or private."
The spirit of his army was doubtless as he described it; but he had
wholly mistaken the temper of the garrison.

Kirke, Phipps, Wolfe, and Levis had all left their mark upon Quebec,
and now the battered walls were once more threatened by Montgomery.
The Provincial army had taken possession of every point of vantage
outside the gates, the General having established his headquarters at
Holland House, by the Ste. Foye road, while Arnold occupied the suburb
of St. Roch towards Charles River. The houses of the _habitants_, the
General Hospital, and the Intendant's Palace were thronged with
soldiers, who found their tents poor protection against the rigours of
a winter campaign. A six-gun battery was erected within three hundred
paces of St. John's Gate, a battery of two guns thundered from the
bank of the St. Charles, while a third belched impotent fire across
the river from Point Levi. From the cupola of the Intendant's Palace a
body of riflemen continued to pick man after man off the ramparts,
until Sir Guy Carleton at last trained his guns upon it. It was a hard
thing for the Governor to destroy perhaps the finest building of all
Quebec, but the rigours of the siege seemed to leave him no
alternative; and soon the venerable building lay in ruins, having
witnessed the chequered history of the city since the days of the
great Talon.

Day and night the cannon on the ramparts answered the enemy's
howitzers, and once again the river gorge echoed back the roar of
artillery. Shells and grenades burst continually in the streets, and
as weeks wore away the citizens became inured to the dangers of battle
or sudden death by roundshot, grape, and canister. Outside the walls,
the enemy suffered in like manner, running the gauntlet of Carleton's
artillery and exposed to the musketry of the garrison. One day as
Montgomery dashed over the snow-covered plain in a carriole his horse
was killed by a cannon shot. Such casual dangers, however, were the
least cause of his anxiety, which was especially due to the
prolongation of the siege. His men were ill-clothed, depending for
rations largely upon the goodwill of the _habitants_, who anxiously
weighed the chances of British prowess. Moreover, desertion and
sickness thinned his ranks; and at last, having resolved upon a _coup
de main_, he formed his plans and awaited a dark night for their
execution.

Meantime, the wary Carleton neglected no means of informing himself of
the