Mae. 27. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



999 



military chest where the twelve letters in my pos- 

 session were found, to which I formerly alluded. 

 This fiaj:ment, though neither dated, signed, nor 

 addressed, is in Wolfe's handwriting beyond 

 all doubt. I have compared it with his other 

 letters, and not only do I find the resemblance 

 iperfect, but the paper on which the fragment is 

 ■written is identically the same with several of 

 itheso letters, the water-mark being the very ap- 

 jpropriate one for a soldier, " pro patria." This 

 newly discovered portion of Wolfe's letter is 

 "written closely on two pages of a sheet of post 

 paper ; and from circumstances I am inclined to 

 think the date must have been in the end of 1757, 

 when he was at Blackheath, soon after his return 

 from the descent on Rochefort, in which he held a 

 -command. I am unable, however, to point out 

 the name of the young officer for whose advantage 

 the fragmentary epistle was written ; but he was 

 evidently one in whose welfare Wolfe took much 

 interest, and intimate in Wolfe's family. The in- 

 troductory words, *^ Dear Huty" seem to be an 

 affectionate abbreviation of the young gentleman's 

 surname; but how the fragment came amongst 

 the papers of Wolfe's other friend, Lieut.-Col. 

 B-ickson, to whom the whole of the twelve letters 

 in my possession are addressed, I cannot at present 

 say. Here is an exact copy, viz. : 



" Dear Huty, 



" By a Letter from my Mother I find you 

 ;are now an officer in Lord Chs. Hay's Regiment, 

 which I heartily give you Joy of, and as I sin- 

 cerely wish you success in Life, you will give me 

 Leave to give you a few Hints which may be of 

 use to you in it. The Field you are going into is 

 quite new to you, but may be trod very safely, 

 and soon made known to you, if you only get into 

 it by the proper Entrance. I make no doubt but 

 you have entirely laid aside the Boy and all Boyish 

 amusements, and have considered yourself as a 

 young man going into a manly profession, where 

 you must be answerable for your own conduct. 

 Your character in life must be that of a Soldier, 

 •and a Gentleman : the first is to be acquired by 

 application and attendance on your duty ; the 

 •second, by adhering most strictly to the Dictates 

 of Honour, and the Rules of Good Breeding, To 

 be more particular in each of these points ; when 

 you join your Regiment, if there are any Officer's 

 Guard mounted, be sure constantly to attend the 

 tParade, observe carefully the manner of the 

 officers taking their Posts, the exercise of their 

 Espontoon, &c. ; when the Guard is marched off 

 from the Parade, attend it to the Place of Relief, 

 and observe the manner and form of Relieving, 

 and when you return to your chamber (which 

 should be as soon as you cou'd, lest what you saw 

 slip out of your Memory), consult Bland's Military 

 Discipline on that Head ; this will be the readiest 



method of learning this part of your Duty, which 

 is what you will be the soonest call'd on to per- 

 form. 



When off Duty get a Serg* or a Corporal, whom 

 the Adjutant will recommend to you, to teach 

 you the Exercise of the Firelock, which I beg of 

 you to make yourself as much master of as if you 

 were a simple soldier ; the exact and nice know- 

 ledge of this will readily bring you to understand 

 all other parts of your Duty, make you a proper 

 judge of the performance of the Men, and qualify 

 you for the post of an Adjutant, and in time many 

 other employments of Credit. When you are 

 posted to your Company, take care that the Ser- 

 geants or Corporals constantly bring you the 

 orders ; treat those officers with kindness, but keep 

 them at a Distance, so will you be beloved and 

 respected by them ; read your orders with at- 

 tention, and if anything in particular concerns 

 yourself, put it down in your Memorandum Book, 

 which I wou'd have you constantly in your Pocket 

 ready for any Remarks ; be sure to attend con- 

 stantly morning and evening the Roll Calling of 

 the Company, watch carefully the Absentees, and 

 enquire into reasons for their being so, and par- 

 ticularly be watchfull they do not endeavour to 

 impose on you sham Excuses, which they are apt 

 to do with young officers, but will be deterr'd from 

 it by a proper severity in detecting them ; " 



Here, unfortunately, the remainder of the sheet 

 has been torn off, and the continuation of the ex- 

 cellent precepts it no doubt contained, is irre* 

 trievably lost. Enough has luckily been pre- 

 served to show what an admirably disciplined 

 soldier mind Wolfe possessed, taken in conjunction 

 with the outline of military reading, pointed out 

 in the letter contributed by Mr. Cole, already- 

 alluded to, and written with the same kindly 

 object (the instruction of youthful officers), pro- 

 bably only a few months prior to the date of the 

 mutilated one. 



As it may be thought desirable to say some- 

 thing 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 wer6 

 at the battle of Dettigen, and their names appear 

 in the list of promotions consequent on that vic- 

 tory. Rickson and young Wolfe were also in the 

 same regiment, commanded by Wolfe's father, in 

 Flanders. I think it was then known as " Ons- 

 lows." 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 par- 

 ticular, this attachment was of the most ardent 

 description. In one letter, dated Banff (Scotland), 

 9th June, 1751, he thus writes to Rickson : 



