The Falls of Montmorenci form one of the fairest attractions of the Province, and, indeed, of the continent. They are about seven miles from Quebec, where the Montmorenci river, just before its confluence with the St. Lawrence, falls over a black cliff 251 feet high, in a clear and massive white fall, shading to amber tints in its deeper parts, fluttering out at its edges into gauzy clouds, and plunging with continuous roar into huge undulations of foam and prismatic mist. The great gulf of chocolate-coloured earth and rock, decorated with spray-moistened herbage, opens from the St. Lawrence like the chancel of a Titanic cathedral, where the solemn music of nature never ceases. "Instead of an artificial fountain in its square," says Thoreau, "Quebec has this magnificent natural waterfall to adorn one side of its harbour." The plains of Beauport lie between Montmorenci and Quebec, and are occupied by a long line of quaint and thick-walled cottages, the homes of a contented peasantry, tracing their descent from the colonists who came so long ago from the French province of La Perche. A tall twin-spired church rises from among these antique houses; and here and there are wayside crosses and shrines, making manifest the primitive character of the people, who are shut out from the world by the Rock of Quebec. In all this great county there are but a few hundred English-speaking inhabitants; and as one fares on beyond the Montmorenci, he enters a region even more given over to the sixteenth century. As one of their own abbés has said: "In the inhabitant of the Côte de Beaupré you find the Norman peasant of the reign of Louis XIV., with his annals, his songs, and his superstitions." Here the hamlet of Ange Gardien nestles in a sheltered glen, guarded at either end by roadside oratories, and grouped about an ancient church, on whose front is a sun-dial. The parish was founded in 1678; and eighty years later the gallant British battalions of the Louisburg Grenadiers captured it. Nor was it an easy conquest, for the people of Château Richer, the next village, had entrenched themselves in the Franciscan monastery which overlooked the plain, and made such a valiant defence, monks, priests, and peasants together, that General Wolfe was forced to send a section of artillery, and batter down the consecrated walls. The last village on the Côte de Beaupré is La Bonne Ste. Anne, whose church is the most highly-venerated shrine in America, visited by many thousands of pilgrims every year, and adorned with a painting of St. Anne, by Le Brun, which was presented by the Viceroy de Tracy, and other pictures by the Franciscan monk Lefrançois. There are also many rude er voto paintings; and piles and sheaves of crutches, left here by those who have been healed. The legend of the translation of the body of the mother of the Virgin from Jerusalem to Marseilles, and thence to the Cathedral of Apt, where it was afterwards discovered by Charlemagne, is familiar. This Canadian church was erected (in 1658) in obedience to a command of the Virgin, given in a vision to a little child; and the nobles of New France presented rich gifts to it, while Bishop Laval made St. Anne's Day a feast of obligation. During the French domination, every ship which ascended the river fired a broadside when passing the church, in token of gratitude for the safe voyage and deliverance from the perils of the sea. In 1668 the Cathedral Chapter of Carcassonne sent over a bone of the hand of St. Anne; this relic, guarded in a crystal globe, is exhibited at morning mass, and miraculous cures of bodily ailments are said to have been effected by it. Superstition and valour went hand-in-hand. The villagers gave battle to the destroying Iroquois, hereabouts, often and again; and when the British army advanced up the Côte de Beaupré, they beat off the Highlanders and Light Infantry, and would not give way until enveloped by the hostile detachments. It is a land of beauty and pietism, shadowed, like Umbria, by lofty mountains-the cross-crowned peak of Cap Tourmente, the dark Laurentian ridgessparkling, like the Alban Hills, with splendid waterfalls, and enriched with Vallombrosan forests. Across the broad river is the Isle of Orleans, fair as Devonshire, "the Garden of Canada," which Cartier christened the Isle of Bacchus, on account of its rich wines, and the carly navigators called the Wizards' Isle. There are seventy square miles of beauty, occupied by a peaceful and primitive people, the descendants of the old immigrants from Poitou, and dotted here and there with white hamlets, each with its quaint legend or historic memory. Below the isle the majestic St. Lawrence flows away, by many a Norman village and sequestered island community, widening with every league, toward the lonely shores of Newfoundland and Labrador. Nothing of the kind can be more beautiful than the manner in which Quebec lords it over these hamlets in her environs. The roofs and spires of the town are covered with tin, from which the sun is brilliantly reflected. The peasant of Orleans or the Côte de Beaupré, going forth to his morning labours, or returning homeward at sunset, sees the formidable promontory of Cape Diamond leagues away, clearly outlined in the level light, and crowned with countless sparkling points. Sometimes this imposing apparition is seen over the ruffled dark blue waters of the St. Lawrence; sometimes, across velvety expanses of meadow-land, rich with harvests; sometimes, through the massy foliage of the Laurentian forests; and often, perhaps too often, over interminable reaches of ice and snow, covering meadow and river and forest alike with their dreary shroud. But in sunshine and storm alike, amid the heats of the short but blazing summer, or the rigours of the Siberian winter, the habitan looks upon Quebec as the proud capital of La Nouvelle France; the home of the foremost scholars and divines and statesmen of his race; the city of Laval and Champlain, of Frontenac and Montcalm. MARSEILLES. An Ancient Mariner-A Curious Wedding-Early and Later History of Marseilles-The Marseillaise Hymn-Present Aspect of the City-The Place Neuve-The Streets with their Legendary and Historical Associations-The Prado-The Wonders of the Corniche Road-Commerce of the City-The Port-Churches and Church Traditions-Pageants and Festivals-St. Victor-Notre Dame de la Garde-Fortifications-Disappearance of Antiquities of MarseillesThe Tour de St. Paul-Hôtel de Ville-The Palais de Longchamps-Hospitals and other Charitable InstitutionsLocal Industries-The Great Men of Marseilles. SIX IX HUNDRED years before the Christian Era, when Rome was only halfway through her second century, from Ionian Phocæa, the rival of Tyre, a fleet went sailing westward over the blue waters of the Mediterranean. The Phocæans were the first Greeks to undertake distant voyages; they explored the Adriatic, Tyrrhenian and Iberian Seas, and planted colonies on various shores. The fleet just alluded to bore its band of adventurers to the southern. coast of Gaul, and here, near the mouth of the Rhone, it was determined to build a city. THE ARMS OF Being desirous of living on friendly terms with the Celto-Ligurian inhabitants of the district, Protis, one of the leaders of the expedition, went with a few companions to seek the alliance of Nannus, King of the Segobrigians, in whose territories the colonists were about to settle. It was a day of high festivity when the envoys reached the Court of Nannus, for the young princess Gyptis was about to choose a spouse after the custom of her country. The Greek visitors were invited to the feast. At the close of the entertainment it was the maiden's duty to come forward and present a cup of water to whomsoever she chose as her husband. To the astonishment of the assembly she gave the cup to Protis. The nuptials were then celebrated, and a site for a city was assigned to the strangers. But although circumstances favoured the foundation of Massalia (or, as the Romans called it, Massilia) yet the Ligurians seem to have shown a considerable amount of jealousy as they saw the new city rising and extending itself before their eyes. At the death of Nannus, his son and successor, Comanus, was stirred up to take active measures by those who feared that the Greek colonists would eventually become masters of all the surrounding territory. Accordingly, at the festival of the Floralia, Comanus sent some of his men into the city as guests, others he concealed in floral chariots, and with the rest of his troops he waited in ambush until during the night the gates should be opened for him by his confederates. But a Ligurian woman spoilt the plot. She was near of kin to King Comanus, but was enamoured of a handsome young Greek, to whom she revealed the conspiracy and begged him to save his life. The result was that the concealed Ligurians were massacred, and the treacherous king, with 7,000 of his men, attacked and slain. Henceforward, on festal days in Marseilles and neighbouring cities, the gates were kept closed-a custom maintained in Provence for centuries after its origin had by most been forgotten. Fifty-seven years after its foundation, Massalia was reinforced by another exodus from Phocæa, whose citizens were fleeing from the severities of Harpagus, the Mede, General of Cyrus. The city grew and flourished, and extended its territory. Its inhabitants introduced into Gaul the culture of the vine, the olive, and wheat. They established the manufacture of soap, which has always been a special feature of Marseilles industry. They embarked in commerce, and soon acquired so large a share in the trade of the Mediterranean, that Rhodes and Tyre and Carthage became jealous of their new rival, and strove unsuccessfully to curb its rapid progress. Several Greek historians tell with pride of the spoils and trophies won in naval engagements with these powers, and displayed in the citadel of Massalia and in the Temples of Apollo and Diana. Three consuls, aided by 600 councillors, ruled the city, which, before it was two centuries old, had planted Nice and other towns as colonies of its own along the adjacent coast. The arts and sciences were liberally encouraged in Massalia; its Academy rivalled that of Athens. Herodotus, Strabo, Cicero, Tacitus, and others speak in high terms of its wealth and power and high civilisation, and Pliny sums up by calling it "the Athens of Gaul." The divinities worshipped in Massalia were the Delphian Apollo and Ephesian Diana. To the latter a temple was built by the first colonists, who brought with them a statue of the goddess from the great temple at Ephesus, and all the coins of the city long bore her image. Protis and his companions called at Rome on their way to the coast of Gaul, and entered into friendly relations with Tarquinius Priscus and his subjects. This alliance with Rome was maintained for nearly six centuries. Massalia sent the Romans a warning of the approach of Hannibal, and on several occasions the two States rendered each other mutual assistance. But in A.D. 49 Pompey and Julius Cæsar were struggling for supremacy. Massalia sided with the former, and consequently his great rival besieged and conquered the city. Henceforth it was a commercial Republic under the protection of Rome. A Roman citadel rose beside the Greek city, but the latter retained its ancient laws and institutions. From the fifth century Marseilles had only short intervals of restVisigoths, Burgundians, Franks, successively held it; now and then the Saracens besieged and pillaged it; sometimes it was ruled by Viscounts who were nominally lieutenants of the Kings of Provence; sometimes the low city, representing the ancient Greek colony, was an independent Republic fighting against the high city, representing the Roman citadel, and governed by its bishops. Notwithstanding its troubles, the city was able to supply the entire fleet of galleys in which the army of St. Louis set out for the Crusades. King Réné made great efforts to restore and aggrandise Marseilles. His successor bequeathed Provence to the King of France, Louis XI. But the Kings of France found Marseilles had a will of its own, and it was long before it quietly settled down into an integral portion of the French Monarchy. Louis XIV. and other kings had much trouble in suppressing revolts. During the French Revolution, Marseilles passed through some terrible experiences. It was the scene of the most violent of the provincial riots that broke out when the National Assembly in 1789 was engaged in its preliminary struggles with the king and the nobles. As the Revolution developed, Marseilles supplied it with its soul-stirring Hymn of vengeance, and sent to Paris its hands of Fees, who took such a conspicuous part in the terrible September massacres. In 1798 Marseilles revolted against the Jacobins, but was conquered by General Carleau, and then Fréron and Barras, as commissioners from Paris, inaugurated in the city a Reign of Terror, in which they strove to annihilate the respectable classes. For four months the guillotine was incessantly at work, but it was too slow in its operations, which were accordingly supplemented by indiscriminate shooting. The name of Marseilles was forbidden to be uttered, and the commissioners dated their reports from "La Commune sans nom," and proposed to fill up the harbour. At the death of Robespierre, the city rose against its persecutors, and 200 of them, who took refuge in Fort St. Jean, were killed by the mob. In 1915 a Royalist insurrection broke out on the arrival of the news of the Battle of Waterloo, and for a time the city was given up to plunder and massacre. In 1918 the Marseillais hailed the new Republic with joy, and many of them were victims of the subsequent Coup d'État. In 1570 the streets rang with unanimous acclamations at the tidings of the Déchéance, and in May of the following year an imitation of the Paris Commune was established, and afterwards suppressed with considerable severity. Marseilles at the present day, with its teeming population of 315,000, covers four hills overlooking the ancient and modern harbours, and a considerable part of the adjacent country. In winter it enjoys a delightfully mild climate, but in summer is excessively hot, except when cool breezes from the sea render the atmosphere tolerable. At times the streets are swept by the terrible mistraal from the north-west. Very picturesque is Marseilles, either as viewed from the sea or from La Viste on the hills above the town: it is belted by delightful environs; a broad amphitheatre of vineyards, and lawns, and fruit-groves are plentifully sprinkled among the white villas of well-to-do citizens, while within the city every variety of French life is to be seen. The Old Town is situated on a peninsula between the Old Port and the harbour of La Joliette, and in this quarter is situated almost all that is left of medieval Marseilles. The streets are narrow, steep, and winding, and were formerly repulsively dirty. Here dwelt the fishermen and dock labourers, and still lower classes. Drinking-shops are very numerous, and sailors of all nations frequent the questionable resorts abundantly provided for them here. In La Juiverie, which represents the ancient Ghetto, are hundreds of little shops, in which old clothes and all sorts of second-hand articles form the stock-in-trade. In the nooks and corners of the Old Town still dwell Marseillais of the pure ancient race, speaking their old Provençal tongue, and nursing their hereditary superstitions. But right across the Old Town, the Rue Impériale, or Rue de la République, has been constructed, nearly threequarters of a mile long, and eighty-one feet wide, displacing 935 houses and 16,000 inhabitants. From the central circus other streets are to radiate across the ancient lanes and alleys, and, no doubt, eventually old Marseilles will disappear. In The Quartier de la Bourse forms a striking contrast to the region just named. the Rues Le Cannebière, Paradis, Beauvau, and St. Ferréol are situated the finest shops in the city. According to the Marseillais, Le Cannebière, with its grand hotels and cafés and splendid shops, is the finest street in the universe! The whole quarter is alive with business activity. The Rue St. Ferréol has been compared to the Boulevard des Italiens, |