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and by imitating every motion which she made, he at length succeeded in fixing her attention upon him, and had the happiness of remarking that she occa-. sionally observed him with a glass. One morning when he saw that she was looking attentively upon him in this manner, he tore a blank leaf from an old mass book which used to lie in his cell, and with the soot of the chimney, contrived, by his finger, to de scribe upon it, in a large character, the letter A, which he held to the window to be viewed by his fair sympathising observer. After gazing upon it for some time, she nodded, to shew that she understood what he meant; sir Sidney then touched the top of the first bar of the grating of his window, which he wished her to consider as the representative of the letter A, the second B, and so on, until he had formed, from the the top of the bars, a correspond ing number of letters; and by touching the middle, and bottom parts of them, upon a line with each other, he easily, after having inculcated the first impression of his wishes, completed a telegraphic alphabet. The process of communication was, from its nature, very slow, but sir Sidney had the happiness of observing, upon forming the first word, that this excellent being, who beamed before him like a guardian angel, seemed completely to comprehend it, which she expressed by an assenting movement of the head.

Frequently obliged to desist from this tacit and tedious intercourse, from the dread of exciting the curiosity of the gaolers, or his fellow prisoners, who were permitted to walk before his window, sir Sidney occupied several days in communicating to his unknown friend, his name and quality, and imploring her to procure some unsuspected roy alist, of consequence and address sufficient for the undertaking, to effect his escape; in the achievement of which he assured her, upon his word of honour, that whatever cost might be incurred, would be amply reimbursed, and that the bounty and gra

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titude of his country would nobly remunerate those who had the talent and bravery to accomplish it. By the same means he enabled her to draw confidential and accredited bills, for considerable sums of money, for the promotion of the scheme, which she applied with the most perfect integrity. Col. Phelipeaux was at this time at Paris, a military man of rank, and a secret royalist, most devoutly attached to the fortunes of the exiled family of France, and to those who supported their cause. He had been long endeavouring to bring to maturity a plan for facilitating their restoration, but which the loyal adherent, from a series of untoward and uncontrollable circumstances, began to despair of accomplishing. The lovely deliverer of sir Sidney applied to this distinguished character, to whom she was known, and stated the singular correspondence which had taken place between herself and the heroic captive in the Temple. Phelipeaux, who was acquainted with the fame of sir Sidney, and chagrined at the failure of his former favourite scheme, embraced the present project with a sort of prophetic enthusiasm, by which he hoped to restore to the British nation one of her greatest heroes, who by his skill and valour, might once more impress the common enemy with dismay, augment the glory of his country, and cover himself with laurels of future victory. Intelligent, active, cool, and daring, and insinuating, colonel Phelipeaux immediately applied himself to mature a plan, at once suitable to his genius, and interesting to his wishes, To those whom it was necessary to employ upon the occasion, he contrived to unite one of the clerks of the minister of the police, who forged his signature, with exact imitation, to an order for removing the body of sir Sidney, from the Temple to the prison of the Conciergerie: after this was accomplished, on the day after that on which the inspector of gaols was to visit the Temple and Conciergerie, a ceremony performed once a month in Paris, two

gentlemen of tried courage and address, who were previously instructed by colonel Phelipeaux, disguised as officers of the marechaussée, presented themselves in a fiacre at the Temple, and demanded the delivery of sir Sidney, at the same time showing the forged order for his removal. This the gaoler attentively perused and examined, as well as the minister's signature. Soon after the register of the prison informed sir Sidney of the order of the directory; upon hearing which, he at first appeared to be a little disconcerted; upon which the pseudo-officers gave him every assurance of the honour and mild intentions of the government towards him; sir Sidney seemed more reconciled, packed up his clothes, took leave of his fellow-prisoners, and distributed little tokens of his gratitude to those servants of the prison from whom he had experienced indulgencies. Upon the eve of their departure, the register observed, that four of the prison guard should accompany them, This arrangement menaced the whole plan with im mediate dissolution. The officers, without betraying the least emotion, acquiesced in the propriety of the measure, and gave orders for the men to be called out; when, as if recollecting the rank and honour of their illustrious prisoner, one of them addressed sir Sidney, by saying, "citizen, you are a brave officer, give us your parole, and there is no occasion for an escort." Sir Sidney replied, that he would pledge his faith, as an officer, to accompany them, without resistance, wherever they chose to conduct him.

Not a look or movement betrayed the intention of the party. Every thing was cool, well-timed, and natural. They entered a fiacre, which, as is usual, was brought for the purpose of removing him, in which he found changes of clothes, false passports, and money. The coach moved with an accustomed pace to the Fauxbourg St. Germain, where they alighted, and parted in different directions. Sir Sidney met

colonel Phelipeaux at the appointed spot of rendezvous.

The project was so ably planned and conducted, that no one but the party concerned was acquainted with the escape, until nearly a month had elapsed, when the inspector paid his next periodical visit. What pen can describe the sensations of two such men as sir Sidney and Phelipeaux, when they first beheld each other in safety? Heaven befriended the generous and gallant exploit. Sir Sidney and his noble friend reached the French coast wholly unsuspected, and committing themselves to their God, put to sea in an open boat, and were soon afterwards discovered by an English cruising frigate, and brought in safety to the British shores.

The gallant Phelipeaux soon afterwards accompanied sir Sidney in the Tigre to Acre, where, overwhelmed by the fatigue of that extraordinary campaign, in which he supported a distinguished part, and the noxious influence of a sultry climate operating upon a delicate frame, he expired in the arms of his illustrious friend, who attended him to his grave, and shed the tears of gratitude and friendship over his honoured and lamented obsequies. But ere the dying Phelipeaux closed his eyes, he received the rewards of his generous enterprise. He beheld the repulsed legions of the republic flying before the British banners, and the irresistible prowess of his valiant companion; he beheld the distinguished being, whom he had thus rescued from a dungeon, and impending destruction, by an act of almost romantic heroism, covered with the unparticipated glory of having everpowered a leader who, renowned, and long accustomed to conquest, saw, for the first time, his invincible troops give way; who, inflamed to desperation, deemed the perilous exposure of his person necessary to rally them to the contest, over bridges of their slaughtered comrades, but who at length was obliged to retire from the field of battle, and to leave to the heroic sir Sidney the exclusive exulta

tion of announcing to his grateful and elated country, that he had fought and vanquished the laurelled con' queror of Italy, and the bold invader of Egypt.

Yet, thus glorious in public, and unsullied in his private deportment, the conqueror of Buonaparte' owes the honours, which he adorns, to foreign and distant powers to the grateful government of his own country, he is indebted for an ungracious paltry annuity, inadequate to the display of ordinary conse quence, and wholly unequal to the suitable support of that dignity which ought for ever to attend upon those who have distinguished themselves in the ser vice of their country.

I was much gratified by being presented to the celebrated philosopher Monsieur Charles, by Madame S- He has a suite of noble apartments in the Louvre, which have been bestowed upon him by the government, as a grateful reward for his having presented to the nation his magnificent collection of philos sophical apparatus. He has also, in consideration of his ability and experience, been constituted the prin cipal lecturer on philosophy. In these rooms his valuable and costly donation is arranged. In the centre of the dome of the first apartment, called the Hall of Electricity, is suspended the car of the first balloon which was inflated with inflammable air, in which he and his brother ascended in the afternoon of the first of December, 1783, in which they continued in the air for an hour and three quarters; and after they had descended, Monsieur C- rose alone to the astonishing height of 10,500 feet. In the same room are immense electrical machines and batteries, some which had been presented to him by Madame S.

In this room, amongst many other fanciful figures, which are used for the purpose of elivening the 30lemnity of a philosophical lecture by exciting sentiments of innocent gaiety, was a little Cupid. The tiny god, with his arrow in his hand, was insulated

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