The Defence of Castle Dangerous, by Edith Louise Marsh

A bust of the Count de Frontenac in Quebec City, Canada.

A bust of Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac et de Palluau (1622-1698), Governor General of New France in North America from 1672 to 1682, and again from 1689 until his death in 1698. Frontenac’s governorship followed a pattern all too common in European colonialism, with friendly trade between the newcomers and the indigenous peoples giving way to broken promises — something that especially scandalised the Iroquois — military exploitation, and equally bloody reprisals. See also Pontiac’s War.

The Defence of Castle Dangerous

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Madeleine’s little brothers, brave as herself, helped in every way. On the seventh day of the siege, when they were all tired out and greatly in need of sleep, and Madeleine was trying to rest with her head on a table, her brothers rushed in with the news that French soldiers were coming to their aid.

It was Lieutenant de La Monnerie and forty men. News of the danger of the little fort had been carried to Montreal by some labourers who had managed to escape from the fields when they heard the cannon fired, and La Monnerie had been sent at once.

Instead of finding the place all in ruins, as he had feared, everything was secure and Madeleine in charge. The Iroquois hurried away when they saw that help had come.

Soon the mother and father returned to their children, of whom they had good cause to be proud.

by Edith Louise Marsh 1870-1960

Précis

The defence of the estate had lasted a week and everyone was feeling the strain when Madeleine’s two younger brothers rushed in with good news. They had spotted a detachment of French soldiers approaching, brought by Madeleine’s signal of alarm. The Iroquois melted away, and when Madeleine’s parents came home they found everyone safe, and were fairly bursting with pride.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate her ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

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