forgotten
in his coat, on delivery to the great Pitt, brought back a letter from
Pitt to Amherst. With this testimonial, Stobo sailed for New York, 24th
April, 1760, to rejoin the army engaged in the invasion of Canada; here
end the Memoirs.
Though Stobo’s conduct at fort du
Quesne and at Quebec, can never be defended or palliated, all will agree
that he exhibited, during his eventful career, most indomitable fortitude,
a boundless ingenuity, and great devotion to his country—the whole crowned
with final success.
" It has been suggested," say the Memoirs, "that Major
Stobo was Smollett’s original for Captain Lismahago, (the favored suitor
of Miss Tabitha Bramble) in the adventures of Humphrey Clinker. It is
known, by a letter from David Hume to Smollett, that Stobo was a friend of
the latter author, and his remarkable adventures may have suggested that
character. If so, the copy is a great exaggeration."
The Memoirs of Major Robert Stobo,
printed at Pittsburg in 1854, were taken from the copy in the British
Museum, chiefly through the instrumentality of Mr. James McHenry, an
enterprising Liverpool merchant. Mr. James McHenry is a son of Dr.
McHenry, the Novelist and Poet, formerly of
Pittsburg."—(Maple Leaves,
1873.)
Monsieur Michel tells us that the
Scots, in 1420, landed by thousands in France, to fight the English. In
1759, we shall also find some thousands in America, enlisted to fight the
French. About that time great changes had taken place in Scotland. The
disaster of Culloden, in 1745, had opened out new vistas. Fate had that
year set irrevocably its seal on a brave people; the indifference of
France had helped on the crisis. Scotchmen had had occasion to test the
wise saying, "Put not your faith in Princes." The rugged land of the Gael
had been left to itself to cope with the Sassenach. Old France was
forgetful of her pledged friendship—of her treaty of 1420; what