valour give an interest even to trivial objects.

Quebec consists of two towns, the Upper and Lower, and is adorned with
a cathedral, whose metallic roof glitters in the sun like a vast
diamond. Indeed, the tin-roofs of the churches and public buildings
give this city a splendid look on a bright sunshiny day, testifying,
moreover, to the dryness of the air. Captain Stoddart took me all over
this curious city, and kindly introduced me to one of the partners of a
great mercantile house, who invited us both to dinner. We regaled
ourselves on smelts, fillet of veal, and old English roast beef, to
which hospitable meal we did ample justice, not forgetting to pledge
our absent friends in bumpers of excellent wine.

The inhabitants of Quebec are very kind to strangers, and are a fine
race of people. French is spoken here not, however, very purely, being
a _patois_ as old as the time of Henry IV. of France, when this part of
Canada was first colonized; but English is generally understood by the
mercantile classes.

This city is visited, at intervals, with slight shocks of earthquake.*
[* Lyell's "Elements of Geology."] Nothing serious has yet followed
this periodical phenomenon. But will this visitation be only confined
to the mountain range north of Quebec, where the great earthquake that
convulsed a portion of the globe in 1663 has left visible marks of its
influence, by overturning the sand-stone rocks of a tract extending
over three hundred miles?* [* "Encyclopaedia of Geography."] Quebec
contains several nunneries, for the French inhabitants are mostly Roman
catholics. The nuns are very useful to emigrants, who have often been
bountifully relieved by these charitable vestals, who employ themselves
in nursing the sick and feeding the hungry.