Constantinople, inscribed “To Buonaparte, conqueror of the World, and extirpator of the ENGLISH NATION.”’ This brings the year 1798 to a close of the prosperity, or otherwise, of which we may judge by the price of the quartern loaf, which averaged 8½_d._ for the year, and by the three per cent. Consols., which were 49-5/8 in January, and 52-5/8 in December; but in this, as in other stocks, there was much fluctuation: for instance, in September Consols. were 49-7/8; then came the news of the victory of the Nile, and up they went to 56½, only, however, to fall to 50½. But they rose again in November to 57-5/8, fell again to 52-1/8, and rose in December to 56. CHAPTER XIII. REPORTED ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE NAPOLEON--HIS AMOUR WITH MADAME FOURÉS--THE EGYPTIAN CAMPAIGN--THE ‘SAVANTS’--CARICATURES ON THEM. The new year opens with a somewhat curious print by I. Cruikshank, January 1, 1799, of the ‘Ghost of Buonaparte appearing to the Directory.’ The latter are in fearful dismay at the apparition, which, attired in the airiest of costume, shakes his notched sword at them, saying, ‘Regicides, Parricides, Matricides, and Patricides, this is the effect of your insatiable thirst for Conquest; this is your reward for my glorious Achievements in Italy, Germany, &c.--to die by the hand of an Assassin, a d--d Mussulman: and all my Brave Legions Destroyed by Water melons and the Arabs. Go, Murderers in cold blood, may your conscious guilt ever prey upon your vitals, and may the name of _Nelson_ ever haunt you, sleeping and waking’! What is meant by his dying ‘by the hand of an Assassin,’ I do not know; but probably some rumour was afloat to that effect, as Barre observes: ‘Whilst Buonaparte and his army were thus cut off from Europe, the most absurd reports were spread (no doubt by the partisans of the artful Corsican) representing him as a victim of the Directory, who had thought proper to remove so great, famous, and fortunate a general. ‘They pretended that the Directory, unable to repay the signal services of Buonaparte, and, fearing, at the same time, his popularity, had contrived, with Talleyrand, to flatter the ambitious vanity of that young conqueror with an expedition, which would raise his fame above the glory acquired by Alexander, or Cæsar. They added, that, as Buonaparte was sure of being director at the next election, the Directory had resolved to put him out of the way, by sacrificing him and his army; having even directed that the fleet should be exposed to certain destruction, in order that no possibility could exist of his return.’ The ‘Times’ of January 2, 1799, has the subjoined:-- The following Epigram has been handed about in Paris. The French points are all that can be remembered by the Gentleman who has put it in an English dress.