It is thought by some that he really went to Montreal at a later date. The _Correspondence Litteraire_ of July 25, 1863,[2] gives a letter from the archives of the French Ministry of Marine in the handwriting of Colbert, the great Finance Minister of Louis XIV, who also had charge of the department of commerce, dated in 1675, to Frontenac, Governor of Canada, in which Louis XIV says: “I have blamed the action of Abbé Fénelon, and have ordered him not to return to Canada. But I ought to say to you that it was difficult to institute a criminal proceeding against him or oblige the priests of the seminary of St. Sulpice at Montreal to testify against him; and it was necessary to remit the case to his bishop or the grand vicar to punish him by ecclesiastical penalties, or to arrest him and send him back to France by the first ship.” There was not then in France any other abbé of that name, so far as is known. Somewhat confirmatory of it is the fact that Appleton’s Cyclopedia, in its account of the Society of St. Sulpice says, “In 1668 the Sulpicians, François de Fénelon and Claude Trouvé, founded the first Iroquois mission at the western extremity of Lake Ontario, but their labors were confined principally to the Indians near Montreal.” The dates do not harmonize; but it may be that, in some irregular way that did not commend itself to the authorities, our hero was for a time in Canada; but if so, it is very singular that it left so little trace upon his life. He gave himself for some three years after his ordination to labors in the parish of St. Sulpice, living still at the seminary, and endeavoring to spread the light of his faith among the poor wherever he could reach them best, whether in prisons and hospitals or their own quarters. It was good training for him in many ways, enlarging his sympathies, deepening his views of life, and bringing him into touch with children as well as women. Doubtless he gathered in these years—for he had quick powers of observation and a very active mind—much of that amazing knowledge concerning these classes which surprised his friends when he came subsequently to pour forth in letters or books the wisest of counsels on education and kindred topics. M. Languet, curé of the parish at this time, was said to distribute more than a million francs in alms yearly, while his own room was furnished with nothing more than a coarse bed and two straw chairs. Under such guidance Fénelon could not fail to learn many useful lessons, and to become still more completely fitted for the great career which was soon to open before him.