(Vol. v., pp. 34. 136.)
As a sequel to the inquiries suggested in your pages respecting General
Wolfe, permit me to contribute the inscription on the obelisk erected
by Lord Dalhousie, in 1827, in a conspicuous part of Quebec, in honour
of the General and of his brave opponent Montcalm.[9] I give it in the
precise form in which it was obligingly communicated to me by the
present Bishop of Quebec, in reply to my suggestions, a year or two ago,
of another inscription, which I also send:
"Mortem Virtus communem
Famam Historia
Monumentum Posteritas dedit."
Upon the base:
"Hujusce
Monumenti in memoriam virorum illustrium
WOLFE et MONTCALM.
Fundamentum p. c. Georgius Comes de Dalhousie,
In Septentrionalibus Americæ partibus
Ad Britannos pertinentibus
Summam rerum administrans
(Quid duci egregio convenientius?)
Auctoritate promovens, exemplo stimulans
Munificentiâ fovens
Die Novembris XV. MDCCCXXVII
Georgi IV. Britanniarum Rege."
* * * * *
_Suggested Inscription._
"Hoc in loco
JACOBUS WOLFE, Anglorum,
LUDOVICUS DE MONTCALM, Francogallorum,
Exercitibus præfecti,
Optimis belli pacisque artibus pares,
Vitæ exitu simili,
Dispari fortunâ,
Commissâ inter Anglos et Francogallos pugnâ,
Ille in amplexu victoriæ
Hic victus, sed invicto animo,
Vulneribus confossi
Satis honorificé defuncti sunt.
* * * * *
"Felices ambo!
Quorum ingenio, moribus, bellicæ virtuti,
Duarum amplissimarum gentium
Mutuo luctu lacrymisque
Parentatum."
[Footnote 9: [An account of laying the first stone of the obelisk
to Wolfe and Montcalm, on Nov. 20, 1827, will be found in Quebec
and its Environs, 8vo. 1837.--ED.]]
P.S.--I would add, in connexion with this subject, that an elegant
and classical epitaph on Montcalm, printed in Popham's _Illustrium
Virorum Elogia Sepulchralia_, ends as follows:
"Mortales optimi ducis exuvias in excavatâ humo,
Quam globus bellicus decidens dissiliensque defoderat,
Galli lugentes deposuerunt,
Et generosæ hostium fidei commendârunt."
Query, Where is this epitaph inscribed; and is the fact recorded
in it noticed in any cotemporary history?