— 366 — 



bourg Grenadiers, towards the right of the British line, must 

 have been nearly opposite to each other at the commencement 

 of the battle, which was most severe in that part of the field : 

 and, by a singular coincidence, each of these heroic leaders 

 had been twice wounded during the brief conflict before he 

 received his last and fatal wound. 



But the valiant Frenchman, regardless of pain, relaxed not 

 his efforts to rally his broken battalions in their hurried 

 retreat towards the city until he was shot through the loins, 

 when within a few hundred yards of St. Louis Grate. And so 

 invincible was his fortitude that not even the severity of this 

 mortal stroke could abate his gallant spirit or alter his intre- 

 pid bearing. Supported by two grenadiers — one on each side 

 of his horse, he re-entered the city : and in reply to some 

 women who, on seeing blood flow from his wounds as he rode 

 down St. Louis Street, on his way to the Chateau, exclaimed 

 Oh. mon Dieu ! mon Dieu ! le Marquis est tu6 ! courteously 

 assured them that he was not seriously hurt, and begged of 



them not to distress themselves on his account Ce west 



rien ! ce tx'est rien ! Ne vous affligez pas pour moi, mes bonnes 

 amies. (1) 



The last words of Wolfe, imperishably enshrined in the 

 pages of History, still excite, after the lapse of a century, 

 the liveliest admiration and sympathy : and similar interest 

 may, perhaps, be awakened by the following brief narrative 

 of the closing scene in the eventful career of his great 

 opponent. 



Montcalm, when his wounds had been examined, enquired 

 whether they were mortal ; and being answered in the affir- 

 mative, said, I am glad of it : how long can I survive? — Ten 

 or twelve hours, perhaps less, was the reply. So much the 

 better, rejoined he; for then I shall not live to see the sur- 

 render of Quebec (2). 



" Being afterwards visited by M. de Ramezay — who, with 

 " the title of Lieuienant-du-Roi, commanded the garrison — 

 " and the Commandant de Roussillon, he said to them, 

 " Gentlemen, to your keeping I commend the honour of France. 

 u Endeavour to secure the retreat of my army to-night beyond 

 " Cap-Rouge; as for my self, I shall past the 7iight with God, 

 11 and prepare for death." 



(1) For these particulars I am indebted to my friend Mr. G. B. Faribault, 

 a gentleman well known in Canada for his researches into the history of 

 the Colony : whose information on the subject was derived from his much 

 respected fellow-citizen the Hon. John Malcolm Fraser, grandson of one of 

 Wolfe's officers, and now (1858) one of the oldest inhabitants of Quebec ; 

 where, in his childhood and youth, he had the facts, as above narrated, often 

 described to him by an elderly woman who, when about eighteen years of 

 age, was an eye-witness of the scene. _ R. S. B. 



(2; Beatson's Naval and Military Memoirs of Great Britain : 1790. 



