As it may be thought desirable to say something more than I have done, regarding the packet of Wolfe's letters in my custody, I beg to state that the officer to whom they are all addressed, was William Rickson, a native of Pembroke. He was eight years older than Wolfe. They appear to have served together in Flanders. Both were at the battle of Dettigen, and their names appear in the list of promotions consequent on that victory. Rickson and young Wolfe were also in the same regiment, commanded by Wolfe's father, in Flanders. I think it was then known as "Onslows." Both father and son appear to have felt a strong attachment to Rickson: this appears from the letters. On the part of James Wolfe in particular, this attachment was of the most ardent description. In one letter, dated Banff (Scotland), 9th June, 1751, he thus writes to Rickson:
"I believe that no man can have a sincerer regard for you than myself, nor can any man wish to serve and assist you with more ardour;" and "Attachments between men of certain characters do generally arise from something alike in their natures, and should never fall from a certain degree of firmness, that makes them the same all the world over, and incapable of any diminution. I have (as you justly acknowledge) a perseverance in friendship, that time, nor distance, nor circumstance, can defeat,—nay, even neglect can hardly conquer it; and you are just as warm and as near me in North America as you would be upon the spot."
Rickson survived Wolfe eleven years, and I possess the key of the tomb in which his remains repose in Restalrig churchyard, near Edinburgh. A fine miniature of him in his antique regimentals also exists; and it is interesting to contemplate the lineaments of a countenance so familiar to Wolfe, and of a man to whom the latter seems to have communicated his inmost thoughts. There are passages in the letters indicative of this to a degree, that I felt bound in honour not to disclose. Rickson died a lieutenant-colonel in 1770. His antique military chest remained in possession of relatives in Scotland almost forgotten, till about three years ago curiosity prompted the examination of a mass of old papers, covered with dust, lying at the bottom of it. A number of curious documents have thus been brought to light, including a file of letters to Rickson from the Duke of Queensbury (under whose auspices he constructed the military roads in Gallowayshire) and other distinguished personages of the last century, but best of all twelve invaluable letters from the lamented Wolfe, tied up by themselves, probably by Rickson, as memorials of his bosom friend who fell in the arms of victory. It was, as already said, among these old papers that the fragment of the letter above quoted was also found lately, on a more careful inspection of the antique chest in which they lay. I was so much struck with the noble sentiments expressed by Wolfe in the letters, that I ventured to write a short sketch of him from very imperfect materials, which appeared, along with the letters themselves, ad longam, in Tait's Edinburgh Magazine for December, 1849. Had I been aware of some of the facts which have since been contributed to the "N. & Q.," I would have modified certain passages in the narrative. All I aimed at, however, was merely to elucidate the letters which accident placed in my custody. But I now earnestly invite some competent writer to rescue Wolfe's history from the undeserved neglect and obscurity in which it is at present shrouded. I shall cheerfully allow any such party access to the whole letters, under proper guards for their safety, and my address has been left with the Editor accordingly.
Ȝ.
Glasgow.
EARL OF CHEPSTOW.
(Vol. v., pp. 126. 204. 261.)
The seeming difficulty regarded in these communications arises from Hooker's unauthorised translation of "Comes Strigulensis" into "Earl of Chepstone," and in a phrase of ancient parlance appearing a Title of Dignity. The error does not exist in the original work, as Giraldus wrote "Dermutius Morchardi filius, Lagenensium Princeps, Ricardo Comiti Strigulensi, Gilleberti Comitis filio, S."—Camden's Anglica, &c., p. 767.
The town, called in later times Chepstow by the English, and sometimes Cas Gwent, or Castell Gwent, by the Welsh, is clearly Strigul (as shown in Lhwyd's Commentariolum, p. 102. edit. 1731, and Archæologia, vol. xxix. p. 31.); but these names are not precisely equivalent. In early documents the Town, Vill, or Burgh is thus variously named, and the style of the present Court Baron is, "the Honour of Chepstow, alias Striguil;" but in old charters and chronicles the Lordship Marcher, the castle, and the honorary description of its lords, are usually designated by the word "Strigul" (variously written) only; and of this "Hooker alias Vowell" was perhaps ignorant. Giraldus himself is correct, as shown above.
As to the style of "Earl of Strigul," Dugdale admits the use of it by Richard Fitz-Gilbert, who occurs as "Comes Strigulensis" above, and as "Ricardus Comes de Striguil Dermuciigener," in Ralph de Diceto (p. 590.). His descendant Gilbert Marescall is also termed "Counte de Strogoile" in the petition of Margaret, daughter of Thomas de Brotherton, at the coronation of Richard II. (Vincent's Corrections, p. 345.) There is a stronger instance in Selden's Titles of Honour (p. 617. edit. 1631), correctly cited from Hoveden, and mentioning the fact of William Marshall and Geoffrey Fitz-Peter being severally girded "gladio Comitatus de Striguil et gladio Comitatus de Essex," at the coronation of King John, with remarks on their previous rank as earls, their administration of earldoms, but their non-investiture, and their sitting at the royal table in consequence of this investiture.
Nevertheless, it is laid down in the third Report on the Dignity of a Peer, p. 146., that such expressions are to be considered vague. It refers, for instance, any description of Roger de Montegomeri, as Earl of Arundel (if such exists), to residence; adding, "that is, he was an earl, and from his residence was denominated Earl of Arundel, as the Earls of Pembroke were denominated Earls of Strigul, a castle which appears to have been built by William Fitz-Osborn, Earl of Hereford, and which had no connexion with the county of Pembroke."