d my dearest, and my daughters. Love to
all the family. I shall write up to the last moment."

No translation can give an idea of the rapid, abrupt, elliptical style
of this familiar correspondence, where the meaning is sometimes
suggested by a single word, unintelligible to any but those for whom it
is written.

At the end of March Montcalm, with all his following, was ready to
embark; and three ships of the line, the "Leopard," the "Heros," and the
"Illustre," fitted out as transports, were ready to receive the troops;
while the General, with Levis and Bourlamaque, were to take passage in
the frigates "Licorne," "Sauvage," and "Sirene." "I like the Chevalier
de Levis," says Montcalm, "and I think he likes me." His first
aide-de-camp, Bougainville, pleased him, if possible, still more. This
young man, son of a notary, had begun life as an advocate in the
Parliament of Paris, where his abilities and learning had already made
him conspicuous, when he resigned the gown for the sword, and became a
captain of dragoons. He was destined in later life to win laurels in
another career, and to become one of the most illustrious of French
navigators. Montcalm, himself a scholar, prized his varied talents and
accomplishments, and soon learned to feel for him a strong personal
regard.

The troops destined for Canada were only two battalions, one belonging
to the regiment of La Sarre, and the other to that of Royal Roussillon.
Louis XV. and Pompadour sent a hundred thousand men to fight the battles
of Austria, and could spare but twelve hundred to reinforce New France.
These troops marched into Brest at early morning, breakfasted in the
town, and went at once on board the transports, "with an incredible
gayety," says Bougainville. "What a nation is ours! Happy he who
commands it, and commands it worthily!"[363] Montcalm and he embarked in
the "Licorne," and sailed on the third of April, leaving Levis and
Bourlamaque to follow a few days after.[364]

[Footnote 363: _Journal de Bougainville_. This is a fragment; his
Journal proper begins a few weeks later.]

[Footnote 364: _Levis a----, 5 Avril_, 1756.]

The voyage was a rough one. "I have been fortunate," writes Montcalm to
his wife, "in not being ill nor at all incommoded by the heavy gale we
had in Holy Week. It was not so with those who were with me, especially
M. Esteve, my secretary, and Joseph, who suffered cruelly,--seventeen
days without being able to take anything but