Mr. Wilberforce spoke truly. Sir Sidney Smith was not adequately rewarded. The peerage was, at that time, plentifully lavished upon individuals who required that distinction to make them stand apart from their fellow men-Sir Sidney Smith did not.

As we have been just reverting to parliamentary proceedings, it may not be misplaced to mention that our late sovereign, William IV., when Duke of Clarence, thus spoke of Sir Sidney in the House of Peers:-"The first important check which the formidable army of French invaders met, was from a handful of British troops, under Sir Sidney Smith, long before the landing of the army which became, in their turn, the conquerors of Egypt."

CHAPTER XVIII.

Sir Sidney Smith's personal appearance at this time- His humanity to his crews-The English government sends reinforcements to Egypt-The state of the country English land at Aboukir Bay- Battle of Alexandria – Death of Sir Ralph Abercromby.

BEFORE we proceed further in these Memoirs, we shall briefly state the appearance of their subject at this juncture. It is a very natural curiosity, that of being anxious to be acquainted with the looks and bearing of those who have been able, by their merits, to stand separate from their fellow men. But alas! man is still more variable in his physical than in his mental identity. The portrait of the youth of fourteen presents but little similitude to the man at the mature age of thirty, and the virility of thirty would look with disgust upon the lineaments of the same individual when he had numbered the average years allotted to humanity, three score and ten.

We have described Sir Sidney Smith's appearance as the fresh, amiable, and rosy-cheeked boy. We now, upon the testimony of one who was in daily communication with him, portray him in the vigour of his manhood, shortly after he had effected the expulsion of the French from Acre. Then, though small in stature, he had all the appearances that indicate a brave and generous hearted man, with a fine dark countenance, and eyes that sparkled with intelligence. His very appearance showed that he possessed an ardent imagination, which naturally prompted him to form and execute bold and important enterprises: he seemed, as it were, to be born to deserve glory and to acquire it.

This testimony to the dignity of his presence is from a Frenchman, and, so far as his public character was concerned, an enemy; and as the narrator was allowed, on all hands, to be a person of probity and honour, we must place implicit belief that he has put upon record the actual impression that Sir Sidney Smith made upon him.

But let us have recourse to other and less refined evidence. It is that of a worthy old Greenwich pensioner, who held an office about our officer's person, and who had the fullest opportunities of seeing him in all situations and in all moods, in full dress, in undress, and in no dress

at all, and such is nearly the words of the vete

ran.

66

Why, sir, after we skivered the mounseers away from Acre, Sir Sidney was looking as taut set up as the mainstay by a new first lieutenant; but, for all that, Sir Sidney was a weaselly man, -no hull, sir,-none; but all head, like a tadpole. But such a head! it put you in mind of a flash of lightning rolled up into a ball; and then his black curly nob-when he shook it, it made every man shake in his shoes."

"Was he then handsome?"

"Blest if I can tell! You know, sir, as how we don't say of an eighteen-pounder, when it strikes the mark at a couple of miles or so, that's handsome, but we sings out beautiful;' though, arter all, it's nothing but a lump of black iron. You're laughing, sir. And so you thinks I'm transmogrifying Sir Sidney's head into a round lump of iron shot! Well, I'm off like one. All I can say is, that he was most handsome when there was the most to do."

This worthy old sailor's notions of the line of beauty being rather tortuous, we have only to endeavour to reconcile the two accounts, which may be done by the single word "soul." It predominated in the expression of his features, and that, we conceive, is the noblest kind of beauty.

At the time of which we write, the use of the

cat-o'-nine-tails was general throughout the navy, and as lavish as it was general. It therefore highly redounds to the humanity as well as to the good sense of Sir Sidney, that he was very sparing of the revolting infliction, but rarely having recourse to this brutal ultima ratio of naval commanders; and, when compelled to it by absolute necessity, never inflicting more than twenty-four lashes at one punishment. He had gained the entire confidence, and, though the word looks a little effeminate, we must add, the affection of all those who were so happy as to serve under him. Sir Sidney appears to have been distasteful only to those superior officers placed in command immediately over him.

Having thus been a little diffuse upon that which is merely personal to our celebrated commander, we must now proceed to trace the splendid course of his services, which in order the more fully to appreciate, we must turn our attention to the state of Egypt after the flight of Bonaparte, and the atrocious assassination of General Kleber. At this time, the fair average of the French troops occupying Egypt was twenty-six thousand men, with something more than eleven hundred Greek and Copt auxiliaries. In this average must be included sailors acting with the forces, commissioned and non-commissioned