(Vol. iv., pp. 271. 322.)
Many letters of Wolfe's will be found published in the _Naval and
Military Gazette_ of the latter part of last and early part of this
year.
By the statement of your correspondent MR. COLE, Wolfe was promoted as
captain in Burrell's regiment (at present the 4th, or king's own) in
1744. Now Burrell's regiment took the left of the first line at
Culloden, so that James Wolfe, unless absent on leave, or employed on
particular duty, must have been in that action. The left of the second
line was occupied by "Colonel Wolfe's" regiment (now the 8th or
"king's"). See the "Rebellion of 1745," by Robert Chambers, in
Constable's _Miscellany_, vol. xvi. p. 86. Captains of _nineteen_ were
common enough at that period, but Wolfe is the only one whose name has
excited attention.
As to Wolfe's having been "the youngest general ever intrusted with such
a responsible command" as that at Quebec, your correspondent surely
forgets Napoleon in modern, and the Black Prince in more remote times.
I have seen at Mr. Scott's, of Cahircon, in the co. Clare, an engraving
of Wolfe: he is designated as the "Hero of Louisburgh," and is
represented with his right to the spectator, the right hand and arm
raised as if enforcing an order. The features are small, the nose rather
"cocked," and the face conveys the idea of spirit and determination; he
wears a very small three-cocked hat, with a plain black cockade, a sort
of frock coat reaching to the knees, where it is met by long boots;
there are no epaulets, a twist belt confines the coat, and supports a
cartouche-box in front, and a bayonet at the right side, and he carries
a fusil slung from his right shoulder "en bandouilliere."
It is said that the father of Wolfe was an Irishman, and I have been
shown in the co. Wicklow the farm on which it is said that James Wolfe
was born. It lies near Newtown-Mount-Kennedy. Be that as it may, the
name has been made celebrated in Ireland within the last half century by
three individuals: first, the Lord Kilwarden, who was murdered during
Emmett's rising in 1803; secondly, the late Chief Baron, who spelt his
name "with a difference;" and last, not least, the author of the
celebrated lines on the "Burial of Sir John Moore."