the Patron Saint's Day of Louis Philippe, who upon that occasion said, "Why, my dear Admiral, you look as young and healthy as you were ten years ago, at least; it gives me pleasure to see you appearing so well." Sir Sidney replied, that he had not time to grow old.

"The King of Prussia, when he was Prince Royal, was fond of residing in a pleasant house, a snug little palace near Potsdam, where there was good shooting and hunting; and when he came to the throne he still continued in it, as he could there lead a comparatively retired life, much in the same manner as the King at Windsor. It was at this place that I procured an interview with the King of Prussia, during the war between Gustavus and Catherine, and when no public embassy would have been received at the Court of Prussia from that of Sweden. It was a matter of exceeding great doubt whether I should succeed, and I was by no means sanguine myself as to a favourable result; but, at all events,' I said to the King, I can but try.' Now it has always," observed Sir Sidney, "been a maxim with me upon undertaking anything that might be attended with great difficulties, but was, nevertheless, not altogether impracticable, when I perceived that I could achieve the first step towards its accomplishment, never to allow myself to be deterred from attempting it, and not hesitate and fear to proceed because I could not see how I should gain my next point-that's number twowe must not confound them. When you have got hold of number one," he said, impressively, "you are in a fair way of securing number two. The way was open to me to Potsdam."

"That was number one, then," I said, laughingly.

"To be sure it was," he rejoined, with a raise of his eye-brows, " and the next followed as a matter of course. I knew very well that if I demanded an audience formally I should not obtain it; so, as there was to be a review the day following, I determined to be present at it, and, on my arrival, stationed myself near the spot where the King sat on horseback surrounded by his Staff, and stood carelessly looking on, as though I had come there for no other purpose. This little ruse of mine had just the effect I anticipated, for the King, seeing so young an officer (I was dressed in my naval uniform, wearing, amongst other decorations, that of Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Swedish Order of the Sword), was curious to know who I was, and despatched an Aidede-camp to me, who rode up and said that his Majesty wished to speak with me. This was precisely what I wanted. I immediately went to him, and, mentioning my name, was very graciously received. After a little desultory conversation, and when I found that I had gained his good graces by a few well-timed remarks on the fine appearance and brilliant manoeuvring of his troops, and all that sort of thing, I took an opportunity, when he alone could hear me, to say that I was charged with a letter and other communications from Gustavus Adolphus, and hoped he would grant me a private audience to deliver them. Ah! indeed!' were his exclamations of surprise-for you see I took him all aback- a cunning diplomatist, Monsieur, and good tactician. I had no idea of this.' I didn't want him to have," observed Sir Sidney. Well,' continued old Frederick, in a low voice, I suppose I must not refuse you; but be on your guard, Sir; when I return to the Palace, follow me up stairs, and hold no discourse with any one.' This was said with a smile, and some hesitation. I obeyed orders, of course;

6

and, mixing with the retinue, bowed as I passed to those around me, and ascended the staircase, taking care to keep close to the King's heels until we arrived in the gallery, where, as he dispensed with etiquette, we were left alone, and he took me into his closet without further ceremony. The main object of my mission was to endeavour to persuade him to permit the exportation of corn into Sweden, and to assist that country sub rosâ in her war with Russia; while, at the same time, he should give ostensible proofs of the apparent sincerity of his alliance with Catherine, and take care not to awaken suspicion. And this important negociation, by adroit management, I pretty well effected, and became, besides, a great favourite with his Majesty. Our Ambassador used to get me to pull an oar and work to windward for him upon a good many occasions; he used to say that I had more influence with the King than he had, and how I contrived it he was at a loss to discover, but that it was very clear I had the secret of gaining his Majesty's ear when he could not; and he was surprised that I should have been admitted at all to the King's presence, considering the relations which subsisted at the time betwixt Prussia and Russia, and that I was serving in the Swedish Navy."

Never, perhaps, did the gaoler of a State prison place such full and entire confidence in any prisoner committed to his care as did the gaoler of the Temple in the gallant Sir Sidney, whom he regarded, and justly so, as the very type of chivalry and honour itself. The grace, good humour, urbanity, and generosity-the eminent worth and greatness of soul of his amiable and heroic captive, completely won his admiration and esteem; and so firm and unshaken was his reliance on the bare word of his noble prisoner that he even permitted him to make excursions in the environs of Paris; and on some of these occasional rambles together the honest gaoler, who was of a merry and jovial temper, would drink so many grands coups de vin that Sir Sidney was obliged in his turn to take charge of him, and conduct him back to the Temple, into which, more than once or twice, he was actually for a considerable time refused admission by the guard on duty.

Sir Sidney would most assuredly have been shot or guillotined, or shared the fate of poor Wright, but for the interference of Admiral Trouget, who was then Minister of Marine, and who is still living; and, by one of those singular coincidences in life which sometimes happen, resides at this very time under the same roof with Sir Sidney, occupying the second étage. I had the honour to be introduced to him one day that I was with Sir Sidney, when he stepped in for a few minutes in full dress as he was going to Court, while his friend was employed in the business of the toilet for the same purpose.

But to return to the subject of this paper, which the interview I have mentioned brought to mind, and was, consequently, related to me, though not at the time. The room allotted to Sir Sidney in the Temple was the same which the unfortunate King Louis XVI. occupied in the interval of his being dragged by the revolutionary tigers from his palace to the scaffold. It was an uncomfortable and dreary apartment, with that intolerable nuisance a smoky chimney; and the gaoler, in recurring to the abominable treatment which the poor King suffered from his ruffianly persecutors, would point to the spot where he lay with his mattress on the floor to escape in some degree from the clouds of smoke

which filled the room; and in this humiliating condition-this "low estate," indeed-his Queen, alas! and the Princess Elizabeth, knelt by his side, and sometimes sat repairing his clothes and linen.

Sir Sidney, more privileged than that unhappy monarch, used to go and sit by the gaoler's fire whenever the wind was so high as to render it utterly impossible to light one in his own room. One day as he sat, as usual, with this prince of gaolers, of whose ready disposition to serve him to the utmost of his ability he was so well assured, he abruptly asked him if he could get a letter, which he was about to write, transmitted to Napoleon. Quoi! sérieusement?" "Oui, sérieusement," replied Sir Sidney. "Mais il est nécessaire de savoir vos desseins : quels sont-ils donc ?" Sir Sidney told him. “Fort bien, comptez sur mon zèle. Parbleu! I will deliver it myself. Voilà, Monsieur, tout ce que je puis vous dire."

"C'est prendre trop de soin," said Sir Sidney, fearing the good fellow might compromise himself, and perhaps lose his situation by doing so. "Pas de tout," answered he; " je suis résolu; I will place it in his own hands; j'en répond sur ma vie." Sir Sidney, therefore, wrote the letter, which contained a respectful but spirited and energetic remonstrance against the arbitrary and severe measures that had been resorted to in his particular case, and requested, not as a favour, but as matter of right, that he might thenceforth be treated in the same manner, and be allowed the same privileges, in every respect, as the other prisoners of war; and concluded by requesting of the First Consul-such was Napoleon at the time-the favour of an early, and, he trusted, a satisfactory answer. Furnished with his credentials, off trudged the old gaoler to the house of Napoleon, resolved in his own mind to add all the weight he could to the request which the letter contained, by speaking boldly in favour of his prisoner. But Napoleon, who was vexed to the soul at the recent destruction of his fleet, and arsenals, and magazines, &c., in Toulon, which had been effected by the skill and undaunted courage of the brave officer now in his power, and which was followed by the extrication of the allied Army; and equally annoyed at the remembrance of other events which had caused him much chagrin and mortification, and how often the flag of the republic had been humbled by him, entertained a bitter animosity towards Sir Sidney; and the great man, par excellence, as is well known, took no care to conceal it, but, on the contrary, availed himself of such an opportunity as the present to evince the low, petty, malignant spirit which actuated him to offer insult when it could not be resented. His conduct, however, upon this occasion only served to expose his real littleness of soul, whatever might be his greatness of genius; for it was genius more than talent that Napoleon Buonaparte was gifted with -a distinction by no means to be lost sight of, in estimating his character; the one is Nature's gift alone, for which we can take no credit whatever; the other merely the seed which God has planted in us, and requires the most sedulous care, and attention, and unremitting toil, and cultivation of the husbandman, to bring forth fruits to perfection. When the gaoler returned from his voluntary embassy to the chief magistrate, and entered the room where Sir Sidney sat, he threw himself moodily into a chair on the opposite side of the fire-place, and began poking the fire with a thoughtful and gloomy countenance, and in profound silence,

appearing in great trouble and perplexity all the time he was thus seriously engaged in a service which was not required of him, namely, that of raking the fire out, which he certainly would not have failed to dofor he was working away with the most persevering industry-had not Sir Sidney put a stop to his ill-timed zeal, by asking him to "report progress." But although he ceased, on being interrogated, to poke out the fire, he still continued to fix his meditative gaze upon it; and any one, to look at him, would have thought he was thinking of nought else but the better arrangement of the coals; nevertheless, nothing would have been further from the truth than such an inference. The good man was, in fact, ruminating on the unaccountable perverseness of his master's temper, and the spiteful effusion of malignity and wrath which Napoleon had indulged in towards him and his prisoner, who sat there with a serene, unruffled, good-natured face, smiling at his embarrassment, and endeavouring to get him to break the silence which he had hitherto maintained, with the exception of uttering a single "sacré," which he seemed to repent of as soon as his feelings found a vent for it, for it was instantly followed by a close compression of the lips, as though he were determined to speak no more.

At length, after sundry strange noises, proceeding from the region of the belly, or that part of the road leading to it where travellers on their passage down are apt to take the wrong way, and a pish, or a bah, and a toss of the head, he thrust his hands into his pockets, and, stretching out his legs to their full length, looked Sir Sidney in the face, for the first time since he came in, and was evidently on the point of replying to his question, when his courage failed him, and he drew up his legs again, placed one over the other, and, turning away his head, said, "J'enrage lorsque j'entends tenir ces sorts de langage." "What reception did he give you? Have you seen the Consul ?" "I have," replied the old fellow; "and his discourse has made my head ache. Son discours m'a mis l'esprit en feu." "Well! never mind; let's hear all about it," rejoined Sir Sidney. "Son discours m'a mis l'esprit en feu." "Phshaw! don't repeat-don't repeat; you've said that before. What did he say about me?" "He said you might stay here till you rotted," replied the old chap, passing his hand over his face to conceal his emotion, and clenching the other in honest indignation at the unmanly affront his respected prisoner had received. "And was he angry with you? What did he say to you?" demanded Sir Sidney. "Why he told me not to shove my nose where I had no business. Ne mettez votre nez où vous n'avez que faire." In short, the old gaoler met Buonaparte on the staircase, and delivered Sir Sidney's letter, as he had declared he would do, into his own hands, which Napoleon perused on the spot, and flew into a passion with the gaoler for bringing it. His rude and insolent reply, which was not confined to the words used by the gaoler, had no other effect at the time than to cause him to be heartily despised and censured for it by many of his personal friends and adherents, Junot especially; and Sir Sidney, of course, took no further notice of him or his message, until an opportunity afterwards presented itself, when no longer a prisoner, but a triumphant conqueror. Face to face with his haughty foe at the siege of St. Jean d'Acre, opposing his further advance in Egypt, mowing down his columns and battalions that mounted the breach in quick succession to seize upon this golden key

to the treasures of the east, and completely upsetting all his plans and projects for the conquest of India, the hero of Acre, exulting with honest pride at the success of his arms, and at having shown Napoleon that he had found his match for once, was also resolved to square yards with him for his former behaviour; and after a most signal defeat, and when he must have seen that he would be compelled to raise the siege, and was deeply mortified, peevish, and out of temper with himself and every one else, a letter was conveyed to him by one of his own soldiers, who had been taken prisoner, and was set at liberty for the purpose, from his old correspondent and victorious enemy, Sir Sidney Smith-written in a style of exquisite good-humoured irony, perfectly free from recrimination, but well calculated, as was the message which accompanied it, to humble him, and render him ridiculous to all around him. And he was heartily laughed at by his friends; some of whom-Junot among the number, as I have said before-were highly indignant at his conduct upon the occasion recorded above, and told him that Sir Sidney had taken an admirable method of being revenged, which they could not but foresee would be attended with fatal consequences to their expedition and so it turned out, for his failure at Acre was followed by a train of disasters-the abandonment of his enterprise, and finally, his expulsion from Egypt.

EXTRAORDINARY SECT OF FANATICS IN INDIA.

EVER Since I have been in India I have heard of a class of Mussulmans, the disciples of a sect or saint, by name Shaikh Ruffai, who, in order to impress the unbelievers with the truth of the Mussulman faith, imparted to his followers the power of plunging swords and daggers into their body, cutting off their tongue, frying it, and putting it together again, cutting off the head and limbs, scooping out the eye, and in truth doing with their bodies whatsoever it pleased them to do; all of which Colonel G, in company with a clergyman, a Mr. R- had seen, when

the latter grew sick and ran out of the place, declaring it was the power of Satan, which to this day he believes, and the Colonel that it is done through the power of the art magic, at which I, of course, laughed, and declared that, so soon as a man of the regiment (by name Shaikh Kureem, one of these Ruffai) should return from furlough, I would witness the exhibition.

A large tent was accordingly pitched, and fifty lamps furnished, and plates full of arsenic, and quantities of a plant of the cactus tribe filled with a milky juice, a drop of which, if it fall on your skin, blisters it, and a vast quantity of the common glass bangles, or bracelets, worn by the women, and daggers, and swords, and things like thick steel skewers, and other horrid-looking weapons like a butcher's steel, only with a large handle covered with chains, and about twenty Ruffais to beat all manner of drums: and so, when all was ready, about five of the officers left the mess-table with myself, and along with us about a hundred sepoys crowded into the tent. When we were seated and silence obtained, the work commenced by a sort of chant from their sacred books, the drum-beaters joining in and keeping time; the chant increased