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LIFE OF COLONEL MACERONI.

only reached the object, but struck on the rocks on shore;whereas the shot from the latter did not reach the English by several hundred yards. Had the frigates approached theshore as nearly as their gunboats did, great injury musthave been suffered by the Neapolitans; but for the informa-tion of the gentlemen who commanded those frigates andsloops of war , I state, that they kept at such A PR UDENTdistance as neither to offend or he offended. Had I been theirchief they should have stood a court-martial. The gun-boats on both sides behaved admirably. They are ticklishthings to be on board of on such occasions. One twenty-four pound shot passing just over you will sweep off halfyour crew—one only striking your bows as you rise to theswell, sink you at once ; but it is astonishing how many shotthese gunboats will fire at each other without one takingeffect. The slightest agitation of the sea will make the shotthat are even in a perfect line either fly above, or, strikingthe water too soon, ricocher high over the boat. Several ofthe Neapolitan boats fired their twenty-four pounder gunregularly four times a minute. I have seen them fire eightrounds a minute when saluting, without shot. The practiceof the English gunboats w r as also excellent; all their shotseemed to miss by only an inch ; but the SHIPS kept too faroff. Such was the beauty and animation of the spectacle,that when the hostile squadron drew off, and the eveningclosed in, it seemed as only the closing of a splendid scenicexhibition, and people went home as from an opera orconcert.

At this juncture, 1809, the King and Queen of Napleswere summoned to Paris , to assist at the great familycouncil assembled to discuss the project of Napoleon ’sdivorce from the Empress Josephine , and his marriagewith a Princess of some royal house-—a project said to benecessary to the welfare of France and to the peaceful