GENTLEMEN AND JESUITS: QUESTS FOR GLORY AND ADVENTURE IN THE EARLY DAYS OF NEW FRANCE. Grades 12 and up Toronto, University of Toronto Press, c1986. 293pp, cloth, $24.95, ISBN 0-8020-2594-3. CIP Jones, Elizabeth. Reviewed by Thomas F. Chambers Volume 14 Number 6 1986 November Most Canadian school children know something about the career of Samuel de Champlain. In the history of New France, his exploits have assumed the aura of legend. Other adventurers and explorers tend to be judged in comparison with the great Champlain. In Gentlemen and Jesuits, we hear again of Champlain in the early-seventeenth century, in what became Nova Scotia. But this book is more than a retelling of the familiar story. Champlain is not the major character, though his journals have been used as an important source. The main part of the book deals with the attempts by a Catholic nobleman, the sieur de Poutrincourt to establish a seigneury for himself and his family in Acadia. As we follow Poutrincourt and his son on their adventures, we are treated to a great deal of drama. Jones tells this story in such an exciting way that the characters we meet come to life again. This is history as it should be; realistic and lively. In addition to Poutrincourt and his problems, we also learn about the attempts by the Jesuits to establish a foothold in North America. In their rivalry with Poutrincourt, the Jesuits are accused of the kind of inirigue for which they became famous. Jones shows that much of their reputation, at least in this case, is unjustified. Gentlemen and Jesuits is based upon the writings of Marc Lescarbot, a lawyer friend f Poutrincourt, the journal of Jesuit Father Pierre Biard. as well as the writings of Champlain. It is a fine book, and vividly retells what the difficult days in New France were like. Thomas F. Chambers, Canadore C.C., North Bay, Ont.