rtainers. Young Dudley was
a boy of eighteen. "Il a du merite," says Vaudreuil. _Dudley to
Vaudreuil, 4 July, 1705; Vaudreuil au Ministre, 19 Octobre, 1705._

[71] In 1878 Miss C. Alice Baker, of Cambridge, Mass., a descendant of
Abigail Stebbins, read a paper on John Sheldon before the Memorial
Association at Deerfield. It is the result of great research, and
contains much original matter, including correspondence between Sheldon
and the captives when in Canada, as well as a full and authentic account
of his several missions. Mr. George Sheldon has also traced out with
great minuteness the history of his ancestor's negotiations.

[72] The above is drawn mainly from extracts made by Miss Baker from the
registers of the Church of Notre Dame at Montreal. Many of the acts of
baptism bear the signature of Father Meriel, so often mentioned in the
narrative of Williams. Apparently, Meriel spoke English. At least there
is a letter in English from him, relating to Eunice Williams, in the
Massachusetts Archives, vol. 51. Some of the correspondence between
Dudley and Vaudreuil concerning exchange of prisoners will be found
among the Paris documents in the State House at Boston. Copies of these
papers were printed at Quebec in 1883-1885, though with many
inaccuracies.

[73] Stephen W. Williams, _Memoir of the Rev. John Williams_, 53.
_Sermon preached at Mansfield, August 4, 1741, on behalf of Mrs. Eunice,
the daughter of Rev. John Williams; by Solomon Williams, A.M._ _Letter
of Mrs. Colton, great granddaughter of John Williams_ (in appendix to
the _Memoir of Rev. John Williams_).

[74] I remember to have seen Eleazer Williams at my father's house in
Boston, when a boy. My impression of him is that of a good-looking and
somewhat portly man, showing little trace of Indian blood, and whose
features, I was told, resembled those of the Bourbons. Probably this
likeness, real or imagined, suggested the imposition he was practising
at the time. The story of the "Bell of St. Regis" is probably another of
his inventions. It is to the effect that the bell of the church at
Deerfield was carried by the Indians to the mission of St. Regis, and
that it is there still. But there is reason to believe that there was no
church bell at Deerfield, and it is certain that St. Regis did not exist
till more than a half-century after Deerfield was attacked. It has been
said that the story is true, except that the name of Caughnawaga should
be substitut