in pretty deep water, close to the clayey and generally filthy bank of
the city. The whole of the lower town is covered with gloomy-looking
houses, having dark iron shutters; and although it may be a little
cleaner than Quebec, it is still very dirty; and the streets are not
only narrow and ill-paved, but the footpaths are interrupted by slanting
cellar doors and other projections."

"It is impossible (says Mr. Talbot, in his Five Years' Residence) to
walk the streets of Montreal on a Sunday or holiday, when the shops are
closed, without receiving the most gloomy impressions; the whole city
seems one vast prison;"--alluding to the window-shutters and outer doors
of iron, that have been adopted to counteract the effects of fire.]

..........

I noticed one peculiar feature in the buildings along the suburb facing
the river--that they were mostly furnished with broad wooden balconies
from the lower to the upper story; in some instances they surrounded the
houses on three sides, and seemed to form a sort of outer chamber. Some
of these balconies were ascended by flights of broad stairs from the
outside.

I remember when a child dreaming of houses so constructed, and fancying
them very delightful; and so I think they might be rendered, if shaded
by climbing shrubs, and adorned with flowers, to represent a hanging-
garden or sweet-scented bowery walk. But nothing of this kind gladdened
our eyes as we toiled along the hot streets. Every house of public
resort was crowded from the top to the bottom with emigrants of all
ages, English, Irish, and Scotch. The sounds of riotous merriment that
burst from them seemed but ill-assorted with the haggard, careworn faces