culties of a first arrival had been anticipated and removed by the active civility of the British agent, Signor Lenzi.

Rosetta, or Rachid, as the Arabs call it, is pleasantly situated on the left bank of the western branch of the Nile. The quay is extremely spacious, and the store-houses and other public buildings appear well planned, and give to this part of the town an approximation to European neatness and elegance,the interval is, however, still very distant. The environs are embellished by some extensive gardens annexed to the residence of the governor-though at present much neglected, the voluptuous taste which designed them is sufficiently visible. The general appearance of the interior of the city is not calculated to confirm the first favourable impression. Almost every quarter presents some mark of barbarism, the walls of many of the buildings being pieced with broken fragments of the cornice or frieze of some ancient temple, and the vestibule being formed by inverted shafts of columns, where the capitals are universally applied as the base. The inhabitants are said to amount to twenty-five thousand;-as the extent of the place is rather more than a league in length, and nearly a

mile in its greatest breadth, you can judge whether this is an improbable estimate. Commerce seems

peculiarly to flourish here; indeed, the transportation of foreign goods to Cairo, and the conveyance of native productions to Alexandria, would necessarily give to this port an appearance of activity beyond what may be observed in other Egyptian towns.

The vessels employed between Rosetta and Alexandria, are called scherms: they have no decks, but are of great depth, and carry a latine sail. The passage is frequently fatal. Just where the Nile discharges itself into the Mediterranean there is a bar, above a league in extent, called the bogaz; a term expressive of the ruffled appearance of the waters. This bar is in many parts extremely shallow, and the constant shifting of the sands renders it often difficult to find an opening to admit a single vessel. As I have signified a wish to reach Alexandria with as little delay as possible, the Consul strongly dissuades me from undertaking the journey by water: for as the distance is not much more than thirty miles, we may safely calculate on arriving there in a few hours by land-but on board one of those treacherous scherms, the luckless voyageur may be kept dancing

about the coast for several days. Very few arguments were sufficient to make me give a preference to the sands of the desert-and we shall probably, therefore, commence our route early to-morrow, or the day following.

LETTER XII.

To SIR G. ET, BART.

Alexandria, October, 18 17.

DEAR E,

THOUGH it is more than a fortnight since we arrived here, I have scarcely been able to quit the city walls, or indeed to move out of my chamber.

The passage across the desert may be accomplished without much exertion, in twelve or fourteen hours; but as we did not leave Rosetta till late in the morning, it would have been difficult to reach this

place in time for admission.

I passed the night, therefore, in a solitary hovel, near the bay of Aboukir.1

1 No Englishman can ever pass with indifference near this part of the coast, which was the scene of one of Lord Nelson's most splendid victories.-"To have been born in the same land," says Mr. Cobbett, "and to have lived in the same day with Lord Nelson, whose public conduct is in

Early the next day we pursued a route by the sea-side, and without any incident deserving notice, arrived at

every respect fit to be holden up on high, as a light to the living, and to the children yet unborn, is no small honour to us; not to have lamented his death, would have argued a want of every just and generous sentiment; and not to have honoured his remains and his memory, ingratitude unexampled in the annals of the world."

Political Register, January, 1806.

The reader will perhaps pardon the insertion of another eloquent tribute to this most distinguished commander, whose noble example should be as immortal as his name:-the following lines are from the pen of Mr. Pye, the late laureat.

"Lo! where the Nile from Egypt's fertile shores,
Swollen to the sea his deluged current pours!
The din of battle sounds-near seats of old,
Where seers and saints immortal tidings told,
An atheist warrior with gigantic pride,
The armies of the LIVING GOD defied;
BRITANNIA'S sons the threat with horror hear,
And fearing heaven, disclaim all other fear;
By valour fired-by gallant NELSON led,
Free to the winds their red-cross banners spread.
In vain the close-moor'd fleet their anchors keep,
A massy bulwark floating on the deep;

In vain tremendous, from the circling shore,
With brazen throat the thundering batteries roar;
Down sinks the baseless vaunt of atheist pride,
The victor's spoil, or whelm'd beneath the tide.
And wild Arabia's desultory bands,
The fight surveying from the neighbouring lands,
With shouts of triumph hail the conquering host,
And Albion's fame illumines Egypt's coast.

Ah, gallant heroes! in this glorious strife,
Who purchased deathless fame with transient life: