The impression made upon the visitor by this Gibraltar of America:
its giddy heights; its citadel suspended, as it were, in the air;
its picturesque steep streets and frowning gateways; and the
splendid views which burst upon the eye at every turn: is at once
unique and lasting.
It is a place not to be forgotten or mixed up in the mind with
other places, or altered for a moment in the crowd of scenes a
traveller can recall. Apart from the realities of this most
picturesque city, there are associations clustering about it which
would make a desert rich in interest. The dangerous precipice
along whose rocky front, Wolfe and his brave companions climbed to
glory; the Plains of Abraham, where he received his mortal wound;
the fortress so chivalrously defended by Montcalm; and his
soldier's grave, dug for him while yet alive, by the bursting of a
shell; are not the least among them, or among the gallant incidents
of history. That is a noble Monument too, and worthy of two great
nations, which perpetuates the memory of both brave generals, and
on which their names are jointly written.
The city is rich in public institutions and in Catholic churches
and charities, but it is mainly in the prospect from the site of
the Old Government House, and from the Citadel, that its surpassing
beauty lies.
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