This Is The Hill Which Has Re-Echoed The Tread Of So Many Regiments, On
Which So Many Governors, French
And English, have, on divers occasions,
heard themselves enthusiastically cheered by eager crowds; the hill which
Viceroys of France and
Of England, from the ostentatious Marquis de Tracy
to the proud Earl of Durham, ascended on their way to Government House,
surrounded by their brilliant staffs and saluted by cannon and with
warlike flourish of trumpets! In earlier times the military and religious
display was blended with an aroma of literature and elaborate Indian
oratory, combining prose and poetry.
Francis Parkman will tell us of what took place on the arrival, on the
28th July, 1658, of the Viscount D'Argenson, the Governor of the colony: -
"When Argenson arrived to assume the government, a curious greeting had
awaited him. The Jesuits asked him to dine; vespers followed the repast;
and then they conducted him to a hall where the boys of their school -
disguised, one as the Genius of New France, one as the Genius of the
Forest, and others as Indians of various friendly tribes - made him
speeches by turn, in prose and in verse. First, Pierre du Quet, who played
the Genius of New France, presented his Indian retinue to the Governor, in
a complimentary harangue. Then four other boys, personating French
colonists, made him four flattering addresses, in French verse. Charles
Denis, dressed as a Huron, followed, bewailing the ruin of his people, and
appealing to Argenson for aid.
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