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irksome, Madame de Bercy, found time to indite 

 poetical effusions and prose writings of considerable 

 merit, though few so far have appeared in print. It is 

 one of her letters, written to a lady friend some sixty 

 years ago, we shall attempt to translate, though it seems 

 impossible to render into another idiom, her terse, 

 elegant French, especially remarkable for its simplicity. 

 It recalls those quaint, gushing, masterly epistles Madame 

 de Sevigne' addressed to her daughter, Madame de 

 Grignan. Madame de Bercy is a favourible type of the 

 cultured, Canadian Seigneuresse of other d.ays. 



D'Ailleboust, 10 Nov. 1833. 



My dear, 



u A part of what takes place when the Seignorial rents 

 come in, which according to a good old custom, is at the last 

 hour " a la queue du loup ", I have to be constantly on the 

 move and to let you see my occupations, I will detail each 

 monotonous day's work. I rise at day-break, to drive our 

 hands from round the stove, which they cherish much more 

 than their work. I then skim the milk, cook their breakfast, 

 make my own coffee : a favorite fancy of mine. I like to have 

 this beverage to my taste ; of course, I then drink it. Not 

 having anyone to talk to during breakfast, I read from Saint 

 Augustin, two pages " On grace. " I failed to take in their 

 whole meaning. I was at my last bite and was closing the 

 final passage of the volume, when two habitants, made their 

 appearance with their rents. Iwas next busy sampling their 

 wheat, to make sure it was dry and clean, in one word, good, 

 sound and merchantable wheat, (Where are the noisy capons ? j 

 Afterwards, and without loosing sight of them, I watched them 

 measuring and storing it in the granary. 



" On re-entering the house, 1 made an entry of the trans- 

 action in two Registers, and wrote out for them a receipt. I 

 delayed the censitaires a few minutes, questioning them in 

 order to find out, if possible, if they had bought or sold lands, 

 unknown to the seignior. Thus I discovered that both had 

 sinned against the law ot Lods et Ventes. Bearing in mind 

 what they admitted having done, I rated them roundly on 

 the score ; they left. il Well, said 1 to myself, some more 

 business dispatched ! " 



" As dinner follows closely on the heels of breakfast, in the 

 country, I looked after other trifling details. That done, I 

 decked myself with my hood and sabots and left to ascertain 

 how one of my farm hands — an " enfant du sol " to use a 



