Pastora alone, which was the largest, carried twenty-four in battery, and twelve in reserve. The Talla Piedra, commanded by the Prince of Nassau, and the Paula, which was also one of the stoutest, mounted a no less numerous artillery. That its fire might not be slackened by losses in dead or wounded, thirty-six men, as well Spaniards as French were allotted to the service of each piece. The command of this flotilla had been confided to admiral don Moreno, a seaman of equal valor and ability, who had served with distinction at the siege of Port Mahon. The vast bulk of the battering ships, the materials employed in their construction, and the weight of their artillery seemed likely to render them extremely heavy and unmanageable. They were however rigged with so much skill and ingenuity, that they executed their various evolutions with all the ease and dexterity of frigates.

When all these preparations were completed, there were few persons in the camp of the besiegers who did not consider the fall of a place so vigorously attacked as inevitable. It was at this epoch, towards the middle of August, that two French princes arrived at the army before Gibraltar; the count d' Artois and the duke de Bourbon. The object of their mission was to animate the troops by their presence, and that they might themselves come in for a share of the glory of so signal and illustrious an enterprise. The army were impatient to receive the signal of attack; their ardor had more need of restraint than incitement. So sanguine was the general hope, that the duke de Crillon was thought extremely cautious of hazarding an opinion, when he allowed so long a term as fourteen days to the certainty of being in possession of Gibraltar. Twentyfour hours appeared more than sufficient..

The arrival of the French princes afforded an opportunity for the display of that politeness, and the exercise of those humanised attentions and civilities, by which the refined manners of modern Europe have tended so much to divest war of many parts of its ancient savage barbarity. The Spaniards had intercepted some packets, containing a number of letters directed to the officers in Gibraltar, and had transmitted them to the court of Madrid, where they lay, at the time that the count d' Artois arrived at that capital. The French prince obtained the packets from the king, and on his arrival at the camp, had them forwarded to their address. The duke de Crillon sent with them a letter to general Elliot, in which, besides informing him of this particular mark of attention shown by the count d'Artois, he farther acquainted him that he was charged by the French princes respectively, to convey to the general the strongest expressions of their regard and esteem for his person and character. He requested in the most obliging terms, that he would accept of a present of fruit and vegetables, for his own use, which accompanied the letter, and of some ice and partridges for the gentlemen of his

household; farther entreating, that as he knew the general lived entirely upon vegetables, he would acquaint him with the particular kinds which he liked best, with a view to his regular supply. General Elliot answered with the same politeness; he returned many thanks to the princes and the duke de Crillon, for the flattering attentions they were pleased to show him. But he informed the duke that in accepting the present, he had broken through a resolution which he had invariably adhered to from the commencement of the war, which was, never to receive, or to procure by any means whatever, any provisions or other commodity for his own private use; and that he made it a point of honor, to partake of both plenty and scarcity, in common with the lowest of his brave fellow-soldiers. He therefore entreated the duke, not to heap any more favors of the same kind upon him, as he could not in future apply them to his own use. This exchange of courtesies was deemed worthy of their authors, and of the sovereigns they represented.

war.

But while these civilities were passing, as in the midst of profound peace, the dispositions were in process for redoubling the horrors of Elliot had hitherto observed in a sort of inaction the preparations of the besiegers, when all of a sudden he saw issuing from the port of Algesiras the enormous masses of the floating batteries. If his courage was not shaken, he could not however but feel at least a strong emotion of surprise. In this uncertainty as to what might be the effect of those new invented machines, prudence urged him to make every defensive preparation that was calculated to elude and defeat it. Confiding, moreover, in the strength of the place, and the valor of his garrison, he was under no apprehension for the issue of the approaching attack. He did more; he resolved to anticipate it, by attacking himself. The besiegers had pushed their works with so much diligence that some of them were already far advanced towards the fortress. The governor determined to try how far a vigorous cannonade and bombardment with redhot balls, carcasses and shells, might operate to their destruction. A powerful and admirably directed firing accordingly commenced from the garrison, at seven o'clock in the morning of the eighth of September. By ten o'clock, the Mahon battery, with another adjoining to it, were in flames; and by five in the evening were entirely consumed, together with their gun-carriages, platforms and magazines, although the latter were bomb proof. A great part of the communications to the eastern parallel, and of the trenches and parapet for musketry, were likewise destroyed; and a large battery near the bay suffered excessively; the works were on fire in fifty places at the same instant. It was not without extreme exertions and considerable loss that the besiegers at length succeeded in extinguishing the flames, and preserving their works from total destruction.

This affront was so much resented by the duke de Crillon, that having pressed the reparation of his works during the night, he unmasked all his batteries by break of day on the following morning; they mounted one hundred and ninety-three pieces of cannon and mortars, and continued to pour their fire of shot and shells, without intermission, upon the garrison, through the whole course of the day. At the same time, a part of the fleet taking the advantage of a favorable wind, dropped down from the Orange Grove at the head of the bay, and passing slowly along the works, discharged their shot at the Old Mole and the adjoining bastions, continuing their cannonade until they had passed Europa Point and got into the Mediterranean. They then formed a line to the eastward of the rock, and the admiral leading, came to the attack of the batteries on the point, and under a very slow sail, commenced a heavy fire with all their guns. But these combined efforts did very little harm to the besieged. There prevailed for some days a calm, which was soon to be interrupted by a most sanguinary combat.

The thirteenth of September was destined to witness an ever memorable conflict. History, in effect, presents nothing more terrible for the desperate fierceness and resolution of the two parties, nor more singular for the species of arms, nor more glorious for the humanity manifested by the conquerors. The season beginning to be late, and admiral Howe approaching with intent to revictual Gibraltar, the allied commanders felt the necessity of precipitating the attack they meditated. According to the plan agreed upon, the artillery of the lines, the floating batteries, the ships of war and gunboats were to attack the place upon all points at once. While the cannon, mortars and howitzers of the isthmus kept up a heavy fire on the land side, it was intended that the floating batteries should direct their fire against the works which commanded the bay, taking their station in front of the Old Mole. At the same time, the gun and mortar boats, with the bombketches, taking post on the two flanks of the line of battering ships, were to enfilade the British artillery which defended the fortifications constructed upon the margin of the sea. As to the fleet, it was destined to concur no less effectually to the attack, according to the wind or the necessity of the service. In this manner, the fortress would be battered simultaneously by four hundred pieces of ordnance, without including the artillery afloat.

General Elliot, on his part, had neglected nothing that could enable him to make a vigorous defence. The soldiers were at their posts, the artillerists at their places with lighted matches; numerous furnaces were prepared for heating the shot. At seven in the morning, the ten battering ships, under the conduct of admiral don Moreno, put themselves in motion. Between nine and ten they came to an anchor, being moored in a line, at moderate distances, from

the Old to the New Mole, lying parallel to the rock, and at about nine hundred yards distance. The admiral's ship was stationed opposite the king's bastion; and the others took their appointed places successively, and with great regularity, on his right and left. The cannonade and bombardment, on all sides, and in all directions, from the isthmus, the sea, and the various works of the fortress, was not only tremendous, but beyond example. The prodigious showers of redhot balls, of bombs, and of carcasses, which filled the air, and were without intermission thrown to every point of the various attacks, both by sea and by land, from the garrison, astonished even the commanders of the allied forces. The battering ships, however, appeared to be the principal objects of vengeance, as they were of apprehension, to the garrison; but such was the excellence of their construction, that they not only resisted this terrible fire, but answered it with equal fury; and already they had operated a breach in the works of the Old Mole. The result of so many mutual efforts seemed for a long time uncertain. At length, however, some smoke began to issue from the upper part of the battering ships Pastora and Talla Piedra. It was caused by some redhot balls, which had penetrated so far into their sides, that they could not be extinguished by the water of the internal canals. They had set fire to the contiguous parts, which, after smouldering for some time, suddenly broke out in flames. The men were seen, at the hazard of life, using fire engines, and pouring water into the shotholes. This fire, though kept under during the continuance of daylight, could never be thoroughly subdued. The disorder in these two commanding ships in the centre, affected the whole line of attack; and by the evening the fire from the fortress had gained a decided superiority. The fire was continued from the batteries in the fortress with equal vigor through the night, and by one o'clock in the morning the two first batteries were in flames, and the others visibly on fire, whether by the effect of the redhot shot, or, as the Spaniards pretended, that they were purposely set on fire, when it appeared no longer possible to save them. The confusion was now extreme. Rockets were continually thrown up by each of the ships, as signals to the fleet of their distress and danger. These signals were immediately answered, and all means used by the fleet to afford the assistance they required; but as it was deemed impossible to remove the battering ships, their endeavors were only directed to bringing off the men. A great number of boats were accordingly employed, and great intrepidity displayed, in the attempts for this purpose; the danger from the burning vessels, filled as they were with instruments of destruction, appearing no less dreadful than the fire from the garrison, terrible as that was, since the light thrown out on all sides by the flames afforded the utmost precision in its direction. Never, perhaps, has a more deplorable spectacle passed before the eyes of

men.

The thick darkness which covered the land and waters in the distance contrasted with the frightful glare of the flames which devoured so many victims; in the midst of the roar of artillery, their dolorous cries were audible. A new incident occurred to interrupt the attempts that were made for their rescue, and to complete the general confusion and destruction. Captain Curtis, a seaman as able as he was adventurous, advanced at this moment with twelve gunboats, each carrying one eighteen or twenty-four pounder. They had been constructed to oppose those of the Spaniards, and their low fire and fixed aim rendered them extremely formidable. Captain Curtis drew them up in such a manner as to flank the line of battering ships. The scene was wrought up by this fierce and unexpected attack to the highest point of calamity. The Spanish boats dared no longer to approach, and were compelled to the hard necessity of abandoning their ships and friends to the flames, or to the mercy of a beated and irritated enemy. Several of their boats and launches had been sunk before they submitted to this necessity; and one in particular, with fourscore men on board, who were all drowned, excepting an officer and twelve men, who having the fortune to float on the wreck under the walls, were taken up by the garrison. Some feluccas had taken shelter upon the coast during the night, but as soon as the day appeared, the English soon compelled them to surrender. It seemed that nothing could have exceeded the horrors of the night; but the opening of daylight disclosed a spectacle still more dreadful. Numbers of men were seen in the midst of the flames, crying out for pity and help; others floating upon pieces of timber, exposed to an equal though less dreadful danger from the opposite element. Even those in the ships, where the fire had yet made a less progress, expressed in their looks, gestures, and words, the deepest distress and despair, and were no less urgent in imploring assistance. Moved with compassion at this dismal scene, the English discontinued their fire, and thought only of saving the enemy they had vanquished; a conduct the more generous, as it was attended with manifest peril. Captain Curtis in particular acquired an imperishable glory, by showing himself regardless of his own existence in his endeavors to preserve that of his enemies. He advanced intrepidly with his boats towards the burning ships, in order to rescue those who were about to become the prey of the one or other element. He was himself the first to rush on board the blazing batteries, and to set the example of dragging with his own hands the terrified victims from the jaws of destruction. Meanwhile, death hovered incessantly round him. He was equally exposed to the peril arising from the blowing up of the ships as the fire reached their magazines, and to the continual discharge, on all sides, of the artillery, as the guns became to a certain degree heated. Several of his people were killed or severely wounded in this honor