98 



XOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. -118. 



signs himsL'if and I myself are totally cliflTerent persons; 

 I have no connection or iiiiluence wliatever with any 

 Jiterary journal, nor have I ever been a writer in any, 

 and I need scarcely assure you I have never asked any 

 publisher in my life for a copy of any new work, in the 

 manner adopted by the individual to whom you allude. 



I may as well add, that there is no member of my 

 family whose initials are J. B. Eardley Wilmot, nor is 

 there, to the best of my knowledge, any family in 

 England, except my own, whicli combines the two 

 surnames of Eardley Wilmot. I must therefore pre- 

 sume that the signature of J. B. Eardley Wilmot is 

 entirely a fictitious one, and adopted for sinister pur- 

 poses. 



I beg to express my acknowledgments to you, for 

 enabling me to set myself right with the literary world, 

 more especially as I have lately brought out a little 

 work of my own on a subject entirely professional. 

 I am. Gentlemen, 



Your obedient Servant, 

 (Signed) J. E. Eaudley Wilmot. 

 To Messrs. Butterworth, 



Law Booksellers and Fublishers, 

 Fleet Street, London. 



We will but add one small fact. An author who 

 had been applied to by another influential reviewer, 

 the Rev. A. B. Clerk, directed his publisher to forward 

 a copy of his hook by post to the place specified. The 

 publisher sent it hi/ rail. The consequence was that 

 the reverend reviewer complained tliat the book had 

 not reached him : while the railway pcojjle returned it 

 because no such person could be found in the place at 

 which he professed to reside. 



PORTKAITS OF WOLFE. 



As the readers of " N, & Q." seem to take an 

 interest in everything connected with the cele- 

 brated and heroic Wolfe, I may mention that my 

 family possess two small paintings of that distin- 

 guished general, but by whom painted is un- 

 known, 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 commence- 

 ment of the battle on the Heiglits of Abraham; 

 and, from its unfinished appearance, seems to have 

 been but a, premiere pern ee of the artist, — Wolfe's 

 figure being the only one finished. The other 

 represents him leaning on a soldier, just after re- 

 ceiving the fatal ball which deprived him of life, 

 and his country of one of her greatest heroes. The 

 family tradition coimected with both these paint- 

 ings is that they were painted inunediately after 

 his death by one of iiis aide-de-camps, or by an 

 officer in the forces under his command. On the 

 panels of the latter painting is the following in- 



scription, 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, thei/ 

 are'] friend General Wolfe, who fell on the Heights of 



nearly r^ac-d 

 Abraham on [the 13th day of September] 1759, before 

 he could rejoice in the victory gained that day over the 

 French." 



" n. 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, Avhicli I transcribe, as I 

 have never seen them elsewhere : 



" In the thick of the Fight, Wolfe'splume was display 'd, 

 And his [effaced] coat was dusty and gory, 

 As flash'd on high his sabre's blade 



O'er that Field where he 



r fell I 



\ or \ \vi 

 [died J 



ith such glory. 



" On Abraham's Heights he fought that day 

 With his soldiers side by side. 



And he 



{mov'd 1 

 or \ 

 led them J 



along thro' that dreadful fray 



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 fiiintly ask'd from whence that sound. 

 And lieing answer'd, 'The Enemy fly,' 

 He exclaira'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 effiiced, 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 Auch- 

 muty ; but nothing positive is known of their his- 

 tory, 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 exe- 



