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Guy Carleton was appointed Governor-General of Canada for the second time in 1786, under the title of Baron Dorchester. At this time the action of the United States was a cause of anxiety to England. There was a strong party hostile to Great Britain, anxious to include Canada in the new Republic. In addition to this the advent of the Loyalists increased the difficulties of government, and Dorchester was considered the best man to be entrusted with the affairs of the colony. Lady Dorchester accompanied her husband, and with her came their three children, one of whom, Maria, had been born in the Château St. Louis. Lady Dorchester was the daughter of the Earl of Effingham, and having been educated at Versailles was a great favourite in Quebec. In the convent to-day one may see the silver which she presented to the community. The young Lady Maria became a pupil of the Ursulines, and three hours during the day she received instruction in French and embroidery; her mother often accompanied her to converse in French with the nuns. Many of the young girls in Quebec who, like the Dorchesters, were Protestants were educated in the convent, and that is a reason perhaps why there is so much religious tolerance in Quebec.

It would seem strange in our own day to read an official notice like this: “On Sunday next Divine Service according to the use of the Church of England will be held at the Récollet Church and continue for the summer season, beginning soon after eleven. The drum will beat each Sunday shortly after half-past ten, and the Récollets’ bell will ring to give notice of the English service the instant their own is ended.”

After the church was destroyed by fire the Church of England service was held in the Jesuits’ Chapel. Later, when the first Protestant Bishop of Quebec came, the Catholic Bishop met him at the wharf and assured him he had done his best to look after his flock.

An important event in the social world happened soon after Lord Dorchester’s arrival. Prince William Henry, later King William IV, paid an official visit to Quebec. The city was all agog, and the dressmakers were kept busy. There were parties and balls and receptions, for this was the first time a member of the reigning house had come to Canada.

THE GOVERNOR’S DAUGHTER AT THE URSULINES’

C. W. Simpson, R.C.A.

It was a great time for the military, and a review was held upon the site of the Battle of the Plains. Lady Dorchester was in despair. She had arranged partners for the Prince at her dances, but the young boy chose his own.

The Prince departed for other parts of Canada, and then Bishop Inglis arrived as the guest of the Governor. While in Quebec he held a confirmation service in the Récollet Church.

Many things were still primitive in Canada. The postal service in particular does not seem to have improved, and Dorchester was worried over the rival claims of St. John and Halifax for a quick service. The mails were to arrive from England twelve times a year, and the Quebec letters were to be taken by a walking postman until a road was cut. I do not find any trace of a walking postman reaching Quebec, but two men started out from Halifax in January with a dog team carrying the post bags. After floating about on the ice for a time they came to a clear stretch of water, and they then abandoned the dogs, who no doubt found their way home. The men seem to have landed somewhere and built a canoe, and when they came to the end of the clear water they built a sleigh. Finally, after carrying their sleigh and baggage for twenty miles, they arrived in Quebec on the 24th April. This was the quick Halifax service. The people of St. John smiled, no doubt, for it was agreed that in future the service should be divided between the two, and the people seem to have waited still longer for their letters. To-day if the postman is half an hour late in his daily rounds we wonder what has happened; but if we saw a couple of postmen coming round the corner carrying a sleigh and their baggage we should think they were mad!

What a wonderful thing is the printing press! We have read how the captains of the ships in the early days brought supplies of newspapers from Europe, and what a scramble there was to get them. But after 1764 the people in Quebec had their own newspapers, which contained not only the news from abroad, but an account of what was taking place in their midst. For example, on opening the newspaper on the 19th July, 1764, they would learn that on Sunday morning a servant girl named Catherine Renol ran away; that she was a High Dutcher, short and fat, and that she “wore a short gown either red and white or blue and white striped.” They were funny people in the olden times. They loved speed. The greater the distance Catherine ran, the larger was the reward for the capture. If caught in Quebec, twenty shillings would be paid for her return, but if in Montreal, forty shillings.

But one might be more interested in custards and jellies than in Catherine, and so at the sign of “General Wolfe” Mr. Robert Welch offers “all sorts of pastries, jellies, custards, and will likewise dress dinners or suppers in the house or out, where anything cold may also be had from ten till two.”

The charges for advertisements were probably small, for those anxious to instruct ignorant youth made a liberal use of the “Gazette.” Mr. Belmont Fortin, after paying his most respectful compliments to the inhabitants of Quebec, informs them that he has lately arrived “with a view of improving youth in the Necessary and Ornamental parts of Literature, namely, Writing, Accompts, Grammatical Learning, Reading either Prose or Verse not in the Vulgar Monotony commonly used but in the free and natural Manner the great Mr. Sheridan Teaches, and the method of discovering the finest sentiments in Milton; for the good Economy and direction of Life with a tolerable Knowledge of the Latin Classics.” But I am afraid that he must have frightened the children when he announced that he would attend their own dwellings from eight in the morning until six at night.

During the first years of British rule an extraordinary number of teachers seem to have been determined to instruct the youth of the country, and their fees ranged from half a French dollar a month to two guineas. One came because “The Government of the Province having considered how useful and Ornamental the Proper education of Youth is, and being well informed of the Prudence and Capacity of Mr. Jackson, have Properly Authorized him publicly to teach Reading and Writing and Arithmetic Vulgar and Decimal.” By what new-fangled method he proposed to teach writing and arithmetic he leaves one in the dark, but he evidently intended to enlighten one before paying the fee as to how he intended to wrestle with the subject of Reading. “Mr. J. Teaches Reading, not by using the Common Names of the Alphabet, but by the Sounds which Originally They Were, at Present Are, and in the Future Will Be.” A phonograph record of a class of raw boys practising “Sounds which Originally They Were” might prove amusing if not instructive in a school to-day. Another came because of “the want in this city of a Protestant School Master, and I can now inform my Protestant subjects that the want is no more.” Others opened academies for teaching reading and writing and marking. Some gave lessons to “grown gentlemen only,” while others gave instruction on a “genteel organ” with stops, and, we presume, upon an equally respectable “harpsichord.” Even night schools were opened; but I hope they were not for men. Many, many years ago it was my good fortune to fulfil the duties of a teacher in a night school for men, all over forty years of age. I had not heard of the methods of Mr. Jackson, but the appearance of the letters conveyed no meaning to the men. BAT when written on the blackboard was meaningless, but when I drew a cricket bat they all exclaimed “Bat!” MAT was also unintelligible until given a hint that something on the door-step might help them; then they quickly answered “Mat!” But with CAP I failed, for on the suggestion that it was something placed upon the head, one answered, “Fat!” and another, “Oil!”

McGraw, who opened a school opposite the Bishop’s Palace, was most accommodating. One could pay for instruction, according to selection, on the instalment plan. Then there were schools where silver pens were offered for premiums, so that there was no excuse for ignorance. “Even those young Gentlemen who have arrived at a certain Age, and who for the want of an early Opportunity would wish to spend a few hours in the Study,” were provided for. And then, suddenly, when schools and academies were flourishing, and Mr. Jackson was exercising the vocal cords of his boys in attempts to produce weird sounds, the teachers were brought face to face with the power of the Press. Confronting them in bold type was the announcement of an unchivalrous fellow who offered to teach Ornamental Literature and every other subject for the sum of Nine Pence. One could learn writing, reading, arithmetic, and qualify for business without the assistance of a master. All kinds of trades were simple by the aid of a magic volume, even to the mending of the clocks. Marking of clothes was taught, and one might learn to pickle and preserve, and make divers sorts of wines. A special section taught one how to cure earache, toothache, stomach ache, and every other sort of ache; and plaisters and medicines necessary in all families could be manufactured with ease. And lastly “Prudent Advice” was offered to “Young Tradesmen.” All this and much more could be acquired for the modest sum of Nine Pence. Even the mean French half-dollar fee of some of the teachers seemed exorbitant when compared with this Ninepenny Tutor.

But there was much more to read in the papers than the announcements of teachers. On the 12th July, 1767, the people of Mount Lewis reported that they had seen there at 4 o’clock in the afternoon “A Ball of Fire fall from the Heaven to the Earth. Its course was from East to West. And in its trail they observed a writing which one of the letter writers had painted ‘à la Nature,’ but the characters are such that no printing types can represent or we would have inscribed them.” And the writer begs “the wise men and soothsayers to inform him what this portends.”

Within the first twenty-five years of British rule theatrical performances were given frequently in Quebec and in Montreal. On Thursday the 13th February, 1783, “Venice Preserved” was performed at the Thespian Theatre, Quebec, followed by a comic opera, “The Padlock,” and plays were announced at least every two weeks throughout the winter. “High Life Below Stairs,” “Miss in Her Teens,” “A Bold Stroke for a Wife,” “Polly Honeycombe” and “Love à la Mode” seem to have been the favourites. During the intervals Signor Gaetano Francheschini offered a violin solo. In 1784 the “Jealous Wife,” “Fashionable Lovers,” “Fairy Dance,” “The Mock Doctor,” “Busy Body,” “The Upholsterer,” “Romance of an Hour,” “School for Scandal,” “Beaux Stratagem,” “The Orphans,” “The Lyar,” “The Miller of Mansfield,” “Clandestine Marriage,” “Richard the Third,” “Douglas,” “Bon Ton,” and a piece, often repeated, bore a name that would have delighted our friend Mr. Jackson, “Chrononhotonthologos”—“Being the most tragical tragedy that ever was.” In 1785 “The Miser,” “Cheats,” “Mahomet,” “Carmelite,” “The Irish Widow,” were new pieces, and many plays performed the year before were repeated.

In 1786 performances with the cast of characters were advertised, sometimes under the patronage of the Governor. “The Countess of Salisbury” seems to have been a very elaborate play. Popular plays were “The Drummer,” “The Lying Valet,” “The Haunted House,” “The Wrangling Lovers,” “The Taming of the Shrew,” and “The Humours of Sir John Falstaff.” In July, 1786, a company of comedians, after playing for four months in Montreal, embarked for Quebec.

The theatre in Quebec was supported by subscriptions, but the price of admission was usually one dollar. Tickets were not transferable. “It is requested that no lady in future will dispose of her tickets to servant maids of any class, as the seat occupied by one on Monday night was fitted up for the use of The Commander in Chief.”

The Juvenile Theatre was a success for a time, and performances were given for the relief of orphans. But when the boys were arranging for a performance for the benefit of a hospital some of the mean merchants would not allow the boys to attend, and it fell through. “The Irish Widow” and “The Farmer’s Return” and “Old Maid” were played by the boys, and at one performance they obtained £100 for the orphans. In several of the taverns a concert or musical farce would be given, usually followed by a dance.

Performances were given by French companies. “Le Médecin Malgré Lui” and “La Comtesse D’Escarbagnat” were presented by the Young Canadians at the request of His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, and attended by Lord and Lady Dorchester. Other plays presented by the French in 1791 and 1792 were “Le Barbier de Séville” and “She Stoops to Conquer,” “L’Avare,” “Les Précieuses Ridicules” and “Le Retour Imprévu.”

These are only selections, but it will be seen that there was more amusement of the kind in Quebec then than there is to-day.

Some of the occupations of the inhabitants were peculiar. Thus the keeper of the Quebec jail advertised that he made “chocolate of the best quality, wholesale and retail,” and the coachman of the Governor earned a few dollars by taking care of cows, while another advertised that he “Carried on stay making in all its branches, on the back of the Ramparts.” But as the stays seem to have been made of black tin, I presume they were not corsets.

Sword knots, wine, oatmeal, tobacco, blotting paper, and wash-tubs could be purchased from the same vendor, so that shopping was very simple. These few items indicate what use was made of the Press, but there was always some reference to the Governor and a summary of foreign news. To a people accustomed to wait for a foreign newspaper until the arrival of the ships it must have been quite a boon to receive a weekly paper, for you know how eagerly you look for the comic weekly, and they are often not so amusing as the advertisements of olden days.

This is an illustration of the social life under Lord Dorchester, who sailed from Canada for the last time in 1796. A century and a quarter have passed, and with it the memory of men who played a part in Canadian history. But the name of Dorchester will not perish. He was the man of whom Canada had need at a critical hour, and he proved equal to the task reposed in him. As a soldier, a governor and a man, Canada is jealous of his honour.