THE PORTRAIT OF WOLFE. THE portrait of WOLFE in the present edition of this book was never before made known to the public. The picture from which it is taken was painted from life by Highmore, an English artist well known in the last century. When Wolfe, then a mere boy, received his first commission and was about to join the army, he caused his likeness to be painted in uniform, and gave it, as a token of attachment, to Reverend Samuel Francis Swinden, Vicar of Greenwich, whose pupil he had been, and whose friend he remained for life. The descendants of this gentleman still possess it; and it is to their kindness, and especially to that of his great-greatgranddaughter, Miss Florence Armstrong, that I owe the photograph which is here reproduced. It is believed that Wolfe never again sat for his portrait. After his death his mother caused a miniature to be taken from the Highmore picture, and from this several enlarged copies were afterwards made. The portrait in possession of Admiral Warde, hitherto supposed to be an original, now seems to be one of these copies. It appeared first in Wright's "Life of Wolfe," and is the same that was engraved for the early editions of "Montcalm and Wolfe." The existence of the present more trustworthy and interesting picture has been known to few besides its fortunate possessors. Note by the Author to the Edition of 1887. In order to reproduce with the utmost accuracy the portrait referred to in the above note, the publishers sent to Penzance, Cornwall, and obtained a photograph of the original painting, from which the photogravure plate in the present edition (1898) has been made. MONTCALM AND WOLFE. CHAPTER XXIII. 1758, 1759. THE BRINK OF RUIN. JEALOUSY OF Vaudreuil: he asks for MONTCALM'S RECALL; HIS ABAN "NEVER was general in a more critical position than I was: God has delivered me; his be the praise! He gives me health, though I am worn out with labor, fatigue, and miserable dissensions that have determined me to ask for my recall. Heaven grant that I may get it!" Thus wrote Montcalm to his mother after his triumph at Ticonderoga. That great exploit had entailed a train of vexations, for it stirred the envy of Vaudreuil, more especially as it was due to the troops of the line, with no help from Indians, and very little from Canadians. The governor assured the colonial minister that the victory would have bad results, though he gives no hint what these might be; that Montcalm had mismanaged the whole affair; that he would have been beaten but for the manifest interposition of Heaven; and, finally, that he had failed to follow his (Vaudreuil's) directions, and had therefore enabled the English to escape. The real directions of the governor, dictated, perhaps, by dread lest his rival should reap laurels, were to avoid a general engagement; and it was only by setting them at nought that Abercrombie had been routed. After the battle a sharp correspondence passed between the two chiefs. The governor, who had left Montcalm to his own resources before the crisis, sent him Canadians and Indians in abundance after it was over; and while he cautiously refrained from committing himself by positive orders, repeated again and again that if these reinforcements were used to harass Abercrombie's communications, the whole English army would fall back to the Hudson, and leave baggage and artillery a prey to the French. These preposterous assertions and tardy succors were thought by Montcalm to be a device for giving color to the charge that he had not only failed to deserve victory, but had failed also to make use of it. He 1 Vaudreuil au Ministre, 8 Août, 1758. 2 Much of the voluminous correspondence on these matters will be found in N. Y. Col. Docs., x. |