PORTRAITS OF WOLFE.
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
{ fell }
O'er that Field where he { or } with such glory.
{ died }
"On Abraham's Heights he fought that day
With his soldiers side by side,
{ mov'd }
And he { or } along thro' that dreadful fray
{ led them }
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.
EDW. AUCHMUTY GLOVER.