Page:Repository of Arts, Series 1, Volume 01, 1809, January-June.djvu/108

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82
DESCRIPTION OF MONTREAL.

paredwith the Isle of Wight for extent, fertility, and beauty.

A mount.: in of sidetable bo;h and town med, ter. It i of the rarliesf *rffTc- rrients of the French in Ninth Ame- rica. It. may claim an antiquity prior to i on (he continent north of Hie < Mexi< o, Qu< - bec <> ' . The place sa-* •rent from the south- d with n work of

but tint being
prcci

iirhtain, which < - 'fiil>its urrequ :rks of a v belted with of B great ariety mit being crowned with lofty pines, whilst the base is '

r!ried with neat farm-

houses and gent!- eats. As insufficient to defend it from tlir in- cursions of the warlike Fndian confe- deracy, called the Five Nations, by whom it w :is more than onoe de- stroyed, I [ ] V. ordered it to be fortified with a stone waH, de- dl.v redoubts and abroad dry ditch. These work*, since the town came into the possession of the English, have been Buffered to <;o fo- il stands •• proudly eminent, "over- | decay. They are at present in a looking an illimitable extent of : state of dilapidation, yet still they waters and level country, it presents a noble object of view, on wha side the approach is made. A branch of the St. Lawrence, three mil< - ilh, washes the south- east foot of this mountain, on circumscribe bounds to I he city, and prevent the extension of buildings, except in the suburbs, which bran* 1; out from the three gates. Montreal has been a great sufferer by /ires ; the last, in llie year I the margin of which the city of jj laid the principal part of the Montreal is built. j,t ruins, and destroyed several pub- Montreal , at first called Ville- I lie edifices, amongWhich was the Jesuit's College. Like most other places which have suffered in lie manner, it has derived benefit from the calami not in so great a degree • be ekpected : for. on repairing the damage, the streets, originally laid down on too narrow a scale, tunc not been improved with regard to their breadth. The town, from the commence- Quebec suburbs fo iJc new - ;,s about one and a cj i i g the banks of the St. Lawrence, Its breadth, beaTs no proportion to if* h, being composed of only three paralh ! rtn : - ■ h arein- t rsectcd af right . y several mannavi >m StMaloes inApril I.331-, and though the country had been prei - i by the Spaniards, '■ r was the first who sailed up the ■ . v. Inch hi i ntered on the .. being the nt after whom he nam* .1 He penetrated as tar ai Mon- r In* mountain*, Ihey i ii!i retain. i . . ai in after, althou i- hot known : r, bad :.. 'inrr. 1. mila- . r, Bv m2