The Winning of Canada | Page 8

furious. As fast as the
British infantry drove back one French brigade another came forward
and drove the British back. The village was taken and lost, lost and
taken, over and over again. Wolfe, though wounded, kept up the fight.
At last a new French brigade charged in and swept the British out
altogether. Then the duke ordered the Dutch and Austrians to advance:
But the Dutch cavalry, right in the centre, were seized with a sudden
panic and galloped back, knocking over their own men on the way, and
making a gap that certainly looked fatal. But the right man was ready to
fill it. This was Sir John Ligonier, afterwards commander-in-chief of
the British Army at the time of Wolfe's campaigns in Canada. He led
the few British and Austrian cavalry, among them the famous Scots

Greys, straight into the gap and on against the dense masses of the
French beyond. These gallant horsemen were doomed; and of course
they knew it when they dashed themselves to death against such
overwhelming odds. But they gained the few precious moments that
were needed. The gap closed up behind them; and the army was saved,
though they were lost.
During the day Wolfe was several times in great danger. He was
thanked by the duke in person for the splendid way in which he had
done his duty. The royal favour, however, did not make him forget the
gallant conduct of his faithful servant, Roland: 'He came to me at the
hazard of his life with offers of his service, took off my cloak and
brought a fresh horse; and would have continued close by me had I not
ordered him to retire. I believe he was slightly wounded just at that
time. Many a time has he pitched my tent and made the bed ready to
receive me, half-dead with fatigue.' Nor did Wolfe forget his dumb
friends: 'I have sold my poor little gray mare. I lamed her by accident,
and thought it better to dismiss her the service immediately. I grieved at
parting with so faithful a servant, and have the comfort to know she is
in good hands, will be very well fed, and taken care of in her latter
days.'
After recovering from a slight wound received at Laffeldt Wolfe was
allowed to return to England, where he remained for the winter. On the
morrow of New Year's Day, 1748, he celebrated his coming of age at
his father's town house in Old Burlington Street, London. In the spring,
however, he was ordered to rejoin the army, and was stationed with the
troops who were guarding the Dutch frontier. The war came to an end
in the same year, and Wolfe went home. Though then only twenty-one,
he was already an experienced soldier, a rising officer, and a marked
man.

CHAPTER III
THE SEVEN YEARS' PEACE 1748-1755

Wolfe was made welcome in England wherever he went. In spite of his
youth his name was well known to the chief men in the Army, and he
was already a hero among the friends of his family. By nature he was
fond of the society of ladies, and of course he fell in love. He had had a
few flirtations before, like most other soldiers; but this time the case
was serious. The difference was the same as between a sham fight and
a battle. His choice fell on Elizabeth Lawson, a maid of honour to the
Princess of Wales. The oftener he saw her the more he fell in love with
her. But the course of true love did not, as we shall presently see, run
any more smoothly for him than it has for many another famous man.
In 1749, when Wolfe was only twenty-two, he was promoted major of
the 20th Regiment of Foot. He joined it in Scotland, where he was to
serve for the next few years. At first he was not very happy in Glasgow.
He did not like the people, as they were very different from the friends
with whom he had grown up. Yet his loneliness only added to his zeal
for study. He had left school when still very young, and he now found
himself ignorant of much that he wished to know. As a man of the
world he had found plenty of gaps in his general knowledge. Writing to
his friend Captain Rickson, he says: 'When a man leaves his studies at
fifteen, he will never be justly called a man of letters. I am
endeavouring to repair the damages of my education, and have a person
to teach me Latin and mathematics.' From his experience in his own
profession, also, he had learned a good deal. In a letter to his father he
points out what