Villegagnon, by W.H.G. Kingston.
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The date is sometime during the reign of Philip and Mary, the Catholic
interlude between the Protestant times of Henry the Eighth and his son
Edward the Sixth, and Queen Elizabeth. Religious intolerance was at an
extreme, with burnings at the stake and other very nasty tortures being
applied to persons of an opposite sect.
Nigel Melvin comes to the Court of France with some letters to deliver.
His young cousin Mary Seton is with him in the opening scene, and she
introduces him to the young royals who happen to be walking in the same
garden. We find that there are several with Protestant leanings even
in that setting. Nigel is conducted to a house where he is to find
Admiral Coligny, who is setting up an expedition to found a Protestant
colony the other side of the Atlantic in the bay now known as Rio de
Janeiro, and idea that had been propounded by Monsieur Villegagnon.
Nigel is given command of one of the ships. They set off for Havre,
where the vessels are, but on the way Nigel overhears a conversation
between Villegagnon and a monk, which makes it plain that Villegagnon
is no Protestant, and that there is a dubious motive in all these
plans.
On arrival at Rio they meet with a local Indian chief who warns them
about some white settlers nearby who appear to have a religion not at
all satisfactory to Indian tastes. These are the Portuguese, Catholics.
They are permitted to settle on any island in the bay. There is a gale
and it becomes plain they must move to a more sheltered island than the
one they started on. Nigel falls in love with the fair lady Constance,
but so also does the Indian, Tecumah.
Nigel returns to France to pick up more Protestant emigrants, who have
to run the gauntlet of a Catholic mob apparently led by the monk who
had been plotting before the first voyage, with Villegagnon. The
voyage proceeds well but the five French ships were attacked by five
Portuguese, whom they routed except for one, which they captured. They
were unable to shut up the shot-holes in her, and she sinks. On arrival
in Brazil they set her passengers and crew ashore in a Portuguese-held
part of the territory, and continue to their settlement in the bay of
Rio. Thereafter the story gets more and more exciting, and we hope that
you will read it for yourself.
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VILLEGAGNON, BY W.H.G. KINGSTON.