square, you have the English church, a very elegant building; and the court house, where elegance is not so conspicuous. On the north side of the square you have a very handsome building, erected for, and used as, a tavern, hotel, and assembly

room.

In the neighbourhood of this square you find towards the north an extensive area, in which is situated the Upper Town market-house; a building perfectly unique in its kind. One does not know which to be most astonished at, whether the want of taste in the architect, or that his plans met with approbation: suffice it to say, that on a building one story high, you have a dome as large as that of St. Paul's in London. Never were the rules of architecture and common sense more outraged.

From the area of the market-place different streets diverge, leading to the different gates of the city; viz. Hope Gate, Pa lace Gate, St. John's Gate, and St. Lewis's Gate,besides the gate leading to the Lower Town; these streets constitute the Upper Town. Outside of St. John's and Palace Gate there are extensive suburbs, which

are increasing in size daily. The population of Quebec and its suburbs may be reckoned about ten thousand souls.

There is nothing in the appearance of Quebec itself which strikes one as being very different from an English town, except, perhaps, the roofs of the houses; they are generally covered with boards or shingles, and you always see on the roofs, several ladders, for the sake of easy access in case of fire.

A shingle roof so much resembles a slate one, that when they are painted a slate colour, you cannot know the one from the other; the only evil attending them is, that they are liable to catch fire: from this circumstance, Quebec has formerly suffered greatly from fires. A law has been passed encouraging the covering houses with boards in place of shingles, and, indeed, prohibiting the latter altogether.

The dread of fire in Quebec is greater than in any place I have ever known, but when it is considered how much they formerly have suffered from it, one ceases to be surprised.

A society has been formed, called the Fire Society: they elect a president and other office bearers annually. The object of this society is to assist in the extinguishing of fire, for which purpose they have several engines and firemen; indeed, in case of fire almost every man may be said to be a fireman, for every body lends his assistance: poor people who have been very active receive pecuniary reward from the society. Their funds are raised by annual voluntary subscription.

Many of the best houses, and most valuable warehouses are covered with tin plates, which make not only a very beautiful and very durable roof, but are also a complete security against fire.

The reason that fire has spread so rapidly in Quebec has been, that the shingles when once inflamed, being extremely light, were blown by the wind to an incredible distance, and operated on other shingle roofs like a shower of fire. Now, the tin-plates receive the burning shingles with impunity; it might be imagined that the tin-plates would rust, but this is not the case. I have

seen roofs near forty years old, and they not only remained perfectly bright, but had never required any repairs; so that although somewhat expensive at first, a tin-plate roof will be a saving in the end.

There are very few objects of curiosity in Quebec deserving the attention of a stranger. We have all read and heard so much about nunneries, without, in England, having an opportunity of seeing them, that the occasion no sooner presents itself than it is embraced. Strangers generally pay a visit to the Quebec nunneries: to me they were not objects of curiosity, having seen so many in Portugal and in Spain; however I made one of a party, and visited them.

There are three nunneries in Quebec, the Hotel Dieu, the Ursulines, and the General Hospital. The nuns appear to have as much reason to be satisfied with their situation as any nuns can be supposed to have. They tell you that they are happy; but were they to say so a thousand times, you, somehow or other, cannot bring yourself to believe it;-so contrary to human

nature seems the life they lead. They will reason with you as to the propriety of their institution.-I observed to one of them, with whom I had some conversation, that I thought it a very cruel and unfair thing to permit a young girl who was ignorant of the world, and even of the natural propensities of her own heart and mind, at the age of fourteen, to take vows of eternal celibacy, and seclusion from the world. Her answer was plausible if not conclusive: she said, that the law permitted young women of that age to take vows of eternal constancy to man, she did not see any good reason why they should be prohibited from taking vows of eternal constancy to God.

The nuns here are not so useless, however, as those in the south of Europe; they employ themselves in teaching young girls, reading and needlework. They at the same time, it is true, instil into their young minds, very bigoted notions of their religion, which is a matter of conscience with them; but it is to be regretted, that young people, who must necessarily have very frequent communication with heretics in