e which has been put into the mouth of
the dying hero may be considered as no more authentic than an oration of
Livy or Thucydides.

From his position on the island, which lies in the great channel of the
river to the north of the town, the General was ever hungrily on the
look-out for a chance to meet and attack his enemy. Above the city and
below it he landed,--now here and now there; he was bent upon attacking
wherever he saw an opening. 'Twas surely a prodigious fault on the
part of the Marquis of Montcalm, to accept a battle from Wolfe on equal
terms, for the British General had no artillery, and when we had made
our famous scalade of the heights, and were on the Plains of Abraham,
we were a little nearer the city, certainly, but as far off as ever from
being within it.

The game that was played between the brave chiefs of those two gallant
little armies, and which lasted from July until Mr. Wolfe won the
crowning hazard in September, must have been as interesting a match as
ever eager players engaged in. On the very first night after the landing
(as my brother has narrated it) the sport began. At midnight the French
sent a flaming squadron of fireships down upon the British ships which
were discharging their stores at Orleans. Our seamen thought it was good
sport to tow the fireships clear of the fleet, and ground them on the
shore, where they burned out.

As soon as the French commander heard that our ships had entered the
river, he marched to Beauport in advance of the city and there took up
a strong position. When our stores and hospitals were established, our
General crossed over from his island to the left shore, and drew nearer
to his enemy. He had the ships in the river behind him, but the whole
country in face of him was in arms. The Indians in the forest seized
our advanced parties as they strove to clear it, and murdered them with
horrible tortures. The French were as savage as their Indian friends.
The Montmorenci River rushed between Wolfe and the enemy. He could
neither attack these nor the city behind them.

Bent on seeing whether there was no other point at which his foe might
be assailable, the General passed round the town of Quebec and skirted
the left shore beyond. Everywhere it was guarded, as well as in his
immediate front, and having run the gauntlet of the batteries up and
down the river, he returned to his post at Montmorenci. On the right of
the French position, across the Montmorenci