Lettres Historiques de la Vénérable Mère Marie de l’Incarnation sur le Canada ed. by B. Sulte, and: Catherine Tekakwitha: Le Lis des Bords de la Mohawk et du St. Laurent, 1656–1680 by P. Edouard Lecompte (review)

150 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW long been favourably known to studentsof early Canadianhistory. His treatiseson the establishmentof the R6colletsat Montreal, in Newfoundland ,and in Gaspawereexhaustive,painstaking,and authoritative. No purely secularhistorianof New Francehasshowna greatercommand of the technique of the historian, or a more critical attitude toward secondarysources. These qualitiesappear onceagain in the volumes under review, which constitute a full-length biography of the first Ricollet born in Canada. Le P•re JosephDenis was not a figure of first-rate importancein Canadianhistory. He servedin Newfoundland,at MontrealandQuebec, and at Louisbourg. He held on severaloccasions important positions in the R6collet order, and he was ultimately appointed grand vicar, with jurisdictionoverthe islandof CapeBreton. But hewasan interesting figure, and the accountsof his life available have hitherto been mainly inaccurate. Father Hugolin at the beginningof the biography quotes the account of Father Denis's life contained in the Pantheon Canadienof Bibaud the younger;and he points out, by way of preface, that in this accountthere is nothing true except that there was oncea Denis who becamea priest, who built a church at Perc6, and who later died. All dates given are wrong, and the Christian names of Denis are inaccurate. This is a striking illustration of the unsubstantialbasis of much that is found in the bookson Canadian history; and serves alone as an excuse for the somewhat extended account of Father Denis and his times which Father Hugolin has given us in the present volume. There is another point of interest in connection with this book. Unlike most French-Canadianauthors, Father HUgolin has provided the reader with a full and exhaustive index, and this index will unlock for thosewho are not especiallyinterestedin ecclesiastical historya gooddeal of valuable material relating to the generalhistory of New France. W. S. W•I.I..•c• LettresHistoriquesde la V•n&able Mgre Marie de l'Incarnation sur le Canada. Compilation de B. SULTE. Qu&bec:L'Action Sociale, Lt6. 1927. Pp. 147. Ca.therineTekakwitha: Le Lis desBordsde la Mohawk et du St. Laurent, 1656-1680. Par P. EDOUARD LECOMPTE, S. J. Montrial: Imp. du Messager. 1927. Pp. 296. THESE two volumescommemoratetwo women of seventeenth-century New France, the one French, the other Iroquois. The celebrationby the Ursuline Order of the two hundredand fiftieth anniversaryof the REVIEWS OF BOOKS 151 death of oneof its foundersis the occasion for the reprintingof some of the letters of that co-founder, Mother Marie de l'Incarnation. The selectionis that made by M. tLenjaminSulte for the Royal Societyof Canada (Transactiensof 1897 and 1900). M. Sulte defineshis object in a prefatory note: This is not a studyof the lettersof Mother Marie de l'Incarnation, but a selection of certainpassages from her writings,dealingwith the savages, the Jesuit missions, the climateof the country,the foodand lodgingof the colonists, trade, communicationwith France, the Ursulinesof Quebec. The letters cover the years 1639 to 1662, and in view of the difficulty of securingthe completeedition of the correspondence of this notable lady, the extractsshouldbe mostvaluable as an introductionto one of the most important sourcesfor the early history of New France. The life of Catherine Tekakwitha by Father Lecompte, already knownfor hisstudiesof Jesuitmissions in North America, is confessedly aimed to strengthen the claim of the Iroquois saint to beatification. Equipped witha'bibliography andmaps, thevolume gives afullaccount of the life of the Mohawk maiden, whom Charlevoix termed "the Genevieve of Canada", from her infancy on the Mohawk river to her earlydeathontheSt. Lawrence above Montreal, witha catalogue of the miraclesperformedat her tomb or through her intercession. R. FLENLEY George RogersClark: His Life andPublic Services. By TEMPLEBODLEY. Boston andNewYork: Houghton,Mifflin Company. 1926. Pp.xix, 425. THIS life of the Revolutionary conquerorof the old North West has distinct interest forstudents ofCannadian history. From1774 untilthe conclusion of peacein 1783, the old North West, includingthe Lake posts, such as Detroit and Michillimackinac, as well as the Illinois country, formed technicallya part of Canada. The story of George RogersClark's exploits,whichresultedin the lossof this vast territory to British arms, is thereforean important episodein Canadianhistory. Mr. Bodley hasdevotedto the telling of the story exhaustiveresearch. As his notesand his bibliographyattest, he has gatheredtogethera vast amount of printed material relating to Clark and his work; and he has in addition examineda large range of unprinted...