in so beautiful a spot. De
Monts, whose charter was revoked in 1607, gave up the project of
colonizing Acadia, whose history from that time is associated for years
with the misfortunes of the Biencourts, the family name of Baron de
Poutrincourt; but the hopes of this adventurous nobleman were never
realized. In 1613 an English expedition from Virginia, under the command
of Captain Argall, destroyed the struggling settlement at Fort Royal,
and also prevented the establishment of a Jesuit mission on the island
of Monts-Deserts, which owes its name to Champlain. Acadia had
henceforth a checquered history, chiefly noted for feuds between rival
French leaders and for the efforts of the people of New England to
obtain possession of Acadia. Port Royal was captured in 1710 by General
Nicholson, at the head of an expedition composed of an English fleet and
the militia of New England. Then it received the name of Annapolis Royal
in honour of Queen Anne, and was formally ceded with all of Acadia
"according to its ancient limits" to England by the treaty of Utrecht.

[1: This name is now generally admitted to belong to the language of the
Micmac Indians of the Atlantic provinces. It means a place, or locality,
and is always associated with another word descriptive of some special
natural production; for instance, Shubenacadie, or Segubunakade, is the
place where the ground-nut, or Indian potato, grows. We find the first
official mention of the word in the commission given by Henry IV of
France to the Sieur de Monts in 1604.]

It was not in Acadia, but in the valley of the St. Lawrence, that France
made her great effort to establish her dominion in North America. Samuel
Champlain, the most famous man in the history of French Canada, laid the
foundation of the present city of Quebec in the month of June, 1608, or
three years after the removal of the little Acadian colony from St.
Croix Island to the basin of the Annapolis. The name Quebec is now
generally admitted to be an adaptation of an Indian word, meaning a
contraction of the river or strait, a distinguishing feature of the St.
Lawrence at this important point. The first buildings were constructed
by Champlain on a relatively level piece of ground, now occupied by a
market-house and close to a famous old church erected in the days of
Frontenac, in commemoration of the victorious repulse of the New England
expedition led by Phipps. For twenty-seven years Champlain struggled
agai