could not
help believing that there must be a God who had given us the victory.
Hard work we had to get our ships and prizes fit for sea again after the
battering they had got; as it was, we had to burn four of our prizes, as
it would have taken too long to refit them; and then at last away we
sailed with the larger part of the fleet for Naples.

"The battle I've been telling you about was called the battle of the
Nile. It was, I've heard say, one of the most glorious and important
ever fought on the sea."

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Note: Lord Hood was commander-in-chief. The object of the attack was to
co-operate with the patriot Corsicans, who, under their well-known
gallant general Paoli, desired to liberate themselves from the yoke of
France, then ruled by the tyrannical and cruel convention. The story of
the struggles of Corsica to gain her independence is deeply interesting.

VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER THREE.

"After lying at Naples for a long time, Lord Keith came out and took the
chief command, and we sailed with a squadron for Malta. On our way we
fell in with a French fleet, the biggest ship of which was the
`Genereux,' one of the line-of-battle ships which had escaped from the
Nile. We captured her and a frigate, and not long afterwards the
`Guillaume Tell,' the other line-of-battle ship, after in vain
attempting to escape from Valetta harbour, surrendered to us; and thus
every ship of the fleet which had escorted Bonaparte to Egypt was
captured, except, I fancy, one frigate.

"At last we went into Leghorn Roads, and after some time Lord. Nelson
and Sir William and Lady Hamilton, and other people who had been on
board, landed, and travelled through Germany towards England. I have
heard say that he was more than once very nearly caught by the French
during the journey through Italy. What a prize he would have been to
them. I remained in the `Foudroyant' for some time. We all missed the
admiral, and hoped that he would come out again, and hoist his flag on
board his old ship. Whatever ship he went to it was the same, the men
loved him, and would have done anything for him. At last I was sent
home in a prize, and was paid off. As the admiral was taking a spell on
shore, I thought I would take one too, and enjoy myself. I spent some
time with my old mother; but one night, going down to see an old
shipmate who was ill at a public-house near Deal, I