spoke the feelings of my heart:—but the words,
"Today is yesterday return'd; return'd
Full-power'd to cancel, expiate, raise, adorn,
And reinstate us on the Rock of peace,"
were often in my mind, and contributed, with the words of Manoah's wife, to give me a partial ease; they led me to form a new resolution, of setting out once more in attempting to lead a godly life, and keep the divine commandments. Having formed this resolution, I set about the performance of it with all due care, and my mind enjoyed a temporary peace. I was frequent in prayer, as I hoped that by this means I should prevent my mind from wandering. I had taken my present resolution so strongly, that I thought if I did not keep it this time, I could never hope to keep any resolution afterwards.
We now got our tents on shore, and were busily employed in landing the heavy artillery, and in raising breast-works and redoubts. The fatigues of the army were very great; and as nearly the one half were now affected with the night blindness, they were ordered to take their turn of night duties. A blind and a seeing man were put to work together, to carry two-handed baskets filled with earth to raise the breast-works, the seeing one leading the blind; and as the sentries on the out-posts were double, a blind and a seeing man were also put together: the blind man was company to the other; for, although he could not see, he could hear; and more depended upon that than upon seeing for the best sight could not see an object at night at any distance. When upon sentry at night, I discovered that when I looked a good while to the ground, I could discern upon it the shadows of persons that were approaching me; but if I lifted up my head I could not see the persons themselves, though they came close to my face. I continued, when out at night, to look constantly to the ground, and my sight gradually got better, and was quite recovered by the night of the 20d.
During the march of the army from Aboukir, I had seen great quantities of ruins; and while employed in working among them, and in building breast-works and redoubts with the stones of ancient palaces, and the earth that formed the banks of their far-famed canals, I could not but reflect on the ancient glory of Egypt, of which there were so many evidences, even in the barren peninsula of Aboukir. I saw in these ruins the fulfilments of Jehovah's threatenings, and an evidence of the truth of the Scriptures;—and from the description given of "populous No," (Nahum. iii. 8, 9, 10. Ezekiel xxx. 14, 15, 16, which I had frequently read during the passage up the Mediterranean,) I conceived that somewhere in this vicinity, such a city must have stood. These reflections gave an unusual degree of interest to our operations. We were now upon Scripture ground: we had come from a distant island of the sea, to the land of the proud Pharaohs, to carry on our military operations where Nebuchadnezzar, and Alexander the Great, had carried on theirs. The event was singular and striking: and our situation novel and interesting. Our camp stretched from the sea to the lake; and on the lake were numerous boats, bringing provisions, ammunition, and military stores from the fleet; while parties of seamen and soldiers were carrying or dragging through the deep sand, the various articles from the landing place, distant about two miles from the position of the army. And within four miles of our front, were the heights of Alexandria, upon which the enemy's troops were posted, with the various forts which they had constructed for their defence. On the right of their position stood the beautiful and majestic column, known by the name of "Pompey's Pillar;" and towards their left stood the stately obelisk called "Cleopatra's Needle."[[11]] The old walls of Alexandria were behind them, over which the masts of near 200 sail of ships were visible, which had conveyed the army of Bonaparte from France, and had been blockaded by the English since that time. And in the more distant view to the sea, was the Isle of Pharos, at the entrance of the harbour, on which once stood a light-house, mentioned by Rollin in his Ancient History as one of the seven wonders of the world, but which was now strongly fortified by the French, for the protection of the harbour, before which a squadron of our fleet was kept constantly cruising.
The Arabs began to bring us sheep and young onions for sale. The men of the tent I was in, bought a sheep for a Spanish dollar, from an Arab, whose only covering was a plaid thrown round his naked body, resembling those worn by Highland shepherds. But our greatest difficulty was to find wood to cook it with. The bark of the date tree was the only part of it that would burn: its withered leaves, with the roots of a creeping kind of brier, which we pulled out of the sandy soil, and with difficulty got to burn, were the only fuel we could find. For a few days we had far to travel for water; but every regiment dug wells in the flat ground, on the left of the position, where a sufficient supply, although somewhat brackish, was obtained.
My mind continued pretty easy for three or four days; but I found that I was not fulfilling the task that I had undertaken; that I was failing in the performance of duty, and was not keeping God and eternity in view, in the manner I had resolved to do. This began to make me again uneasy; and, as my hopes rested on my own performances, when I found that these performances were not what I had promised and resolved they should be, these hopes were shaken. I had not, indeed, been guilty of any open and notorious sins; but I had not done that which I had resolved to do, and on the doing of which I had hoped for the forgiveness of past sins, the favour of God, and eternal life; and this threw me back where I was before.
The regiment received orders on the 20d, to march early next morning to Aboukir, to do the hospital duty, because we were too weak to do the duty of a regiment in the line. We were accordingly under arms and marched off an hour before daylight, and left our tents standing for a regiment that was to come from the second line to occupy our place. But we had not proceeded above a mile and a half, when we heard a discharge of several muskets on the left; which caused us to halt and look to the place where the firing had been. In a few seconds we saw a number more muskets fired, (for the darkness made the flash of even the pan of every musket distinctly visible,) and after that a field-piece, and then a general discharge of about 300 muskets; when it ceased. We knew that there was a guard of about 300 men, and a field-piece, with a working party of as many more, on the spot; and as the firing had ceased, we thought it might be a false attack to disturb the working party and alarm the army.—After standing a little, and all continuing quiet, we began with hesitation to proceed on our journey: but we had not moved many steps, when we heard the discharge of a musket on the right of the army: this produced a voluntary halt; and in a few seconds we heard the discharge of two or three more. We were then ordered to return, and had not proceeded far, before a number more discharges were heard in the same direction. This quickened our march, and we made all expedition towards the tent of the commander-in-chief, which was in the rear of the right of the army. Before we got there the firing on the right was beginning to be pretty thick. We were now ordered to resume the position we had left. It was yet dark; but the firing of musketry began to be heavy, and the artillery commenced playing, with the help of lighted lanterns to let them see to load. By the time we got to our position, the action was close and warm on the right, and the firing of musketry and artillery very heavy, which the darkness of the morning made peculiarly awful. There was now no doubt of a powerful and determined attack from the enemy. When we arrived at our position in the line, the day had begun faintly to dawn. The regiment which was to have taken our place, had not done it; a column of the enemy having ascended the brow of the hill in our front, were making towards the opening in the line where we should have been. The regiment on the right was extending its left, and the one on the left its right, and had filled up the one half of the space when we arrived. On our arrival a part of us filled up the opening, and began to fire on the enemy's column, which then retreated under the brow of the hill, out of our sight and below the range of shot. They left, however, a number of sharp-shooters on the edge of the hill, who kept up a straggling fire upon our line. The regiments on the right and left now closed their files, and we got all into line, and in good order; when the enemy's column, having adjusted itself under the brow of the hill, showed itself anew, and came forward to the attack. We again opened our fire upon them, which they returned; but after the second or third round, they again retreated as before, leaving a still greater number of sharp-shooters, who ranged themselves along the edge of the descent of the hill, which in part concealed them from us, but allowed them to have a fair view of our line, upon which they kept up a destructive fire. We returned a straggling fire upon them from the line, having no sharp-shooters in front to engage them.