ed, the broken
doors, the shattered ramparts of the city of David. In the middle of
the night he made the circuit of these ruins, and on the morrow he
sought the magistrates and said to them: "You see the distress that we
are in? Come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem." The same
feelings no doubt oppressed the soul of the octogenarian prelate when he
saw the walls cracked and blackened, the heaps of ruins, sole remnants
of his beloved house. But like Nehemiah he had the support of a great
King, and the confidence of succeeding. He set to work at once, and
found in the generosity of his flock the means to raise the seminary
from its ruins. While he found provisional lodgings for his seminarists,
he himself took up quarters in a part of the seminary which had been
spared by the flames; he arranged, adjoining his room, a little oratory
where he kept the Holy Sacrament, and celebrated mass. There he passed
his last days and gave up his fair soul to God.

Mgr. de Saint-Vallier had not like his predecessor the sorrow of seeing
fire consume his seminary; he had set out in 1700 for France, and the
differences which existed between the two prelates led the monarch to
retain Mgr. de Saint-Vallier near him. In 1705 the Bishop of Quebec
obtained permission to return to his diocese. But for three years
hostilities had already existed between France and England. The bishop
embarked with several monks on the _Seine_, a vessel of the Royal Navy.
This ship carried a rich cargo valued at nearly a million francs, and
was to escort several merchant ships to their destination at Quebec. The
convoy fell in, on July 26th, with an English fleet which gave chase to
it; the merchant ships fled at full sail, abandoning the _Seine_ to its
fate. The commander, M. de Meaupou, displayed the greatest valour, but
his vessel, having a leeward position, was at a disadvantage; besides,
he had committed the imprudence of so loading the deck with merchandise
that several cannon could not be used. In spite of her heroic defence,
the _Seine_ was captured by boarding, the commander and the officers
were taken prisoners, and Mgr. de Saint-Vallier remained in captivity in
England till 1710.

The purpose of Mgr. de Saint-Vallier's journey to Europe in 1700 had
been his desire to have ratified at Rome by the Holy See the canonical
union of his abbeys, and the union of the parish of Quebec with the
seminary. On setting out he had entrusted the administrat