from being intimidated. One party, indeed, retired to a small distance, but it retired with so much order that an attack was thought to be dangerous. Besides, a small party no sooner ventured beyond the enclosed country, than they were driven back by the Mamalukes, so that the whole army was obliged to advance in the order of battle.

The action had now continued six hours, and the French, totally in want of water, were exhausted with thirst and fatigue. They were animated by the hope, however, that the loss of their batteries would force the Meccans either to venture a general and decisive engagement, or to attempt an escape by swimming across the Nile, or by retreating under the protection of the Mamalukes. To force them to form one of these resolutions as speedily as possible, the French troops continued to press forwards; but when they approached a small wood, into which some of the enemy had been observed to retreat, they were not a little surprised to find that it contained a village, and a fortress belonging to the Mamalukes.

It was now obvious that the action could not be speedily terminated. The fortress had lately been considerably strengthened, and had been plentifully supplied with arms and ammunition, taken from the French themselves. Willing, if possible, to terminate the affair by a great exertion, an attempt was made to take the fortress by storm; but, after continued efforts for two hours, during which they vainly attempted to assail it on every side; after being more than once successfully repelled; and after having had sixty men killed, and as many wounded, they were obliged, at the approach of night, to take

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possession of a mosque, for their own protection, and to annoy the enemy, by setting fire to the houses in the vicinity of the fortress.de

The interval of inaction which succeeded, was spent by both parties in preparations for future hostilities. The French remounted the guns which had formerly belonged to their barks, and which they had lately taken from the enemy. The Meccans pointed those guns which they had not yet brought into saction, and raised low batteries to strengthen the place which they were to defend. The intelligence which the French received from several deserters added little to their comfort. They were informed that the soldiers on board their vessels had been totally destroyed; after an obstinate resistance of twenty hours; that the Meccans had taken the most judicious steps to derive the greatest advantage from the stores of which they had made themselves masters; that they had sunk one of the captured boats in such a position as should force every vessel passing upon the Nile to come within the reach of their batteries, and had thus rendered themselves masters of the river; and that, though they had lost many men in the late engagement, their number was still very great, and their courage in no degree diminished.

Daylight no sooner appeared than the French began to cannonade the fortress, with the design of making a breach; but the balls simply perforated the unbaken bricks, of which it was constructed, without bringing down any part of the building. An apparent attempt of the Mamalukes to throw succours into the place was easily repelled; still, however, the attack proceeded but slowly, with a loss to the besicgers which could not be compensated by any

destruction effected among the besieged. Convinced that such a mode of conducting the siege must prove ruinous in the end, Beliard, as his last resource, gave orders to proceed to the assault. The Meccans

maintained a constant and well directed fire, but could not prevent the French from opening their ? first circumvallation. Notwithstanding the former sallied from their fortress, and with the utmost intrepidity attempted to drive the French from their works, the latter proceeded with rapidity. One of the magazines of the fortress was blown up, and the flames spread in every direction. The distress of the besieged on this occasion, could be equalled only by their daring resolution. They had no water to prevent the extension of the flames, but they endeavoured to smother them by throwing their own bodies upon them. In this terrible situation the Arab chief called religious enthusiasm to the aid of native courage. He animated his soldiers by public exhortations; and, in their hearing, addressed his prayers to heaven for themav At every interval, the mingled noise of devotional hymns and warlike shouts was heard, and multitudes of them poured upon the enemy from every hand, notwithstanding the destruction which in that case almost inevitably awaited them. When night approached the order was given to storm. The French, exasperated by what they had already suffered, advanced with all the intrepidity which rage can inspire. The Meccans, equally brave, more numerous, and exalted to a degree of enthusiasm, which only religion can infuse, received them with a resolution equally determined. The French twice saw themselves in the interior of the fortress, and imagined that they might take pos

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session of it. Twice, however, they were repulsed with loss, when night and extreme fatigue obliged them to intermit the combat.

The day which had just elapsed had not much meliorated the situation of the French army. They had lost many of their best men, without having been able to inspire the enemy with. degree of terror. Their ammunition was almost exhausted; their attempts to storm gave them little reason to hope for success in that way; or, should they ultimately succeed, their loss must be such as to render success almost fatal to them. No other resource remained than to set fire to the buildings of the fortress, and thus to destroy an enemy whom they could not hope to vanquish. Two fires were accordingly kindled, and troops were posted at every avenue by which the enemy might attempt to escape.

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Such, in the mean time, was the dread which the French entertained of the Meccans, that they could venture to take rest only in the order of battle. Their resolution, however, was greatly increased by the information received from a Coptic bishop, whe had deserted from the village, and who informed them that the condition of the enemy was yet more desperate than their own. During twelve hours they had been altogether without water, at the same time that they were exposed to the burning heat of the climate, which was greatly augmented by the scorching fires by which they were surrounded.

In such a condition it was evident they could not hope to make a long resistance. An hour before daybreak, thirty of the best armed among the Meccans forced their way through the French army and escaped. Encouraged by the desperate situation of

thegarrison, the French entered by the breaches which had been made by the fires, and still meeting with greater opposition than had been expected, they put to death almost every one whom they met. Nothing could exceed the distress of the Meccans. A chief, who was brought before the general, was so swollen with heat and fatigue, that when he endeavoured to sit down his skin burst in several places. "If, said he, I am to be killed, let a speedy period be put to my misery." The resistance made by this chief proved his courage, and the anxious affection of a slave who accompanied him, and who seemed to forget his own sufferings in concern for those of his master, proved that his courage, was not tinctured with ferocity."How good must he have been, Denon justly exclaims, to be thus cherished by his slave."

After a few reflections on the melancholy nature of his situation, the number of friends whom he had lost, and the ease with which those friends were forgotten by those who were to fill their places, Denon tells us, that, on the 23d of March, Beliard granted a general pardon to all his prisoners, and restored them to liberty, a mode of conduct which the behaviour of his troops probably gave little reason to expect. The Mamalukes made their appearance; but while the French, in expectation of an attack, were preparing for an engagement, they discovered that the enemy had no intention of fighting, and that they had advanced only for the purpose of procur ing water from the Nile, a scheme in which they succeeded. When they retired they were pursued by the French, who had an opportunity of observing their whole force. It consisted of two thousand