1759.] HEROISM OF WOLFE. 131 



calm, with no light but that of the stars. Within 

 two hours before daybreak, thirty boats, crowded 

 with sixteen hundred soldiers, cast off from the 

 vessels, and floated downward, in perfect order, 

 with the current of the ebb tide. To the boundless 

 joy of the army, Wolfe's malady had abated, and 

 he was able to command in person. His ruined 

 health, the gloomy prospects of the siege, and the 

 disaster at Montmorenci, had oppressed him with 

 the deepest melancholy, but never impaired for a 

 moment the promptness of his decisions, or the 

 impetuous energy of his action.^ He sat in the 

 stera of one of the boats, pale and weak, but borne 

 up to a calm height of resolution. Every order 

 had been given, every arrangement made, and it 

 only remained to face the issue. The ebbing tide 

 sufl[iced to bear the boats along, and nothing broke 

 the silence of the night but the gurgling of the 

 river, and the low voice of Wolfe, as he repeated 

 to the officers about him the stanzas of Gray's 

 " Elegy in a Country Churchyard," which had 



1 Entick, IV. 111. 



In his letter to the Ministry, dated Sept. 2, Wolfe writes in these 

 desponding words : — 



" By the nature of the river, the most formidable part of this arma- 

 ment is deprived of the power of acting ; yet we have almost the whole 

 force of Canada to oppose. In this situation there is such a choice of 

 difficuUies, that I own myself at a loss how to determine. The affairs of 

 Great Britain I know require the most vigorous measures, but then the 

 courage of a handful of brave troops should be exerted only where tliere 

 is some hope of a favorable event. However, you may be assured, that 

 the small part of the campaign which remains shall be employed (as far 

 as I am able) for the honor of his Majesty, and the interest of the nation ; 

 in which I am sure of being well seconded by the admiral and by the 

 generals : happy if our efforts here can contribute to the success of his 

 Majesty's arms in any other part of America." 



