Place D ' Armes Montreal Canada Lithograph By John Lambert Published 1813
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:161244 | Age: 1813 |
| Type: lithograph | Maker: John Lambert |
| Country/Region of Origin: Canada | Material: paper |
| Original/Repro: Original |
Travelsthrough Lower Canada by John Lambert 1813The Place D'Armes at Montrealmeasures 12 cm x 20 cmThisedition of this highly successful account of Lower Canada. Lambert‘studied both towns and countryside, estimated the size of thepopulation, and compiled a mass of data, backed with tables, on suchfacets of the economy as agriculture, industry, retail trade, the furtrade, exports, imports, money, and many other elements … Hedescribed the Indians’ way of life and their decline, di...vided thepopulation of the towns and countryside into social classes, and withnumerous anecdotes recounted the ways and customs of the habitantsand the town-dwellers’. His illustrations for the work, in slightlynaïve but nevertheless striking manner, depict ‘some of the placesvisited, objects of everyday use, and the clothing worn by women, priests, soldiers, seminary students, and Indians’ (Jacqueline Royin DCB)John Lambert came to LowerCanada in 1806. He was accompanying his uncle, James Campbell, whohad been sent by the Privy Council committee for trade in London topromote the growing of hemp in the colony. It does not seem, however, that Lambert was in any way engaged in this project, which failedaround 1810. In 1806, well before that outcome, he set off on travelsabout the colony and in various American states. He may already havebeen been thinking of writing an account of his voyage. One thing iscertain: it was as a perspicacious observer with a critical andextremely sharp eye that he carried out his tour, accumulating factsand anecdotes of all kinds.Lambert remained in Lower Canadain 1806 and 1807, visiting Quebec, Montreal, and the towns andvillages in between. In each place he seems to have associated withthe influential people and to have been welcomed warmly andunreservedly in British and Canadian, Catholic and Protestant homes.Later he toured the United States, from the state of New York toSouth Carolina, in the same fashion.Lambert returned to Quebec in1809 and left again for London almost immediately. The following yearhe brought out in three volumes his Travels through Lower Canada, andthe United States of North America, in the years 1806, 1807, and1808; its great success led him to prepare a second edition in twovolumes in 1813, a third one the following year, and a fourth in1816. He illustrated the work himself with rather restrained andnaïve water-colours depicting some of the places visited, objects ofeveryday use, and the clothing worn by women, priests, soldiers, seminary students, and Indians. In 1811 Lambert also brought out, with a long and laudatory introduction on American life He alsotried to fathom the judicial system and French law, explainseigneurial tenure, and assess the church’s hold on the Canadians.Lambert proved just asmeticulous in his description of American society; he compared itfavourably with Lower Canadian society in virtually all areas: roads, farms, towns, trade, education, art, wealth – and scandals.His analysis also showed the glaring difference that already existedbetween the anglophones in Lower Canada and the Americans, ageneration after the states had gained independence.Biographical information on JohnLambert is extremely fragmentary. And yet his short stay in Canadaturned out to be of real importance, for the writings that resultedfrom it have been widely read and used by historians, story-tellers, and novelists. The author’s desire to be objective is so evidentthroughout the work that many have been convinced of the merit of theaccount and the soundness of its arguments. There is, however, nodoubt that Lambert was above all faithful to his period and hisorigins.
