ovince, yet their presence
does not impair the loyalty of these adopted sons of Britain.

[Illustration: BARON GRANT
(Whose family represents the Barony of Longueil, the only existing
French Canadian Barony of the old _regime_)]

When Wolfe came to Quebec, the flight of a century and a half had
transformed Champlain's "Habitation" and its clustering huts into the
strongest and fairest city of the New World. Churches, convents, and
schools huddled together, and composed a varied picture upon the
uneven summit of a towering rock; cannon thrust their black muzzles
through the girdling walls of stone; and the bastioned citadel rose
over all, commanding the river, the city, and the graceful country
rolling inland from high Cape Diamond.

Sunshine reflected from the spires and towers of the town made a
beacon of hope to the peasant as he laboured on the seigneuries
leagues and leagues away. Far down the Cote de Beaupre, beyond the
Mont Ste. Anne, from the rich farms of Orleans, and across on the Levi
shore, the glistening light on the city roofs by day, and at night the
twinkling candles in the windows, were as guiding stars to these
children in the wilderness. Twice in the early days, so their folklore
told them, miraculous intervention had saved their city from the
invader; and was she not impregnable still? And as he gazed happily
across the uplands towards his Mecca, the _habitant_ could conceive of
no power which might prevail against her stony ramparts. To this day
the emblems of their faith abound, scattered along the wayside; and
here and there a little wooden cross, set on with two or three rough
steps, invites the wayfarer to pause and pray. Bareheaded, the pilgrim
waits before the holy symbol to whisper an _Ave_ or to tell his beads.
Rough bushmen cease from riot and laughter, and touch their caps as
they pass. All down the cotes, these casual shrines exhort the simple
peasant to his twofold duty--to God and to his neighbour. Throughout
the river parishes the size and richness of the churches contrasts
strangely with the poverty of the rough-cast cottages, revealing the
devout spirit of the villagers, to whom the church stands before all
else.

[Illustration: BARONESS DE LONGUEIL
(Of the sole remaining Barony of the old _regime_)]

Seven leagues below the city of Quebec is the greatest of all these
shrines, _L'Eglise de la bonne Ste. Anne._ In the foreground, the wide
bosom of the St. Lawrence stretches acro