Jacques Square fronts the river and is adorned with a column and statue of Lord Nelson, erected in 1808, and recently restored. Into this square the traffic from Bonsecours market overflows, and it has lost all the dignity of a public place. At the head of this square Frontenac burned four Iroquois in 1696, with good effect upon the tribe.
Victoria Square is in the centre of the city, at the foot of Beaver Hall Hill, and contains a good bronze statue of Queen Victoria, of colossal proportions, by Marshall Wood. A monument to King Edward VII adorns Phillips Square.
Dominion Square occupies the site of an old cemetery. The square is a pleasant place and acquires dignity from the buildings on either side; the Canadian Pacific Depot, the Windsor Hotel and on the east the cathedral of Saint James. Here have been erected the ice palaces when Carnival was king. Near the centre of the square is a structure containing a figure in bronze of the late Sir John A. Macdonald. The figure itself is of commanding proportions with a reasonable degree of harmony in its parts, but the canopy with its obscure adornments and trifling decorations, disguises the value of the figure.
Saint Helen's Island, at the foot of the cur rent, is a small island called by the name of Helen, wife of Champlain, the first European woman to visit Canada. The English govern ment acquired it from the Barons of Longueuil for a military depot and station. There is yet upon the island a battery of guns and barracks. The place is prettily wooded and has many secluded spots.
The Catholic cathedral of Saint James has an imposing situation upon Dominion Square. It is erroneously called the cathedral of Saint Peter, because it is a repro duction of Saint Peter's at Rome, modified to suit the exigencies of the Canadian climate; for example, the roof is sloping to throw off the snow. This noble edifice was projected by the late Archbishop Bourget in 1852, when his church and palace on Saint Denis street were consumed in the great fire of that year. The work was commenced in 1868 and is now nearly finished. Apart from the plan the ex terior is hard and gloomy in appearance. The
dome is a noble adornment and a salient feature in the architecture of Montreal. Its height with the cross is 250 feet and its di ameter 90 feet. The plan is cruciform after the manner of its prototype, the tribune and ends of the transept being rounded. The total length is 330 feet, the breadth of the transept 225 feet, the height to the roof-tree 80 feet. The interior is upon the model of the Italian churches. At the north entrance is a statue to the founder by Hebert.
The parish church of Notre Dame faces the Place d'Armes. It is a plain stately edifice of late Gothic style, built of graystone in 1824, by James O'Donnell. The present site was occu pied by a church built in 1672, a long low structure with a pointed roof. Notre Dame is one of the largest churches in America, being 255 feet long and 134 feet wide, and capable of containing 18,000 persons. There are two towers, 227 feet high provided with an elevator, and from the summit a notable view may be ob tained. They contain a chime of 10 bells which are rung upon special occasions. There are three others, one "le Gros Bourdon,” the largest bell in America, weighing 15 tons. The in terior is florid and tasteless in its decorations, but the wood carving is good. The organ was built at Saint Hyacinthe in 1890. Behind the choir is a richly adorned Lady Chapel.
Adjoining the church is the seminary of Saint Sulpice, erected in 1710 and now used for the offices of the Order. As in the days of Charlevoix, it is "a stately great and pleasant house, built of free-stone, after the model of that of Saint Sulpice at Paris; and the altar stands by itself, just like that at Paris?' Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, on Saint Catherine street, is the only church in Canada in which all the interior decoration is meant to illustrate one central idea; in this case, the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. M. Bourassa, the art ist, was stimulated to this effect by the declara tion in 1854, of Pius IX, that this dogma was of faith. The style of architecture is Byzantine and Renaissance in harmonious proportions. Within and without the effect is one of unity and force.