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THE SEATS OF THE MIGHTY

BEING THE MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN ROBERT MORAY,SOMETIME AN OFFICER IN THE VIRGINIA REGIMENT,AND AFTERWARDS OF AMHERST'S REGIMENT

By Gilbert Parker

To the Memory of Madge Henley.

Volume 1. Introduction to the Imperial Edition Prefatory note to First Edition I An escort to the citadel II The master of the King's magazine III The wager and the sword IV The rat in the trap V The device of the dormouse VI Moray tells the story of his life

Volume 2. VII "Quoth little Garaine" VIII As vain as Absalom IX A little concerning the Chevalier de la Darante X An officer of marines XI The coming of Doltaire XII "The point envenomed too!" XIII A little boast

Volume 3. XIV Argand Cournal XV In the chamber of torture XVI Be saint or imp XVII Through the bars of the cage XVIII The steep path of conquest XIX A Danseuse and the Bastile

Volume 4. XX Upon the ramparts XXI La Jongleuse XXII The lord of Kamaraska XXIII With Wolfe at Montmorenci XXIV The sacred countersign

Volume 5. XXV In the cathedral XXVI The secret of the tapestry XXVII A side-wind of revenge XXVIII "To cheat the Devil yet" XXIX "Master Devil" Doltaire XXX "Where all the lovers can hide" Appendix—Excerpt from 'The Scot in New France'

INTRODUCTION TO THE IMPERIAL EDITION

It was in the winter of 1892, when on a visit to French Canada, that Imade up my mind I would write the volume which the public knows as 'TheSeats of the Mighty,' but I did not begin the composition until early in1894. It was finished by the beginning of February, 1895, and began toappear in 'The Atlantic Monthly' in March of that year. It was not myfirst attempt at historical fiction, because I had written 'The Trail ofthe Sword' in the year 1893, but it was the first effort on an ambitiousscale, and the writing of it was attended with as much searching ofheart as enthusiasm. I had long been saturated by the early history ofFrench Canada, as perhaps 'The Trail of the Sword' bore witness, andparticularly of the period of the Conquest, and I longed for a subjectwhich would, in effect, compel me to write; for I have strong viewsupon this business of compulsion in the mind of the writer. Unless athing has seized a man, has obsessed him, and he feels that it excludesall other temptations to his talent or his genius, his book willnot convince. Before all else he must himself be overpowered by theinsistence of his subject, then intoxicated with his idea, and, beingstill possessed, become master of his material while remaining theslave of his subject. I believe that every book which has taken hold ofthe public has represented a kind of self-hypnotism on the part of thewriter. I am further convinced that the book which absorbs the author,which possesses him as he writes it, has the effect of isolating him intoan atmosphere which is not sleep, and which is not absolute wakefulness,but a place between the two, where the working world is indistinct andthe mind is swept along a flood submerging the self-conscious but notdrowning into unconsciousness.

Such, at any rate, is my own experience. I am convinced that the booksof mine which have had so many friends as this book, 'The Seats of theMighty', has had in the English-speaking world were written in

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