The monotony was once relieved by a quaint incident.  In the course of a correspondence with Bonaparte, Sir Sidney Smith is said to have shown his annoyance by sending him a challenge to a duel.  It met with the very proper reply that he would fight, if the English would send out a Marlborough.

During these desperate conflicts Bonaparte detached a considerable number of troops inland to beat off a large Turkish and Mameluke force destined for the relief of Acre and the invasion of Egypt.  The first encounter was near Nazareth, where Junot displayed the dash and resource which had brought him fame in Italy; but the decisive battle was fought in the Plain of Esdraelon, not far from the base of Mount Tabor.  There Kleber’s division of 2,000 men was for some hours hard pressed by a motley array of horse and foot drawn from diverse parts of the Sultan’s dominions.  The heroism of the burly Alsacian and the toughness of his men barely kept off the fierce rushes of the Moslem horse and foot.  At last Bonaparte’s cannon were heard.  The chief, marching swiftly on with his troops drawn up in three squares, speedily brushed aside the enveloping clouds of orientals; finally, by well-combined efforts the French hurled back the enemy on passes, some of which had been seized by the commander’s prescience.  At the close of this memorable day (April 15th) an army of nearly 30,000 men was completely routed and dispersed by the valour and skilful dispositions of two divisions which together amounted to less than a seventh of that number.  No battle of modern times more closely resembles the exploits of Alexander than this masterly concentration of force; and possibly some memory of this may have prompted the words of Kleber—­“General, how great you are!”—­as he met and embraced his commander on the field of battle.  Bonaparte and his staff spent the night at the Convent of Nazareth; and when his officers burst out laughing at the story told by the Prior of the breaking of a pillar by the angel Gabriel at the time of the Annunciation, their untimely levity was promptly checked by the frown of the commander.

The triumph seemed to decide the Christians of the Lebanon to ally themselves with Bonaparte, and they secretly covenanted to furnish 12,000 troops at his cost; but this question ultimately depended on the siege of Acre.  On rejoining their comrades before Acre, the victors found that the siege had made little progress:  for a time the besiegers relied on mining operations, but with little success; though Phelippeaux succumbed to a sunstroke (May 1st), his place was filled by Colonel Douglas, who foiled the efforts of the French engineers and enabled the place to hold out till the advent of the long-expected Turkish succours.  On May 7th their sails were visible far out on an almost windless sea.  At once Bonaparte made desperate efforts to carry the “mud-hole” by storm.  Led with reckless gallantry by the heroic Lannes, his troops gained part of the wall and planted