Amelie carried out the elaborate
programme which she had arranged for the amusement of Le Gardeur as
well as for the pleasures of her guests.
Every day brought a change and a fresh enjoyment. The mornings were
devoted by the gentlemen to hunting, fishing, and other sport; by
the ladies to reading, music, drawing, needlework, or the arrangements
of dress and ornaments. In the afternoons all met together, and
the social evening was spent either at the Manor House or some
neighboring mansion. The hospitality of all was alike: a profusion
of social feeling formed, at that day, a marked characteristic of
the people of New France.
The Lady de Tilly spent an hour or two each day with her trusty land
steward, or bailli, Master Cote, in attending to the multifarious
business of her Seigniory. The feudal law of New France imposed
great duties and much labor upon the lords of the manor, by giving
them an interest in every man's estate, and making them participators
in every transfer of land throughout a wide district of country. A
person who acquired, by purchase or otherwise, the lands of a
censitaire, or vassal, was held to perform foi et hommage for the
lands so acquired, and to acquit all other feudal dues owing by the
original holder to his seigneur.
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