In a paper read by us before the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, 3rd December, 1879, we alluded in the following terms to the history of the "Friponne" and the infamous entourage of Intendant Bigot in the second part of our lecture: the first part related to Kalm's ramble round the city in 1749. Prepare, now for other--dark--far less pleasant scenes. The bright sky of old Stadacona will rapidly lower; leaden clouds, pregnant with storms are hovering over head. The simplicity of early days is getting obsolete. Vice, gilded vice, flaunts in the palace. Gaunt famine is preying on the vitals of the people. 'Tis so at Versailles; 'tis so at Quebec. Lust--selfishness--rapine--public plunder everywhere--except among the small party of the _Honnêtes Gens_: [120] a carnival of pleasure, to be followed by the voice of wailing and by the roll of the muffled drum. In 1748, the evil genius of New France, "La Pompadour's _protégé_" François Bigot, thirteenth and last Intendant, had landed at Quebec. Born in Guienne, of a family distinguished at the bar, Bigot, prior to coming to Canada had occupied the high post of Intendant in Louisiana. In stature, he was small--but well formed;--active--full of pluck-- fond of display and pleasure--an inveterate gambler. Had he confined his operations merely to trading, his commercial ventures would have excited little blame, trading having been a practice indulged in by several other high colonial officials. His salary was totally inadequate to the importance of his office, and quite insufficient to meet the expenditure his exalted position led him into. His speculations, his venality, the extortions practised on the community by his heartless minions: this is what has surrounded his memory with eternal infamy and made his name a by-word for scorn. There existed, at Quebec, a _ring_ composed of the Intendant's secretary, Deschenaux, of the Commissary General of Supplies, Cadet, of the Town-Major, Hugues Péan; of the Treasurer-General, Imbert. Péan was the Chief and Bigot the Great Chief of this nefarious association. Between Bigot and Péan, another link existed. Péan's favour at Court lay in the charms of his wife. Madame Péan, _née_ Angélique De Meloises, was young, pretty, witty and charming; a fluent and agreeable speaker--in fact so captivating that François Bigot was entirely ruled by her during all his stay at Quebec. At her house in St. Louis street he spent his evenings; there, he was sought and found in May, 1759, by Col. de Bougainville returning from Paris, the bearer of the dispatches, announcing the coming struggle. Would you like some of the pen-photographs which a clever French contemporary [121] has left of the corrupt entourage of the magnificent intendant, here are a few: