before the hotel where he lodged; forced to appear at the balcony, the multitude greeted him with loud acclamations, and applauses without end. They called him the brave, the valiant Frenchinan. Such is the fascination of courage even in an enemy! In the public places where the count made his appearance, numerous crowds gathered about him, not to insult him, but, on the contrary, to pay him homage. The enthusiasm of the people of London seemed to redouble, when it was generally agreed to find him an English physiognomy. He was obliged to consent to have his portrait painted; copies of it were profusely distributed throughout the country; and whoever was without it, exposed himself to be accounted a bad patriot. Admiral Rodney was created an English peer, by the title of lord Rodney. Hood was honored with an Irish peerage; Drake and Affleck with baronetages.

The grief which the news of the disaster of the twelfth of April produced in France, was the more profound, as it immediately succeeded the most sanguine hope. But the French, constant in their gaiety, and intrepid by their nature, rapidly lose impressions of sadness; they soon resumed courage. The king was the first to give the example of firmness; it was imitated by all France. In order to repair the losses of his marine, the monarch ordered the immediate construction of twelve ships of the line of one hundred and ten, eighty, and seventy-four guns. The counts de Provence and d' Artois, his brothers, offered him each one of eighty; the prince of Conde one of one hundred and ten, in the name of the states of Burgundy. The chamber of commerce, with the six corps of retailers of the city of Paris, the merchants of Marseilles, of Bordeaux, of Lyons, resolved with the same zeal to furnish to the state each a ship of one hundred and ten guns. The receivers-general of the revenue, the farmers-general, and other financial companies, offered to advance considerable sums. All these offers were accepted, but not those which patriotism had dictated to private citizens; the king, not willing to increase the burthens that already weighed upon his people, ordered the sums which had been subscribed or advanced by particulars, to be placed again at their disposal. Thus, the ardent zeal which manifested itself in all parts towards the country and the sovereign, raised the French above the malice of adverse fortune, and cheered them with new hopes of a brilliant future.

We have seen the war brought to an end upon the American continent, by the irreparable check which the arms of England sustained at Yorktown; and we have also seen it suspended in the West Indies, by the disasters of the French marine. We shall now return from those distant regions, to consider the issue of this long and bloody war in that part of the globe which we inhabit, and in those countries whence it drew its principal aliment. The attention of all the informed part of mankind was turned upon the siege of Gibraltar.

For many ages, Europe had not witnessed an enterprise of this sort which presented more formidable difficulties, or more important results.

Admiral Howe had sailed for the relief of that fortress. Various were the conjectures of men respecting the success of his efforts. Some, full of confidence in the dexterity and audacity of the English, inferred from the event of their preceding expeditions the most favorable issue to this; others, reflecting upon the naval superiority of the allied courts, and impressed with esteem for the talents and valor of the count de Guichen and don Lewis de Cordova, formed a contrary opinion. In one place, the extraordinary preparations that had been made and were still making, by the besiegers, appeared to answer for the approaching fall of Gibraltar. In another, on the contrary, the strength of its position, the perfection of its works, and the intrepidity of its defenders, seemed to place it beyond the reach of danger. Every where but one opinion prevailed upon this point; that the obstacles were numerous, and that blood must stream copiously before they were all surmounted. But the very hazards of this great enterprise so inflamed the valor of all warlike men, that even those who were not called to take an active part in it, wished at least to be spectators of the glorious scenes that were about to be represented at the foot of this formidable rock. Hence it was, that not only from France and Spain, but also from Germany, and the remoter regions of the north, the most distinguished personages were seen hastening to arrive at the camp of St. Roch, and in the port of Algesiras. Even those nations which are accounted barbarous, and who have communicated that appellation to so large and so fine a portion of Africa, were seized with an irresistible curiosity; they repaired to the nearest shores in order to contemplate a spectacle so new for them. All was in movement in the camp, in the arsenals, and aboard the fleets of the allies. From the summit of his rock, Elliot awaited with an heroic constancy the attack with which he was menaced. But before relating the memorable events that ensued, it appears to us necessary to enter into a description of the places, and of the works within and without the citadel; and to trace an outline of the plans and preparations of the besiegers.

The fortress of Gibraltar is seated upon a rock which projects in the form of a tongue for the space of a league, from north to south, out of the continent of Spain, and which is terminated by a promontory called the point of Europe. The top of this rock is elevated a thousand feet above the level of the sea. Its eastern flank, or that which looks towards the Mediterranean, is entirely composed of a living rock, and so perpendicularly steep as to be absolutely inaccessible. The point of Europe, which is also of solid rock, slopes and terminates in an esplanade which rises twenty feet above the sea; here the English have planted a battery of twenty pieces of heavy

artillery. Behind this point the promontory dilates, and there is formed a second esplanade which overlooks the first, and affords space enough for the troops of the garrison to parade in without difficulty. As the declivity is gentle, and of easy access, the English have made cuts in the rock in front, and surrounded the platform with a wall fifteen feet in height and as many in thickness, copiously furnished with artillery. Within this platform they have constructed besides an intrenched camp, which offers them a secure retreat in case they should be driven from their outer works. From this post they communicate with another still more elevated, and situated among steep and irregular masses; here the besieged had established their camp. Upon the western flank of the promontory, and upon the seashore, the town of Gibraltar itself occupied a long and narrow space. It had been almost totally destroyed by the artillery, in one of the preceding attacks. It is closed on the south by a wall, on the north by an ancient fortification called the castle of the Moors, and in front, next the sea, by a parapet sixteen feet thick, and furnished from distance to distance with batteries, which fire level with the water. Behind the town, the mountain rises abruptly quite to its summit. The English, for the greater security of this part, have constructed two other works, which project considerably into the sea. Both are armed with formidable batteries. The first, which looks to the north, is called the Old Mole; the second, the New Mole. Not content with these defences, they have erected in frout of the castle of the Moors and of Old Mole, another work consisting in two bastions, connected by a curtain, of which the scarp and covered way, being well countermined throughout, are very difficult to mine. The object of this construction is to sweep, by a raking fire, that narrow strip of land which runs between the rock and the sea, and which forms the only communication of the Spanish continent with the fortress. In the front of this work, the water of the sea had been introduced by means of dikes and sluices, which forming a pool or fen, adds much to the strength of this part. The north side, or that which faces Spain, is by far the loftiest flank of the rock. It fronts the camp of St. Roch, and presents upon all its surface a prodigious quantity of batteries, which descend in tiers towards the Spanish camp. Thus art had combined with nature to make of this immense rock an impregnable citadel. Between the promontory of Gibraltar and the coast of Spain, lies towards the west a deep gap filled by the waters of the sea; it is the bay of Gibraltar or of Algesiras. The port and city of this name are situated upon the western shore of the bay. The garrison of Algesiras amounted to little over seven thousand men, with about two hundred and fifty officers. Such was the nature of that rock, against which the Spanish monarchy displayed the greatest part of its forces, and invoked besides the powerful assistance of France. This enterprise was the object of the most ardent

wishes of Charles III.; he considered the honor of his crown as deeply interested in its success. The king of France likewise saw in the reduction of Gibraltar the termination of the war. In order to push the operations of the siege and secure its success, the conduct of it was committed to the duke de Crillon; the public opinion designated the victor of Minorca as the conqueror of Gibraltar.

The preparations directed against this place exceeded every thing that had ever been heard of in like circumstances. Upwards of twelve hundred pieces of heavy cannon, eighty-three thousand barrels of powder, a proportionable quantity of bombs and balls, were destined to batter the works of the English. Forty gunboats, with as many bombketches, were to open their fire on the side of the bay, under cover of a formidable fleet of fifty sail of the line; twelve French, the others Spanish. Frigates and light vessels hovered in front of this line, in waiting to carry succour wherever it might be wanted. Upwards of three hundred large boats had been assembled from all parts of Spain, which came to join the immense number already in the bay of Algesiras. It was intended to employ them during the attack in carrying munitions and necessaries to the ships of war, and in landing the troops as soon as the works should be ruined. Nor were the preparations by land inferior to those that were made by sea. The Spaniards had already advanced by sap; and their lines, as soon as they were terminated, presented an astonishing number of batteries of heavy artillery. Twelve thousand French troops were brought to diffuse their peculiar vivacity and animation through the Spanish army, as well as for the benefit to be derived from the example and exertion of their superior discipline and experience. At sight of the immense warlike apparatus assembled against the place, and of the ardor manifested by the soldiers, the generals who directed the siege considered themselves as so sure of success, that they were upon the point of ordering, without further delay, a general assault. They had resolved, that while the land forces should assail the fortress on the side of the isthmus, the fleet should batter it upon all the points contiguous to the sea. They hoped that the garrison, already little numerous, experiencing besides a great diminution in dead and wounded, would be totally incapable of sufficing for the defence of so extensive works. The loss of some thousands of men, and several ships of the line, would have seemed to the besiegers but a slender price for so inestimable a conquest. Meanwhile, the project of an attack by main force was not adopted by all the members of the council. Those who blamed its temerity, observed, that until the defences of the place on the land side were entirely prostrated, to attempt the assault would be sending the troops to a certain death, without any hope of success. On the part

of the sea, they showed that an attack would be attended with the inevitable destruction of the ships, without producing the smallest

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effect upon the fortress. Nevertheless,' they added, 'as a simple attack by land must necessarily be fruitless, it is highly desirable that a kind of ships could be procured more capable of resisting artillery than those of an ordinary construction.' It could not be expected to carry Gibraltar by an attack of short duration; but was it possible to prolong it without hazarding the ruin of the fleet? This consideration occupied the thought of several inen of talents. They presented plans of various inventions, all having for object to facilitate the battering of the fortress on the part of the sea. These schemes were examined with extreme attention. Several were rejected as incompetent to the purpose in view, none as too expensive. At length, after long deliberation, it was agreed to adopt the plan of the chevalier d' Arcon, a French engineer of high note; it was thought ingenious and infallible. His project went to the construction of floating batteries, or ships, upon such a principle, that they could neither be sunk, nor fired. The first of these properties was to be acquired by the extraordinary thickness of timber, with which their keels and bottoms were to be fortified; the second, by securing the sides of the ships, wherever they were exposed to shot, with a strong wall, composed of timber and cork, a long time soaked in water, and including between a large body of wet sand. But the ingenious projector not being yet satisfied with his work, and wishing to render it more proof against the redhot shot from the fortress, executed a contrivance for communicating water in every direction to restrain its effect. In imitation of the circulation of the blood in a living body, a great variety of pipes and canals perforated all the solid workmanship, in such a manner, that a continued succession of water was to be conveyed to every part of the vessels; a number of pumps being adapted to the purpose of an unlimited supply. By this means, it was expected that the redhot shot would operate to the remedy of its own mischief; as the very action of cutting through those pipes would procure its immediate extinction.

To protect his floating batteries from bombs, and the men at the batteries from grape or descending shot, the chevalier d' Arcon had contrived a hanging roof, which was to be worked up and down with ease, and at pleasure. The roof was composed of a strong ropework netting, laid over with a thick covering of wet hides; while its sloping position was calculated to prevent the shells from lodging, and to throw them off into the sea before they could take effect. All this scaffolding was constructed upon the hulks of great ships, from six hundred to fourteen hundred tons burthen, cut down to the state required by the plan. There were ten of these floating batteries; they were armed in all with an hundred and fifty-four pieces of heavy brass cannon, that were mounted; and something about half the number of spare guns were kept ready to supply the place of those which might be overheated, or otherwise disabled in action. The