I know that we have all an innate love of our country, and that the great- VOL. I. BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY CUMMINGS, HILLIARD & CO. PRINTED BY HILLIARD AND METCALF. AMONG the many brave and gallant men, who, in the memorable year 1759, gathered unfading laurels on the Plains of Abraham, and shared the dangers and the glories of the immortal Wolfe, there were few, who more proudly distinguished themselves than Captain Courtland, then a young and inexperienced man, just entering on the busy stage of life. But, young and inexperienced as he was, there were older and abler officers who viewed with admiration his undaunted valour, and beheld with pleasure the enthusiasm with which he unsheathed his virgin sword to fight the battles of his king. Captain Courtland was the descendant of an ancient family which for centuries had given to its country brave defenders in time of war, and statesmen able to counsel in seasons of extremity, or in the hour of peace and national prosperity. Possessed of an ample fortune, and enjoying in the society of a beautiful and accomplished woman, to whom he was but just united, the pleasures of domestic life; yet with all the eager delight of a youthful soldier, he received an order to join his regiment, then destined to America, and, animated by the prospect of future glory, he quitted the endearments of home and the charms of polished society to embark on a tempestuous ocean in search of a foreign, almost a savage shore, stimulated by the enthusiasm of an enterprising spirit, and burning to follow to victory those great and brave men, who were about to 440121 carry the terror of their arms into the French Provinces of the new world. The vessel in which Captain Courtland's regiment was embarked sailed for Louisburg, and, joining the fleet under convoy of Admirals Saunders and Holmes, landed, towards the last of June 1759, on the Isle of Orleans, a few leagues below the city of Quebec. The progress of their operations, history has faithfully recorded. Captain Courtland distinguished himself in such a manner as to gain the favour of his illustrious general, and on the memorable thirteenth of September he led on his soldiers with a dauntless and intrepid valor, that hastened the issue of that victorious day, and drew from the lips of his beloved commander, the last expression of his kindness and approbation. But even in the hour of personal and national triumph, the manly cheek of Courtland was bathed in tears, and throughout the army of the victors the voice of joy and congratulation was lost in the deep and heart-breathed anguish of mourning and lamentation;-for the beaming eye which cheered them in the hour of danger, which brightened at their triumphs, and softened with pity at their sufferings, was quenched in death; and that bold arm which pointed to victory, was nerveless and unstrung. Silent as the tomb which now shrouds the form of the hero, was all that remained of the brave, the gallant, the lamented Wolfe; and melancholy seemed the triumph, so dearly purchased. It was not till the autumn of the succeeding year that the soldiers of France were completely subdued by the arms of Britain, when the places within the government of Canada were surrendered to his Britannic Majesty, whose victorious troops took possession of the conquered country. The regiment of Captain Courtland with some others was then ordered home; and, flushed with conquest, the remnant of these gallant troops sailed, in the spring of 1761, from the St. Lawrence, on their return to England. Previously to his departure, Captain Courtland visited the English Provinces. Of an ardent temperament, a lover of freedom, and an admirer of nature in all her varied forms, he had marked with feelings of unmixed pleasure the bold and sturdy spirit, which characterized the inhabitants of these provinces, and gazed with deep emotion upon the grand and sublime scenery peculiar to America. He passed some weeks with a friend in Philadelphia, and had daily opportunities, in the excursions which they made, of enjoying the less magnificent, but equally beautiful scenery which adorns the neighbourhood of this far-famed city. His letters to his wife were filled with praises of the country and the people; the one so diversified and grand; the other so lofty, bold, and independent; as if the majesty of their rivers and mountains, and the solemn grandeur of their forests, had infused a spirit of elevation and freedom into the inhabitants of this new and untamed world. The friends of Captain Courtland saw with pleasure his predilection for their adopted country, and exerted all their eloquence to induce him to make it his also. He was indeed strongly inclined to accede to their wishes; but before he could form any decision on the subject, his regiment was ordered home, and he left America uncertain if he should ever see it more. He reached England in safety, and, amid the sweets of domestic life, the visionary dreams which had amused him in America faded from his mind, or served occasionally for the basis of those airy castles, which he and Mrs. Courtland loved to raise. The active duties of his profession, however, soon called him again from the tranquil enjoyments of home, and continued almost unremittingly to engage him, during the two succeeding years, when the ratification of the definitive treaty of peace at Paris, in 1763, terminated the long and sanguinary war, and permitted Captain, now Major Courtland to return again to the bosom of his family. But the continued absence of her husband, and the loss of two lovely children, had broken the health and spirits of Mrs. Courtland; and the Major beheld with alarm the gradual decay of her constitution, and the deep dejection of a mind, once all activity and life. The physicians recommended change of scene and climate; and the recollection of America, its pure and bracing air, its beautiful and varied landscapes, |