“’Aux petits des oiseaux il donne la pature,
   Et sa bonte s’etend sur toute la nature.’”

He was pious in his soldierly way, and ardently loyal to Church and King.

His family seat was Candiac; where, in the intervals of campaigning, he found repose with his wife, his children, and his mother, who was a woman of remarkable force of character and who held great influence over her son.  He had a strong attachment to this home of his childhood; and in after years, out of the midst of the American wilderness, his thoughts turned longingly towards it. “Quand reverrai-je mon cher Candiac!”

In 1741 Montcalm took part in the Bohemian campaign.  He was made colonel of the regiment of Auxerrois two years later, and passed unharmed through the severe campaign of 1744.  In the next year he fought in Italy under Marechal de Maillebois.  In 1746, at the disastrous action under the walls of Piacenza, where he twice rallied his regiment, he received five sabre-cuts,—­two of which were in the head,—­and was made prisoner.  Returning to France on parole, he was promoted in the year following to the rank of brigadier; and being soon after exchanged, rejoined the army, and was again wounded by a musket-shot.  The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle now gave him a period of rest.[362] At length, being on a visit to Paris late in the autumn of 1755, the minister, D’Argenson, hinted to him that he might be appointed to command the troops in America.  He heard no more of the matter till, after his return home, he received from D’Argenson a letter dated at Versailles the twenty-fifth of January, at midnight.  “Perhaps, Monsieur,” it began, “you did not expect to hear from me again on the subject of the conversation I had with you the day you came to bid me farewell at Paris.  Nevertheless I have not forgotten for a moment the suggestion I then made you; and it is with the greatest pleasure that I announce to you that my views have prevailed.  The King has chosen you to command his troops in North America, and will honor you on your departure with the rank of major-general.”

[Footnote 362:  The account of Montcalm up to this time is chiefly from his unpublished autobiography, preserved by his descendants, and entitled Memoires pour servir a l’Histoire de ma Vie.  Somervogel, Comme on servait autrefois; Bonnechose, Montcalm et le Canada; Martin, Le Marquis de Montcalm; Eloge de Montcalm; Autre Eloge de Montcalm; Memoires sur le Canada, 1749-1760, and other writings in print and manuscript have also been consulted.]

The Chevalier de Levis, afterwards Marshal of France, was named as his second in command, with the rank of brigadier, and the Chevalier de Bourlamaque as his third, with the rank of colonel; but what especially pleased him was the appointment of his eldest son to command a regiment in France.  He set out from Candiac for the Court, and occupied himself on the way with reading Charlevoix.  “I take great