Dec. 6. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



439 



from Quebec. She was very averse to his accept- 

 in'T the command. But nothing could stay his 

 military ardour, even though in indifferent health. 

 Well niight the epithet be applied to him — " favour- 

 ite son of jNliuerva." 



Miss Louther was an object of general sym- 

 pathy, after her brave lover's fall ; and some of the 

 periodicals of the day contain beautiful verses, 

 addressed to her, appropriate to the occasion. 

 This lady's naine is not mentioned in any of Wolfe's 

 letters in my possession ; but an allusion is made 

 to her incidentally. She was a favourite with the 

 old general and ilrs. Wolfe. In one of the early 

 letters a graphic description is given by young 

 Wolfe of another lady of rank, with whom he was 

 much smitten. That was before he paid his ad- 

 dresses, however, to Miss Louther. IJut I do not 

 feel at liberty to break the seal of confidence 

 under which this information was communicated 

 in Wolfe's letter, though at the <listance of one 

 hundred years, by mentioning farther particulars. 



May I ask if the verses in your ])ossessi()n are 

 signed by Wolfe ; or in his autograph ; and dated ? 

 It would be very interesting to have precise in- 

 formation, tending to identify Wolfe as the author 

 of these lines. 



III. — To W. A. 



I shall be glad to kn^w the contents of the peti- 

 tion, dated February, 1746, and of the six letters 

 mentioned by you. They may throw some light 

 on Wolfe's history. 'W'ill you allow me to commu- 

 nicate with you on this subject, by letter, through 

 the Editor, as I reside at a distance from London ? 



IV. — To J. H, M. 



The packet of AVolfe's letters in my possession 

 was never sliown to Southey. They were dis- 

 covered only three years ago. I believe Southey 

 intended to write a memoir of Wolfe, but I am 

 not aware that he carried his intentions into effect. 

 The letters in my care were published in Tail's 

 Edinburgh Magazine, December, 1849, under the 

 title "Original Correspondence of GeneraHN'^olfe." 

 I shall feel obliged by any information you possess 

 reijarding the other collection of Wolfe's letters 

 which you believe to exist. Pray, where are they 

 to be seen ? 5- 



P. S. — Since expressing my acknowledgments 

 to the other gentlemen who have kindly an- 

 swered some of my inquiries respecting Wolfe, I 

 have iiad the pleasure to peruse the information 

 communicated by J. R. (Cork), and I beg to thank 

 him for his courtesy. The sketch he has given of 

 Wolfe's ancestors is very interesting, the more so, as 

 J. It. mentions he is himself connected with Wolfe's 

 fiimily. Would .1. li. be kind enongh to suf)ply 

 information on the following additional points, viz.: 



1. In whicii of the English counties did Cajjtain 

 George Wolfe, who escaped after the siege of 

 Limerick, settle? 



2. AVas the son of this officer (father of General 

 Edward Wolfe) also a military man, or a civilian ; 

 and what was his Christian name? 



3. The birth-place of General Edward AVolfe, 

 father of the hero of Quebec. 



Answers to these Queries would connect some of 

 the broken links in the history of one of the most 

 gallant and skilful young generals that England 

 ever entrusted with her armies. 5* 



General Wolfe's executor was General Warde, 

 of the family of Squerries, near Westerham, by 

 whom the epitaiih was wiitten, which is now over 

 the south door of Westerham church. General 

 Wai'de's nephew and executor was General George 

 Warde, who by that means became possessed of 

 several very interesting objects, viz., an original 

 portrait of Wolfe, representing liira with his na- 

 tural red hair. After some time the natur.tl red 

 was converted, by water colours, into a powdered 

 wig; consequently a sponge and clean water would 

 restore it to its original state. Anotlier portrait 

 of Wolfe painted after his death by West ; he is 

 represented sitting and consulting a plan of mili- 

 tary operations. West has given him the same 

 countenance in which he appears in the celebrated 

 picture of his death. When West was offered the 

 original portrait on which to form this jiicture, he 

 declined making use of it, as he had already com- 

 mitted himself in the historical poitrait, and it 

 would not do for him to alter it, and send out in 

 his name two different portraits. Gen. G. Warde 

 also possessed Wolfe's short sword and black leather 

 letter-case, and a collection of original letters ; 

 among which was one of much interest, where 

 Wolfe, mentioning the flattering terms in which he 

 was spoken of by the public and high military 

 authorities, says, that unwarranted expectations 

 were raised, and that to maintain his reputation 

 he might be driven into some desperate under- 

 taking. 



I write all this from memory, but my details 

 cannot be very far from correct. Griffin. 



CHEISTIANITY, VTHEN FIRST INTRODUCED INTO 



ORKNEY. 



Christianity is believed to have been introduced 

 into Orkney before the Norwegian conquest by 

 King Harold Ilarfager, in 89.5 ; but the race who 

 iidiabited the country at that period are said to 

 have been extirpated or driven out by the Scan- 

 dinavians, who were worshippers of Odin and 

 Thor. In the end of the tenth century, the King 

 of Norway, Olaf Tiyggveson, renounced Pa- 

 ganism for Christianity, which he forced both on 

 Norway and Orkney at the point of the sword. 

 M. Depping, in his Histoire des Expeditions Mu- 

 ritimes des Normands, tom. ii. p. (50. cd. ]8'26, 

 states that Sigurd, the second Earl of Orkney 



