the same as between a sham fight and a battle. His choice
fell on Elizabeth Lawson, a maid of honour to the Princess
of Wales. The oftener he saw her the more he fell in love
with her. But the course of true love did not, as we
shall presently see, run any more smoothly for him than
it has for many another famous man.

In 1749, when Wolfe was only twenty-two, he was promoted
major of the 20th Regiment of Foot. He joined it in
Scotland, where he was to serve for the next few years.
At first he was not very happy in Glasgow. He did not
like the people, as they were very different from the
friends with whom he had grown up. Yet his loneliness
only added to his zeal for study. He had left school when
still very young, and he now found himself ignorant of
much that he wished to know. As a man of the world he
had found plenty of gaps in his general knowledge. Writing
to his friend Captain Rickson, he says: 'When a man leaves
his studies at fifteen, he will never be justly called
a man of letters. I am endeavouring to repair the damages
of my education, and have a person to teach me Latin and
mathematics.' From his experience in his own profession,
also, he had learned a good deal. In a letter to his
father he points out what excellent chances soldiers have
to see the vivid side of many things: 'That variety
incident to a military life gives our profession some
advantages over those of a more even nature. We have all
our passions and affections aroused and exercised, many
of which must have wanted their proper employment had
not suitable occasions obliged us to exert them. Few men