playing
at piquet was a sacrifice to filial attachment; for the mother loved
cards, and the son did not. "Don't trouble yourself about my room or my
bedclothes; too much care and delicacy at this time would enervate me
and complete the destruction of a tottering constitution. Such as it is,
it must serve me now, and I'll make the best of it while it holds." At
the beginning of the war his father tried to dissuade him from offering
his services on board the fleet; and he replies in a letter to Mrs.
Wolfe: "It is no time to think of what is convenient or agreeable; that
service is certainly the best in which we are the most useful. For my
part, I am determined never to give myself a moment's concern about the
nature of the duty which His Majesty is pleased to order us upon. It
will be a sufficient comfort to you two, as far as my person is
concerned,--at least it will be a reasonable consolation,--to reflect
that the Power which has hitherto preserved me may, if it be his
pleasure, continue to do so; if not, that it is but a few days or a few
years more or less, and that those who perish in their duty and in the
service of their country die honorably." Then he proceeds to give
particular directions about his numerous dogs, for the welfare of which
in his absence he provides with anxious solicitude, especially for "my
friend Caesar, who has great merit and much good-humor."

After the unfortunate expedition against Rochefort, when the board of
general officers appointed to inquire into the affair were passing the
highest encomiums upon his conduct, his parents were at Bath, and he
took possession of their house at Blackheath, whence he wrote to his
mother: "I lie in your chamber, dress in the General's little parlor,
and dine where you did. The most perceptible difference and change of
affairs (exclusive of the bad table I keep) is the number of dogs in the
yard; but by coaxing Ball [_his father's dog_] and rubbing his back with
my stick, I have reconciled him with the new ones, and put them in some
measure under his protection."

When about to sail on the expedition against Louisbourg, he was anxious
for his parents, and wrote to his uncle, Major Wolfe, at Dublin: "I
trust you will give the best advice to my mother, and such assistance,
if it should be wanted, as the distance between you will permit. I
mention this because the General seems to decline apace, and narrowly
escaped being carried off in the spring. She, poor