very strongly situated, he thinks will soon fall.
Agamemnon is then to go to Gibraltar, for something like a refitment,
having been without the slightest repair, in hull or rigging, sixteen
months. He describes Bastia as most pleasantly situated; containing
fourteen thousand inhabitants, and being capable of holding twenty
thousand. A few hours, he says, will carr parties to Italy: and
observes that, if the Corsicans knew their own interest, they would be
happy with us; but, that they cannot bear dependance.

This opinion of Captain Nelson's, respecting the disposition of the
Corsicans, is a fresh proof of his acute discernment, and was abundantly
confirmed by the event.

It having been agreed, by the two commanders in chief, Lord Hood and
Lieutenant-General the Honourable Charles Stuart, that the utmost
dispatch was necessary, in order to enable the troops selected for the
siege of Calvi to begin their operations before the commencement of the
unhealthy season, every effort was used to forward the necessary
preparations; and so effectual were the exertions of the different
departments, that the regiments embarked at Bastia in the course of a
very few days. Captain Nelson, accordingly, who had been detached on the
9th of June, by Lord Hood, from the fleet off Mortella Bay, to take the
charge of these embarkations, in his lordship's absence, agreed that
they should proceed to Port Agra, where a landing was effected on the
19th of the same month; and, on that very day, the army encamped, in a
strong position, on the Serra del Cappucine, a ridge of mountains three
miles distant from the town of Calvi.

From many of the out-posts, and particularly from those which the
friendly Corsicans were ordered to occupy, it was distinctly
discoverable that the town of Calvi was strong in point of situation,
well fortified, and amply supplied with heavy artillery. The exterior
defences, on which the enemy had bestowed a considerable labour,
consisted in the bomb-proof Stone Star Fort Mozello, mounting ten pieces
of ordnance, with a battery of six guns on it's right, flanked by a
small entrenchment. In the rear of this line, which covered the town to
the westward, was placed, on a rocky hill to the east, a battery of
three guns. Considerably advanced on the plain to the south-west, the
Fort Mollinochesco, on a steep rock, commanded the communication between
Calvi and the province of Balagori; supported by two frigates, moored in
the