258 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 284. 



this country, but in that one which to this day 

 reaps the fruit of his victory. Both Mr. Bancroft 

 and Mr. Frost have borne eloquent testimony to 

 the high estimation he is held in by our American 

 brethren. The subject is therefore, I consider, 

 a good one ; and after what has appeared in 

 " N. & Q.," " Tail's," &c., it is at least doubtful if 

 materials are so scanty as was before imagined. 

 To add a mite to the stock already inserted is the 

 aim of the present communication. 



Among some old letters which a short time 

 since were given me, is one from G. Drake, cap- 

 tain of marines, dated Tarporley, near Chester, 

 June 13th, 1797, addressed to the editor of the 

 European Magazine, and in the postscript of 

 which he writes, " I have not yet gathered all the 

 anecdotes concerning General Wolfe's family ; 

 when I have them properly arranged I will im- 

 mediately transmit them." I am unable to say if 

 the promised communication ever appeared, but 

 the clue indicated may perhaps be useful. 



I do not think attention has been drawn to 

 the notices of Wolfe by Horace Walpole and his 

 editors. The editor of The Correspondence of the 

 Hon. Horace Walpole, &c., concludes a note on 

 Walpole's disparaging remarks to Conway relative 

 to Wolfe as follows : 



" The grave has' long since closed upon all those who 

 were personall}' acquainted with General Wolfe; but 

 there remains one aged being who, entertaining the very 

 highest respect for his memory, and possessing under pe- 

 culiar circumstances several of his letters, with other im- 

 portant documents connected with the siege of Quebec, has 

 deemed it a duty to give the above statement in vin- 

 dication of the hero's conduct." — Edit. 1837, vol. i. p. 419. 

 (The Italics are mine.) 



Walpole states Wolfe to have been "no friend" 

 to Conway, and consequently has for him " no 

 affection;" but admits his "great merit, spirit, 

 and alacrity," &c. (" Walpole to Mann," Feb. 9, 

 1759). Eeferences to Wolfe also occur in letters 

 to Mann, Oct. 16 and 19, 1759, and Aug. 1, 1760; 

 and " Mason to Walpole," Feb. 23, 1773. See 

 also p. 423. of the first-mentioned work, for a re- 

 markable anecdote connected with Townshend 

 and the surrender of Quebec, and his reception 

 by George II. 



In the Life of Romney, by his brother, it is 

 stated he gained the second prize of the Society 

 of Arts in 1763, for his picture of the " Death of 

 Wolfe ;" but the award was afterwards withdrawn 

 in favour of another historical painting by Mor- 

 timer, a premium being purposely created in 

 Homney's favour. This picture, coming into pos- 

 session of Governor Varelst, was placed by him 

 in the Council Chamber, Calcutta. 



In possession of the corporation of Hastings, is 

 a shield taken from one of the gates of Quebec. 

 It was presented by General Murray. (See Gent. 

 Mag., 1792, p. 113.) 



The Liverpool Mercury, June 20, 1854, con- 

 tained the following paragraph : 



" Le Journal de Quebec contains the programme of the 

 ceremonies observed on the occasion of inhuming the 

 bones of the heroes who fell before Quebec in 1759. 

 Monday, the 5th instant, was the appointed day. After 

 attending divine service in the French cathedral at 

 nine o'clock in the morning, the procession, composed of 

 the St. Jean Baptiste Society, the officers of the garrison, 

 &c., marched to the property of Julien Chominard, St. Toy 

 Road. Arrived there, after an appropriate oration pro- 

 nounced by Col. Trach^, the mingled remains of England 

 and France's dead were deposited in a lot of ground 

 granted for the purpose, and on which it is intended tO' 

 erect a suitable monument." 



Southey's Life of Wolfe was actually adver- 

 tised ; the announcement lies before me. Wolfe's 

 MSS. are several times quoted in an article on 

 Lord Howe, Quarterly Review, June, 1838. Cum- 

 berland, in a letter to Romney, alludes to a 

 "paltry poem called Quebec, or the Conquest of 

 Canada ,• " and a drama. The Siege of Quebec, waa 

 brought out at Covent Garden. 



Is not the statement in the Etymological Com- 

 pendium (third ed. p. 356.), that Wolfe was born 

 in Tanner Row, York, a misprint ? It certainly 

 is an error : that he was a native of Westerham 

 cannot, I think, be disputed. 



In Vol. vil., p. 127., for "Puttick and Simpson " 

 read "Sotheby and Wilkinson." The cutting 

 states the letter here referred to " proves that 

 Wolfe applied direct for the services of Barre, — 

 a new circumstance in the life of one of whom too 

 little is known." 



I trust, Mr. Editor, you soon will announce to 

 the readers of " N. & Q." that a biography will 

 shortly appear of him, who, as Townshend, his 

 coadjutor, said, " crowded into a few years actions 

 that would have adorned a length of life." 



H. G. D. 



Knightsbridge. 



NOTICES OF ANCIENT lilBBARIES, NO. I. 



The following notes are not supposed to give 

 anything like a lull list or history of ancient col- 

 lections of books. They are merely a contribu- 

 tion to which most extensive additions could no 

 doubt be made. 



A. Gellius says that Pisistratus is said to have 

 been the first who collected books on various 

 subjects for the use of the public at Athens. This 

 library was sedulously increased by the Athenians. 

 When Xerxes captured the city he removed the 

 books to Persia ; but Seleucus NIcanor had them 

 all brought back to Athens. 



" In the best days of Athens, even private persons had 

 extensive libraries. The most important we know of 

 were those of Euclid, Euripides, and Aristotle." 



When Aristotle left Athens he gave his library 

 to Theophrastus, by whom it was considerably 



