But if the lettered Beauport stone mason, who never rose to be a Hugh Miller, whatever were his abilities, did utilize his talents in 1634, to produce a durable record in order to perpetuate the date of foundation of this manor, he subsequently got at loggerheads with his worth seignieur, probably owing to the litigious tastes which his native Perche had instilled in him. Perche, we all know, is not very distant from Normandy, the hot-bed of feuds and litigation, and might have caught the infection from this neighborhood:
Governor Montmagny, in the space of eight short years, had been called on to adjudicate on six controversies which had arisen between Gifart and his vassals, touching boundaries and seigniorial rights, though the learned historian Ferland, has failed to particularize, whether among those controverted rights, was included the Droit de Chapons and Droit de Seigneur; could the latter unchaste, but cherished right of some Scotch and German feudal lords, by a misapprehension of our law, in the dark days of the colony, have been claimed by such an exacting seignior as M. de Gifart? One hopes not.
Be that as it may, the stone mason and savant Jean Guion had refused to do feudal homage to "Monsieur de Beauport," and on the 30th July, 1640, six years after the date of the inscription, under sentence rendered by Governor de Montmagny, he was made to do so.
Who will decipher the I.H.S.—M.I.A. the letters at the top of the plate? Is there no defendant of the haughty Seignior of Beauport, Rob. Gifart, to give us his biography, and tell us of his sporting days; of the black and grey ducks, brant, widgeon, teal, snipe, and curlew, etc., which infested the marshy banks of the stream—the Ruisseau de l'Ours, on which he had located, first his shooting box, and afterwards his little fort or block-house, against Iroquois aggression? Dr. Gifart was a keen sportsman, tradition repeats. Did the locality get the name of Canardière on account of the Canards, the ducks, he had bagged in his time? Who will enlighten us on all these points?
ENQUIRER.
Quebec, 8th April, 1881.
QUERY.—Would I. H. S. stand for Jesus Hominum Salvator? and M.I.A. for Maria-Josephus-Anna?—the Holy Family—asks Dr W. Marsden.
COUNT D'ORSONNENS LETTER
A monsieur J. M. LeMoine, président de la Société Littéraire et Historique de Québec, etc., etc, etc.
CHER MONSIEUR,.—Votre lettre du 1er avril, publiée dans le Morning Chronicle, en groupant, autour du premier Manoir canadien, des grands noms canadiens, des faits historiques et des traditions, semble vouloir nous faire regretter encore plus la perte d'un monument dont il ne reste plus qu'une plaque de plomb gravée sans art, avec une inscription sans orthographe. Je suis allé, comme bien d'autres, voir ce morceau de plomb, qui contient, autant que l'imprimerie peut le représenter, l'inscription suivante: