vos rouets!

When When my hostess was not particularly engaged in scolding the girls, her attention was chiefly engaged by a huge over-grown cat, which strikingly resembled its mistress, being proportionably long, lean and lank, and having eyes of a corresponding colour, with an equally expressive countenance. The dear animal sat upon a chair, which was assigned to it with a greater appearance of importance, than ever I witnessed towards any of its species however beautiful. It appeared to be the constant play-fellow of the old lady, who, after stroking it in her lap with the utmost affection, frequently took it by the tail, and held it up in the air,-for the purpose, I suppose, of giving me an opportunity to observe the resemblance which there was between them, as well in their voices as in their persons. If this was really her motive, she succeeded to a hair; for never were two animals more alike in voice and face,-making always an allowance for the characteristics of their respective species,-than grimalkin and her mistress; and I could almost fancy when I heard the squeaking of the former that she said distinctly, Allez, filles,

allez a vos rouets! But with all these drawbacks from admiration, the manners of the old lady and her young assistants exhibited much more refinement, and a greater desire to please, than those of the clowns who were inn-keepers in the Upper Province, and whose rudeness must always be shocking to a man possessing the least portion even of natural sensibility.

LETTER XXXVII.

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF LOWER CANADA -STATE OF SOCIETY IN MONTREAL-FOUR CLASSES-INSOLENCE OF UPSTART VANI◄ TY-MR. LAMBERT'S REMARKS ON CONJUGAL INFIDELITYROMAN CATHOLIC ANNUAL PROCESSION-NUPTIAL CEREMONIES HAPPINESS OF THE CANADIAN CATHOLICS CONTRAST BE TWEEN THEM AND THE IRISH-PROVINCIAL CUSTOMS ON NEW, YEAR'S DAY-THE CHARIVARI-HAPPINESS OF THE LOWER

CANADIANS, THOUGH Destitute oF EDUCATION.

IN my letter, I gave you a short account of the city of MONTREAL; I shall now endeavour to give you a description of its inhabitants.

The merchants are principally of English and American descent. Very few French Canadians are now employed in the commerce of this city: They seem to be exceedingly deficient in that spirit of enterprize which they ought to possess before they can successfully compete with either English or American merchants. Most of those persons, and they are numerous, -who have made fortunes in Montreal, are English and Scotch emigrants; among whom, since they were originally mechanics of low origin and scanty acquirements, you cannot expect to meet with much refinement.

The population of this city has, by general consent, been divided into four distinct classes: The FIRST is composed of the civil and military officers, the most respectable professional men in Law, Physic, and Divinity, and the several members of the North West Company :-The SECOND, of mer chants of large fortune: The THIRD, of shopkeepers and the more wealthy mechanics :-And the FOURTH, of that class of men, which in England is distinguished by the appellation of the "lower orders."

Within the last twenty years, many men have acquired large fortunes in Montreal from very low beginnings; and it is worthy of remark that, although there are not, I believe, more than five or six families in the city, excepting those of the first class, whose rank in life, before the acquisition of their wealth, was above that of servants and mechanics, they exhibit as much pride, and as strong an inclination towards aristocratical distinction, as many of the oldest patrician families in Europe. The ci-devant coopers and carpen ters of this city, having once thrown aside the adze and the jack-plane, assume all the airs of nobility, and look down upon their less fortunate compeers with well-merited contempt. Nothing can be more characteristic of the vanity of these gentry, than the fact, that you may see them daily advertised in the public papers as "Directors of the Banking establishments," with ESQUIRE in full length at the

tail of their names. I have now a newspaper before me, which contains no less than three of these advertisements, in which the names of five persons are given to the public as ESQUIRES:-two of whom are carpenters, still working at their trade; the third, once a plasterer, has become a gin-seller; the fourth, formerly a cooper, is now a retail grocer; and the fifth is a painter and glazier.

The apologists of purse-pride argue to no purpose in favour of the skip-jacks of fortune, when they plead in vindication of their ostentatious and aspiring dispositions, that "as all rank must have originally sprung from superiority of wealth, it is but equitable that the increase in property should be followed by a proportionate elevation in the grades of society and in public estimation." No one can reasonably deny to abstract wealth its due portion of influence; and when it is accompanied by a continued deference to his superiors in birth and education, and by an obliging and affable deportment to those who are now his inferiors, in the man who has acquired it, he cannot fail of becoming respectable in the opinion of all sensible persons, and of acquiring the character of "a gentleman," in the soundest though not in the most general acceptation of the term. But when opportunities are eagerly embraced for creating the wonderment of the vulgar at the greatness of wealth ; when it is displayed singly, as the instrument for

effecting a change in the public opinion, or imposed as an argument for the adoption of some chimerical conceit, and when it is audaciously assumed as the ground for acts of insolence and oppression; the indignation of the poor will baffle the vanity and ambition of the ignoble upstart, while the rich and the noble will compassionate his fatuity, and trample on his pride. The commonest mistake on this subject, among those who have not learned to discriminate, is that of considering wealth to be the stamen of distinction, instead of the means by which, if judiciously applied, distinction may eventually be procured. The mind is, after all," the standard of the man;" and when that is properly enlightened, wealth will assume its due form of utility, and " money which," according to one of the ancients, "has no colour but what is elicited by an appropriate use," will then appear in its inherent fitness and beauty.

The public amusements of Montreal are at present confined to winter balls and dinner parties on festival days;* at all of which, the distinctions I have enumerated are strictly attended to: But how they regulate the shades of difference, (which so far as they concern the three lower classes, are wholly imperceptible to me,) I have never been able to learn. The fact is, however, notorious, that each class is called by a particular name, and that particular nights are appointed for their several

Theatricals are at a very low ebb in Montreal. There has been no theatre since the destruction of that building in 1820.