BELLEGARDE
IS a novel which presents but inferior claims merely as a fiction,— tile ,story inartificial, the characters feebly developed, though in some instances well conceived : but as a work of information, connected.with manners, customs, and the feelings and prejudices of an important colony, it is greatly to be recommended. The author is familiar with the people he describes and the scenery they dwell among : allowing something for certain strong Colonial feelings, doubtless.engendered on the spot, we believe the picture to be tolerably exact. And if tracts, treatises, and reviews, have failed to instil just ideas respecting the government of the Canadas into the public mind, perhaps the novel may be more successful. The parts which we chiefly prefer, and for whichindeed we value Bellegarde, are such as appear in the subsequent extracts. On these points, this novel forms an excellent supplement to some , • of the Canadian tales in Miss MITFORD'S American Selections, and other works of a similar-description.
The feelings of the Lower Canadians towards the English— Even to this day, such families as entertain the hope of emancipating that portion of North America from its dependence on Great Britain, avoid carefully every kind Of alliance or community with the English settlers, whom they consider as intruders. In 'min have gratuitous schools been formed in every populous parish on the borders of the St. Lawrence. In vain have places of trust, lucrative employments, and such other means as are in the gift of the British Government, been placed at the disposal of the old French nobility in Canada, in order to reconcile them to their new masters ; they reject every thing that might wean them from their love of Fiance; and fearing the influence that the English language and literature inight exercise on their sympathies, affections, and morals, there is not one in twenty of them who will permit a word of English M be spoken in his family ; so that Lower Canada is perhaps the only spot on the globe where can be found an unmodified specimen of what the }Tench were in the days of Louis the Fourteenth. Without the power to expel the English, they obey their laws, pay the taxes, and adopt the Corsican maxim, "hate and icait" for an order of things more in harmony with their interests or their prejudices.
A sketch of the climate of Canada— Our cold atmosphere Must appear tremendous to a native of a temperate climate; it has not, however, the inconveniences attached to the winters of England and France, where you have sometimes an Italian morning and a Swedish evening; sudden changes for which you are always unpreparecL Here, on the contrary, our cold and warm seasons are uniform, and every thing is ordered accordingly. Our horses, of the old Norman race, are small, strong, fleet, and vigorous ; our cariole (light covered sledge), lined with wolf and bear skins, is as tight and more proof against culd than a Paris chariot : as to rough roads we know not the inconvenience of them in Canada ; for as the snow lies frozen on the ground at least four months of the year, our path will be as smooth as a polished mirror, and we shall slide over the surface like a birch bark canoe on an'unruffled lake. The air is tonic, and disposes our people to sing, dance, and play: During the winter months they visit and feast at each other's houses. Their lands are rich, and produce abundant crops ; the rivers and lakes teem with various kinds of excellent fish ; and our poorest peasants have venison and wild geese on their tables. They are a happy, industrious, moral race; receive religious instruction from their priests, who are their parents and friends ; pay only a small "redevance" (mutation fine) to the lords of the soil upon the transfer of property; and haying no motive to commit crimes of any kind, are more exempt than any people Ihave known from the evils that afflict and demoralize society.
The chief interest of the story turns upon the character of a . young French lady, the daughter of a Canadian Seigneur, educated under a curious blending of the systems of savage and civilized life; and that of a reclaimed Indian, who dwells in the castle as a kind of attendant and guardian upon the young mistress of the Castle of the Lake of the Two Mountains. The girl is a sort of Canadian Di Vernon, but still pleasingly and cleverly sketched. With a sketch of the heroine we shall close this brief account of a work which would attract more notice, were it not shouldered by so many competitors of equal pretensions to fame.
The travellers proceeded to the great vestibule of the castle, where they were received by Madame de Belrose, the baron's only sister, and Father Le Clerc;the confidential friend and domestic chaplain of the family of D'Argenteuil. When they reached the drawing-room, the baron turned towards his sister, and in. qiured for his daughter Matilda. "She is in the garden planting flowers in the grass-plots, brother," said ,the lady. "On the borders, you would say, y dear sister."
"No, among the grass ; she thinks they look more like wild flowers dispersed in the grass than in regular beds; so you will find roses and pinks and sweet
william, with a green ground to set off their beauty to advantage. And then she weeds and plants, and spoils her complexion. She is like a hummingbird, eternally flying from leaf to leaf, never a moment of repose." "If it amuse and give her health, it is well, good sister."
"As to her health, brother, you will find her pretty much as you left her ; she takes exercise that would exhaust a Highland, fur trader ; she passed the whole of yesterday shooting on the lake, and brought home a great quantity of ducks, and other wild fowl. This morning, she spent an hour teachiro. her pony to swim ; he followed her like a dog on terra firma ; but she wend put his attachment to a severe trial, by running into the lake, and calling him to follow her. The poor animal ran upend down the shore, and showed 'nu& uneasiness when he saw his mistress fairly afloat in the water; but he would. N.;?nture no farther, until Matilda put a long rein to his bridle and made him swird after her; and now he would follow her across the lake like a waterspaniel. She was so pleased with his docility that she recompensed hizn with a. meal of all taa sweet cake she could find in the house."
The Baron mi., too much accustomed to the loquacity of Madame de Belrose to pay much attention to these domestic details,. but turning to De Courcv, " Your English ladies,would be shocked at such pranks played by a girl of seventeen. But I brouglat :her up with other ideas : I did not hesitate to repudiate the antiquated notions of timale education transmitted to us by our grandmothers; who held, that a sound mind in a sound body might be very useful to a boy, but that agirl ought to be brought up to be ignorant of every thing, except what might just be necessary to make her afraid of every thing : so that she ought to faint at the report of a gun, scream if a mouse ran across the room, and tremble and look pale if her carriage jolted on a rough road. After being mewed up in a convent, where they were taught to consider every thing unclean and sinful that passed without the walls, women entered upon the stage of life mere machines, without knowledge, will, or judgment to guide them. This durance vile usually continued until the family of a young ladyfound a suitable marriage for her ; and the same hour that emancipated her from the shackles of a cloister, witnessed her transfer to a man she had 'never seen or known, alike ignorant of her duties as a wife, a mother, and a member of society. This mode of treating a creature that so much resembles man, and of whose aid we stand so much in need, always seemed to me both absurd and cruel ; so I determined to bring up Matilda in my own way. My good sister here, who served her as a mother since she was only three years old, was prejudiced in favour of the plan of education adopted by our 'parents; but I persisted in my opinion, and have reason to be satisfied with my conduct." This was, as my uncle Toby would say, the "hobby-horse" of the Baron; and he would have ridden it much farther, if the object of his solicitude had not suddenly entered the drawing-room.
Without paying the least attention to De Courcy, Matilda hung round her father's neck, kissed both his cheeks, then holding his grey head between her little hands, looked earnestly in his face, to satisfy herself that he was not in worse health since they had parted. "In the ardour of your attentions to your father, my love," said D'Argenteuil, "von forget his friend, Captain De Courcy, who does us the honour to spend aiew weeks in our solitude, which we must all endeavour to render as little monotonous as possible." "The friend of my father," quickly replied Matilda, "is sure of a kind welcome ;" then fixing her penetrating eyes on the stranger, continued, "My father calls this solitude, Sir, only to excite your surprise at the variety of our amusements. Are you fond of hunting, shooting, fishing, and the rude exercises of the Indians?'"
" Whatever be the amusements of the inhabitants of the Castle, I shall be happy to be admitted to share in them ; and from what the Baron has just now learned from Madame de Belrose, of your love of the chase, I promise myself much of an enjoyment of which I have been lately deprived, and which constitutes the principal occupation of our gentry in Ireland. '
" What a happy people you must be ! healthful exercise, good appetite, sound sleep, cheerfulness, and innocence." " The picture is flattering," said Eustace ; " yet it was thus with me for many years. The first thing we learn to do well is to hunt and shoot ; and an Irish gentleman would be more ashamed of being ignorant of the terms of sporting, than of the common rules of grammar. I assure you, Miss d'Argenteuil, that I have passed a great part of my life on horseback.'
Eustace thought she was entering into the spirit of the favourite pursuits of the sprightly girl ; but she stopped him short, by observing, that he spoke her language too elegantly to have devoted all his days to pastime in the fields. "I will not believe," said she archly, " that your countrymen set so little value on the useful and ornamental branches of education, as to neglect them for a pleasure that is not worth the sacrifice of any serious or important duty."
"It ought to be a mere holyday sport to be indulged in,' said Eustace (retracting a little of his enthusiasm), when we have nothing better to do; and I cannot say I prefer it to a good library and literary exercises."
" Well, Sir, in this also you may be indulged ; we have a large stock of books ; you may even study the art of attack and defence, if you like it, for my father kept me for many hours together with Vauban and Coehorn when he was forming the plan of the enclosure of the Castle; and although he did not intend to make me a member of the corps of engineers, he made me comprehend the use of bastions and curtains and demi -lunes ; but (looking at her feet, covered with dust) I must retire, and cast off my Mameluke pantaloons and vest, which I wear in the moining to please my father, and put on may French costume, which I wear at dinner to please my aunt." She then stepped out of the room as lightly as a kitten, leaving De Courcy full of admiration and curiosity.
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