pronounced upon him and they said only what was true--that a soldier,
brave, lovable and promising had fallen on the field of honour.

[Footnote 22: See Appendix G., p. 287. "The Cures of Malbaie".]

[Footnote 23: Bowen's career was remarkable. He continued on the bench
until 1866, having held the office of a Judge in Canada for well nigh
sixty years.]

[Footnote 24: He had recently died, and it did not diminish the Nairnes'
interest in him that he left L5,000 to their relative Ker.]

CHAPTER VII

A FRENCH CANADIAN VILLAGE

Life at Murray Bay after Captain Nairne's death.--Letters from
Europe.--Death of Malcolm Fraser.--Death of Colonel Nairne's widow
and children.--His grandson John Nairne, seigneur.--Village
life.--The Church's influence.--The habitant's tenacity.--His
cottage.--His labours.--His amusements.--The Church's missionary
work in the villages.--The powers of the bishop.--His
visitations.--The organization of the parish.--The powers of the
_fabrique_.--Lay control of Church finance.--The cure's tithe.--The
best intellects enter the Church.--A native Canadian clergy.--The
cure's social life.--The Church and Temperance Reform.--The
diligence of the cures.--The habitant's taste for the
supernatural.--The belief in goblins.--Prayer in the family.--The
habitant as voter.--The office of Churchwarden.--The Church's
influence in elections.--The seigneur's position,--The habitant's
obligations to him.--Rent day and New Year's Day.--The seigneur's
social rank.--The growth of discontent in the villages.--The evils
of Seigniorial Tenure.--Agitation against the system.--Its
abolition in 1854.--The last of the Nairnes.--The Nairne tomb in
Quebec.

With the death of Thomas Nairne almost end the dramatic events in the
history of the family. It remains briefly to bring this to its
conclusion, and to add to it some general account of a village of French
Canada in the past and in the present. Captain Nairne's mother was now
the owner of the property and it continued in her competent hands until
her death in 1828. "Polly's" marriage had taken that daughter away and,
though there was a reconciliation, no longer was the Manor House her
home. Mrs. McNicol (with her husband and children) and Christine Nairne
still lived there with the widow of Colonel Nairne, and life went on
much as before, save that its interests were