Napoleonic wars and previous.

The Pozer family dates back to old George Pozer, the millionaire, as he was styled, but he did not come direct from Germany; he had first settled in New York and then returned to England, landing at Quebec in 1791.

The Irish population of Quebec became considerable about 1823, when emigration was flowing from the green Isle to America; emigration increased to very large proportions about 1847; the Irish headquarters in the city then were in Champlain street. The Irish settlements, in the townships and round Quebec, dafe back as early as 1815.

They grew in importance and numbers, under the wise guidance of a venerated priest, the Revd. Father McMahon, living in amity with their English neighbors; they founded a national society in 1835.

The great bulk of the population of the city still French, is not by any means oblivious of the fatherland, beyond the seas.

"Few cities, says M. Marmier, "offer as many striking contrasts as Quebec; a fortress and a commercial city together, built upon the summit of a rock as the nest of an eagle, while her vessels are everywhere wrinkling the face of the ocean; an American city

inhabited by French colonists, governed by England and garrisoned with Scotch, the Highland, -78th79th-93rd regiments; a city of the middle ages by most of its ancient institutions, while it is admitted to all the combinations of modern constitutional government; an European city by its civilization and its habits of refinement, and still close by, the remnants of the Indian tribes and the barren mountains of the North; a city of about the same latitude as Paris, while successively combining the torrid climate of southern regions with the severities of a hyperborean winter; a city at the same time Catholic and Protestant, where the labors of our (French) missions are still uninterrupted alongside of the undertakings of the Bible Society, and where the Jesuits driven out of our own country (France) find a place of refuge under the ægis of British Puritanism."

Lettres sur l'Amérique, X. MARMIER, Paris, 1869.

THE COUNTRY SEATS AROUND QUEBEC.

A striking feature about Quebec scenery is the extensive groups of handsome manors which encircle the brow of the Capital like a fresh and fragrant chaplet of flowers, though it would be idle to seek in a certain number for architectural excellence, old-world dimensions, old-world splendor and ancient construction. As a rule, they are the pleasant and healthy abodes of the high dignitaries in church and state as well as the prized mansions of successful citizens, in the professions, commerce, etc. "Nowhere indeed are to be found ivied ruins, dating back to doomsday book, moated castle, or medieval tower. We have no Blenheims, no Walton halls, nor Chatsworths, nor Woburn Abbeys, nor Arundel castles to illustrate every style of architectural beauty, rural embellishment and landscape. Dainpierre, Rochecotte, LaGaudinière, Chan

tilly, Loches, Chinon, Marly, may have suited old France they would have been out of place in new France Canadian mansions, the best of them, are not the stately country-homes of

"Old pheasant lords,

Partridge-breeders of a thousand years."

typifying the accumulated wealth of centuries or patrician pride; nor are they the gay châteaux of la Belle France. In this Canada of ours, oft we have had to do without the architect's skill; nature had been so lavish in her own lordly decorations, that art could be dispensed with. Our country-seats possess attractions of a higher class, yea, of a nobler order, than brick and mortar, moulded by the genius of man, can impart. A kind Providence has surrounded them in spring, summer and autumn with scenery often denied to the turreted castle of the proudest nobleman in England. Those around Quebec are more particularly hallowed by associations destined to remain ever memorable amongst the inhabitants of a soil moistened by the blood of heroes (1)." On one of these historic sites, more than one century ago, was decided the fate of French Canada -let us say, by its ultimate results-of North America.

The majority of these cool retreats, scarcely visible from the high road, lie perdus, under dense groves of oaks and pines, the remnants of the forest primeval, on the lofty banks of the noble St. Lawrence, from Cape Rouge to Cape Diamond, eight miles; and from thence to the foaming cataract of Montmorenci, seven miles to the east; whilst others stand embowered in rustic seclusion amidst trees and flowers, under hoary pines and verdant maples, like sentinels on the Ste. Foye heights, watching the meanders of the St. Charles flowing below, amidst golden wheat fields and green

(1) Picturesque Quebec, p. 271.

glades, with the blue "turban of the Laurentides" in the distance as a back-ground.

Foremost, may be mentioned SPENCER WOOD, Powell Place, as it was styled, in the days (1780-96) of General Henry Watson Powell; a noble domain of about 75 acres, occupied by His Excellency Sir James Hy. Craig, Governor-General of Lower Canada, in 1807, and purchased in 1849 from the late Hy. Atkinson, as a gubernatorial residence for the Earl of Elgin, then Governor-General of Canada: it is now the official residence of His Honor, the Lt.-Governor of the Province of Quebec.

Marchmont-The country seat of Thos. Beckett.

Montmorenci Cottage-The country-seat of Herbert Molesworth Price.

Coucy-le-Castel-The country seat of Hon. Judge Taschereau.

The above are the most noted country-seats round Quebec ; there are several others in the environs, most picturesquely located and affording striking views of the city.

THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM.

No spot in the environs of Quebec is more calculated to attract the attention of tourists than the lofty plateau, where the English and French armies met in deadly encounter one murky September morning in 1759. Parkman, Casgrain, Bancroft, Warburton, Smith, Hawkins, Garneau, Ferland, Beatson, Miles, and other historians have vied with one another to furnish graphic accounts of this famous battle; the plains, covering about 32 acres, were called after an old Scotchman, Abraham Martin, described in old titles as "Maître Abraham Martin dit l'Ecossais," pilot on the St Lawrence to the French King.

The area is bounded to the south by the summit of the cape overlooking the St Lawrence; to the west, by the Sillery woods; to the north, by the St Louis road; and to the east, by a loftier plateau, extending to the foot of the present citadel; formerly, the plains are supposed to have comprised to the north the whole of the intervening expanse as far as the Ste Foye road, and even beyond.