pine trees on the deep pool told them it was time to muster their charge and return. It was some time before they were collected, and settled in the carts as before.

We recrossed the St. Lawrence in row-boats, walked to a friend's house in a beautiful little nook under a high headland, where every thing was prepared for the party-tea, lights, fiddlers, and an empty room. No one appeared at all tired; those who had walked the farthest in the woods danced the longest, and it was some time after midnight when we were rattling along the moonlit road to Quebec.

Such was a day's amusement in Canada; and I do not envy the man who could not be infected with the good-humour and innocent mirth of such kind and friendly companions, nor moved by the beauty of such scenery.

The ladies of Canada possess, in a great degree, that charm for which those of Ireland are so justly famed the great trustingness and simplicity of manner, joined with an irreproachable purity. The custom of the country allows them much greater freedom than their English sisters; they drive, ride, or walk with their partner of the night before, with no chaperon or guard but their own never

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failing self-respect and innocence. They certainly are not so deeply read generally as some of our fair dames; they enter very young into life, and live constantly in society afterwards, so that they have not much time for literary pursuits; there is also difficulty in obtaining books, and the instructors necessary for any very extensive acquirements. But they possess an indescribable charm of manner, rendering them, perhaps, quite as attractive as if their studies had been more profound.

In this climate of extreme heat and cold, they very early arrive at their full beauty; but it is less lasting than in our moist and temperate islands; when thirty summers' suns and winters' frosts have fallen upon the cheek, the soft, smooth freshness of youth is no longer there.

The officers of the army show themselves very sensible to the attractions of the daughters of Canada; great numbers marry in this country; no less than four of one regiment have been made happy at Quebec within a year of the present time. The fair conquerors thus exercise a gentle retaliation on the descendants of those who overcame their forefathers. Nearly all the English merchants also have married in this country; and, from what

I perceive, those who still remain bachelors are very likely soon to follow their examples.

From the limited numbers of the society, few of these little flirtations escape the vigilant eye of the public, and as fair an allowance of gossip goes on at Quebec as at any place of its size in the British dominions; but it is seldom or never mischievous or ill-meant, and, while observing with wonderful penetration all the little partialities, it treats them with the leniency their innocence de

serves.

One

Lake Beauport, fifteen miles from Quebec, is spoken of as a scene of considerable beauty; the angling is sufficiently good to offer a further inducement for a visit, and to a stranger, its being actually in the bush makes it irresistible. fine September morning, the Captain, the young Ensign, and I, started for its shores: the latter, in virtue of his youth, riding a high trotting horse, while we were driven by a little weazened Canadian, in a calêche. The first five or six miles of the way was an excellent turnpike road, then gradually growing narrower, and the ruts wider. There were neat rows of houses on either side, with here and there a church, and wooden crosses erected in conspicuous places, hung round, by the simple and

religious Canadians, with rags, bands of straw, and other humble offerings. After some distance the farms became more scattered, and the intervening masses of bush more frequent, and of greater size. For the last few miles there was merely a track through the forest, where the trees had been cut down, leaving a space wide enough to drive through. We at length reached a large clearing; beyond it lay the lake, surrounded by undulating hills of rather a poor outline, clothed with the forest down to the water's edge, and, indeed, beyond it, for the quiet waves crept in among the bared and blackened roots of the lower trees, reflecting the distorted limbs upon their bosom.

It is almost impossible to convey an idea of the gorgeous colours adorning the foliage of a Canadian autumn. The sombre pine, the glossy beech, the russet oak, the graceful ash, the lofty elm, each of their different hue; but, far beyond all in beauty, the maple brightens up the dark mass with its broad leaf of richest crimson. For three weeks it remains in this lovely stage of decay; after the hectic flush, it dies and falls. This tree is the emblem of the nationality of Canada; as is the rose of England, the shamrock of Ireland, and the thistle of Scotland.

The Ensign had galloped on to the farm-house where we were to stop; we found him resting on a rude sofa, complaining of a slight indisposition, and determined to remain indoors, as the heat of the sun was very great, and he felt weak and fatigued. We unwillingly left him behind, embarked in a crazy little boat, and pulled to a promising-looking bay, with a pebbly beach, on the opposite shore.

The gentle morning breeze had ceased, the midday sun blazed fiercely down on the smooth dead water, not a leaf stirred in the many-coloured woods; there was no bird or buzzing insect in the air, no living thing upon the land, and, what was worst of all, there were no trout in the lake; at least, we could not catch any, though we tempted them with all the daintiest morsels that our flyhooks could supply. Our arms ached from casting the lines, our eyes, from the dazzling glare of the reflected light off the waters, and our ears, from the deep silence. So we put by our rods, skirting lazily along under the shade of the tall trees, till we were opposite our landing-place, and then struck boldly across the lake, and reached the farm-house.

Our companion was not better; he felt chill and weak. We wrapped him up as well as we