Transplantation Of Feudalism.—Precautions.—Faith And Hope —Age.—The Seignior.—The Censitaire.—Royal Intervention2.—The Gentilhomme.—Canadian Noblesse.
Canadian society was beginning to form itself, and at its base was the feudal1 tenure3. European feudalism was the indigenous4 and natural growth of political and social conditions which preceded it. Canadian feudalism was an offshoot of the feudalism of France, modified by the lapse5 of centuries, and further modified by the royal will.
In France, as in the rest of Europe, the system had lost its vitality6. The warrior-nobles who placed Hugh Capet on the throne, and began the feudal monarchy7, formed an aristocratic republic, and the king was one of their number, whom they chose to be their chief. But, through the struggles and vicissitudes8 of many succeeding reigns9, royalty10 had waxed and oligarchy12 had waned13. The fact had changed and the theory had changed with it. The king, once powerless among a host of turbulent nobles, was now a king indeed. Once a chief, because his equals had made him so, he was now the anointed of the Lord. This triumph of royalty had culminated14 in Louis XIV. The stormy energies and bold individualism of the old feudal nobles had ceased to exist. They who had held his predecessors15 in awe16 had become his obsequious17 servants. He no longer feared his nobles; he prized them as gorgeous decorations of his court, and satellites of his royal person.
It was Richelieu who first planted feudalism in Canada. * The king would preserve it there, because with its teeth drawn18 he was fond of it, and because, as the feudal tenure prevailed in Old France, it was natural that it should prevail also in the New. But he continued as Richelieu had begun, and moulded it to the form that pleased him. Nothing was left which could threaten his absolute and undivided authority over the colony. In France, a multitude of privileges and prescriptions19 still clung, despite its fall, about the ancient ruling class. Few of these were allowed to cross the Atlantic, while the old, lingering abuses, which had made the system odious20, were at the same time lopped away. Thus retrenched21, Canadian feudalism was made to serve a double end; to produce a faint and harmless reflection of French aristocracy, and simply and practically to supply agencies for distributing land among the settlers.
The nature of the precautions which it was held to require appear in the plan of administration which Talon22 and Tracy laid before the minister.
* By the charter of the Company of the Hundred Associates,
1627.
They urge that, in view of the distance from France, special care ought to be taken to prevent changes and revolutions, aristocratic or otherwise, in the colony, whereby in time sovereign jurisdictions24 might grow up, as formerly25 occurred in various parts of France. * And, in respect to grants already made, an inquiry27 was ordered, to ascertain28 “if seigniors in distributing lands to their vassals30 have exacted any conditions injurious to the rights of the Crown and the subjection due solely31 to the king.” In the same view the seignior was denied any voice whatever in the direction of government; and it is scarcely necessary to say that the essential feature of feudalism in the day of its vitality, the requirement of military service by the lord from the vassal29, was utterly32 unknown in Canada. The royal governor called out the militia33 whenever he saw fit, and set over it what officers he pleased.
The seignior was usually the immediate34 vassal of the Crown, from which he had received his land gratuitously35. In a few cases, he made grants to other seigniors inferior in the feudal scale, and they, his vassals, granted in turn to their vassals, the habitants or cultivators of the soil. ** Sometimes
la justice et la distribution des terres du Canada, Jan. 24,
1667.
** Most of the seigniories of Canada were simple fiefs; but
there were some exceptions. In 1671, the king, as a mark of
barony; and it was soon afterwards made an earldom, comté.
In 1676, the seigniory of St. Laurent, on the island of
Orleans, once the property of Laval, and then belonging to
Fran?ois Berthelot, councillor of the king, was erected into
an earldom. In 1681, the seigniory of Portneuf, belonging to
Réné Robineau, chevalier, was made a barony. In 1700, three
seigniories on the south side of the St. Lawrence were
united into the barony of Lcngueuil. See Papers on the
Feudal Tenure in Canada, Abstract of Titles.
the habitant held directly of the Crown, in which case there was no step between the highest and lowest degrees of the feudal scale. The seignior held by the tenure of faith and homage38, the habitant by the inferior tenure en censive. Faith and homage were rendered to the Crown or other feudal superior whenever the seigniory changed hands, or, in the case of seigniories held by corporations, after long stated intervals39. The following is an example, drawn from the early days of the colony, of the performance of this ceremony by the owner of a fief to the seignior who had granted it to him. It is that of Jean Guion, vassal of Giffard, seignior of Beauport. The act recounts how, in presence of a notary40, Guion presented himself at the principal door of the manor41-house of Beauport; how, having knocked, one Boullé, farmer of Giffard, opened the door, and in reply to Guion’s question if the seignior was at home, replied that he was not, but that he, Boullé, was empowered to receive acknowledgments of faith and homage from the vassals in his name. “After the which reply,” proceeds the act, the said Guion, being at the principal door, placed himself on his knees on the ground, with head bare, and without sword or spurs, and said three times these words: “Monsieur de Beauport, Monsieur de Beauport, Monsieur de Beauport, I bring you the faith and homage which I am bound to bring you on account of my fief Du Buisson, which I hold as a man of faith of your seigniory of Beauport, declaring that I offer to pay my seigniorial and feudal dues in their season, and demanding of you to accept me in faith and homage as aforesaid.” *
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Jean Guion before Monsieur de Beauport
The following instance is the more common one of a seignior holding directly of the Crown. It is widely separated from the first in point of time, having occurred a year after the army of Wolfe entered Quebec. Philippe No?l had lately died, and Jean No?l, his son, inherited his seigniory of Tilly and Bonsecours. To make the title good, faith and homage must be renewed. Jean No?l was under the bitter necessity of rendering42 this duty to General Murray, governor for the king of Great Britain. The form is the same as in the case of Guion, more than a century before. No?l repairs to the Government House at Quebec, and knocks at the door. A servant opens it. No?l asks if the governor is there. The servant replies that he is. Murray, informed of the visitor’s object, comes to the door, and No?l then and there, “without sword or spurs, with bare head, and one knee on the ground,” repeats the acknowledgment of faith and homage for his seigniory. He was compelled, however, to add a detested43 innovation, the oath of fidelity44 to his Britannic Majesty45, coupled with a pledge to keep his vassals in obedience46 to the new sovereign. **
The seignior was a proprietor47 holding that relation to the feudal superior which, in its pristine48
65. This was a fief en roture, as distinguished50 from a fief
attached.
** See the act in Observations de Sir L. H. Lafontaine,
Bart., sur la Tenure Seignetiriale, 217, note.
character, has been truly described as servile in form, proud and bold in spirit. But in Canada this bold spirit was very far from being strengthened by the changes which the policy of the Crown had introduced into the system. The reservation of mines and minerals, oaks for the royal navy, roadways, and a site, if needed, for royal forts and magazines, had in it nothing extraordinary. The great difference between the position of the Canadian seignior and that of the vassal proprietor of the Middle Ages lay in the extent and nature of the control which the Crown and its officers held over him. A decree of the king, an edict of the council, or an ordinance52 of the intendant, might at any moment change old conditions, impose new ones, interfere53 between the lord of the manor and his grantees, and modify or annul54 his bargains, past or present. He was never sure whether or not the government would let him alone; and against its most arbitrary intervention he had no remedy.
One condition was imposed on him which may be said to form the distinctive55 feature of Canadian feudalism; that of clearing his land within a limited time on pain of forfeiting57 it. The object was the excellent one of preventing the lands of the colony from lying waste. As the seignior was often the penniless owner of a domain58 three or four leagues wide and proportionably deep, he could not clear it all himself, and was therefore under the necessity of placing the greater part in the hands of those who could. But he was forbidden to sell any part of it which he had not cleared. He must grant it without price, on condition of a small perpetual rent; and this brings us to the cultivator of the soil, the censitaire, the broad base of the feudal pyramid. *
The tenure en censive by which the censitaire held of the seignior consisted in the obligation to make annual payments in money, produce, or both. In Canada these payments, known as cens et rente, were strangely diverse in amount and kind; but, in all the early period of the colony, they were almost ludicrously small. A common charge at Montreal was half a sou and half a pint59 of wheat for each arpent. The rate usually fluctuated in the early times between half a sou and two sous, so that a farm of a hundred and sixty arpents would pay from four to sixteen francs, of which a part would be in money and the rest in live capons, wheat, eggs, or all three together, in pursuance of contracts as amusing in their precision as they are bewildering in their variety. Live capons,
* The greater part of the grants made by the old Company of
New France were resumed by the Crown for neglect to occupy
and improve the land, which was granted out anew under the
administration of Talon. The most remarkable60 of these
forfeited grants is that of the vast domain of La Citière,
large enough for a kingdom. Lauson, afterwards governor, had
obtained it from the company, but had failed to improve it.
Two or three sub-grants which he had made from it were held
valid; the rest was reunited to the royal domain. On
threatened with the loss of half or the whole of their land,
and various cases are recorded in which the threat took
effect. In 1741, an ordinance of the governor and intendant
reunited to the royal domain seventeen seigniories at one
stroke; but the former owners were told that if within a
year they cleared and settled a reasonable part of the
forfeited estates, the titles should be restored to them.
Edits et Ordonnances, II. 555. In the case of the habitant
or censitaire forfeitures62 for neglect to improve the land
and live on it are very numerous.
estimated at twenty sous each, though sometimes not worth ten, form a conspicuous63 feature in these agreements, so that on pay-day the seignior’s barnyard presented an animated64 scene. Later in the history of the colony grants were at somewhat higher rates. Payment was commonly made on St. Martin’s day, when there was a general muster65 of tenants66 at the seigniorial mansion67, with a prodigious68 consumption of tobacco and a corresponding retail69 of neighborhood gossip, joined to the outcries of the captive fowls70 bundled together for delivery, with legs tied, but throats at full liberty.
A more considerable but a very uncertain source of income to the seignior were the lods et ventes, or mutation71 fines. The land of the censitaire passed freely to his heirs; but if he sold it, a twelfth part of the purchase-money must be paid to the seignior. The seignior, on his part, was equally liable to pay a mutation fine to his feudal superior if he sold his seigniory; and for him the amount was larger, being a quint, or a fifth of the price received, of which, however, the greater part was deducted72 for immediate payment. This heavy charge, constituting, as it did, a tax on all improvements, was a principal cause of the abolition73 of the feudal tenure in 1854.
The obligation of clearing his land and living on it was laid on seignior and censitaire alike; but the latter was under a variety of other obligations to the former, partly imposed by custom and partly established by agreement when the grant was made. To grind his grain at the seignior’s mill, bake his bread in the seignior’s oven, work for him one or more days in the year, and give him one fish in every eleven, for the privilege of fishing in the river before his farm; these were the most annoying of the conditions to which the censitaire was liable. Few of them were enforced with much regularity74. That of baking in the seignior’s oven was rarely carried into effect, though occasionally used for purposes of extortion. It is here that the royal government appears in its true character, so far as concerns its relations with Canada, that of a well-meaning despotism. It continually intervened between censitaire and seignior, on the principle that “as his Majesty gives the land for nothing, he can make what conditions he pleases, and change them when he pleases.” * These interventions75 were usually favorable to the censitaire. On one occasion an intendant reported to the minister, that in his opinion all rents ought to be reduced to one sou and one live capon for every arpent of front, equal in most cases to forty superficial arpents. ** Every thing, he remarks, ought to be brought down to the level of the first grants “made in days of innocence,” a happy period which he does not attempt to define. The minister replies that the diversity of the rent is, in fact, vexatious, and that, for his part, he is disposed to abolish it altogether. *** Neither he nor the intendant gives the slightest hint of any compensation
Beauharnois, governor, to the minister, 1734.
** Lettre de Raudot, père, au Ministre, 10 Nov., 1707.
*** Lettre de Ponchartrain à Raudot, père, 13 Juin, 1708.
to the seignior. Though these radical77 measures were not executed, many changes were decreed from time to time in the relations between seignior and censitaire, sometimes as a simple act of sovereign power, and sometimes on the ground that the grants had been made with conditions not recognized by the Coutume de Paris. This was the code of law assigned to Canada; but most of the contracts between seignior and censitaire had been agreed upon in good faith by men who knew as much of the Coutume de Paris as of the Capitularies of Charlemagne, and their conditions had remained in force unchallenged for generations. These interventions of government sometimes contradicted each other, and often proved a dead letter. They are more or less active through the whole period of the French rule.
The seignior had judicial powers, which, however, were carefully curbed78 and controlled. His jurisdiction23, when exercised at all, extended in most cases only to trivial causes. He very rarely had a prison, and seems never to have abused it. The dignity of a seigniorial gallows79 with high justice or jurisdiction over heinous80 offences was granted only in three or four instances. *
Four arpents in front by forty in depth were the ordinary dimensions of a grant en censive. These ribbons of land, nearly a mile and a half long, with one end on the river and the other on
* Baronies and comtés were empowered to set up gallows and
for example, the edict creating the Barony des Islets.
the uplands behind, usually combined the advantages of meadows for cultivation82, and forests for timber and firewood. So long as the censitaire brought in on St. Martin’s day his yearly capons and his yearly handful of copper83, his title against the seignior was perfect. There are farms in Canada which have passed from father to son for two hundred years. The condition of the cultivator was incomparably better than that of the French peasant, crushed by taxes, and oppressed by feudal burdens far heavier than those of Canada. In fact, the Canadian settler scorned the name of peasant, and then, as now, was always called the habitant. The government held him in wardship84, watched over him, interfered85 with him, but did not oppress him or allow others to oppress him. Canada was not governed to the profit of a class, and if the king wished to create a Canadian noblesse he took care that it should not bear hard on the country. *
Under a genuine feudalism, the ownership of land conferred nobility; but all this was changed. The king and not the soil was now the parent of honor. France swarmed86 with landless nobles, while roturier land-holders grew daily more numerous. In Canada half the seigniories were in roturier or plebeian87 hands, and in course of time some of them
* On the seigniorial tenure, I have examined the whole of
the mass of papers printed at the time when the question of
its abolition was under discussion. A great deal of legal
argument of Mr. Dunkin in behalf of the seigniors, and the
observations of Judge Lafontaine, are especially
instructive, as is also the collected correspondence of the
governors and intendants with the central government on
matters relating to the seigniorial system.
came into possession of persons on very humble89 degrees of the social scale. A seigniory could be bought and sold, and a trader or a thrifty90 habitant might, and often did become the buyer. * If the Canadian noble was always a seignior, it is far from being true that the Canadian seignior was always a noble.
In France, it will be remembered, nobility did not in itself imply a title. Besides its titled leaders, it had its rank and file, numerous enough to form a considerable army. Under the later Bourbons, the penniless young nobles were, in fact, enrolled91 into regiments92, turbulent, difficult to control, obeying officers of high rank, but scorning all others, and conspicuous by a fiery94 and impetuous valor95 which on more than one occasion turned the tide of victory. The gentilhomme, or untitled noble, had a distinctive character of his own, gallant96, punctilious97, vain; skilled in social and sometimes in literary and artistic98 accomplishments99, but usually ignorant of most things except the handling of his rapier. Yet there were striking exceptions; and to say of him, as has been said, that “he knew nothing but how to get himself killed,” is hardly just to a body which has produced some of the best writers and thinkers of France.
Sometimes the origin of his nobility was lost in
* In 1712, the engineer Catalogne made a very long and
elaborate report on the condition of Canada, with a full
account of all the seigniorial estates. Of ninety-one
seigniories, fiefs, and baronies, described by him, ten
belonged to merchants, twelve to husbandmen, and two to
masters of small river craft. The rest belonged to religious
corporations, members of the council, judges, officials of
the Crown, widows, and discharged officers or their sons.
the mists of time; sometimes he owed it to a patent from the king. In either case, the line of demarcation between him and the classes below him was perfectly101 distinct; and in this lies an essential difference between the French noblesse and the English gentry102, a class not separated from others by a definite barrier. The French noblesse, unlike the English gentry, constituted a caste.
The gentilhomme had no vocation103 for emigrating. He liked the army and he liked the court. If he could not be of it, it was something to live in its shadow. The life of a backwoods settler had no charm for him. He was not used to labor100; and he could not trade, at least in retail, without becoming liable to forfeit56 his nobility. When Talon came to Canada, there were but four noble families in the colony. * Young nobles in abundance came out with Tracy; but they went home with him. Where, then, should be found the material of a Canadian noblesse? First, in the regiment93 of Carignan, of which most of the officers were gentilshommes; secondly104, in the issue of patents of nobility to a few of the more prominent colonists105. Tracy asked for four such patents; Talon asked for five more; ** and such requests were repeated at intervals by succeeding governors and intendants, in behalf of those who had gained their favor by merit or otherwise. Money smoothed the path.
* Talon, Mémoire sur l'Etat présent du Canada, 1667. The
families of Repentigny, Tilly, Poterie, and Aillebout appear
to be meant.
** Tracy’s request was in behalf of Bourdon, Boucher,
Auteuil, and Juchereau. Talon’s was in behalf of Godefroy,
Le Moyne, Denis, Amiot, and Couillard to advancement107, so far
had noblesse already fallen from its old estate.
Thus Jacques Le Ber, the merchant, who had long kept a shop at Montreal, got himself made a gentleman for six thousand livres. *
All Canada soon became infatuated with noblesse; and country and town, merchant and seignior, vied with each other for the quality of gentilhomme. If they could not get it, they often pretended to have it, and aped its ways with the zeal108 of Monsieur Jourdain himself. “Everybody here,” writes the intendant Meules, “calls himself Esquire, and ends with thinking himself a gentleman.” Successive intendants repeat this complaint. The case was worst with roturiers who had acquired seigniories. Thus Noel Langlois was a good carpenter till he became owner of a seigniory, on which he grew lazy and affected109 to play the gentleman. The real gentilshommes, as well as the spurious, had their full share of official stricture. The governor Denonville speaks of them thus: “Several of them have come out this year with their wives, who are very much cast down; but they play the fine lady, nevertheless. I had much rather see good peasants; it would be a pleasure to me to give aid to such, knowing, as I should, that within two years their families would have the means of living at ease; for it is certain that a peasant who can and will work is well off in this country, while our nobles with nothing to do can never be any thing but beggars. Still they ought not to be
* Faillon, Vie de Mademoiselle Le Ber, 325.
driven off or abandoned. The question is how to maintain them.” *
The intendant Duchesneau writes to the same effect: “Many of our gentilshommes, officers, and other owners of seigniories, lead what in France is called the life of a country gentleman, and spend most of their time in hunting and fishing. As their requirements in food and clothing are greater than those of the simple habitants, and as they do not devote themselves to improving their land, they mix themselves up in trade, run in debt on all hands, incite110 their young habitants to range the woods, and send their own children there to trade for furs in the Indian villages and in the depths of the forest, in spite of the prohibition111 of his Majesty. Yet, with all this, they are in miserable112 poverty.” ** Their condition, indeed, was often deplorable. “It is pitiful,” says the intendant Champigny, “to see their children, of which they have great numbers, passing all summer with nothing on them but a shirt, and their wives and daughters working in the fields.” *** In another letter he asks aid from the king for Repentigny with his thirteen children, and for Tilly with his fifteen. “We must give them some corn at once,” he says, “or they will starve.” **** These were two of the original four noble families of Canada. The family of Aillebout, another of the four, is described as equally destitute113. “Pride and sloth,” says the same intendant,
* Lettre de Denonville au Ministre, 10 Nov., 1686.
** Lettre de Duchesneau au Ministre, 10 Nov., 1679.
*** Lettre de Champigny au Ministre, 26 Ao?t, 1687.
**** Ibid., 6 Nov., 1687.
“are the great faults of the people of Canada, and especially of the nobles and those who pretend to be such. I pray you grant no more letters of nobility, unless you want to multiply beggars.” * The governor Denonville is still more emphatic114: “Above all things, monseigneur, permit me to say that the nobles of this new country are every thing that is most beggarly, and that to increase their number is to increase the number of do-nothings. A new country requires hard workers, who will handle the axe11 and mattock. The sons of our councillors are no more industrious115 than the nobles; and their only resource is to take to the woods, trade a little with the Indians, and, for the most part, fall into the disorders116 of which I have had the honor to inform you. I shall use all possible means to induce them to engage in regular commerce; but as our nobles and councillors are all very poor and weighed down with debt, they could not get credit for a single crown piece.” ** “Two days ago,” he writes in another letter, “Monsieur de Saint-Ours, a gentleman of Dauphiny, came to me to ask leave to go back to France in search of bread. He says that he will put his ten children into the charge of any who will give them a living, and that he himself will go into the army again. His wife and he are in despair; and yet they do what they can. I have seen two of his girls reaping grain and holding the plough. Other families are
de Champigny du 10 May, 1691.
** Lettre de Denonville au Ministre, 13 Nov., 1685.
in the same condition. They come to me with tears in their eyes. All our married officers are beggars; and I entreat118 you to send them aid. There is need that the king should provide support for their children, or else they will be tempted119 to go over to the English.” * Again he writes that the sons of the councillor D’Amours have been arrested as coureurs de bois, or outlaws120 in the bush; and that if the minister does not do something to help them, there is danger that all the sons of the noblesse, real or pretended, will turn bandits, since they have no other means of living.
The king, dispenser of charity for all Canada, came promptly121 to the rescue. He granted an alms of a hundred crowns to each family, coupled with a warning to the recipients122 of his bounty123 that “their misery124 proceeds from their ambition to live as persons of quality and without labor.” ** At the same time, the minister announced that no more letters of nobility would be granted in Canada; adding, “to relieve the country of some of the children of those who are really noble, I send you (the governor) six commissions of Gardes de la Marine125, and recommend you to take care not to give them to any who are not actually gentilshommes." The Garde de la Marine answered to the midshipman of the English or American service. As the six commissions could bring little relief to the crowd of needy126 youths, it was further ordained127
* Lettre de Denonville au Ministre, 10 Nov., 1686.
(Condensed in the translation.)
** Abstract of Denonville’s Letters, and of the Minister’s
Answers, in N. Y. Colonial Docs., IX. 317, 318.
that sons of nobles or persons living as such should be enrolled into companies at eight sous a day for those who should best conduct themselves, and six sous a day for the others. Nobles in Canada were also permitted to trade, even at retail, without derogating from their rank. *
They had already assumed this right, without waiting for the royal license128; but thus far it had profited them little. The gentilhomme was not a good shopkeeper, nor, as a rule, was the shop-keeper’s vocation very lucrative129 in Canada. The domestic trade of the colony was small; and all trade was exposed to such vicissitudes from the intervention of intendants, ministers, and councils, that at one time it was almost banished130. At best, it was carried on under conditions auspicious131 to a favored few and withering132 to the rest. Even when most willing to work, the position of the gentilhomme was a painful one. Unless he could gain a post under the Crown, which was rarely the case, he was as complete a political cipher133 as the meanest habitant. His rents were practically nothing, and he had no capital to improve his seigniorial estate. By a peasant’s work he could gain a peasant’s living, and this was all. The prospect134 was not inspiring. His long initiation135 of misery was the natural result of his position and surroundings; and it is no matter of wonder that he threw himself into the only field of action which in time of peace was open to him. It was trade, but trade seasoned by adventure and
* Lettre de Meules au Ministre, 1685.
ennobled by danger; defiant136 of edict and ordinance, outlawed137, conducted in arms among forests and savages138,—in short, it was the Western fur trade. The tyro139 was likely to fail in it at first, but time and experience formed him to the work. On the Great Lakes, in the wastes of the Northwest, on the Mississippi and the plains beyond, we find the roving gentilhomme, chief of a gang of bushrangers, often his own habitants; sometimes proscribed140 by the government, sometimes leagued in contraband141 traffic with its highest officials, a hardy142 vidette of civilization, tracing unknown streams, piercing unknown forests, trading, fighting, negotiating, and building forts. Again we find him on the shores of Acadia or Maine, surrounded by Indian retainers, a menace and a terror to the neighboring English colonist106. Saint-Castin, Du Lhut, La Durantaye, La Salle, La Motte-Cadillac, Iberville, Bienville, La Vérendrye, are names that stand conspicuous on the page of half-savage romance that refreshes the hard and practical annals of American colonization143. But a more substantial debt is due to their memory. It was they, and such as they, who discovered the Ohio, explored the Mississippi to its mouth, discovered the Rocky Mountains, and founded Detroit, St. Louis, and New Orleans.
Even in his earliest day, the gentilhomme was not always in the evil plight144 where we have found him. There were a few exceptions to the general misery, and the chief among them is that of the Le Moynes of Montreal. Charles Le Moyne, son of an innkeeper of Dieppe and founder145 of a family the most truly eminent146 in Canada, was a man of sterling147 qualities who had been long enough in the colony to learn how to live there. * Others learned the same lesson at a later day, adapted themselves to soil and situation, took root, grew, and became more Canadian than French. As population increased, their seigniories began to yield appreciable148 returns, and their reserved domains149 became worth cultivating. A future dawned upon them; they saw in hope their names, their seigniorial estates, their manor-houses, their tenantry, passing to their children and their children’s children. The beggared noble of the early time became a sturdy country gentleman; poor, but not wretched; ignorant of books, except possibly a few scraps150 of rusty151 Latin picked up in a Jesuit school; hardy as the hardiest152 woodsman, yet never forgetting his quality of gentilhomme; scrupulously153 wearing its badge, the sword, and copying as well as he could the fashions of the court, which glowed on his vision across the sea in all the effulgence154 of Versailles, and beamed with reflected ray from the chateau155 of Quebec. He was at home among his tenants, at home among the Indians, and never more at home than when, a gun in his hand and a crucifix on his breast, he took the war-path with a
* Berthelot, proprietor of the comté of St. Laurent, and
Robineau, of the barony of Portneuf, may also be mentioned
as exceptionally prosperous. Of the younger Charles Le
Frontenac the governor says, “son fort et sa maison nous
donnent une idée des chateaux de France fortifiez.” His fort
was of Stone and flanked with four towers. It was nearly
opposite Montreal, on the south shore.
crew of painted savages and Frenchmen almost as wild, and pounced156 like a lynx from the forest on some lonely farm or outlying hamlet of New England. How New England hated him, let her records tell. The reddest blood streaks157 on her old annals mark the track of the Canadian gentil-homme.
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feudal
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| adj.封建的，封地的，领地的 | |
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intervention
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| n.介入，干涉，干预 | |
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tenure
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| n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期 | |
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indigenous
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| adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的 | |
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5
lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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6
vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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7
monarchy
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| n.君主，最高统治者；君主政体，君主国 | |
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8
vicissitudes
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| n.变迁，世事变化；变迁兴衰( vicissitude的名词复数 )；盛衰兴废 | |
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9
reigns
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| n.君主的统治( reign的名词复数 )；君主统治时期；任期；当政期 | |
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10
royalty
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| n.皇家，皇族 | |
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11
axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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12
oligarchy
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| n.寡头政治 | |
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13
waned
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| v.衰落( wane的过去式和过去分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡 | |
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14
culminated
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| v.达到极点( culminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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15
predecessors
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| n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身 | |
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16
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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17
obsequious
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| adj.谄媚的，奉承的，顺从的 | |
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18
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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19
prescriptions
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| 药( prescription的名词复数 )； 处方； 开处方； 计划 | |
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20
odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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21
retrenched
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| v.紧缩开支( retrench的过去式和过去分词 )；削减（费用）；节省 | |
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22
talon
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| n.爪；（如爪般的）手指；爪状物 | |
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23
jurisdiction
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| n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权 | |
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24
jurisdictions
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| 司法权( jurisdiction的名词复数 )； 裁判权； 管辖区域； 管辖范围 | |
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25
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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26
par
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| n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的 | |
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27
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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28
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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29
vassal
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| n.附庸的；属下；adj.奴仆的 | |
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30
vassals
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| n.奴仆( vassal的名词复数 )；（封建时代）诸侯；从属者；下属 | |
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31
solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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32
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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33
militia
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| n.民兵，民兵组织 | |
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34
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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35
gratuitously
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| 平白 | |
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36
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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37
baron
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| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
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38
homage
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| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
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39
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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40
notary
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| n.公证人，公证员 | |
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41
manor
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| n.庄园，领地 | |
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42
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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43
detested
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| v.憎恶，嫌恶，痛恨( detest的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44
fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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45
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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46
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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47
proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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48
pristine
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| adj.原来的，古时的，原始的，纯净的，无垢的 | |
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49
dame
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| n.女士 | |
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50
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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51
judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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52
ordinance
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| n.法令；条令；条例 | |
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53
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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54
annul
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| v.宣告…无效，取消，废止 | |
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55
distinctive
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| adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的 | |
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56
forfeit
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| vt.丧失；n.罚金，罚款，没收物 | |
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57
forfeiting
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| （因违反协议、犯规、受罚等）丧失，失去( forfeit的现在分词 ) | |
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58
domain
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| n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围 | |
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59
pint
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| n.品脱 | |
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60
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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61
negligent
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| adj.疏忽的；玩忽的；粗心大意的 | |
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62
forfeitures
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| n.（财产等的）没收，（权利、名誉等的）丧失( forfeiture的名词复数 ) | |
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63
conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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64
animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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65
muster
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| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
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66
tenants
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| n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者 | |
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67
mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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68
prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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69
retail
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| v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格 | |
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70
fowls
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| 鸟( fowl的名词复数 )； 禽肉； 既不是这； 非驴非马 | |
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71
mutation
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| n.变化，变异，转变 | |
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72
deducted
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| v.扣除，减去( deduct的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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73
abolition
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| n.废除，取消 | |
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74
regularity
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| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
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75
interventions
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| n.介入，干涉，干预( intervention的名词复数 ) | |
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76
doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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77
radical
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| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
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78
curbed
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| v.限制，克制，抑制( curb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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79
gallows
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| n.绞刑架，绞台 | |
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80
heinous
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| adj.可憎的，十恶不赦的 | |
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81
affixed
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|
| adj.[医]附着的，附着的v.附加( affix的过去式和过去分词 )；粘贴；加以；盖（印章） | |
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82
cultivation
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| n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成 | |
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83
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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84
wardship
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| 监护，保护 | |
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85
interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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86
swarmed
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| 密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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87
plebeian
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| adj.粗俗的；平民的；n.平民；庶民 | |
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88
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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89
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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90
thrifty
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|
| adj.节俭的；兴旺的；健壮的 | |
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91
enrolled
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| adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起 | |
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92
regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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93
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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94
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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95
valor
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| n.勇气，英勇 | |
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96
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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97
punctilious
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| adj.谨慎的，谨小慎微的 | |
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98
artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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99
accomplishments
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| n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就 | |
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100
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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101
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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102
gentry
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| n.绅士阶级，上层阶级 | |
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103
vocation
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| n.职业，行业 | |
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104
secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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105
colonists
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| n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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106
colonist
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| n.殖民者，移民 | |
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107
advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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108
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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109
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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110
incite
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| v.引起，激动，煽动 | |
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111
prohibition
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| n.禁止；禁令，禁律 | |
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112
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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113
destitute
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| adj.缺乏的；穷困的 | |
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114
emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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115
industrious
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| adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的 | |
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116
disorders
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| n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调 | |
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117
joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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118
entreat
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| v.恳求，恳请 | |
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119
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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120
outlaws
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| 歹徒，亡命之徒( outlaw的名词复数 )； 逃犯 | |
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121
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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122
recipients
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| adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器 | |
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123
bounty
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| n.慷慨的赠予物，奖金；慷慨，大方；施与 | |
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124
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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125
marine
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| adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵 | |
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126
needy
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| adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的 | |
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127
ordained
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| v.任命（某人）为牧师( ordain的过去式和过去分词 )；授予（某人）圣职；（上帝、法律等）命令；判定 | |
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128
license
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| n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许 | |
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129
lucrative
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| adj.赚钱的，可获利的 | |
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130
banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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131
auspicious
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| adj.吉利的；幸运的，吉兆的 | |
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132
withering
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| 使人畏缩的，使人害羞的，使人难堪的 | |
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cipher
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| n.零；无影响力的人；密码 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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initiation
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| n.开始 | |
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defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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outlawed
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| 宣布…为不合法（outlaw的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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tyro
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| n.初学者；生手 | |
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proscribed
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| v.正式宣布（某事物）有危险或被禁止( proscribe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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contraband
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| n.违禁品，走私品 | |
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142
hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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colonization
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| 殖民地的开拓，殖民，殖民地化； 移殖 | |
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plight
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| n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定 | |
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Founder
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| n.创始者，缔造者 | |
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eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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sterling
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| adj.英币的(纯粹的，货真价实的)；n.英国货币(英镑) | |
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appreciable
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| adj.明显的，可见的，可估量的，可觉察的 | |
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domains
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| n.范围( domain的名词复数 )；领域；版图；地产 | |
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scraps
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| 油渣 | |
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rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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hardiest
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| 能吃苦耐劳的，坚强的( hardy的最高级 )； （植物等）耐寒的 | |
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153
scrupulously
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| adv.一丝不苟地；小心翼翼地，多顾虑地 | |
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effulgence
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| n.光辉 | |
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chateau
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| n.城堡，别墅 | |
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pounced
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| v.突然袭击( pounce的过去式和过去分词 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击） | |
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streaks
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| n.（与周围有所不同的）条纹( streak的名词复数 )；（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）；（不断经历成功或失败的）一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 )；使布满条纹 | |
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