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puts it, " des graces " promotion, resting their claim 

 on court favour ; the King's concubine in those days 

 was the fountain of honour; or, on the recommendation 

 of some of the minions of an imbecile monarch. As 

 Frenchmen, they were ever ready to fight ; but often, we 

 notice them the slaves of inordinate pleasure. 



Quebec as well as Montreal, they strived hard to 

 make, according to Parkman's expression, " a sparkling 

 fragment of the reign of Louis XV, dropped into the 

 American wilderness ", They succeeded, in its most 

 sorrowful aspect. 



Quebec, in fact, as to gambling, soon got to be the 

 Monte Carlo of the continent. High p]ay and immor- 

 ality reigned supreme amidst public misery and ghastly 

 famine. Whilst the unfortunate people were dying in 

 the streets for want of bread, leading officials, civil and 

 military, were crowding at the faro tables or nightly 

 gorging themselves in banquets, which the rising sun 

 alone brought to a close. Even the high-spirited and 

 studious Montcalm was an abettor of gambling. De 

 Vaudreuil thus reproves him : " Que n'arrete-t-il lui- 

 meme le jeu effroyable auquel se livrent les officiers de 

 son armee " ! The marquis apparently overlooked this 

 vice. The result was disastrous to the morale of his army. 

 Impecunious subalterns had to borrow and borrow 

 heavily from the rich roturiers of trade, at Quebec and 

 at Montreal, to keep up in expenditure with Bigot's 

 clique of wealthy parasites and public robbers. 



The " Memoires sur le Canada, 1749-60," whilst show- 

 ing up the rogueries and immorality of the enriched, 

 low-born Lovelaces and Lotharios who paid court to 

 Bigot and to his chere amie, do not spare the chevalier 

 de Levis, who took to France his mistress, the wife of 

 Penissault, one of Bigot's confederates. It seems her 

 pretty face won her favour, even with the great state 

 Minister, Choiseul. The church tried in vain to put a 

 stop to these public scandals. Bishop Pontbriand was 

 not slow in raising a note of warning. Abbe Casgrain 



