MAJOR-GEN. JAMES WOLFE.
(Vol. iv., pp. 271. 322. 438. 503.)
If the follows remarkable lines, described to me as having been placed many years ago under a bust of General Wolfe, in the Old Castle at Quebec, should not be well known, I think they merit a place in your pages. My friend who sent the verses could not supply the author's name, nor state whether they still remain in situ quo, though I have some idea that the Old Castle was burnt:
"Let no sad tear upon his tomb be shed.
A common tribute to the common dead.
But let the Good, the Generous, and the Brave,
With godlike envy, sigh for such a grave."
I may as well add, in reply to the Query in your 113th No., page 504., that my worthy friend and neighbour, Mr. Richard Birch Wolfe, the present representative of the Wolfes of North Essex, upon inquiry at the College of Arms, was unable to trace any relationship between his family and that of the General.
BRAYBROOKE.
Audley End.
Mrs. Wolfe's maiden name was Henrietta Thompson; she was of a Yorkshire family, and "own sister to my sister Apthorp," says Cole, "the wife of the Reverend Dr. Apthorp, Fellow of Eton College, so that my nieces Frances and Anne Apthorp were first cousins to the General." This lady died on Wednesday, Sept. 26, 1764, at her house in Greenwich, and is described as "the relict of Col. Edward Wolfe, and mother to the late heroic General Wolfe." (Public Advertiser, Sept. 28, 1764.) The official letter from General Wolfe, dated Sept. 9, 1759, is in print. On Nov. 18, in that year, his body was landed from the "Royal William" at Portsmouth. Three affecting letters of the bereaved mother to William Pitt, dated Nov. 6th, 27th, 30th, are likewise published. On March 26, 1759, she had been left a widow by her husband Edward, who was in 1745 Colonel of H. M. 8th regiment of infantry, and appointed Lieutenant-General in 1747. In 1758, General James Wolfe was Colonel of H.M. 67th regiment of foot. By her will, Mrs. Wolfe devised 500l. to the maintenance and repairs of Bromley College (Cambridge Chronicle, Sat. April 27, 1765); and, her debts and legacies being first paid, bequeathed the residue of her property to poor and deserving persons, with preference to the widows and families of soldiers who had served under her gallant son. The applicants were to send in their names to Jas. Gunter, attorney, of Tooley Street, Southwark, before Jan. 1, 1766 (Whitehall Even. Post, Thursday, Aug. 22, 1765). The monument to Gen. Wolfe's memory, in Westerham Church, is of white marble, and set up over the south door. The inscription has been given already in Vol. iv., p. 322.; but with the omission of any mention of a black tablet beneath, inscribed "I, decus, I, nostrum." He was baptized on Jan. 11, 1727. I subjoin an obituary, and other notices of persons of his name: