built for the fascinating Angelique
des Meloises almost half a century before. Here he held his court; but
his heart was in the country, and except upon public occasions, he
preferred the stately retirement of Haldimand House, a rustic retreat
still standing near the brink of Montmorency Falls. Gaily he made his
promenade along the Beauport Road, or shot over the marshes of La
Carnardiere; and at his own or the neighbouring homestead of M. de
Salaberry, the genial company whiled away many an evening with whist.
Frequent balls and receptions in the old Chateau recalled the days of
Frontenac's merry court; or, still further back, that night of
Canada's first ball, the 4th of February, 1667, when the courtly
soldiers of the Carignan-Salieres regiment led the grand dames of New
France through the mazes of a Versailles quadrille. From a child,
indeed, Quebec had conned the worldly wisdom of Fontainebleau. Her
wholesome reputation for the social graces is reflected in the
compliment paid by George III. to the first Canadian lady who had the
honour to be presented at the Court of St. James's: "Madame, if the
ladies of Canada are at all like you, I have indeed made a conquest!"

[Illustration: ST. LAWRENCE RIVER FROM THE CITADEL]

It was among these gracious spirits that Prince Edward's lines were
fallen; and within the space of three years the large-hearted Duke had
bound the hearts of French Canada more firmly to the throne upon which
his own daughter was to sit as Queen Victoria.

* * * * *

Meanwhile, in Europe, the feudalism which had lost Canada to France
was in its mortal throes. The shock of the French Revolution was
quivering through the hemisphere, and the convulsion was felt heavily
in the New World. In the United States, Washington was President,
Hamilton was at the Treasury, and Jefferson was Secretary of State,
with Madison as a colleague in the Cabinet. In the early stages of the
Revolution the United States had given enthusiastic sympathy to the
movement; but as it grew in violence, all but the mob and Jefferson
and Madison were alienated. No degree of tyranny appeared to offend
the sensibilities of these latter statesmen; and when the French
Convention declared war against England, their approval of that
measure all but committed the United States to the principles of red
republicanism. Genet, the French Ambassador to the United States, with
an insolence that defeated itself, carried on unb