Bring your gaze back to nearer points, and on the right you see the graceful rounded outline of the sheltered Bay, associated with the names of Rodney, and Howe, and Nelson, and Collingwood, whose “tall ships” have so often rested upon its waters. Gibraltar stands on the one side, its harbour thronged with masts; on the other, the small town of Algesiras lies on the slope of the hills, and bathes its feet in the warm, bright waves. In the curve shelters the village of San Roque, the first the traveller meets with on entering Spain; nearer still, and in the rear, we see the thin sandy isthmus which links Gibraltar to the mainland. The division between English and Spanish territory is marked by a [Illustration: EUROPA POINT. _Page 37._ ] row of towers, and we can distinguish close at hand the tents of a small camp always occupied by a few regiments. Finally, the background of the picture, beyond San Roque, is filled in with the green mountains of Ronda; and towering above and behind these, the rose-tinted peaks of the Sierra Benneja, and the snowy summits of the Alpuxarras. It is difficult to conceive a grander spectacle. * * * * * We have thus endeavoured to furnish the reader with a general view of the Rock, and town, and fortifications of Gibraltar at the time that General Elliot assumed the governorship. In 1777 the position of Great Britain was one of apparent peril, and her enemies were not without grounds for their belief that her power had received a mortal blow. Her North American colonies had seceded, and all her attempts to reduce them to obedience had failed, while her military prestige had been obscured by the surrender of Burgoyne’s army at Saratoga. France had espoused the cause of the American States, whose ambassador had been received at Versailles with special distinction. The circumstances of the time seemed favourable to Spain to attempt a recovery of her coveted fortress; and in June she issued a declaration of war. But instead of being cowed by this demonstration on the part of another enemy, the public spirit of England was roused to a fever of patriotism. The fleets of Spain and France rode in the Channel with as mighty a display as when Drake and his compeers launched their frigates against the Invincible Armada. To their sixty-six sail of the line, the British admiral, Sir Charles Hardy, could oppose only thirty-eight; but with them he succeeded in preventing the enemy from landing an invading army. The chief attack of Spain, however, was directed against Gibraltar, and she cared little to expend her resources in any other direction. * * * * *