" Again, on the fifteenth: "In a few hours I set
out for Brest. Yesterday I presented my son, with whom I am well
pleased, to all the royal family. I shall have a secretary at Brest, and
will write more at length." On the eighteenth he writes from Rennes to
his wife: "I arrived, dearest, this morning, and stay here all day. I
shall be at Brest on the twenty-first. Everything will be on board on
the twenty-sixth. My son has been here since yesterday for me to coach
him and get him a uniform made, in which he will give thanks for his
regiment at the same time that I take leave in my embroidered coat.
Perhaps I shall leave debts behind. I wait impatiently for the bills.
You have my will; I wish you would get it copied, and send it to me
before I sail."
Reaching Brest, the place of embarkation, he writes to his mother: "I
have business on hand still. My health is good, and the passage will be
a time of rest. I embrace you, and my dearest, and my daughters. Love to
all the family. I shall write up to the last moment."
No translation can give an idea of the rapid, abrupt, elliptical style
of this familiar correspondence, where the meaning is sometimes
suggested by a single word, unintelligible to any but those for whom it
is written.
At the end of March Montcalm, with all his following, was ready to
embark; and three ships of the line, the "Leopard," the "Heros," and the
"Illustre," fitted out as transports, were ready to receive the troops;
while the General, with Levis and Bourlamaque, were to take passage in
the frigates "Licorne," "Sauvage," and "Sirene.
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