this
seigneurial class to which he himself belonged. The manor-house was
usually a long, low, stone-built structure, surmounted by overhanging
gables and a lofty roof. A wing was sometimes added at right angles,
and always a group of strongly-built outhouses, stables, and sheds
clustered near by; among them standing a stone mill which had perhaps
served as a tower of refuge in the troublous times of the Iroquois
raids, but which the _censitaires_ now used merely to grind their
grain. If the Seigneur was possessed of power to execute high, middle,
and low justice, a gallows and a pillory might be found within the
precincts; but towards the close of the _ancien regime_ these crude
implements of punishment had happily fallen into disuse. The parish
church was never far away, the Seigneur being at all times the patron
of the _presbytere_, as well as the potent bulwark of the feudal
village springing up within sight of his manor-house.

These country mansions were much the same as those of Quebec, and
there was little difference in the manner of living within and without
the city walls. At eight o'clock the _gentilhomme_ and his family
breakfasted on rolls, white wine, and coffee; while dinner was served
at noon, and supper at seven in the evening. The dining-room of a
fashionable household was tastefully arranged. One end of the room was
completely occupied by the massive side-board, filled with ancestral
silver and china. Upon a shelf apart stood cut-glass decanters for the
table service, and as a _coup d'appetit_ cordials were handed round in
the drawing-room. On coming into the dining-room the guest might, if
he chose, rinse his hands in a blue and white porcelain water-basin,
which stood upon a pedestal in one corner of the room. Arrived at the
table, he found his _couvert_ to consist of a napkin, plate, silver
goblet, fork and spoon, being expected to supply his own knife. For
these occasions men usually carried knives in their pockets, the
ladies wearing them in a leathern, silken, or birch-bark sheath. This
peculiar custom caused some embarrassment to those English officers
who were billeted in French houses after the capture of the city.[27]

[Footnote 27: Captain Knox's _Journal of the Siege_.]

The maple sugar season brought to the _habitants_ their first
relaxation from the severities of Lent. Huge caldrons of sap hung on
poles over the roaring fires, and the children gathered round to taste
the syrup, and sa