1695.] LIBEL AGAINST FRONTENAC. 333 



tive, censured for violence, and admonished to avoid 

 future quarrels. 1 Champigny was reproved for not 

 supporting the governor, and told that " his Maj- 

 esty sees with great pain that, while he is making 

 extraordinary efforts to sustain Canada at a time 

 so critical, all his cares and all his outlays are made 

 useless by your misunderstanding with Monsieur 

 de Frontenac." 2 The attorney-general was sharply 

 reprimanded, told that he must mend his ways or 

 lose his place, and ordered to make an apology to 

 the governor. 3 Villeray was not honored by a 

 letter, but the intendant was directed to tell him 

 that his behavior had greatly disposed the king. 

 Callieres was mildly advised not to take part in the 

 disputes of the bishop and the Kecollets. 4 Thus 

 was conjured clown one of the most bitter as well 

 as the most needless, trivial, and untimely, of the 

 quarrels that enliven the annals of New France. 



A generation later, when its incidents had faded 

 from memory, a passionate and reckless partisan, 

 Abbe La Tour, published, and probably invented, 

 a story which later writers have copied, till it now 

 forms an accepted episode of Canadian history. Ac- 

 cording to him, Frontenac, in order to ridicule the 

 clergy, formed an amateur company of comedians 

 expressly to play " Tartuffe ; " and, after rehearsing 

 at the chateau during three or four months, they 

 acted the piece before a large audience. " He was 

 not satisfied with having it played at the chateau, 

 but wanted the actors and actresses and the dan- 



1 Le Ministre a Frontenac, 4 Juin, 1695 ; Ibid., 8 Juin, 1695. 



2 Le Ministre a Champigny, 4 Juin, 1695; Ibid., 8 Juin, 1695. 



3 Le Ministre a d'Auteuil, 8 Juin, 1695. 



4 Le Ministre a Callieres. 8 Juin, 1695. 



