same import as the name given by the Hurons, and meant the place of the strait.

In the earlier period of the history of this country, when many of the inhabitants were familiar with the Indian tongues, and when the import of the last Indian name was well known, the singular error was fallen into of supposing that QUEBEC was the Indian word which signified the place of the strait. Charlevoix is the writer on whose authority this error, as we conceive it to be, has been transmitted; although it has been somewhat inconsiderately thrown back upon Champlain, who wrote more than a century before Charlevoix. The latter says in his third letter, speaking of the River St. Lawrence: "Au dessus de l'Isle d'Orleans, il se retrecit tout à coup de cette sorte, que devant Québec il n'a plus qu'une mille de largeur; c'est ce qui a fait donner à cet endroit le nom de Québec, qui en langue Algonquin signifie retrecissement :"-" Above the Island of Orleans, it suddenly narrows, and that to such a degree as to be no more than a mile wide opposite to Quebec; from which circumstance this place has been called Quebec, which in the Algonquin tongue signifies a strait." That this statement was made to Charlevoix upon the spot, there is no reason to doubt; but it may have arisen from error, and was probably founded on the Huron name, the import of which was the place of the strait. The latter being familiarly known, owing to the residence of the Hurons at Lorette, and Quebec having been considered an Indian word, in the course of time it came to be regarded as of the same meaning, although no such import can at the present day be traced. Thus Quebec was handed down as the place of the strait by Charlevoix one writer repeated it after another,

Mensuraque ficti

Crescit, et auditis aliquid novus adjicit auctor.

So the story grew,

And each narrator added something new.

CHAMPLAIN, the earliest and, doubtless, the best authority on the subject has also been adduced in support of this opinion, in a note to SMITH'S History of Canada, page 16: "Quebec, in the Algonquin language signifies a strait. Champlain, vol, I. 115.” But the words of CHAMPLAIN by no means prove the assertion here made. He says, in page 115, "Trouvant un lieu le plus estroit de la rivière, que les habitans du pays appellent Québec, je fis bastir, &c. :" -"finding a place where the River was narrowest, which the inhabitants call Quebec, I began to build.” Again, at page 124, we find, "La pointe de Québec, ainsi appellé des sauvages :""The point of Quebec, so called by the savages." This is all that Champlain says, and it is by no means conclusive. There is no certainty from this, that the name of QUEBEC was given to this place by the Indians, prior to the foundation of the city, from the mere circumstance of its being the narrowest part of the River: the grammatical construction of the first quotation by no means indicates that: on the contrary, it would appear from the second quotation that it was the point, at the confluence of the Little River St. Charles with the St. Lawrence, to which the savages gave the name of Quebec. There being nothing, therefore, in the authority of CHAMPLAIN decisive of Quebec being the Indian word for a strait, it may be added, that its root has never yet been discovered in any Indian language; and that in the opinion of persons well acquainted with the native dialects, Quebec has not

to the ear any sound of an Indian word. The Algonquin tongue is of singular softness and sweetness, and may be considered as the Italian of the North American languages. Quebec, originally so written, is a harsh, abrupt sound, of which no parallel can easily be found in any of the Indian tongues, least of all in the Algonquin ; in which the sound P was always substituted for that of B, while in the Huron language the latter consonant is altogether rejected. Both these facts throw considerable difficulty around the supposed Indian derivation of the name, with its present orthography.

On the other hand, the word bears intrinsic evidence of Norman origin. The first syllable is French, and the last, bec, was uniformily applied by them to designate a promontory or cape, of which abundant instances may be adduced from their ancient maps. But evidence has lately been discovered, which establishes, beyond doubt, that the word is of European origin, supposed on the best grounds to be Norman ; and that it was a place of sufficient importance to give one of his titles to a distinguished statesman and warrior, so early as the 7th year of the reign of Henry V. of England, the hero of Agincourt.

On the opposite side is an engraving, which accurately represents the impression of the seal of WILLIAM DE LA POLE, EARL OF SUFFOLK, a person of historical celebrity during the reigns of Henry V. and VI. The arms on the shield, the supporters, the helmet, and a representation of the Earl with the cap of maintenance upon his head, and ruff around his neck, are quite perfect. The legend which is mutilated may thus be supplied: "SIGILLUM WILLIELMI DE LA POLE, COMITIS SUFFOLCHIE DOMINI DE HAMBURY ET DE QUEBEC." It is probable