In 1814, when the Allies approached Paris, this
height, like the others commanding the capital, was fortified,
and occupied by the students of the Polytechnical School,
who defended it with great gallantry. The walls were perforated with
holes for the musketry: the marks are still visible where they have
been since filled up. On the 30th of March, 1814, this position
was vigorously attacked, with great slaughter on both sides: the
assailants and the assailed fell in heaps, and it was not until
the chief part of a Prussian corps, (that afterwards carried it by
assault) had been annihilated, that the brave youths gave way.
[Illustration]
The tomb of my early friend and brother officer, the brave and
unfortunate Captain Wright, who was murdered in the Temple, is in
the cemetery of Vaugirard. I had searched for it in vain at Pere la
Chaise, where it was reported he had been buried. It has on it the
following inscription, written to his memory by his companion in arms,
and in imprisonment, the gallant Sir Sidney Smith:
HERE LIES INHUMED
JOHN WESLEY WRIGHT,
BY BIRTH AN ENGLISHMAN,
CAPTAIN IN THE BRITISH NAVY
Distinguished both among his own Countrymen and Foreigners
For skill and courage;
To whom,
Of those things which lead to the summit of glory,
Nothing was wanting but opportunity:
His ancestors, whose virtues he inherited,
He honoured by his deeds.
Quick in apprehending his orders,
Active and bold in the execution of them;
In success modest,
In adverse circumstances firm,
In doubtful enterprises, wise and prudent.
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