stated in local guide-books, that Wolfe, about this time, commanded the small fort of Inversnaid, situated between the Lochs Lomond and Katrine. But the fort, having been taken by Rob Roy's nephew, Ghlune-Dhu, previous to or during the Rebellion, was now in ruins; and the tradition must have arisen from the fact that our hero was in command there at a later period. Yet, even at this time, it is not improbable that an outpost from Stirling was established in the locality; and Wolfe may have superintended the reconstruction of the little keep at Inversnaid.*

Although nothing can be positively asserted of his doings for a few months, it is certain that he was actively engaged during the remainder of his stay in the Highlands, and that he now acquired an intimate knowledge of the condition of the people, as well as of the physical features of the country. Wolfe quitted Scotland before winter set in, and passed the short time until his return to the Continent, early in the following spring, in London. So here may be closed the chapter which relates all the information that has come down to us concerning the humble but efficient part played by our young hero

"In a rebellion,

When what's not meet, but what must be, was law."

See Introduction to Rob Roy' for an account of this Highland fort. Sir Walter Scott adds :-“ When we find the celebrated General Wolfe commanding in it, the imagination is strongly affected by the variety of time and events which the circumstance brings simultaneously to recollection." Towards the north-eastern end of Loch Lomond a little stream, called the Snaid, falls into it. The Snaid runs from Loch Arklet through a wild gorge, and gives the name of Inversnaid, the mouth or outlet of the Snaid, to the district. The little fort built in 1713 to keep the Macgregors in awe, stood in the heart of this gorge.

CHAPTER V.

CONTINENTAL CAMPAIGNS.-LONDON.

1747-1748.

THE winter season of 1746 was inaugurated in London on the 9th of October by a public thanksgiving for the total reduction of the rebels, which we are told was observed by a great resort to the places of worship, and extraordinary illuminations at night. The seven alarm guns that had been placed in St. James's Park were now removed; and patriotic parish clerks no longer thought it necessary to excite a sanguinary spirit in their congregations by singing, "to the praise and glory of God," the most vindictive verses of the 59th, 83rd, and 137th Psalms.*

Although human heads were exposed to view on Temple Bar, where people made a trade of letting spying-glasses at a halfpenny a look,† and notwithstanding the Special Commission still sitting at St. Margaret's Hill, Southwark, and the hanging, drawing, and quartering of condemned traitors upon Kennington Common, the town was as gay and heartless as if there never had been a Black Derby Day.

*Gentleman's Magazine,' 1846, p. 422 et seq.

+ Walpole's Letters, Cunningham's ed., vol. ii. p. 50.

Only those who have had occasion to explore old magazines and newspapers know how comparatively small a space is filled by the matter, from which is formed the so-called history of any period. The rare, or, so to speak, episodical events embalmed for the edification of future generations, are, in fact, mere by-plays in the grand drama of human life; and, oblivious of them, the world goes on after the old fashion, marrying and giving in marriage, every individual feeling much more interested in his own ephemeral affairs than in those remarkable occurrences, the memory of which only survives.* We need not wonder, then, to find contemporaneous accounts of the Rebellion, and its sequel, interspersed with articles "On marrying a brother's widow," "On the efficacy of tar-water," "On a method for exercise within-doors," and even upon less momentous subjects than these. A plate in the Gentleman's Magazine' affords us a curious illustration.† On the same page are represented a machine for cutting away mole and ant hills; bullets found upon the field of Edgehill; a section of a machine for rubbing, cleaning, and winnowing corn all at once; a candlestick, with apparatus to preserve the eye from the light, and obtain a stronger light from a small candle than a large; an hour-glass, found in a coffin in Clerkenwell churchyard;

*For instance, D'Israeli says:- "In the journal of a Yorkshire squire, who lived in the immediate neighbourhood of Marston Moor, it appears that he went out hunting on the very day of that memorable engagement; but our sportsman, in the details of his chase, has not even made an allusion to the battle, though the roar of the cannon must have echoed to his 'Tally-ho!'" (Commentaries, etc., vol. v. p. 49.)

† Plate viii., December, 1846, p. 640.

and the portrait of Lord Lovat, "curiously engraved." In like manner Justice, engaged though she was in State trials, had leisure to look after barbers, one and fifty of whom were mulcted in the sum of £20 each, " for having in their custody hair-powder not made from starch, contrary to Act of Parliament."* The King's birthday was celebrated with more than the ordinary display of loyalty; and, at the ball in St. James's Palace, H.R.H. the Duke danced minuets with the Princess of Wales. A few days afterwards the Duke set out for the Hague, in order to confer with the States-General, and to arrange with the Austrian and Dutch commanders the operations for the ensuing campaign. During his Royal Highness's stay there he was much caressed, and there was a great assemblage of people of distinction who made court to him. Their High Mightinesses, animated by his presence, and the resolutions of the British Parliament, determined upon fitting out a fleet, and to have an army of 40,000 men early in the field. Having finished his business, the Duke returned to England.

The most remarkable of the state prisoners whose doom was as yet unpronounced still lingered in the Tower when the eventful year drew to an end. At Court the new year was opened with the routine festivities; but the 7th of January, being a solemn fast, was religiously observed throughout London and Westminster; consequently, the ceremonies of Twelfth Night were not observed at St. James's until the 9th, when his Majesty and the Royal Family, with several of the nobility, played at "hazard" for the benefit of the groom-porter.

*Gentleman's Magazine,' 1846, p. 611.

The General and Mrs. Wolfe were residing at their town house in Old Burlington Street when their son visited them, apparently for the first time since his entrance into the army, upon his return from Scotland, late in the year 1746. His stay in London was of short duration, barely sufficient to lay in his outfit, and make other necessary preparations for his Continental campaign. Mrs. Wolfe busied herself about the minor matters, and paid many a little bill for her son out of her own private purse. The General also was wont to come forward on such occasions with a round sum; and if he did not do so now, he had a very good excuse, for there were three years' arrears of pay, upwards of £1600, due to him for his services as Inspector of Marines. Some months previously he had memorialized the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, under whose direction he held his office, whereupon their lordships referred him to Mr. Pelham, First Lord of the Treasury; Mr. Pelham referred him to the Secretary at War, when that Minister referred him back again to Mr. Pelham. But the only effect of all this "circumlocution" was to make the memorialist fear that he was looked upon as a dun, for the Pay Office would not give him one shilling of the money due to him, neither would the King allow him to resign his appointment; so the Major-General, in consequence of his Inspectorship of Marines, "was in a worse position than any man who had the honour of having a regiment in his Majesty's service."*

Bedford Correspondence, vol. i. p. 123; and an unpublished letter from Major-General Wolfe to his Grace the Duke of Bedford, dated, "Burlington Street, February y° 16th, 1746-7."