He was answered in the usual official form: "Sir, I have received your letter of the 5th instant, expressing your readiness to serve, and have read the same to my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty." On the 12th of December he received this dry acknowledgment. The fresh mortification did not, however, affect him long: for, by the joint interest of the Duke and Lord Hood, he was appointed, on the 30th of January following, to the Agamemnon, of sixty-four guns.

1

1. Agamemnon. With his usual enthusiasm for his ships and men, Nelson wrote of her "as the finest 64 in the service manned exceedingly well." The "Old Eggs and Bacon," as her sailors called her, was wrecked in 1809; her successor of the same name is a predreadnought of 16,500 tons.

CHAPTER III

The Agamemnon sent to the Mediterranean-Commencement of Nelson's acquaintance with Sir W. Hamilton-He is sent to Corsica, to co-operate with Paoli-State of affairs in that islandNelson undertakes the siege of Bastia, and reduces it-Takes a distinguished part in the siege of Calvi, where he loses an eyeAdmiral Hotham's action-The Agamemnon ordered to Genoa to co-operate with the Austrian and Sardinian forces-Gross misconduct of the Austrian General.

" said

"THERE are three things, young gentleman, Nelson to one of his midshipmen, "which you are constantly to bear in mind. First, you must always implicitly obey orders, without attempting to form any opinion of your own respecting their propriety. Secondly, you must consider every man your enemy who speaks ill of your king; and, thirdly, you must hate a Frenchman as you do the devil." With these feelings he engaged in the war. Josiah,1 his step-son, went with him as a midshipman.

The Agamemnon was ordered to the Mediterranean, under Lord Hood. The fleet arrived in those seas at a time when the south of France would willingly have formed itself into a separate republic, under the protection of England. But good principles had been at that time perilously abused by ignorant and profligate men; and, in its fear and hatred of democracy, the English

1. Josiah. Josiah Nisbet, the son of Mrs. Nelson by her first marriage (See p. 68). He was later a lieutenant in the Theseus, and captain in the Dolphin and Thalia. According to Professor Laughton (Life of Nelson, p. 153), "He seems to have been of intemperate habits and boorish demeanor. When drunk, he was violent and

insulting."

81

government abhorred whatever was republican. Lord Hood could not take advantage of the fair occasion which presented itself; and which, if it had been seized with vigor, might have ended in dividing France:-but he negotiated with the people of Toulon,1 to take possession provisionally of their port and city; which, fatally for themselves, was done. Before the British fleet entered, Nelson was sent with despatches to Sir William Hamilton,2 our Envoy at the court of Naples. Sir William, after his first interview with him, told Lady Hamilton that he was about to introduce a little man to her, who could not boast of being very handsome; but such a man as, he believed, would one day astonish the world. "I have never before," he continued, "entertained an officer at my house; but I am determined to

1. Toulon. The city was recaptured largely through the skill of Napoleon, who commanded the republican artillery, organized the siege, and by training his guns on the British and Spanish fleets forced them to leave the harbor.

2. Sir William Hamilton (1730-1803). Envoy at Naples, 1764-1800. He was a man of amiable character, and of some attainments in diplomacy and science, but in later years enfeebled by age and continued ill health. His relations with Nelson are covered sufficiently in later pages of the present book.

Lady Hamilton's maiden name

3. Lady Hamilton (c. 1765-1815). was Emma or Amy Lyon, and she was the daughter of a Cheshire blacksmith. In the course of a disreputable career in London, she picked up some rudiments of education and breeding from the people with whom she came in contact, and her beauty and theatrical gifts made her a favorite model for the painter Romney, who depicted her in many attitudes and characters. Later, in Naples, as the mistress and afterward the wife of Sir William Hamilton, she won the confidence of Queen Maria Carolina and entered eagerly into the intrigues of the Neapolitan Court. Nelson on his return from the Nile fell under the influence of her personal charm, flattery, and halfsincere hero-worship-an influence which had an ill effect on his management of the fleet in Italian waters and led later to his separation from Lady Nelson. Save in these respects, and in its unfortunate effect on his social standing and professional recognition in England, Nelson's connection with Lady Hamilton may be considered as a matter apart from his public services and career.

bring him here. Let him be put in the room prepared for Prince Augustus." Thus that acquaintance began which ended in the destruction of Nelson's domestic happiness. It seemed to threaten no such consequences at its commencement. He spoke of Lady Hamilton, in a letter to his wife, as a young woman of amiable manners, who did honor to the station to which she had been raised and he remarked, that she had been exceedingly kind to Josiah. The activity with which the Envoy exerted himself in procuring troops from Naples to assist in garrisoning Toulon, so delighted him, that he is said to have exclaimed, "Sir William, you are a man after my own heart!-you do business in my own way:" and then to have added, "I am now only a captain; but I will, if I live, be at the top of the tree." Here, also, that acquaintance with the Neapolitan court2 commenced, which led to the only blot3 upon Nelson's public character. The King, who was sincere at that time in his enmity to the French, called the English the saviors of Italy, and of his dominions in particular. He paid the most flattering attention to Nelson, made him dine with him, and seated him at his right hand.

4

Having accomplished this mission, Nelson received. orders to join Commodore Linzee, at Tunis. On the

1. Prince Augustus. A son of George III of England.

2. Neapolitan Court. Italy at the time of the Napoleonic wars was a bundle of small states either independent or subject to Austria. The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (Sicily and Southern Italy) was ruled by a descendant of the Spanish Bourbons. Sardinia, which included the island itself and most of western Italy, was under the House of Savoy. In all these states there was a good deal of sympathy for the ideals of the French Revolution, and they regarded with mingled feelings the efforts of an Austrian army and a British fleet to save them from Napoleon.

3. The only blot. See pp. 216-221.

4. This mission. Nelson was sent to procure 10.000 troops to help hold Toulon. He received the promise of troops, but was forced to leave the port before they could be embarked.