Although the purpose of this work has made the Artillery part of the army's duties the most prominent in the chapter, it cannot be denied that, to the ordinary reader, Wolfe is the centre of attraction. The time was drawing near when the brave spirit which animated him at Louisbourg was to fire his exhausted and weary frame, and raise him from his sickbed to that encounter on the Plains of Abraham, which his own death and that of his opponent were to render famous for all time. And the fire which then breathed life for the moment into his own frame inspired the men under his command at Louisbourg. The foremost duties, the posts of danger, were always his; and with such a guide his followers never failed. On one evening in June he was issuing orders to his division, which was to be employed during the night in bringing up guns to a new and exposed post. It was necessary to warn the men that the fire of the enemy would be probably warmer than usual, to check the working-parties: but with simple confidence, he said, "He does not doubt but that the officers and soldiers will co-operate with their usual spirit, that they may have at least their share in the "honours of this enterprise." Of a truth, he who asks his men to do nothing that he will not do himself,—who trusts them, instead of worrying and doubting them,— and who holds before his own eyes and theirs that ideal of duty which is of all virtues the most God-like, is the man to _lead_ men; and such a man was Wolfe. Louisbourg and Quebec—two words—yet on Wolfe's grave they would mean pages of heroism. ----- Footnote 23: Murdoch. CHAPTER XIX. MINDEN,—AND AFTER MINDEN. CERTAIN Goths and Vandals, connected with the Board of Ordnance in 1799, issued an order granting permission for the destruction of many old documents which had accumulated in the Battalion offices at Woolwich since the year 1758. Had these been vouchers for pecuniary outlay, it is but just to the Honourable Board to say that this permission would never have been granted. But as they referred merely to such trumpery matters as expenditure of life, and the stories of England's military operations, no reluctance was displayed, nor any trouble taken to distinguish between what might have proved useful, and useless to posterity. A gap consequently occurs in the official records of the 1st and 2nd Battalions, which increases twentyfold the labours of the student.