is a marvellous creature, but what say you of her preux 

 Chevalier, Edmund Burke ? 



Hampton Court was not a bit worse, nay, in fact, it was 

 much less dissolute than Versailles. The Hanoverian King 

 had La Walmoden; the French monarch, La Pompadour; 



his Minister of Finance, at Quebec, has la If vice and 



profligacy flaunt in open day at the French Court, amidst le 

 beau monde, do not imagine that the beau monde of Quebec is 

 free from it. 



There are of course here exceptions : Montcalm, Vaudreuil 5 

 several of the old families are free from the taint ; but there 

 is a coterie vile and profligate, and some add to their vices, 

 lowness of birth ; one link connects all this clique — public 

 plunder. 



The French Treasury is robbed on a colossal scale by the 

 Intendant Bigot and his minions. La Walmoden and La Pom- 

 padour have, at our little Canadian Court, a not unworthy 

 representative. If a man wants place or promotion in Canada 

 he must stand well with Bigot's fair charmer. 



Madame Pean is unquestionably a femme charmante a 

 smiling, benevolent, spirituelle beauty. Her marriage by 

 Bishop DuBreuil de Pontbriand dates of January, 1746. Her 

 husband is a Captain in the colonial troops, and Town Major 

 of Quebec. 



You won't wonder at my minute information respecting 

 every man connected with the government of the colony, 

 when you recollect the facilities I enjoyed during several 

 months that I was free, on parole, to roam far and wide in 

 Quebec and even as far as Montreal. 



Since my close captivity, I have had many visitors in my 

 prison, and the honorable family, whose head I saved, as you 

 know, from impending death, has not deserted me ni my 

 hour of trouble, even though many of the fashionables have 

 done so. Monsieur Duchesnay, Madame and her two lovely 

 daughters have done all which lies in their power to soften 

 the horrors of my captivity 5 one of these daughters is a per- 

 fect angel of love and intellect. With your permission, I shall 

 describe seriatim Bigot and his group. 



Francois Bigot, the thirteenth French Intendant at Quebec, 

 is as warlike a little Game Cock as ever strutted amidst a 

 flock of submissive hens. He is a native of Gruienne and 

 belongs to a family distinguished at the bar ; before his 

 appointment, at Quebec, he had been Intendant of Louisiana. 

 In stature, rather short ; his frame is well knit, his carriage 

 erect, his courage beyond question. He loves show and plea- 

 sure to excess, dotes on cards, hunting and good living. The 

 government expect him to entertain suitably the highest 

 officials ; they pay him niggardly and allow him to make 

 profits out of the traffic in peltry, merchandize, etc., like his 

 predecessors. 



