his long military career fitted
him admirably for the command at Gibraltar. He showed his calibre in
the beginning of the siege, in refusing the keys of the fortress,
which were demanded of him. With tremendous odds against him, his
conduct has not inappropriately been likened to that of the Greek hero
Leonidas, at Thermopylae, when ordered by the Persian king to lay down
his arms. Throughout the defence his intrepidity, resource, and
generalship, proved him a man of remarkable military genius.

The crisis in the siege was reached in September, 1782, when a fleet
of ten enormous floating batteries opened fire on the fortress, each
one manned by a picked crew, and carrying from ten to eighteen guns.
These batteries were the invention of the most skilled French
engineers, and were believed to be impenetrable to shot. The
cannonading began in the morning and continued all day. Soon after
midnight nine ships were on fire, and the hostile fleet was doomed.

[Illustration: LORD HEATHFIELD]

General Elliott showed himself a generous victor, and the men saved
from the enemy's ships owed their lives to him. Five years later the
returned hero, now become Lord Heathfield, sat to Reynolds for his
portrait, ordered by a wealthy admirer--the public-spirited Alderman
Boydell. The picture shows the brave old soldier as he took his stand
in command of Gibraltar. Some one has said that it tells the whole
story of the siege.

The general grasps firmly the key of the fortress, the chain wound
twice about his hand, to emphasize the determination of the man to
hold it against all odds. His sword swings at his side, ready for
instant use; a cannon in the rear is pointed downward towards the
hostile fleet, and the smoke of battle rolls in clouds behind him. Far
away on the horizon a glimmer of light shines on the distant sea.

The veteran stands as immovable as a Stonewall Jackson. His face is
set in determined lines, the lips firmly closed, the head thrown back
a little, and the eyes steadily fixed on the battle. Yet the face is
not altogether stern; there is much that is kindly and noble in the
expression. One can fancy it in another moment softening into an
expression of gentleness.

It was a remarkable feature of his success during these terrible
months of siege, that he was able to hold the love and loyalty of his
men. When the spirits of the little garrison flagged, under the
combined influence of disease and impending famine, his