re," he says, "of the same nation, of the same
age, of the same rank, of the same corps, and of the same school." But
if Philippeaux was in a sense the brains of the defence, Sidney Smith
was the sword. There was, perhaps, it may be regretfully confessed, a
streak of the charlatan in him. He shocked the judgment of more sober
men. Wellington's stern, sober sense was affronted by him, and he
described him as "a mere vaporiser." "Of all the men whom I ever knew
who have any reputation," Wellington told Croker "the man who least
deserved it is Sir Sidney Smith." Wellington's temperament made it
impossible for him to understand Sidney Smith's erratic and dazzling
genius. Napoleon's phrase is the best epitaph of the man who defended
Acre. It is true Napoleon himself describes Sidney Smith afterwards as
"a young fool," who was "capable of invading France with 800 men." But
such "young fools" are often the makers of history.

GREAT SEA-DUELS

"The captain stood on the carronade: 'First Lieutenant,' says he,
'Send all my merry men after here, for they must list to me.
I haven't the gift of the gab, my sons, because I'm bred to the sea.
That ship there is a Frenchman, who means to fight with we.
And odds, bobs, hammer and tongs, long as I've been to sea,
I've fought 'gainst every odds--but I've gained the victory!
* * * * * * * *
That ship there is a Frenchman, and if we don't take she,
'Tis a thousand bullets to one, that she will capture we.
I haven't the gift of the gab, my boys; so each man to his gun;
If she's not mine in half-an-hour, I'll flog each mother's son.
For odds, bobs, hammer and tongs, long as I've been to sea,
I've fought 'gainst every odds--and I've gained the victory!'"
--MARRYAT.

British naval history is rich in the records of what may be called
great sea-duels--combats, that is, of single ship against single ship,
waged often with extraordinary fierceness and daring. They resemble
the combat of knight against knight, with flash of cannon instead of
thrust of lance, and the floor of the lonely sea for the trampled lists.

He must have a very slow-beating imagination who cannot realise the
picturesqueness of these ancient sea-duels. Two frigates cruising for
prey catch the far-off gleam of each other's topsails over the rim of
the horizon. They approach each other warily, two high-sniffing
sea-mastiffs. A glimpse of flut