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purpose. The difficulty of procuring the necessary funds seems to have been an insurmountable obstacle.

Early in 1830, the Archdeacon made a circuit of the townships in the district of Quebec, south of the St. Lawrence, where there was not one resident clergyman. They had, however, received stated visits from a missionary of the S. P. G., whose time was chiefly so employed, but in these they shared with the settlements on the north shore, so that the supply of the ministrations of the Church was but scanty. This being the first mention of these townships, I shall give some extracts from a continuous account of the visit.

The Archdeacon left Quebec in his own vehicle on the 6th March for West Frampton: baited on the road at St. Henry: then "I betook myself very thankfully to my canister, and doled out a cracker or two to the children of the house, as well as some biscuit for myself, after which I begged for a little milk, and this a pleasant-looking good-natured lass, as there was none in the house, procured at once from the fountain-head;-- je m'en vais tirer la vache.' We baited again at the toll-bridge on the River Etchemin at the house of Woodhouse, respecting whose family Mr. Archbold is interested. I made the little girl whom he particularly mentioned say her prayers, the belief, &c., to me in English, but it was in miserably broken English. She seems to be almost losing her own language. The people would take no payment. They promised to come up to service the next day at West Frampton, and I was much disappointed at not seeing them." On Sunday, the 7th, he held service and preached at the house of Mr. Ross at West Frampton, where sixty-five persons were assembled, and "after service addressed the people in a more familiar way respecting family prayer, service on Sundays, teaching their children the catechism, preparing for the com

* It was on the occasion of his lordship's return from this visit, that the bells of the cathedral of Quebec rang out their first peal.

munion, &c. There was a second service at which about fifty persons were present, with sermon and catechising." An appointment had been made for service at East Frampton, the next day, but the Archdeacon was so unwell that he was detained till the following day. The weather was such that, when he got up in the morning, water freshly brought into the room became crusted over in a few moments, and "I really suffered in dressing, but it would be a shame indeed to complain of suffering no worse than this, and a strange forgetfulness of the charge of St. Paul to the Christian minister, thou, therefore, endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.' On arriving at East Frampton, I was mortified to learn that the people had assembled the day before in a strong muster to meet me, and that there was also a full attendance at the school in expectation of my visit. To-day I fear that I shall have hardly any congregation; the people waited so long yesterday, and so much snow has since fallen, that I can hardly expect the settlers to come again. I have been to the school." He had, however, a congregation of thirty-five, children included, and then returned to West Frampton, and on his way "passed the house of a settler who had built his house not upon but against a rock, a huge mass of stone forming one end of his dwelling, against which he makes his fire, which, when the whole face of the mass is heated, protects him against the most intense cold." The whole of the 10th, from nine a.m. to half-past ten p.m., was occupied by the journey to Aubert Galleon on the river Chaudière, where, on the 11th, service was held, as well as at a neighbouring settlement, with sermon and baptisms, followed by the examination of the school. The next note is dated Broughton, 13th March: "I have only the time which will be occupied by stowing away the things in the cariole (the horse being at the door) to say that I am well, and I hope not proceeding without, at least for the moment, doing some good. God bless the seed which I scatter, and bring it

to effect! I have had service this morning in the loft of a mill, where I also baptized a child. I have thirty-five miles to go before night, through desperately heavy wood-roads the greatest part, I fear, of the way: snow-storms, as usual, have escorted me on my route. Leeds, 14th.-I may as well see the whole line of country through which the Protestant population is scattered, and add my report to that of others as a ground for endeavouring to establish a mission here. Three Sundays are not much to be away on such a circuit, when it begins on a Saturday and ends on a Monday. It is, indeed, very insufficient for all that is required. The heavy rain, however, of last night and to-day is discouraging. The people in New Ireland are all running into the wildest enthusiasm: they have fourteen preachers, as I understand, among them. I arrived here at about twelve o'clock last night. I have been preaching here this morning, and am going on four miles to preach at five this evening: to-morrow I expect to preach twice, once at the end of my journey, at the house of Mr. Lord in New Ireland, and once at Sergeant Lee's on the way. As to my doing any of my writing, I see no chance of it whatever, and pray tell the Bishop so. I wonder what fresh disagreeable work awaits me, at which you hint in your note. God grant me wisdom, perseverance, patience and charity! they are all wanted enough." One letter of the series is unfortunately wanting, but the whole portion of the county of Megantic (in which there was not a single church) where there are now missionary stations seems to have been visited. The last letter is dated St. Giles, 20th March, and speaks of service at that place, in its neighbourhood, and at Plomer Range in Inverness. A rough memorandum of a report to the Bishop shews ten places in the county of Megantic, besides Frampton, the Chaudière settlements, and St. Giles, at which service had been held. At each place the congregation averaged from forty to one hundred persons, and twenty-two children were baptized,

although the Rev. R. Burrage had baptized about the same number on a similar circuit, about two months before. The Archdeacon appeals earnestly "for the establishment of at least one resident missionary in this district, whose headquarters should be at Leeds. The charge is indeed much too extensive, but an active and zealous missionary would, under the divine blessing, prove a great comfort to the people and effect much good, and there are many circumstances which indicate that no time should be lost." He also adverts to the spiritual destitution of the townships of Melbourne and Shipton, mentioned in his former journal. Both these points were soon afterwards gained.

CHAPTER VIII.

Archidiaconal duties and journals, 1830.

THE visits of the Archdeacon to the parishes and missions within his archdeaconry were continually called for by the necessity for taking measures for the establishment of new stations, and sometimes by local difficulties which required his presence in order to their removal. They were necessarily every way different from the visitations of an Archdeacon in England, and he never followed the English practice of assembling the clergy of any one district to receive a charge. In this respect the visitations of colonial Archdeacons are, perhaps with scarcely an exception, alike. But he always had a note of certain points of enquiry or recommendation on which he took occasion to enlarge in private conversation with them. These are mentioned in one of his journals as being, "first, catechizing; second, Sunday-school; third, pastoral visits from house to house; fourth, preaching at out-posts; fifth, observance of certain holydays; sixth, conformity of the people to certain ordinances, such as the institution of sponsors, churching of women, etc., and manner of obviating prejudices and difficulties, or of exercising discretion in making out a case of necessity to dispense with rules; seventh, font for baptism; eighth, ecclesiastical dress, wearing of canonicals recommended in preaching at out-posts and performing the occasional offices of the Church in private houses; ninth, family devotion, and attention, in travelling, to the performance of family prayer and the read

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