shocked at the insults which their noblesse and
the King's officers have received from the English traders and lawyers
since the civil government took place."

[Illustration: JESUITS' BARRACKS]

Each householder was responsible for the street before his property,
being compelled to keep it clean of snow and refuse. Innkeepers
required a license, and had to conform to rigid laws. Cattle, pigs,
and sheep were impounded if found straying in the streets, and the
Intendant strictly regulated the possession of live-stock.

The first horse seen in New France had been brought out by the
Governor Montmagny about 1636; but before the end of the century many
more were shipped from Havre, and it was not long before the law began
to regulate this new feature of social life. An ordinance forbade any
_habitant_ to possess more than two mares and one colt. In riding away
from service on Sunday the horseman was forbidden to break into a
canter until he had travelled ten arpents from the church. Private
baptism of children was refused except in cases of absolute necessity.
The order in which the personages of Quebec should receive the
sacrament was precisely established. Roads, bridges, and churches were
built by forced labour. The construction of houses, both as to
material and design, was regulated by law. Builders were required to
conform to a line and face their houses on the highway. Certain
personages, however, claimed exemption from this rule, and to these
was accorded the right--_d'avoir pignon sur rue_--to have the gable on
the street, the purpose being to secure a certain degree of privacy by
means of an entrance away from the public highway.

[Illustration: MODERN CALECHES]

As to the law of inheritance, the testator was bound to divide his
estate fairly among all his children, the title and the largest share
going to the eldest son. This legislation, which affected seigneur and
_censitaire_ alike, subdivided the country into ribbon-like farms,
with narrow frontages on the river and running back long distances
inland. This attenuated appearance of the rural holdings strikes the
stranger forcibly as he travels through the province of Quebec even at
this day, and denotes a condition which prevailed in England also in
the most primitive days of agriculture. The system had some
justification, however, in the necessity which each peasant felt of
having access to the St. Lawrence, the most convenient, and, for
nearly a hundred