dered that Phipps had been delayed by contrary winds and pilots
ignorant of the river navigation, which combination of untoward
circumstances conspired to compel him to relinquish his design, which
under more favouring conditions he might have carried out with success,
and conquered the place before it could have been known in Montreal that
it was even in danger.

"Without doubt Frontenac was the most conspicuous figure which the
annals of the early colonization of Canada affords. He was the
descendant of several generations of distinguished men who were famous
as courtiers and soldiers." He was of Basque origin and proud of his
noble ancestry. He was born in 1620, and was distinguished by becoming
the god-child of the King, the royal sponsor bestowing his own name on
the unconscious babe, who was in after years to be a sturdy defender of
France's dominions over the ocean. He became a soldier at the age of
fifteen, and even in early youth and manhood saw active service and gave
promise of gallantry and bravery.

In October, 1648, he married the lovely young Anne de la Grange-Trianon,
a "maiden of imperious temper, lively wit and marvellous grace." She was
a beauty of the court and chosen friend of Mademoiselle de Montpensier,
the granddaughter of King Henry the Fourth. A celebrated painting of the
_Comtesse de Frontenac_, in the character of Minerva, smiles on the
walls of one of the galleries at Versailles.

The marriage took place without the consent of the bride's relatives,
and soon proved an ill-starred one, the young wife's fickle affection
turning into a strong repulsion for her husband, whom she intrigued to
have sent out of the country.

Her influence at court, and some jealousy on the part of the King
combined to bring about this end, and Frontenac was appointed Governor
and Lieutenant-General of _La Nouvelle France_.

Parkman says:--"A man of courts and camps, born and bred in the focus of
a most gorgeous civilization, he was banished to the ends of the earth,
among savage hordes and half-reclaimed forests, to exchange the
splendour of St. Germain and the dawning glories of Versailles for a
stern, grey rock, haunted by sombre priests, rugged merchants, traders,
blanketed Indians and wild bushrangers." When he sailed up the river and
the stern grandeur of the scene opened up before him, he felt as he
afterwards wrote:--

"I never saw anything more superb than the position of this town. It
could not be b