The archives reveal the presence of some fifteen billiards table in Quebec city between 1690 and 1760. They reveal, for instance, that in 1739 the merchant Jean Tach\u00e9 went "to Desmaret's, tavernkeeper equipped with a billiards [table] in the lower-town, to play a game with his friends like he does everyday".
![\"\u201cThe](\"https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/files\/2011\/06\/New-France_5_2_Billiards-Room-by-Chardin.jpg\")
<\/a>A game of billiards<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n How did the inhabitants of the French colonies in North America spend their free time? That is the subject of this article, which begins with a look at theatrical and musical performances, a form of entertainment that attracted many people, as was the case in France, even though religious authorities were sometimes adamant in their condemnation of it. The first play was staged in Acadia on November 14, 1606. Dance performances, song recitals and concerts, improvised or organized, were equally well received by the people of New France.<\/p>\n Reading was also a favourite pastime among the members of the population who could read and preferred to relax at home. However, since all books were published in France, they were not easy to come by. What characterized literary life in New France and what types of literature were found in the colony\u2019s libraries? A painstaking analysis of estate inventories provides the answer.<\/p>\n This article also looks at inns and taverns, ideal places to end an evening. Inns and taverns played an important role in social life, just as they do today. These meeting places were easily accessible, and people gathered there to play billiards or skittles, lose their money in games of chance, and even fight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" People have always needed distraction and relaxation to get their mind off things for a while. The inhabitants of New France were no exception. How did the inhabitants of the French colonies in North America spend their free time? That is the subject of this article, which begins with a look at theatrical and musical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"parent":312,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/426"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2942,"href":"https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/426\/revisions\/2942"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}