— 231 — 



the war path with a crew of painted savages and French- 

 men almost as wild, and pounced like a lynx from the 

 forest, on some lovely farm and outlying hamlet of New 

 England. How New England hated him, let her records 

 tell. The reddest blood streaks on her old annals mark 

 the track of the Canadian gentilhomme." 



In order to complete the tableau of this fearful era of 

 our border warfare, the Boston historian, with his usual 

 felicity of expression, has in his last work, (1) narrated, 

 the bloody raids on Canadian houses and hamlets of 

 Eogers and his scalping Eangers, assisted by New 

 Englanders — bloodthirsty avengers. 



* 



Let us float down the stream of time a century and 

 more, and catch a glimpse of the Canadian seigneur of 

 later days. The midnight, bloody raid on New England 

 hamlets, has lost its charm for the sturdy, country 

 gentilhomme ; its ghastly memories rest in the tomb 

 of Hertel de Kouville, Courtemanche and other worriours, 

 though the oppressive rites and exclusive usages of 

 early times remain. The cens and rente, are still 

 brought to the manor, at St. Martin's Day, with the 

 noisy capons ; the banal mill, the seignorial dove-cot, 

 the hated corve'e, forced labour, the exclusive droit 

 de chasse et de pSche, are still enforced ; the raised, 

 cushioned seignorial pew facing the altar, still awaits 

 each Sunday, its honored occupant, who claims the 

 first, or at least the second, sprinkle of holy water and 

 slice of holy bread, from the parish priest and beadle. 

 The Laird's manor is still rebuilt in stone and mortar ; 

 stone being abundant and lime, home-made, not being 

 as of yore, imported in ships, equally so. One invariable 



<1) A Half Century of Conflict. 



