asleep on the arm of the St. Lawrence, with tin-@
covered domes, spires, cupolas, minarets, and radiant
roofs, showing like molten silver in the moonbeams,
contrasting with the dark shingles covering most of
the houses, presented an enchanted-looking scene of
glory and of gloom. On the left, and oldest of its
class, was the Bonsecours Church, with its high-@
pitched roof, and airy, but inelegant, campanile, re-
fulgent as if cut from some rock of diamond. Nearer,
was the Court House, and, beneath it, the Jail; and,
behind them both, the dusky expanse of the poplar-
planted Champ de Mars. In the midst of the city
rose the tin-mailed tower and spire of the French
Cathedral, and, at its rear, loomed the neighboring,
wall-girt, solemn Seminary of Saint Sulpice. The
bright, precipitous roof of the Church of the Recollets,
and the spangled canopy of the vast foundation of
the Grey Nuns reposed resplendent; and, within its
ample enclosure, luminous as a moon-lit lake, the
quadrangled and cloistered College of Montreal. Be-
yond these, in the midst of the shining river, duskily
slumbered the little, fortified and wooded Island
of Sainte Helene; and up the stream, apast the petty
promontory of Pointe Saint Charles, stretched the
low, umbrageous lapse of Nuns Island, whence the
eye followed the bending flood, that trended towards
where, with eternal toil and sullen roar, agonize for
ever the hoary rapids of Lachine. In the other di-
rection the eye roved downwards over Hochelaga
and Longueuil, Longue Pointe and Pointe aux
Trembles, towards where lay the islet-strewn shal-
lows of Boucherville, and, lower yet, the village of
Varennes. The mountains of Boucherville, Beloeil,

[[28]]

p027 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p028w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p029

v?