‘“If I had thought such a measure, as that of giving opium, necessary, I would have called a council of war, have stated the necessity of it, and have published it in the order of the day.” He afterwards goes on to say that if he had done so, some of his soldiers would have been sure to have shot him.’ I have gone thus at length into these occurrences at Jaffa, to show how widely spread was the belief in them, and also to prove that these scandals were not of British origin. Whatever amount of truth there may be in them, readers must judge, as I have laid both sides fairly before them. That there was foundation for them, there can be no doubt--but we know that a tale does not lose in telling. The return to Cairo, and the battle of Aboukir, are soon dismissed by the satirist, and not chronicled by the caricaturist. CHAPTER XVII. THE OLD RÉGIME AND THE REPUBLICANS--THE ‘INCROYABLES’--NAPOLEON LEAVES EGYPT--HIS REASONS FOR SO DOING--FEELING OF THE ARMY--ACCUSED OF TAKING WITH HIM THE MILITARY CHEST. It is refreshing, and like going among green pastures and cool streams, to leave for a while political caricature, with its ambitions, and its carnage, and find a really funny social skit, aiming at the follies of the times, even if it be only in ridiculing extravagance in dress. Exceedingly droll is a social caricature by Gillray (August 15, 1799), where a courtly old gentleman of the Court of Louis XVI. bows low, saying, ‘Je suis votre tres humble serviteur,’ whilst the ruffianly French ‘gentleman of the Court of Égalité’ replies with a sentence unfit for reproduction. (See next page.) Littré, in his magnificent dictionary, gives a very terse definition of these ‘Incroyables’: ‘S. _m._ Nom donné aux petit maîtres sous le Directoire, parce q’uon les entendait s’ecrier propos, c’est vraiment incroyable; et, parce que leur costume était tellement exagéré qu’il dépassait la croyance commune.’ They were Napoleon’s detestation, according to Madame Junot, and she describes them with feminine minuteness. ‘They wore grey greatcoats with black collars and green cravats. Their hair, instead of being _à la Titus_, which was the prevailing fashion of the day, was powdered, plaited, and turned up with a comb, while on each side of the face hung two long curls, called dog’s ears (_oreilles de chien_). As these young men were very frequently attacked, they carried about with them large sticks, which were not always weapons of defence; for the frays which arose in Paris at that time were often provoked by them.’ Pardon must be begged for this digression, and the matter in hand strictly attended to. [Illustration: A FRENCH GENTLEMAN OF THE COURT OF LOUIS XVI. A FRENCH GENTLEMAN OF THE COURT OF ÉGALITÉ.]