Seven String Bass Viol 1720 Nicolas Bertrand French This viol was brought from France to Quebec City in Canada in the middle of the eighteenth century. It was at a boarding school for wealthy girls run at the Convent of the Hospital General along with other instruments, perhaps to accompany a choir. At some point, perhaps in 1759 during the Battle of Quebec, all of the instruments along with other items were hidden behind a hastily constructed wall in the convent. The instruments remained there until the 1830s when masons discovered them when they were brought in to make repairs to the convent. This instrument by Bertrand was later sold in 1864 to a dealer in Montreal, William Snaith. He in turn sold it to Mary Elizabeth Brown in 1899. This viol retains its original neck, which was reshaped when the viol was converted to a cello, probably in the nineteenth century. Bass viols of French origin feature seven strings, an invention of the French viol player Jean de Sainte-Colombe (fl. 1658