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Show TRAVELS THROUGH LOWER CANADA: 111anufa8:ure of which it 'vas expected that the town would fuddenly become opulent, is now nearly exhaufted; nor do we find that this bank has ever furnii11 d more ore than was fufiicient to keep one ftna 11 forgt: and one fmall foundry employed at intervals. The fur trade alfo, frorn which fu much benefit was expeCted, is now almoil: wholly centered .<t Q~1cbcc and Montreal; it is merely the fmall quantity of furs brought down the St. Manricc, and fomc of the northern rivers that fitll into the 't. Lawrence, nearer to the town of Trois R ivicrc than to ~~ bee or 1\fontrcal, th .H is !hipped there. Thcfc furs arc laden ()11 board the Montreal (hips, which il:op oppofite to the town as they go down the river. Th ~ country in the vicinity of Trois Riviercs has been rcprefented by fome French tr:wellers as wonderfully fertile, and as one of the moil: agreeable parts of Camda; but it is totaliy the rev rfc. It is a level harren traCl., and fo fmciy, that in walking along many of tile Ctreets of tl c town, and the roads in tbe ncigbbou rhoo 1, you fin!· into the f.\nd at every il:ep above the ankles. The [and is of a whitifh colour, and very loo(c. The air ~1lfo [warms with mufquito s, a certain proof of the lm damp fi tuation of the ]lace. In none of the o her inhabited parts of anada, except in the neighbourhood of Lake St. Charle , were we ever annoyed with thcfe troubldome infdts. In ~ebec, indeed, and Montr al, they arc fear ely ever fecn. 'The .il.reets in Trois Rivicres arc narrow, and the houfes in gcncrat fmall and indiff.:r nt; many of them are built of wood. There are two church'S in the town, the one an Engliili epifcopalian, the other a hrgc Roman catholic pari!h church, formerly ferved by the Recollcts, or Francifcan friars, but the order is now extinD: in Trois Rivicrcs. The olJ monaflcry of the order, a large .il.one building, at prefcnt lies. <1nite defcrted; and many of the houfes in the neighbourhood being alfo uninhabited, that part of the town '.vher(;ill it is fitu<ttcd has a very dull gloomy afpeCt. The college or n onaficry of the J cfu its, aHo a large old building of fione in tl.e L'lmc neighbourhood, has been conv ·rtcd into a gaol. The only religious order at pr fent exifting in the town is that of St. Urfuk, the fiilcrhood of which is as numerous s the convent will wdl § permit. C 0 NV E N T 0 F S T. U R S U L E. permit. It was founded by M. de St. Vallier, bifhop of ~ebec, in the ye:1r 1677· It is a fpacious building, fituated ncar that formerly belonging to the Rccollcts, and annexed to it, under the Llme roof, thcr~ i an hofp~tal altcndcd by the nun c;. \Ve w rc intro luced to the chaplain of the order, a poor French emigr:111t cure, an intere.il: ing and apparently a moil amiable man, and under his guidanc'"' we received pcrmifTion to vi.Gt the convent. 'I11e firil prt we cnt red was the chapel, th door of which open to the il:reet under a por h. It is very laity, but the arcJ. of it is fma1l. Th altar, which is grand, and richly ornamented, il:ands nearly oppo.Gte to the entrance, and on each fide of it is a bttic , the one comn unicating with an apartment allotted for ficlc nuns, the other \,v.ith the ca.: 1r ()f the chapel. On ringing a frnall bell, a curtain at the .infide of th is Jail: lattice was withdrawn, and an apartment difcovcrcd, fomewhat brgcr than the chapel, furrouudc I with pews, and furniD1ed with an altar, at the foot of which i~tt two of the il.ri:crhoo i, with books in their hancl , at their meditations. 'J he f:1ir Urfuline, who came to the lattice, f emcd to be one of thofc unfortu11ate females that had at lafl: be1run to feel all the h orrors of confi 1em nt, and to lament the ra(hne[s of that vow which had fl'cllllkd her for ever from the world, aml from the participation of thofc innocent plcafi.tres, which, for the bcfl: and wi[cf1: of purpofes, the benef1ccnt Ruler of the univcrfe meant that his creatures !hould enjoy. As fhc withdr~w the curtain, {he cail: a momen tary gla.nce thrcugh the gnting, tlut im •1.trted more than co 1ld be exprdfed by the moil: eloquent words; then retiring jn filcncc, fe,tted h ric f on a bench in a Jiil:ant part of th..; c~ur. The melancholy and furrow puurtraycd in the features of her lovely countenance intet-..fL:d the heart in her behalf, and it was impoi11ble to behold her without P'11 tak. in ~ of that dejection which hung over her fcH:l, and without dq rccatin , .. tt tl -: f:tmc time the cruelty of the cufl.om which allows, ::..nd the mifb ·en zc.tl of a religion that enconrages, an art1cr and inex1 cr icnccd youJJg cn.'<t ture to renounce a world, of which £1 e wa dcHincd, p-.rhaps, to b~ a happy and Hfc ful memb..:r, for an unprofit.tbl<..: life of 1olitu,k, a11d 'Inremitted penance for fins never committ d! |