CHAPTER V. 1798-1800. 66 "I DETEST this voyage to Naples," wrote Nelson to Earl St. Vincent, two days before reaching the bay; "nothing but absolute necessity could force me to the measure. On the day Hoste left me, I was taken with a fever, which has very nearly done my business: for eighteen hours my life was thought to be past hope. I am now up, but very weak both in body and mind, from my cough and this fever. I never expect, my dear lord, to see your face again it may please God that this will be the finish to that fever of anxiety which I have endured from the middle of June: but be that as it pleases His goodnessI am resigned to his will." In this depressed, yet proper frame of mind, Nelson now entered upon an entire new act in the drama of his life. Esteemed as he had been by all to whom he was known, but that chiefly among his brother officers and immediate friends, he had never had to perform the part of a great man on shore till now. "On the 22nd," he wrote, the wreck of the Vanguard arrived in the Bay of Naples. His Sicilian majesty came out three leagues to meet me, and directly came on board. His majesty took me by the hand, and said such things of our royal master, our country, and myself, that no words I could use would in any degree convey what so apparently came from the royal heart. From his majesty, his ministers, and every class, I am honoured by the application of Nostro Liberatore.' This interesting letter, evidencing the pure sentiments of Nelson's heart in the midst of a vortex of flattery, proceeds: "You will not, my lord, I trust, think that one spark of vanity induces me to mention the most distinguished reception that ever, I believe, fell to the lot of a human being; but that it is a measure of justice due to his Sicilian majesty and the nation. If God knows my heart, it is amongst the most humble of the creation, full of thankfulness and gratitude!" Previously to his arrival, he also wrote to Lady Nelson: "The kingdom of the Two Sicilies is mad with joy; from the throne to the peasant, all are alike. According to Lady Hamilton's letter, the situation of the queen was truly pitiable. I only hope I shall not have to be witness to a renewal of it. I give you Lady Hamilton's own words: How shall I describe the transports of the queen! "'Tis not possible," she cried, kissed her husband, her children, walked franticly about the room, cried, kissed and embraced every person near her; exclaiming, "O, brave Nelson! O, God bless and protect our brave, brave deliverer. O, Nelson, Nelson; what do we not owe you, O victor; saviour of Italy! O, that my swollen heart could now tell him, personally, what we owe to him." You may judge, Fanny, of the rest; but my head will not allow me to tell you half: so much for that. My fag, without success, would have had no effect; but blessed be God for his goodness to me."* 66 Public demonstrations of joy were loud, but apparently sincere. The liberty of Italy had, without doubt, for the time been preserved from the French yoke. Not less flattering were the private marks of attention paid to him. In his letter to Lord St. Vincent, Nelson did not mention the fact that Lady Hamilton accompanied his Sicilian majesty; but in a letter to his wife, he wrote: "Sir William and Lady Hamilton came out to sea, attended by numerous boats and emblems, &c. They, my most respectable friends, had really been laid up, and seriously ill; first from anxiety, and then from joy. It [the news of the late action] was imprudently told Lady Hamilton in a moment, and the effect was like a shot; she fell apparently dead, and is not yet recovered from severe bruises. Alongside came my honoured friends; the scene in the boat was terribly affecting; up flew her *The following verse, by Mr. Davenport, was added to the National Anthem : "Join we in great Nelson's name, First on the rolls of Fame, Spread we his fame around Honour of British ground- Who made Nile's shores resound: God save the King!" I ladyship, and, exclaiming, 'O, God! is it possible!' she fell into my arm more dead than alive. Tears, however, soon set the matter to rights, when alongside came the king. I hope, some day, to have the pleasure of introducing you to Lady Hamilton; she is one of the very best women in the world: she is an honour to her sex. Her kindness, with Sir William's, to me, is more than I can express; I am in their house. Lady Hamilton intends writing to you." Few readers will, unhappily, be so thoroughly unacquainted with the world as to place implicit confidence, as Nelson appears to have done, in the sincerity of this demonstration on the part of Lady Hamilton. She was an accomplished actress, and in this, as in almost all other passages of her life, expressed very much more than she felt. The naïve description of her conduct given by Lord Nelson, however, clearly shows that he had not penetration enough to discover the secret spring of her actions, or to attribute this conduct to the right motive-that of building her own fortunes at the Neapolitan court upon Nelson's acts and fame. We give this letter at some length, because it has been conjectured by several biographers of Nelson, that this period was the commencement of an illicit attachment. It is impossible, however, for any one having a knowledge of human nature to suppose that Nelson could have written in such terms to a wife, to whom he had invariably evinced strong attachment, of a mistress. Sir William Hamilton's house was to him a comfortable home. Sir William wrote to him, "Come here as soon as the service will permit you. A pleasant apartment is ready for you in my house, and Emma is looking out for the softest pillows to repose the few wearied limbs you have left." This language could not have been dictated by any but the purest friendship. Nelson, therefore, would have proved himself at once weak and wicked had he refrained from availing himself of the advantages offered him of recruiting his wasted energies. Yet the event proved the chief cause of that domestic infelicity which will hereafter be briefly noticed. Lady Hamilton was at this time a most fascinating woman, and doubtless made a serious inroad upon Nelson's amicable affections; but we cannot admit that there was at this time anything criminal in the passion. Lady Hamilton, in fulfilment of her promise, wrote to Lady Nelson on the 2nd of December; but before the letter reached, some injurious reports appear to have forestalled upon its contents. Lord Nelson's most intimate friend, Mr. Davison, writing to him on the 7th of December, said, "I cannot help again repeating my sincere regret at your continuation in the Mediterranean; at the same time I would be grieved that you should quit a station, if it in the smallest degree affected your own feelings. You certainly are, and must be, the best and only judge: yet you must allow your best friends to express their sensations. Your valuable and better half writes to you. She is in good health, but very uneasy and anxious, Lady Nelson this moment calls, and is with my wife. She bids me say that unless you return home in a few months, she will join the standard at Naples. Excuse a woman's tender feelings-they are too acute to be expressed." Nelson, however, must have been either a most unprincipled (a supposition not consistent with his character) or an injured man. Writing to Lady Nelson, between the 1st and 6th of October, probably at the very moment when these suspicions were entertained, he says, "The Grand Seignor has ordered me a valuable diamond; if it were worth a million, my pleasure would be to see it in your possession. My pride is in being your husband-the son of my dear father, and in having Sir William and Lady Hamilton for my friends." This was assuredly not the language of a licentious man, to which Lady Nelson's observations pointed, and was the contrary of that which, in all probability, would have been employed had he been guilty of infidelity. But to return from this digression, Nelson found himself involved in a perfect labyrinth of gaiety. All the arts which could be brought to bear to enliven and delight the great hero, the liberator of Italy, were employed. His birthday, which happened a week after his arrival, was celebrated in a most splendid fête. But the mummeries and gaieties fell coldly upon his heart-he could see through the flaunting garb of folly and weakness. What precious moments the courts of Naples and Vienna are losing!" he exclaimed. "Three months would liberate Italy; but the court is so enervated, that the moment will be lost. I am very unwell, and their miserable conduct is not likely to cool my irritable temper. It is a country I 2 66 of fools and fiddlers, scoundrels, &c." If ever for a moment he was blinded by the displays of this court, or seduced by its blandishments, the illusion was but transitory. He saw through all a mass of treachery and iniquity, and the real miseries under which the country was groaning. A system of barefaced corruption and infamous favouritism prevailed throughout the court. Ferdinand and his queen mingled with thoughtless licentiousness the most perfect unconcern for the people; and provided the revenue of the kingdoms which was to administer to their gratification was raised, they heeded little what means were employed in its collection. A few of the enlightened of the Neapolitans-those who had cultivated literature, the arts and sciences-gave a tone to the aspirations of the gross republican party, and looked to France, not as their enslaver, but with hopes of being set free by their instrumentality from the government under whose galling yoke they were now suffering. It is too much the custom of people to suppose that any other weight is less tolerable than that they are apparently sinking under; and hence the fact that a change is not always for the better. The French Jacobin party was perhaps at once the most tyrannical and intolerable. Their barbarity was only equalled by their duplicity, and into the hands of this party the liberals of Naples, as well as some of the enlightened, were desirous of falling. Nelson, who abhorred all manner of treachery, was enabled to discern the imbecility of the court, and to what their weakness was leading. The defeat of Bonaparte's fleet had shut him up with his army in an arid desert, and the various European powers, enboldened by the successes of the British arms, rallied their forces, and determined to re-assert their independence. Russia, Austria, and now Naples mustered their troops. Naples, after great persuasion, in which Lady Hamilton's influence with the queen had much weight, consented to join the coalition with a force of 80,000 men. Nelson did not hesitate to impress upon the king that he had no alternative between being kicked out of his kingdom or being prepared to die sword in hand. At the urgent desire of the court, Nelson consented to remain at Naples instead of going to Alexandria to destroy the transports. The royal family desired the squadron as a |