220 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



house in St. Louis Street, where the Misses Napier are now living 

 (1828), and wh.ch is somewliat retired fro-m the line p'f the street, the 

 shop being itself in the projection wing. I saj' we made a poor General 

 Wolfe of it. 



" It has been several times pulled down by mischievous persions 

 and broken and as often repaired by the several owners of the house, 

 and much to their credit be it spoken, and still keeps its ground, and I 

 liope it may do so until the monument is finished. (Wolfe and Mont- 

 calm, then being erected in the Grovcrnor's Garden). 



'"'T suppose the original parts of the statue must be now as rotten 

 as a pear, and would h^ moulded away, if it was nat for their being 

 kept so. bedaub'd with ] aint. 



" (The above frequently related to me by my father). 



" J. Thomson, Jr." 



Sir James LeMoine states that in fact the statue was modelled from 

 drawings furnished by Mr. Thomson. Histoire des Fortifications et 

 des Rues de Québec, p. SS. 



It has no great artistic merit, but, viewed at a distance, it answered 

 its purpose so well that it was ever looked up.Hi as a cherished heirloom, 

 belonging to the citizens of Quebec. 



In 1838-9, some playful middies of the Eoyal Navy to'ok down the 

 statue in a youjthful freak, and gave it a sea trip to. Calcutta on a man- 

 of-war, whence it came back with a broken ann. 



Then it remained deposited for a time in the office of the Eoyal 

 Engineer.', now the " Garrison Club," St. Louis Street, where it was 

 found, then again restored and replaced in its niche. 



The Bell Telephone Company of Canada lately became owner of 

 " Wolfe's Corner." They repaired the figure, as the wood was decayed 

 and partly destroyed by ùvy rot, and would have shortly fallen to pieces 

 if exposed to a storm. Thanks to the President of the Bell Company, 

 C. F. Sise, Esq., of Montreal, who had heard of the tradition, it was 

 preserved. In December, 1898, he presented dt, through Sir James Le- 

 Moine, to the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec for safe keep- 

 ing, with the sole condition that it should be placed vv^hcre it miglit be 

 seen by visitors, but not exposed, to the weather. There it has found a 

 proper shelter and a final rest in the library. 



However, the disappearance of " General Wolfe " from the old 

 stand h' had so long occupied, and from wliieh it wa^ known ho could 

 never be removed, preyed upon the minds of many of tbe citizens of 

 Quebec, and became an abiding regret to tlie elders when they gazed 

 at the empty niche, and missed the lionoured figure of the "General" 



