Picturesque Quebec : a sequel to Quebec past and present Part 41

On the Beauport road, four miles from the city and about forty feet from the late Colonel B. C. A. Gugy's habitation, stood until 1879 an antiquated high-gabled French stone dwelling, very substantially put together. About thirty years back there was still existing close to and connected with it, a pavilion or tower, used in early days as a fort to protect the inmates against Indian raids. It contained the boudoir and sleeping apartments of some of the fair _seignieuresses_ [296] of Beauport in the house which Robert Giffard, the first seignor built there more than two centuries ago; it is the oldest seignorial manor in Canada. Robert Giffard's house--or, more properly, his shooting box--is thought to have stood closer to the little stream to the west. The first seignior of Beauport had two daughters who married two brothers, Juchereau, the ancestors of the d.u.c.h.esnays; and the manor has been in the possession of, and occupied by, the d.u.c.h.esnays for more than two hundred years.

Robert Giffard had visited Canada, for the first time, in 1627, in the capacity of a surgeon; and being a great sportsman, he built himself a small house on the banks of the Beauport stream, to enjoy to perfection, his favorite amus.e.m.e.nts--shooting and fishing. No authentic data exist of the capacity of Beauport for game in former days; we merely read in the _Relations des Jesuites_ that in the year 1648. 1200 ptarmigan were shot there, we also know that the quant.i.ties of ducks congregating on the adjoining _flats_ caused the place to be called _La Canardiere_. There is a curious old record in connection with this manor, exhumed by the Abbe Ferland; it is the exact formula used by one of the tenants or _censitaires_ in rendering _foi et hommage_ to the Lord of the Manor.

Guion (Dion?), a tenant, had by sentence of the Governor, Montmagny, been condemned on the 30th July, 1640, to fulfil this feudal custom. The doc.u.ment recites that, after knocking at the door of the chief manorial entrance, and in the absence of the master, addressing the farmer, one Boulle, the said Guion, having knelt down bare headed without his sword or spurs, repeated three times the words,--"_Monsieur de Beauport, Monsieur de Beauport, Monsieur de Beauport, je vous fais et porte la foy et hommage que je suis tenu de vous porter, a cause de mon fief du Buisson,_ [297]

_duquel je suis homme de foy relevant de votre seigneurie de Beauport, lequel m'appartient au moyen du contrat que nous avons pa.s.se ensemble par devant Roussel a Mortagne, le_ 14 _Mars_, 1634, _vous declarant que je vous offre payer les droits seigneuriaux et feodaux quand dus seront, vous requerant me recevoir a la dite foy et homage._" "Lord of Beauport, Lord of Beauport, Lord of Beauport, I render you the fealty and homage due to you on account of my land du Buisson ... which belongs to me by virtue of the t.i.tle-deed executed between us in presence of Roussel at Mortagne, the 14th March, 1634, avowing my readiness to acquit the seignorial and feudal rents whenever they shall be due, beseeching you to admit me to the said and homage." This Guion, a mason by trade, observes the Abbe Ferland, was the man of letters and scribe of the parish. There is still extant a marriage contract, drafted by him, for two parishioners; it is one of the earliest on record in Canada, bearing date the 16th July, 1636. It is signed by the worthy Robert Giffard, the seignior, and by Francois Bellanger and Noel Langlois; the other parties affixed their mark. It possesses interest as serving to ill.u.s.trate the status and education of the early French settlers. In 1628, Robert Giffard had been taken a prisoner of war by the English, on board of Rocmont's fleet. On his return, and in acknowledgement of the services rendered by him to the colonial authorities, he obtained a grant of the seigniory of Beauport, together with a large tract of land, on the River St. Charles. For many long years the ancestral halls of the d.u.c.h.esnays, at Beauport, rang with the achievements of their warlike seigneurs. One of them, Nicholas Juchereau de St. Denys, so distinguished himself at the siege of Quebec in 1690, that his sovereign granted him "a patent of n.o.bility." ("_Le sieur de St. Denys, seigneur de Beauport, _" says Charlevoix, "_commandait ses habitants, il avait plus de soixante ans et combattait avec beaucoup de valeur, jusqu'a ce qu'il eut un bras ca.s.se d'un coup de feu. Le Roi recompensa peu de temps apres son zele en lui accordant des lettres de n.o.blesse._") His son distinguished himself in Louisiana. Two other members of the family won laurels at Chateaugay. A descendant, Lieut.-Col.

Theodore d.u.c.h.esnay, is Deputy Adjutant General of Militia.

The late Col. Gugy, built himself, in 1865, close to the manor, a comfortable dwelling, wherein, amidst rural retirement, he divided his existence between literature, briefs and his stud, noted all over Canada.

He had recently added to his domain, by purchase, a large tract of land from the adjoining property, the De Salaberry homestead, where H.R.H.

the Duke of Kent, the father of our beloved Queen, in 1791 enjoyed more than one _pet.i.t souper_. The broad acres which in 1759 resounded to the tread of Montcalm's heavy squadrons, for years the quiet home of a barrister of note, now bear the name of Darnoc. _Cedant arma togae._

Darnoc, since the death of Col. Gugy, in 1878, is occupied by Mrs. Gugy and Herman Ryland, Esq., who married a daughter of the late proprietor.

The ruins of the d.u.c.h.esnay Manor, more than once have been disturbed by the pick and shovel of the midnight seeker for hidden French piastres: though religiously protected against outrage by Mrs. Gugy's family, and more especially watched over by the _Genius Loci_, the divining rod and a _Pet.i.t Albert_ have recently found their way there; however successfully poised and backed by the most orthodox incantations and fumigations, the magic rod has failed so far to bring to the surface either gold or silver coin. This was probably owing to the omission of a very important ceremony: the production on the spot of "a candle [298]

made out of the fat of an executed murderer, as the clock strikes twelve at midnight," under suitable planetary influence.

The recent discovery of the corner stone of the old manor, and of an inscription dating back to 1634, have given rise to a spicy newspaper discussion among our antiquarians.

_THE SEIGNIORIAL MANOR OF THE FIRST SEIGNEUR OF BEAUPORT, 1614._

I.H.S. M.I.A.

LAN 1634 LE NTE 25 IVILET.IE.ETE-PLA PREMIERE.P.C.GIFART SEIGNEVR.DE CE.LIEV

In March 1881, the _Literary and Historical Society_ of Quebec, received from the widow of the late Col. B. C. A. Gugy, of Darnoc, Beauport, a lead plate, with the above quoted inscription, and a note, stating under what circ.u.mstances Col. Gugy's family became possessed of it. This lead plate, affords a written record of the laying of the foundation stone, on the 25th July, 1634, of the historical homestead of the fighting _Seigneurs_ of Beauport: the Gifart, the Juchereau, the d.u.c.h.esnay.

The ma.s.sive old pile alleged to have been the headquarters of the Marquis de Montcalm, during the siege of Quebec, in 1759, and in which many generations of d.u.c.h.esnays and some of Col. Gugy's children were born, became the prey of flames in 1879, 'tis said, by the act of a Vandal. Thus perished the most ancient stronghold of the proud feudal Lairds of Beauport, of the stone manor of Surgeon Robert Giffard; the safe retreat against the Iroquois of the warlike Juchereau d.u.c.h.esnays, one of whose ancestors, in 1645, had married Marie Gifart, or Giffard, a daughter of the bellicose Esculapius from Perche, France,--Surgeon Robert Gifart.

Grim and defiant the antique manor, with its high-peaked gables, stood in front of the dwelling Col. Gugy had erected, at Darnoc, in 1865: it rather intercepted the view to be had from this spot, of Quebec. One of the memorable landmarks of the past, it has furnished a subject for the pencil of Col. Benson J. Lossing, author of the "American Revolution," and "Life of Washington," who, during his visit to Quebec, in July, 1858, sketched it with others, for _Harper's Magazine_, where it appeared, over the heading "Montcalm's Headquarters, Beauport," in the January number, 1859, page 180, from which drawing it was transferred to the columns of the Canadian _Ill.u.s.trated News_, for May, 1881.

Whilst the deciphering of some of the letters I.H.S.--M.I.A. at the top of the inscription has exercised the ingenuity of our Oldbucks and Monkbarns, the plate itself and its inscription will furnish to the student of history an indefeasible proof of the exact spot, and of the date, when and where stood the oldest of our seigniorial manors,--that of Robert Gifart, on the margin of the _ruisseau de l'ours_, at Beauport, in 1634.

_J. M. LeMoine Esquire, President Literary and Historical Society, Quebec:_

BEAUPORT, 26th March, 1881

"SIR.--The tablet found in the Manor House of Beauport by some workmen, last summer, and only recently restored to the proprietors, is a circular plate of lead or pewter much injured by the fire which consumed the building.

Owing to the unwillingness of the men concerned to give any information, it is difficult to learn much about whereabouts in the building it was found, nor what other articles may have accompanied it, but as far as can be ascertained, this oval plate (about 1/4 of an inch in thickness) was rolled up and contained a few coins and some doc.u.ments; the first cannot be traced and are spoken of as "quelques sous;" the latter, they say, crumbled into dust at once.

The inscription, as well as can be deciphered, is as follows:--

I.H.S. M.I.A.

LAN 1634 LE NTE 25 IVILET.IE.ETE-PLA PREMIERE.P.C.GIFART SEIGNEVR.DE CE.LIEV

This is rudely but deeply cut into the plate, and underneath may be seen in patches, traces of a fainter etching, part of which may be a coat of arms, but this is uncertain; underneath can be seen a heart reversed, with flames springing from it upwards. All these are enclosed in a larger heart, point downwards.

The enclosed rough simile may give an idea of the lettering at the top of the circle, the plate itself being about nine inches in diameter."

(With Mrs. Gugy's compliments.)

Darnoc, 26th March, 1881.

_THE BEAUPORT MANOR INSCRIPTION._

(To the Editor of the Morning Chronicle.)

"Whilst regretting the loss of the coins and doc.u.ment accompanying the inscription of the Beauport Manor, on account of the light it might have thrown on this remote incident of Canadian history, let us examine the case as it stands.

This rude inscription of 25th July, 1634, gives priority as to date to the Beauport Manor over any ancient structure extant in Canada this day. The erection of the manor would seem to have preceded by three years the foundation of the Jesuits' Sillery residence, now owned by Messrs. Dobell and Beckett, which dates of July, 1637. Who prepared the inscription? Who engraved the letters? Who cut on the lead the figure of the "flaming heart?" The stars? Are they heraldic? What did they typify? Did the plate come out, ready prepared from France? Had the _Academie des Inscriptions, etc._, or any other _academie_, any hand in the business? No, for obvious reasons.

The lead-plate was imbedded in solid masonry. It is too rude to be the work of an engraver. Could it have been designed by Surgeon Gifart, the Laird of Beauport and cut on the lead-plate by the scribe and _savant_ of the settlement, Jean Guion (Dion?) whose penmanship in the wording of two marriage contracts, dating from 1636, has been brought to light by an indefatigable searcher of the past--the Abbe Ferland? probably.

But if the lettered Beauport stone mason, who never rose to be a Hugh Miller, whatever were his abilities, did utilize his talents in 1634, to produce a durable record in order to perpetuate the date of foundation of this manor, he subsequently got at loggerheads with his worth _seignieur_, probably owing to the litigious tastes which his native Perche had instilled in him. Perche, we all know, is not very distant from Normandy, the hot-bed of feuds and litigation, and might have caught the infection from this neighborhood:

Governor Montmagny, in the s.p.a.ce of eight short years, had been called on to adjudicate on six controversies which had arisen between Gifart and his va.s.sals, touching boundaries and seigniorial rights, though the learned historian Ferland, has failed to particularize, whether among those controverted rights, was included the _Droit de Chapons_ and _Droit de Seigneur_; could the latter unchaste, but cherished right of some Scotch and German feudal lords, by a misapprehension of our law, in the dark days of the colony, have been claimed by such an exacting seignior as M. de Gifart? One hopes not.

Be that as it may, the stone mason and _savant_ Jean Guion had refused to do feudal homage to "Monsieur de Beauport," and on the 30th July, 1640, six years after the date of the inscription, under sentence rendered by Governor de Montmagny, he was made to do so.

Who will decipher the I.H.S.--M.I.A. the letters at the top of the plate? Is there no defendant of the haughty Seignior of Beauport, Rob.

Gifart, to give us his biography, and tell us of his sporting days; of the black and grey ducks, brant, widgeon, teal, snipe, and curlew, etc., which infested the marshy banks of the stream--the _Ruisseau de l'Ours_, on which he had located, first his shooting box, and afterwards his little fort or block-house, against Iroquois aggression? Dr. Gifart was a keen sportsman, tradition repeats. Did the locality get the name of _Canardiere_ on account of the _Canards_, the ducks, he had bagged in his time? Who will enlighten us on all these points?

ENQUIRER.

Quebec, 8th April, 1881.

QUERY.--Would I. H. S. stand for _Jesus Hominum Salvator_? and M.I.A.

for _Maria-Josephus-Anna_?--the Holy Family--asks Dr W. Marsden.

_COUNT D'ORSONNENS LETTER_

_A monsieur J. M. LeMoine, president de la Societe Litteraire et Historique de Quebec, etc., etc, etc._

CHER MONSIEUR,.--Votre lettre du 1er avril, publiee dans le _Morning Chronicle_, en groupant, autour du premier Manoir canadien, des grands noms canadiens, des faits historiques et des traditions, semble vouloir nous faire regretter encore plus la perte d'un monument dont il ne reste plus qu'une plaque de plomb gravee sans art, avec une inscription sans orthographe. Je suis alle, comme bien d'autres, voir ce morceau de plomb, qui contient, autant que l'imprimerie peut le representer, l'inscription suivante:

I.H.S. M.I.A.

LAN 1634 LE NTE 25 IVILET.IE.ETE-PLA PREMIERE.P.C.GIFART SEIGNEVR.DE CE.LIEV

La premiere ligne a ete, sans doute, gravee avec une pointe, l'incision plus indecise est aussi moins profonde, de meme que les lettres NTE ajoutees au-dessus de PLA, pour faire le mot plante, que l'art du graveur ou la largeur du ciseau n'avait pas su contenir dans la troisieme ligne.

Les lettres des trois dernieres lignes ont ete coupees avec un ciseau de un demi-pouce de large, l'incision est nette et bien dessinee; on voit encore les lignes qui ont ete tracees dans toute la largeur de la plaque, an moyen d'une pointe pour guider le ciseau du graveur.

Dans le centre de la plaque, on distingue avec peine un ecusson.

portant un coeur renverse et fiamme; au centre de l'ecu, trois etoiles. Impossible de dire si elles sont posees en face ou sur un champ quelconque. Le tout a du etre surmonte d'un heaume, car on voit encore de chaque cote de l'ecu des lignes courbes multiples, qui doivent necessairement representer les lambrequins; sur le cote gauche, un bout de banderolle, mais l'_artiste_ a du abandonner sa premiere idee, car le haut de la banderolle se perd dans les lignes du lambrequin.

J'ai lu dans la lettre qui accompagnait l'envoi de Madame Gugy, que les ouvriers, qui avaient travaille aux ruines, disaient avoir trouve la plaque de plomb, _roulee_ avec certains doc.u.ments qui seraient tombes en poussiere au toucher. La chose me parait impossible. Le dessous de la plaque indique qu'elle a ete posee a plat sur un lit de mortier, et la partie gravee, du moins celle ou sont gravees les armoiries qu'une pierre pesante a ete placee dessus, et c'est par l'enfoncement de sa surface inegale que la plupart des lignes gravees ont ete detruites. On voit encore dans le plomb oxide l'empreinte d'une coquille petrifiee qui se trouvait agregee au calcaire.

En roulant le bloc superieur, les ouvriers ont pu plier le metal; de la l'erreur de croire que la plaque etait roulee, elle a du, comme toutes choses de ce genre, etre placee dans une cavite comme fond, ou on avait depose le doc.u.ment tombe en poussiere et les "quelques sous"

que ces honnetes ouvriers ont gardes pour eux, sans doute, sans en connaitre la valeur.