Page:American Historical Review vol. 6.djvu/685

 Marc Lescarboi 675 over Hakluyt of having visited America and of having left us a most entertaining account of the manners and customs of the Indians near the Bay of Fundy, yet he would have merited a still larger share of our gratitude had he given us, as his English con- temporary has done, long, original and interesting accounts of the voyages made to America before and during his own time. Marc Lescarbot was born at Vervins near Laon of a good family sometime between the years i 560 and i 570.' The exact date of his birth is not known. After receiving a good education, he took up the study of law, but he had not yet been called to the bar when in i 598 he pronounced in his native town before the papal legate an oration of thanksgiving on the conclusion of peace with Spain. ^ In the follow- ing year he published a translation of a Latin work by Cardinal Baronius on the origin of the Russians.' From the title-page of this we see that he was called to the bar in that year. Among his first briefs seem to have been several in which Jean de Biencourt Seigneur de Poutrincourt was interested. The family of Biencourt was descended from a certain Andre de Biencourt who was prior of Biencourt in 1 142. Many of its mem- bers had held offices of importance in Picardy, and Florimond de Biencourt, the father of Lescarbot's friend, had been a gentleman of the household of Francis I. Under Henry II. he held the office of governor of the duchy of Aumale and in 1549 was sent as ambas- sador to the Emperor Charles V. to marry Anne, daughter of Her- cules of Este, by procuration for the son of the Duke of Guise. By his wife Jeanne de Salazar Florimond had nine children, four boys and five girls. The eldest boy, a page to Henry II., was never heard of after the battle of Dreux, and Charles, the third son, was killed at the battle of Moncontour in 1 569. Jacques the second son inherited the title, while Jean the fourth son became famous as the colonizer of New France.^ Jean, who had received in 1565 the seigneurie of Marsilly-sur-Seine, served as squire to the Duke d'Aumale. He also enjoyed the confidence of Henry IV., who ap- ^ Ibid., -p. 180, " Vervin en Tierache lieu de ma naissance," etc. Cf. Demarsy, Notes sur A/arc Lescarbot, Avocat J'ervinois, Vervins, lS6S, /assim. '^ Ibid., p. 8oi, "A Vervin, lieu de ma naissance oil je fis. . . . deux actions de grace en forme de Panegyrique a Monseigneur le Legat Alexandre de Medicis Cardinal de Florence depuis Pape Leon XI., imprimees a Paris." Copies of this oration in Latin and in French are preserved at the BibliothSque Nationale, nos. L. b. 35, 732 and 733. ' Discours stir /' Origine des Riissiens et de leur miraculeuse Conversion et de quelques actes memorables de lews Rois ; en outre comme par laps de terns ih ont quitte la verite connue et maintenant une grande partie d' iceux se sont rangez a la communion du S. Siigc Apostolic, traduit en frangois du Latin du Cardinal Cesar Baronius par Marc Les- carbot Advocat, Paris, 1599. 193 et seqq.
 * De la Chenaye-Desbois et Badier, Dictionnaire de la Noblesse, Paris, 1864, III.