tion
that marks the exaltation of his mind. "Without Indians, almost without
Canadians or colony troops,--I had only four hundred,--alone with Levis
and Bourlamaque and the troops of the line, thirty-one hundred fighting
men, I have beaten an army of twenty-five thousand. They repassed the
lake precipitately, with a loss of at least five thousand. This glorious
day does infinite honor to the valor of our battalions. I have no time
to write more. I am well, my dearest, and I embrace you." And he wrote
to his friend Doreil: "The army, the too-small army of the King, has
beaten the enemy. What a day for France! If I had had two hundred
Indians to send out at the head of a thousand picked men under the
Chevalier de Levis, not many would have escaped. Ah, my dear Doreil,
what soldiers are ours! I never saw the like. Why were they not at
Louisbourg?"

On the morrow of his victory he caused a great cross to be planted on
the battle-field, inscribed with these lines, composed by the
soldier-scholar himself,--

"Quid dux? quid miles? quid strata ingentia ligna?
En Signum! en victor! Deus hic, Deus ipse triumphat."

"Soldier and chief and rampart's strength are nought;
Behold the conquering Cross! 'T is God the triumph wrought."[637]

[Footnote 637: Along with the above paraphrase I may give that of
Montcalm himself, which was also inscribed on the cross:--

"Chretien! ce ne fut point Montcalm et la prudence,
Ces arbres renverses, ces heros, leurs exploits,
Qui des Anglais confus ont brise l'esperance;
C'est le bras de ton Dieu, vainqueur sur cette croix."

In the same letter in which Montcalm sent these lines to his mother he
says: "Je vous envoie, pour vous amuser, deux chansons sur le combat du
8 Juillet, dont l'une est en style des poissardes de Paris." One of
these songs, which were written by soldiers after the battle, begins,--

"Je chante des Francois
La valeur et la gloire,
Qui toujours sur l'Anglois
Remportent la victoire.
Ce sont des heros,
Tous nos generaux,
Et Montcalm et Levis,
Et Bourlamaque aussi."

"Mars, qui les engendra
Pour l'honneur de la France,
D'abord les anima
De sa haute vaillance,
Et les transporta
Dans le Canada,
Ou l'on voit les Francois
Culbuter les Anglois."

The other effusion of the military muse is in a different strain, "en
style des poissardes de Paris." The following a specimen, given
_literatim_:-