144 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



Personal Ap 



pearance 



1688 



Jesuit Honour If they coLilcl not make him a Catholic they would at least 

 make sure that his faith should cost him a fortune ! 

 Nothing daunted by this blow, Bernou returned to La 

 Eochelle, arriving at the height of the persecution. He 

 was at once thrown into prison where he was confined for 

 some months, being released finally through the infiuence 

 of his brothers, who had recanted. Unshaken in his 

 faith, he made the best disposition of what property re- 

 mained to him and escaped to Holland in May, 1686. 

 From Amsterdam he made his way to London the follow- 

 ing year and formed the project of the Oxford settlement, 

 as we have seen. 



II 



In the summer of 1688 Bernon reached Boston after a 

 voyage of ten weeks, a rapid journey for those days. His 

 personal appearance is described, by a tradition dating 

 from his arrival in Boston, as that of a man of command- 

 ing presence whose bearing always won the respect and 

 consideration due to his character and ability. His figure 

 was tall and of slender proportions ; his carriage, erect 

 and expressive of energy in every movement, yet tem- 

 pered with a peculiar grace and courtly suavity. While 

 on ordinary occasions his manner was affable and kindly, 

 his hot temper sometimes led him to assume a tone of de- 

 cided imj)eriousness. Thoroughly upright in all the acts 

 of his life, thinking high thoughts, genuine in his re- 

 ligious feelings, thoughtful, optimistic and daring in his 

 public and private ventures, he was naturally qualified 

 for leadership. Misfortunes never daunted him, and left 

 him ever the same brave, steadfast, hopeful man. 



Such a man would soon make his presence felt in the 

 colony, and Bernon shortly became one of the leading 

 citizens of Boston, After attending to the matters of the 

 Oxford settlement and getting himself naturalized as a 

 British subject, he devoted his attention to several in- 

 dustrial enterprises. Prominent among these undertak- 

 ings was the manufacture of rosin and other naval stores. 



A Leading 

 Citi2en 



