out a moment's delay he leapt on board the Admiral's ship too. The Spanish officers at once surrendered to him, and brought him their swords. They were so many that Nelson gave them to one of his bargemen to hold. The man coolly tucked them under his arm in a bundle, as if they had been so many sticks.

6. The Mutiny at Spithead.-There was a worse danger at home than any that could come from a Spanish fleet. The sailors who fought the battles of England were discontented, and not without cause. They were paid at the rate which had been settled in the time of Charles II., though the price of provisions which they had. to buy had risen a great deal since those days. The provisions given them were very bad. When they were ill, and even when they had been wounded in battle, their pay was stopped till they were well again. Order was kept by constant flogging, and floggings were given for very small offences indeed, and sometimes where no offence at all had been committed. The sailors on board the fleet at Spithead sent a petition to the Admiralty asking for better treatment. As no notice was taken of their petition, they mutinied. They refused to go to sea when ordered. They would obey their officers no longer, till their requests were granted. But they did no harm to the officers, and contented themselves with sending on shore those who had treated them most brutally. The Lords of the Admiralty acted wisely. They saw that the sailors asked nothing but that which ought to have been granted before, and they sent Lord Howe on

A A

board to tell the men that they should be pardoned, and that their requests should be granted if they would return to their duty. Lord Howe, who had commanded in the Battle of the First of June, was a great favourite with the sailors, and they agreed to submit. Their grievances were redressed, and though a short time afterwards, when they suspected that they were not to be treated fairly, they began once more to mutiny, the disturbance came to an end as soon as they found out that the Admiralty intended to deal honestly with them, and after this they never thought of mutinying again.

7. The Mutiny at the Nore.-The mutiny at Spithead was scarcely over when another mutiny broke out in the fleet at the Nore, near the mouth of the Thames. The sailors at the Nore asked not merely that the complaints made at Spithead should be attended to, just as if they had not been attended to already, but they asked to command their own ships instead of the officers. If the proposal had been accepted, the ships would have been of no use at all. The mutiny spread to Admiral Duncan's fleet, which was keeping watch over the Dutch ships in the Texel, to prevent them from coming out to help the French. Most of his ships sailed away to join the others at the Nore. At one time he was left with only his own ship to guard the sea. He boldly remained in sight of the port in which the whole Dutch fleet was, and ran up flags every now and then, as if he were making signals to his other ships. By this means he deceived the Dutch, who thought that he had a fleet out of sight,

and they kept quietly in port till he received help and became strong enough to fight them if they came out. In the meanwhile the Government at home got the better of the mutineers. Some of their own ships deserted them, and after a time the others surrendered. The chief leader of the mutiny was hanged, and the rest of the men returned to their duty and did good service afterwards. The Dutch fleet came out at last, and was defeated by Duncan at the Battle of Camperdown.

8. Bonaparte in Egypt.-Very soon after this battle, the French made peace with the Austrians, and Pitt tried once more to make peace with the French, though again the two governments failed to agree, and the war went on. Bonaparte sailed with an army to Egypt. On his way he took possession of Malta. He then went on to Egypt, which was spoken of as part of the Sultan's dominions, though it was in reality governed by some warlike soldiers called Mamelukes. Bonaparte tried to take them in by telling them that the French were true Mussulmans. They did not believe a word of it, and they fought hard for their independence. These fierce horsemen could not stand up against the guns of the disciplined French army, and they were defeated with great slaughter. The battle was named the Battle of the Pyramids, from the huge pyramids standing near, which had been raised in the days of the Pharaohs, to be the tombs of those ancient kings. From the tops of the pyramids,' said the French general to his men, forty centuries are looking down upon you.'

9. The Battle of the Nile.-When Bonaparte was on his way to Egypt, Nelson, who had been made an Admiral since the Battle of St. Vincent, was sailing up and down the Mediterranean in search of him. When he reached the coast of Egypt, he found that the French army was no longer on board the ships which had brought it. Nelson at once attacked the ships, which were anchored in a long line near the shore. He broke through their line, placing half of his own ships between them and the shore, and placing half outside. The battle raged far into the night. Nelson was wounded and carried below. A surgeon ran up to attend to him. 'No,' said the Admiral, 'I will take my turn with my brave fellows.' His wound proved but a slight one. Whilst he was lying in his cabin, he heard the sailors on deck calling out that the French Admiral's ship was on fire. Wounded as he was, he went on deck, and gave orders to send out boats to help the Frenchmen to escape from the burning vessel. In the end the French were completely beaten.

10. Irish Difficulties.-England could overpower the French at sea. There was one country.which it was easy to keep down, but where it was very hard to do good. After the time of William III. the native Irish were treated with very great cruelty. There was an Irish Parliament which sat at Dublin, and no one who was not a Protestant was allowed to be a member of it. The laws made by it were very oppressive to the Irish Catholics, and it was no wonder that they hated bitterly those who ruled them so ill. These laws, however, were gradually

put an end to, but the Protestants of English origin who ruled Ireland had no feeling of kindness towards the Catholic Irish, and did not care to help them. Soon after the American War was over, the Parliament at Dublin insisted upon making itself quite independent of England, which it had not been before. Pitt, when he became Minister, saw that the best thing to be done for Irishmen was to help them to be richer than they were. They were not allowed to trade with England without paying duties as if they had been foreigners. Pitt therefore proposed to give to Ireland freedom of trade with England so that they might become better off than they had been. Pitt, however, was unable to give to the Irish all that they thought they ought to have, and the Irish Parliament rejected his proposal. They did not understand the proverb which says, 'Half a loaf is better than no bread.' Even after the French Revolution began, Pitt tried hard to do something for Ireland. The Catholics were now allowed to vote for members of Parliament, though they were not allowed to sit in it, any more than they were in England. Pitt at last sent over Lord Fitzwilliam to be Lord Lieutenant. He was to ask the Irish Parliament to make a law allowing the Catholics to become members of Parliament and to hold offices in the State. Unluckily some of the Irish Protestants came over to England and complained to the king. George III. thought it would be very wicked to allow Catholics to have any power, and that if they had it they would use it to hurt the Protestant Church. Most of his subjects in England