Scarcely had our gallant Royals recruited their ranks, when the sound of war called them to win new glories on the field. In 1799 the second battalion, brigaded with the Ninety-second Gordon Highlanders, formed part of the British army, which, under that famous chieftain, Sir Ralph Abercromby, landed in the Netherlands, and strove to expel the French. The triumph of “Egmont-op-Zee” illustrated “the gallantry of these brave troops,” which “cannot have been surpassed by any former instance of British valour.” The Dutch, for whom these efforts had been made, unheeding to be _free_, were at length abandoned to their own infatuation, in which they soon experienced those bitter fruits which sprang from the military despotism of Napoleon to curse the land. On the withdrawal of the army, the second battalion was successfully employed in several descents upon the coast of Portugal. In brigade with their old comrades of the Ninety-second, and two battalions of the Fifty-fourth Foot, they were included in the British army which, landing at Aboukir, from one victory to another, vanquished the boasted “Invincibles” of Napoleon’s grand “Army of the East,” and were at length hailed as the deliverers of Egypt—having driven out the French. Whilst these desirable ends were being accomplished upon the African continent, the first battalion of the Royals, having embarked for the West Indies, was reaping a harvest of glory in the reduction of the enemy’s possessions in that quarter of the world. The most illustrious of these conquests was that of “St Lucia,” which, inscribed upon the colours of the regiment, remains to perpetuate the record of these brave deeds. CHAPTER XI. “His signal deeds and prowess high Demand no pompous eulogy,— Ye saw his deeds! Why should their praise in verse be sung? The name, that dwells on every tongue, No minstrel needs.” FRENCH REVOLUTION—CANADA—THE CRIMEA—INDIA—CHINA—1804–1862.