A great part of the grape-shot and cannon balls, that were fired by the French, were made of a composition of brass. They had taken the copper-sheeting and bells of a number of the ships in the harbour, and the unserviceable brass guns in their possession, and had melted them into balls, to prevent their ammunition from being exhausted; because the blockade of Egypt by our ships of war, prevented them from receiving regular supplies from France. But the grape-shot of this description that lodged in the bodies of the wounded, had the tendency of making the wounds foul. I continued to ponder over what had taken place; and my mind became increasingly uneasy. Conviction of sin, and a sense of ingratitude to God for his mercies, drove me almost to despair. I had my Bible with me, but made no use of it: our duty and fatigues left almost no leisure to do so, even had I been so inclined; and the dangerous nature of our present situation agitated the mind, and prevented the composure needful for the investigation of truth. One who previously knew the spiritual import of the Scriptures, might have made some profitable use of a Bible; but our circumstances were quite unfavourable for one like me. I was left to ruminate upon what occurred to my memory. I recollected what Manoah's wife said to her husband, when he was afraid that he should die because he had seen God. "If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meat-offering at our hands;" (Judges xiii. 23.) and was led to conclude, that I ought not to give myself over to despair, seeing God had yet spared my life. I had also a general recollection of the following passage of Young's Night Thoughts: ---- Time destroyed Is Suicide, where more than blood is spilt. Time flies, death urges, knells call, heav'n invites, Hell threatens; all exerts: in effort, all; More than creation labours!--Labours more? And is there in creation, what, amidst This tumult universal, wing'd despatch, And ardent energy, supinely yawns?-- _Man_ sleeps; and _Man_ alone; and _Man_ whose fate, Fate irreversible, entire, extreme, Endless, hair-hung, breeze-shaken, o'er the gulf A moment trembles; drops! and _Man_ for whom All else is in alarm! _Man_, the sole cause Of this surrounding storm! and yet he sleeps, As the storm rock'd to rest,--Throw _Years_ away? Throw _Empires_, and be blameless. Moments seize,-- Heaven's on their wing: a moment we may wish When worlds want wealth to buy. Bid _Day_ stand still, Bid him drive back his car, and re-import The period past; regive the given hour: Lorenzo, _more_ than miracles we want: Lorenzo--O for yesterdays to come!