As the readers of "N. & Q." seem to take an interest in everything
connected with the celebrated and heroic Wolfe, I may mention that my
family possess two small paintings of that distinguished general, but by
whom painted is unknown, though they are supposed to have been executed
by some officer present with him at the taking of Quebec. A description
of them may not be unacceptable to your readers. One represents Wolfe in
the act of tying a handkerchief round his wrist, after he had been
wounded at the commencement of the battle on the Heights of Abraham;
and, from its unfinished appearance, seems to have been but a _première
pensée_ of the artist,--Wolfe's figure being the only one finished. The
other represents him leaning on a soldier, just after receiving the
fatal ball which deprived him of life, and his country of one of her
greatest heroes. The family tradition connected with both these
paintings is that they were painted immediately after his death by one
of his aide-de-camps, or by an officer in the forces under his command.
On the panels of the latter painting is the following inscription, some
of the words being partially effaced:
"This painting represents the death of my [_here the words are
effaced, but, as far as I can make them out, they are_] friend
General Wolfe, who fell on the Heights of Abraham on [_nearly
effaced_][the 13th day of September] 1759, before he could rejoice
in the victory gained that day over the French."
"H. C." or "G." are the initials attached to this inscription, and under
it are written, in old-fashioned style, and in old paper, pasted to the
panels, the following lines, which I transcribe, as I have never seen
them elsewhere:
"In the thick of the Fight, Wolfe's plume was display'd,
And his [_effaced_] coat was dusty and gory,
As flash'd on high his sabre's blade
O'er that Field where he [fell][_or_][died] with such glory.
"On Abraham's Heights he fought that day
With his soldiers side by side,
And he [mov'd][_or_][led them] along thro' that dreadful fray
As Old England's Hope and Pride.
"But short was the Hero's immortal career,
For as the battle was nearly o'er
He fell by a ball from a French musketeer,
Which bath'd his breast with gore.
"When wounded he leant on a soldier nigh,
And the victory just was won,--
For he heard aloud the cheering cry,
'They run! they run! they run!'--
"He faintly ask'd from whence that sound,
And being answer'd, 'The Enemy fly,'
He exclaim'd, as he slowly sunk to the ground,
'Oh God! in peace I die.'
"And there stretch'd he lay on the blood-stain'd green,
Which a warrior's death-bed should be,
And as in Life victorious Wolfe had been,
So in Death triumphant was he."
There appear to have been initials affixed to these lines, but they are
effaced, as well as many words and letters which I have rather guessed
at than read. These paintings belonged to a great-uncle of mine,
Malborough Parsons Stirling, Colonel of the 36th Foot, who died Governor
of the Island of Pondicherry, and who, it is believed, received them
from his friend, Sir Samuel Auchmuty; but nothing positive is known of
their history, farther than that they are believed to have been the work
of some personal friend or aide-de-camp of Wolfe's, present with him at
the battle of Quebec. A portion of the sash said to have been worn by
him at the time of his death, and saturated with his blood, also
accompanied these paintings. This description may enable some of your
readers to discover by whom these paintings were executed; to whom they
originally belonged; and if there are duplicates of them in existence,
where they may be seen.