called forth in every part of Britain—­the devotion with which all classes of the people answered the appeal of the government—­the immense extent to which the regular and volunteer forces were increased everywhere—­these circumstances produced a strong impression on his not less calculating than enterprising mind.  He had himself, in the course of the preceding autumn, suggested to the minister for foreign affairs, the celebrated Talleyrand, the propriety of making an effort against England in another quarter of the world:—­of seizing Malta, proceeding to occupy Egypt, and therein gaining at once a territory capable of supplying to France the loss of her West Indian colonies, and the means of annoying Great Britain in her Indian trade and empire.  To this scheme he now recurred:  the East presented a field of conquest and glory on which his imagination delighted to brood:  “Europe,” said he, “is but a molehill, all the great glories have come from Asia.”  The injustice of attacking the dominions of the Grand Seignior, an old ally of France, formed but a trivial obstacle in the eyes of the Directory:  the professional opinion of Buonaparte that the invasion of England, if attempted then, must fail, could not but carry its due weight:  the temptation of plundering Egypt and India was great; and great, perhaps above all the rest, was the temptation of finding employment for Napoleon at a distance from France.  The Egyptian expedition was determined on:  but kept strictly secret.  The attention of England was still riveted on the coasts of Normandy and Picardy, between which and Paris Buonaparte studiously divided his presence—­while it was on the borders of the Mediterranean that the ships and the troops really destined for action were assembling.

Buonaparte, having rifled to such purpose the cabinets and galleries of the Italian princes, was resolved not to lose the opportunity of appropriating some of the rich antiquarian treasures of Egypt; nor was it likely that he should undervalue the opportunities which his expedition might afford, of extending the boundaries of science, by careful observation of natural phenomena.  He drew together therefore a body of eminent artists and connoisseurs, under the direction of Monge, who had managed his Italian collections:  it was perhaps the first time that a troop of Savans (there were 100 of them) formed part of the staff of an invading army.[23]

The various squadrons of the French fleet were now assembled at Toulon; and everything seemed to be in readiness.  Yet some time elapsed before Napoleon joined the armament:  and it is said by Miot that he did all he could to defer joining it as long as possible, in consequence of certain obscure hopes which he had entertained of striking a blow at the existing government, and remodelling it, to his own advantage, with the assent, if not assistance, of Austria.  This author adds that Barras, having intercepted a letter of Buonaparte to Cobentzel, went