They despaired, they
triumphed, and they wept; for Wolfe had fallen in the hour
of victory. Joy, curiosity, astonishment, was painted on every
countenance. The more they inquired, the more their admiration
rose. Not an incident but was heroic and affecting."[814]
England blazed with bonfires. In one spot alone all was dark and
silent; for here a widowed mother mourned for a loving and devoted
son, and the people forbore to profane her grief with the clamor
of their rejoicings.
[Footnote 814: Walpole, _Memoirs of George II._, II. 384.]
New England had still more cause of joy than Old, and
she filled the land with jubilation. The pulpits resounded with
sermons of thanksgiving, some of which were worthy of the
occasion that called them forth. Among the rest, Jonathan
Mayhew, a young but justly celebrated minister of Boston,
pictured with enthusiasm the future greatness of the British-American
colonies, with the continent thrown open before them, and foretold that,
"with the continued blessing of Heaven, they will become, in another
century or two, a mighty empire;" adding in cautious parenthesis,
"_I do not mean an independent one_." He read Wolfe's victory aright,
and divined its far-reaching consequence.
NOTE: The authorities of this chapter are, in the main, the
same as those of the preceding, with some additions, the principal
of which is the _Memoire du Sieur de Ramezay, Chevalier de
l'Ordre royal et militaire de St.
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