A Canadian Manor and Its Seigneurs | Page 3

MURRAY BAY
Colonel Nairne's portrait.--His letters.--The first Scottish settlers at Malbaie.--Nairne's finance.--His tasks.--The cur��'s work.--The Scottish settlers and their French wives.--The Church and Education.--Nairne's efforts to make Malbaie Protestant.--His war on idleness.--The character of the habitant.--Fishing at Malbaie.--Trade at Malbaie.--Farming at Malbaie.--Nairne's marriage,--Career and death in India of Robert Nairne.--The Quebec Act and its consequences for the habitant. 40
CHAPTER IV
JOHN NAIRNE IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
Nairne's work among the French Canadians.--He becomes Major of the Royal Highland Emigrants.--Arnold's march through the wilderness to Quebec.--Quebec during the Siege, 1775-76.--The habitants and the Americans.--Montgomery's plans.--The assault on December 31st, 1775.--Malcolm Fraser gives the alarm in Quebec.--Montgomery's death.--Arnold's attack.--Nairne's heroism.--Arnold's failure.--The American fire-ship.--The arrival of a British fleet.--The retreat of the Americans.--Nairne's later service in the War.--Isle aux Noix and Carleton Island.--Sir John Johnson and the desolation of New York.--Nairne and the American prisoners at Murray Bay.--Their escape and capture.--Nairne and the Loyalists.--The end of the War.--Nairne's retirement to Murray Bay. 62
CHAPTER V
THE LAST DAYS OF JOHN NAIRNE
Nairne's careful education of his children.--His son John enters the army.--Nairne's counsels to his son.--John Nairne goes to India.--His death.--Nairne's declining years.--His activities at Murray Bay.--His income.--His daughter Christine and Quebec society.--The isolation of Murray Bay in Winter.--Signals across the river.--Nairne's reading.--His notes about current events.--The fear of a French invasion of England.--Thoughts of flight from Scotland to Murray Bay.--Nairne's last letter, April 20th, 1802.--His death and burial at Quebec. 93
CHAPTER VI
THOMAS NAIRNE, SEIGNEUR OF MURRAY BAY
His education in Scotland.--His winning character.--He enters the army.--Malcolm Fraser's counsels to a young soldier.--Thomas Nairne's life at Gibraltar.--His desire to retire from the army.--His return to Canada in 1810-11.--His life at Quebec.--His summer at Murray Bay, 1811.--His resolve to remain in the Army.--Beginning of the War of 1812.--Captain Nairne on Lake Ontario.--Quebec Society and the proposed flight from danger to Murray Bay.--Anxiety at Murray Bay.--The progress of the War.--An American attack on Kingston.--Captain Nairne on the Niagara frontier.--Naval War on Lake Ontario.--Nairne's description of a naval engagement.--Sense of impending disaster at Murray Bay.--The American advance on Montreal by the St. Lawrence.--Nairne's regiment a part of the opposing British force.--The Battle of Crysler's Farm.--Nairne's death.--His body taken to Quebec.--The grief of the family at Murray Bay.--The funeral. 124
CHAPTER VII
A FRENCH CANADIAN VILLAGE
Life at Murray Bay after Captain Nairne's death.--Letters from Europe.--Death of Malcolm Fraser.--Death of Colonel Nairne's widow and children.--His grandson John Nairne, seigneur.--Village Life.--The Church's Influence.--The Habitant's tenacity.--His cottage.--His labours.--His amusements.--The Church's missionary work in the Village.--The powers of the bishop.--His visitations.--The organization of the Parish.--The powers of the fabrique.--Lay control of Church finance.--The cur��s' tithe.--The best intellects enter the Church.--A native Canadian clergy.--The cur��'s social life.--The Church and Temperance Reform.--The diligence of the cur��s.--The habitant's taste for the supernatural.--The belief in goblins.--Prayer in the family.--The habitant as voter.--The office of Churchwarden.--The Church's influence in elections.--The seigneur's position.--The habitant's obligations to him.--Rent day and New Year's Day.--The seigneur's social rank.--The growth of discontent in the villages.--The evils of Seigniorial Tenure.--Agitation against the system.--Its abolition in 1854.--The last of the Nairnes.--The Nairne tomb in Quebec. 168
CHAPTER VIII
THE COMING OF THE PLEASURE SEEKERS
Pleasure seeking at Murray Bay.--A fisherman's experience in 1830.--New visitors.--Fishing in a mountain lake.--Camp life.--The Upper Murray.--Canoeing.--Running the rapids.--Walks and drives.--Golf.--A rainy day.--The habitant and his visitors. 222
AUTHORITIES 243
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A (p. 31) The Journal of Malcolm Fraser, First Seigneur of Mount Murray, Malbaie. 249
APPENDIX B (p. 38) Title Deed of the Seigniory of Murray Bay, granted to Captain John Nairne. 271
APPENDIX C (p. 78) The Siege of Quebec in 1775-76. Colonel Nairne's Narrative. 273
APPENDIX D (p. 98) Memorandum of Colonel Nairne, 5th April, 1795, for his son John Nairne in regard to military duty. 277
APPENDIX E (p. 104) The "Porpoise" (Beluga or White Whale) Fishery on the St. Lawrence. 279
APPENDIX F (p. 122) The Prayer of Colonel Nairne. 286
APPENDIX G (p. 144) The Cur��s of Malbaie. 287
INDEX 291

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
COLONEL JOHN NAIRNE Frontispiece (From the Oil Painting in the Manor House at Murray Bay.) PAGE
CAP �� L'AIGLE FROM THE WEST SHORE OF MURRAY BAY 6 (From the Water Colour by the late L.R. O'Brien, in the possession of the Hon. Edward Blake, K.C.)
VIEW ACROSS MURRAY BAY FROM THE CAP �� L'AIGLE SHORE 21 (From an Oil Painting by E. Wyly Grier, in the possession of the Hon. Edward Blake.)
GENERAL JAMES MURRAY 35 (From an Oil Painting preserved in the General's Family.)
THE MANOR HOUSE AT MURRAY BAY 74 (From amateur photographs.)
VIEW FROM POINTE AU PIC UP MURRAY BAY 102 (From a Water Colour by the late L.R. O'Brien in the possession of the Hon. Edward Blake.)
THE GOLF LINKS AT MURRAY BAY 237 (From a Photograph by W. Notman and Son, Montreal.)
MAPS
THE ST. LAWRENCE FROM QUEBEC TO MURRAY BAY 1
SKETCH MAP OF LAKE ONTARIO AND THE RIVER ST. LAWRENCE TO ILLUSTRATE THE WAR OF 1812-14 148

[Illustration: THE ST. LAWRENCE FROM QUEBEC TO MURRAY