Et affectus et debitum cogunt ut ego nunc recens et multis maximisque periculis summo Dei beneficio et vestræ Paternitatis precibus ereptus, eam salutem et quoad possum ejus genibus provolutus amplectar; grato certe ao [animo] ac magno spiritu. Etenim velut aspicere me debeo ad poenitentiam, ut spero, agendam et gratias exhibendas; tanti sunt ii casus e quibus me nunc liberatum admiror. Sed quoniam nunc forte [2] importunum foret longam rerum [=oi]um [omnium] historiam texere et credibile est Vestram Paternitatem multa jam ex P. Enemundo Massæo inaudivisse; omissis aliis hoc nunc solum explicabo, quonam modo post nostram ab Anglis in Nova Francia oppressionem, circumducti simus variis locis ac tandem huc in patriam restituti. Letter of Father Pierre Biard, to the Very Reverend Father Claude Aquaviva, General of the Society of Jesus, at Rome. (May 26, 1614.) (_Copied by Father Felix Martin, from the original Latin preserved in the Archives of the Gesù at Rome._) VERY REVEREND FATHER IN CHRIST, The peace of Christ be with you. Both affection and duty urge me, fresh from such multiplied and mighty perils, from which I have been rescued by the surpassing favor of the Lord and by the prayers of your Paternity, to send you my greetings; and, in so far as it is possible, I throw myself at your knees and embrace you, assuredly with the utmost gratitude and devotion. And, indeed, I am bound, as it were, to contemplate myself, both to do penance, as I hope, and to express my gratitude; so great are the perils out of which I now marvel to see myself delivered. But, as it may at this time [2] be wearisome to weave a long story of all these things, and as it is probable that Your Paternity has already learned many of them from Father Enemond Massé, I shall pass over all the rest, and confine myself for the present to this one matter: in what manner, after our violent capture by the English in New France, we were taken from place to place, and at last restored to this our native land. Eramus ut Vestra Paternitas scit in Nova Francia quatuor [3] omnino e societate, anno superiore 1613. Et quidem tunc primum incipiebamus novam moliri commodo loco habitationem, novam coloniam &c. Ecce subito nescio quo casu (casus certe fuit non consilium) injecti nostrum in littus Angli Virginenses, magno furore navem nostram invadunt, [=oi]bus [omnibus] prope defensoribus in terra occupatis. Pugnatum tamen est aliquandiu, sed necessario facta est non multo post deditio. In certamine duo e gallis occisi, quatuor vulnerati et insuper frater noster Gilbertus Duthet, vulneratus [4] ad mortem fuit. Is postridie inter manus meas religiose expiravit.