ce
more, at least in spirit. It may be that with the Atlantic between
them they appreciated each {25} other's virtues more justly. It may
have been loyalty to the family tradition. Whatever the cause, they
maintained an active correspondence during Frontenac's years in Canada,
and at court Madame de Frontenac was her husband's chief defence
against numerous enemies. When he died it was found that he had left
her his property. But she never set foot in Canada.

Frontenac was forty-one when Louis XIV dismissed Fouquet and took
Colbert for his chief adviser. At Versailles everything depended on
royal favour, and forty-one is an important age. What would the young
king do for Frontenac? What were his gifts and qualifications?

It is plain that Frontenac's career, so vigorously begun during the
Thirty Years' War, had not developed in a like degree during the period
(1648-61) from the outbreak of the Fronde to the death of Mazarin.
There was no doubt as to his capacity. Saint-Simon calls him 'a man of
excellent parts, living much in society.' And again, when speaking of
Madame de Frontenac, he says: 'Like her husband she had little property
and abundant wit.' The bane of Frontenac's life at this time was his
extravagance. He lived like a {26} millionaire till his money was
gone. Not far from Blois he had the estate of Isle Savary--a property
quite suited to his station had he been prudent. But his plans for
developing it, with gardens, fountains, and ponds, were wholly beyond
his resources. At Versailles, also, he sought to keep pace with men
whose ancestral wealth enabled them to do the things which he longed to
do, but which fortune had placed beyond his reach. Hence,
notwithstanding his buoyancy and talent, Frontenac had gained a
reputation for wastefulness which did not recommend him, in 1661, to
the prudent Colbert. Nor was he fitted by character or training for
administrative duty. His qualifications were such as are of use at a
post of danger.

[Illustration: JEAN BAPTISTE COLBERT. From an engraving in the Chateau
de Ramezay.]

His time came in 1669. At the beginning of that year he was singled
out by Turenne for a feat of daring which placed him before the eyes of
all Europe. A contest was about to close which for twenty-five years
had been waged with a stubbornness rarely equalled. This was the
struggle of the Venetians with the Turks for the possession of
Crete.[4] To Venice {27} defeat m