Page:Repository of Arts, Series 1, Volume 01, 1809, January-June.djvu/110

84 tion of Nelson. It consists of an Ionic pillar, of the height of 72 feet, support in a pedestrian statue of the hero, 8 feet high. Its base is embellished with alto-relievo representations of the battles of the Nile, Copenhagen, and Trafalgar, occupying three sides, with an inscription on the fourth. The monument was finished, but not set up, in 1806, as the place was a subject of dispute. It is supposed, however, that it will be erected in a new square, laid out on the site of the Jesuit's College, and began to be built in the year above-mentioned.

The hotels deserve to be mentioned, as they are noted all over the continent for their excellent fare and superior accommodation. There are many other improvements going on and projected, which will soon render Montreal one of the handsomest, as it is already one of the most agreeable, places in America.

An estimate of the population, &c, of this city, may be made from the following table, extracted from the parish registers for the year 1804:

Districts.

R. Catholic parish church,&c.

Protestant church

Dissenters church

General hospital

Totals

Marriages. Baptisms. Burials. Totals.

female. male. female. male. Bap. Bur. 84 270 239 179 138 509 317

37 27 28 26 29 55 55

20 41 29 16 11 70 27

— 9 8 14 18 17 32

141 347 304 235 196 651 431

Births more than deaths—220

The great superiority of births over burials may be accounted for from the salubrity of the air, the abundance and goodness of provisions, and the custom of marrying early in life. The proportion of male births over female, is also remarkable, and, perhaps, may he ascribed to the same causes. The number of inhabited houses in the city and suburbs the same year, was found to be 2132.

The annual deaths in London, where the christenings and burials of late years have, on an average, nearly balanced each other, is calculated at one in thirty-three; but in so very healthy a place as Montreal, the proportion can scarcely be less than one in forty. If stated at one in thirty-six, it will give a population of 15,516 souls, which is allowing more than seven persons to each house; but this appears to be too great an average, at least with regard to the English inhabitants It may be reconciled, however, by taking into the calculation the non-residents; namely, the troops in barracks, a considerable number of whom get married and have families, the crews of ships, &c. in the river, and travellers sojourning from Upper and Lower Canada, and the United States. All these certainly contribute to swell the parish registers.

The climate of Montreal is reckoned to be milder than those places in America situated under the same parallel of latitude, but more easterly. The summer is six weeks longer than at Quebec: namely, a fortnight