1674.] EXCITEMENT OF FENELON. 37 



took exception to several of the members as being 

 connections of La Nouguere. Frontenac with- 

 drew, and other councillors or judges were 

 appointed provisionally ; but these were chal- 

 lenged in turn by the prisoner, on one pretext 

 or another. The exceptions were overruled, and 

 the trial proceeded, though not without signs of 

 doubt and hesitation on the part of some of the 

 councillors. 1 



Meanwhile, other sessions were held for the trial 

 of Fenelon ; and a curious scene ensued. Five 

 councillors and the deputy attorney-general were 

 seated at the board, with Frontenac as presiding 

 judge, his hat on his head and his sword at his 

 side, after the established custom. Fenelon, being 

 led in, approached a vacant chair, and was about 

 to seat himself with the rest, when Frontenac in- 

 terposed, telling him that it was his duty to remain 

 standing while answering the questions of the 

 council. Fenelon at once placed himself in the 

 chair, and replied that priests had the right to 

 speak seated and with heads covered. 



"Yes," returned Frontenac, "when they are 

 summoned as witnesses, but not when they are 

 cited to answer charges of crime." 



"My crimes exist nowhere but in your head," 

 replied the abbe. And, putting on his hat, he 

 drew it down over his brows, rose, gathered his 

 cassock about him, and walked in a defiant manner 



1 All the proceedings in the affair of Perrot will be found in full in 

 the Registre des Jugements et Deliberations du Conseil Supe'rieur. They 

 extend from the end of January to the beginning of November, 1674. 



