but if you wish to know a people, you cannot judge of them by a better criterion than the state of their jurisprudence. With this view I have gone a little into it. If you should ever have any dealings in this country, the information may be of use to you.

The study of the law, however, is in all its branches proverbially a dry study. I shall therefore give you a respite.

As soon as the weather is agreeable, I purpose going into the country, in different directions, that I may get some knowledge of the inhabitants, and of the state of agriculture. I shall have the pleasure also of viewing the natural beauties of the country, which are scattered every where with a liberal hand.

LETTER XI.

Quebec, September, 1807.

I HAVE visited the greatest part of Lower Canada from Kamouraska, a hundred miles below Quebec, as high up as Lachine, near 200 miles above it, so that I have had an opportunity of making some remarks on the Canadians, and their country; and have, besides, had a fair specimen of Canadian travelling.

I shall not go too much into a detailed and minute description of places, or take up your time in making you read a collection of high-sounding inflated words, and technical phrases, in an attempt to paint the natural beauties of the country. Such attempts have been reproved as savouring of affectation, because, after all, they come very far short of the true end of description-the giving a correct idea of the place described; serving more to gratify the va

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nity of the writer, than to edify the reader.

Travelling in Canada is certainly not altogether so pleasant as travelling in England. The Canadian calesh is a very sorry vehicle, compared to the English postchaise; nor are the auberges quite so comfortable as English inns. A A person who had been accustomed to travel only in England, would say, that a Canadian calesh, with its two wheels and single horse, without springs, and without cushions, was not fit for a Christian to be put into: and as to the auberges, or inns, that they were such filthy places, that you might lodge in a hog-sty without your olfactory nerves being more offended.

worse.

I certainly must say, that there is great room for improvement, both in the form of the calesh, and the comforts and accommodations of the inns. But I have seen In order to reconcile myself to my situation, and extract as much happiness from the moment as it would admit of, Ì avoided comparisons with English inns and modes of travelling. I recalled to memory Spanish, Portuguese, and even French inns

and conveyances: the balance was much in favour of Canada. I felt myself perfectly comfortable, and thanked my stars that it was no worse.

It adds greatly to the comfort of travelling in Canada, that you are every where treated with the greatest politeness and attention. This, to me, counterbalances a thousand inconveniences. Often have I felt provoked on the continent of Europe, when, after a fatiguing journey,-wet and hungry, perhaps, into the bargain,—stopping at a filthy place, they called an inn, I have looked in vain for the least civility or assistance from the people of the house; frequently obliged to carry in my own luggage, and endeavour to find a place where it might be safe from the thief-like fellows about me-the landlord, perhaps, amongst them. How different is the case in Canada! A Canadian aubergiste (landlady) the moment you stop, receives you at the door with a degree of politeness and urbanity which is as unexpected as it is pleasing. Voulez vous bien, Monsieur, avoir la complaisance d'entrer; voila une chaise, Monsieur; asseyez vous s'il vous plait. If

they have got any thing you want, it is given at once with a good grace. If they have not, they tell you so in such a tone and manner, as to shew that they are sorry for it. Je n'en ai point, Monsieur; J'en suis mortifiée.

You see that it is their poverty that refuses you, and not their will. A man must be as savage as a Goth, and as surly as a city epicure over spoiled venison, who, with such treatment, though his dinner should be indifferent, could leave the house in bad humour.

The Canadian innkeeper is frequently a farmer also, or a shopkeeper. Indeed, you need never be at a loss for a house to stop at. There is not a farmer, shopkeeper, nay, nor even a seigneur, or country gentleman, who, on being civilly applied to for accommodation, will not give you the best bed in the house, and every accommodation in his power.

The Canadians seem to have brought the old French politeness with them to this country, and to have handed it down to the present generation. One is more sur