leon passed the autumn of 1798. "At this period,"
writes his secretary, "it was his custom to retire early to bed, and it
was my business to read to him as long as he remained awake. If I read
poetry, he soon fell asleep, but if, as sometimes happened, he called
for _The Life of Cromwell_, I made up mind to want repose for that
night."

General Dessaix, meanwhile, had pursued Mourad Bey into Upper Egypt,
where the Mamelukes hardly made a single stand against him, but
contrived, by the excellence of their horses, and their familiarity with
the deserts, to avoid any total disruption of their forces. Mourad
returned to the neighbourhood of Cairo on hearing of the insurrection
already mentioned; but departed when he learned its suppression. Those
gallant horsemen were gradually losing numbers in their constant desert
marches--they were losing heart rapidly: and everything seemed to
promise, that the Upper Egypt, like the Lower, would soon settle into a
peaceful province of the new French colony.

The General, during this interval of repose, received no communication
from the French government; but rumours now began to reach his quarters
which might well give him new anxieties. The report of another rupture
with Austria gradually met with more credence; and it was before long
placed beyond a doubt, that the Ottoman Porte, instead of being tempted
into any recognition of the French establishment in Egypt, had declared
war against the Republic, and summoned all the strength of her empire
to pour in overwhelming numbers on the isolated army of Buonaparte.

As yet, however, there was no appearance of an enemy; and Napoleon
seized the opportunity to explore the Isthmus of Suez, where a narrow
neck of land divides the Red Sea from the Mediterranean, partly with the
view of restoring the communication which in remote times existed
between them, and partly of providing for the defence of Egypt, should
the Ottomans attempt their invasion by the way of Syria.

He visited the Maronite monks of Mount Sinai, and, as Mahomet had done
before him, affixed his name to their charter of privileges; he examined
also the fountain of Moses: and nearly lost his life in exploring,
during low water, the sands of the Red Sea, where Pharaoh is supposed to
have perished in the pursuit of the Hebrews. "The night overtook us,"
says Savary in his Memoirs, "the waters began to rise around us, the
guard in advance exclaimed that their horses were swimmin