He was aware that he must deprive his family of all the advantages they possessed of comfort and society at Verdun, and subject them to many privations; but this excellent man did not hesitate, whatever sufferings or inconveniences might await him, to put in execution a resolution which was made in the hope of being instrumental to the temporal and eternal welfare of his suffering countrymen.” CHAPTER VIII. THE REV. MR. WOLFE, ONE OF THE DETENUS.—HEARS OF THE STATE OF THE PRISONERS AT GIVET, AND RESOLVES ON GOING TO RESIDE AMONG THEM.—EXTRACTS FROM HIS WORK ENTITLED THE “BRITISH PRISONERS IN FRANCE.” The name of Mr. Wolfe having been thus introduced, I feel it due to the memory of that faithful and devoted man, to leave for a moment the subject of the present memoir, in order to turn to the labours in which he was associated, and to a work which he voluntarily undertook, in conjunction with his friend, Captain Brenton. Mr. Wolfe, as has been stated, was arrested at Fontainbleau, where he was making a short stay in a tour subsequent to his marriage: and from thence was consigned with the other detenus to the depôt at Verdun. His situation there admitted many alleviations in the captivity to which he was doomed. He found several valuable and agreeable men, the associates of his confinement. He had, as we have seen, opportunities for exercising his ministry; and he must have felt, that though the situation was not one which he would have chosen, it was still one in which he perhaps had less to regret, than the greater part of those around him. But while he was thus residing at Verdun, the reports which he continually received of the state of the British seamen who were confined at Givet, awoke such feelings of pity in Mr. Wolfe’s mind, that he determined in a spirit of self-devotion, as rare as it is admirable, to move with his family to Givet, to take up his residence among them, and to try to forward the means of their improvement by personal exertions. This sacrifice can hardly be appreciated as it ought to be, by those who are ignorant of the condition to which the men were reduced, through their own vices, and the oppression to which they were at the time subjected. Mr. Wolfe’s friends remonstrated with him seriously on the danger to which he was exposing himself, and the partner of his exile, by taking up his permanent abode among men, whom despair and suffering had rendered almost ferocious; and whose sole relief seemed to be, making others more wretched than themselves. But he had seen the need to which they were reduced. He had counted the cost, and he decided on a step, which if it involved great personal privation, and some personal danger, was followed by such an amount of blessing as few have been permitted to witness.