432 DEATH OF FRONTENAC. [1693. 



him, his conduct gives it the lie, or else, if he had it, the 

 vehemence of his passions often unsettled it. It is much to be 

 feared that his presence of mind was the effect of an obstinate 

 and hardened self-confidence by which he put himself above 

 everybody and every thing, since he never used it to repair, so 

 far as in him lay, the public and private wrongs he caused. 

 What ought he not to have done here, in this temple, to ask 

 pardon for the obstinate and furious heat with which he so long 

 persecuted the Church ; upheld and even instigated rebellion 

 against her ; protected libertines, scandal-mongers, and creatures 

 of evil life against the ministers of Heaven ; molested, perse- 

 cuted, vexed persons most eminent in virtue, nay, even the 

 priests and magistrates, who defended the cause of God ; sus- 

 tained in all sorts of ways the wrongful and scandalous traffic in 

 brandy with the Indians ; permitted, approved, and supported 

 the license and abuse of taverns ; authorized and even intro- 

 duced, in spite of the remonstrances of the servants of God, 

 criminal and dangerous diversions ; tried to decry the bishop and 

 the clergy, the missionaries, and other persons of virtue, and to 

 injure them, both here and in France, by libels and calumnies ; 

 caused, in fine, either by himself or through others, a multitude 

 of disorders, under which this infant church has groaned for 

 many years ! What, I say, ought he not to have done before 

 dying to atone for these scandals, and give proof of sincere peni- 

 tence and compunction ? God gave him full time to recognize his 

 errors, and yet to the last he showed a great indifference in all 

 these matters. When, in presence of the Holy Sacrament, he 

 was asked according to the ritual, ' Do you not beg pardon for 

 all the ill examples you may have given ? ' he answered, ' Yes,' 

 but did not confess that he had ever given any. In a word, he 

 behaved during the few days before his death like one who had 

 led an irreproachable life, and had nothing to fear. And this is 

 the presence of mind that he retained to his last moment ! " 



The Orator. " Great in dangers by his courage, 

 he always came off with honor, and never was re- 

 proached with rashness, — 



The Critic. " True ; he was not rash, as was seen when the 

 Bostonnais besieged Quebec." 



