Nelson's first Acquaintance with Mrs. Nisbet.

tributed to our naval superiority. By this act it was among other things ordained that, after the first day of August, 1786, no vessel should be accounted British, unless she were built in the British dominions, or taken as a prize. Every vessel was ordered to have her name, with that of the port to which she belonged, conspicuously painted on her stern; and a register to be taken out, wherein, among other things, should be mentioned the names of the owners, who were all to reside in the British dominions, unless some of them were members of British factories abroad. No ship built in the United States of America, during the existence of any prohibitory acts, was entitled to be registered, unless an especial order to the contrary was issued by the privy council, in consequence of services rendered to the public by its owners. The whole of this act, (entitled an Act for the further Increase and Encouragement of Shipping and Navigation) originating in the zeal and judgment of Captain Nelson, in this early period of his career, claims the particular attention of every officer in the British Navy.

It was during this harassing business that Nelson became acquainted with Mrs. Nisbet, the accomplished widow of Dr. Nisbet, physician to the island of Nevis, who died before she had completed her eighteenth year, leaving her one child, a boy, named Josiah, at this time nine years old. She was the niece of Nelson's friend, Mr. Herbert, the president of Nevis, and was absent at St. Kitts when he paid his first visit to her uncle, in 1784. On this occasion a female friend gave her the following account of him :"We have at last seen the little captain of the Boreas, of whom so much has been said. He came up just before dinner, much heated, and was very silent, yet seemed, according to the old adage, to think the

more.

He declined drinking any wine; but, after

Nelson's first Acquaintance with Mrs. Nisbet.

dinner, when the president gave, as usual, the three toasts, 'the King,' 'the Queen, and Royal Family,' and 'Lord Hood,' this strange man regularly filled his glass, and observed that those were always bumper toasts with him: which having drunk, he uniformly passed the bottle and relapsed into his former taciturnity. It was impossible during this visit for any of us to make out his real character; there was such a reserve and sternness in his behaviour, with occasional sallies, though very transient, of a superior mind. Being placed by him, I endeavoured to rouse his attention by showing him all the civilities in my power; but I drew out little more than yes and no. If you, Fanny, had been there, we think you would have made something of him; for you have been in the habit of attending to these odd sort of people."

66

It was probably about the same time that one day, when Nelson had called on Mr. Herbert, that gentleman immediately after his departure exclaimed: Good God! if I did not find that great little man, of whom every body is so much afraid, playing in the next room, under the dining-table, with Mrs. Nisbet's child." Every body knows that the readiest way to gain the good-will of a mother is to show a fondness for her child: and so it proved in the present instance; for a few days afterwards, when Mrs. Nisbet was introduced to the captain, and thanked him for his attentions to her little boy, her engaging manners made such an impression on the susceptible heart of Nelson, as gradually to produce a strong and disinterested attachment. And how admirably are his feelings expressed in his letters to the lady! In one of them he says:—' "I have received a letter from Mr. Herbert, in answer to that which I left at Nevis for him. My greatest wish is to be united to you; and the foundation of all conjugal happiness, real love and esteem, is I trust what

Correspondence with Mrs. Nisbet.

you believe I possess in the strongest degree towards you. I think Mr. Herbert loves you too well not to let you marry the man of your choice, although he may not be so rich as some others, provided his character and situation in life render such a union eligible. I declare solemnly that, did I not conceive I had the full possession of your heart, no consideration should make me accept your hand. We know that riches do not always insure happiness; and the world is convinced that I am superior to pecuniary considerations in my public and private life, as, in both instances, I might have been rich."

Separated from you," he writes on another occasion, "what pleasure can I feel?-none, be assured. Every day, hour, and act, convinces me of it. With my heart filled with the purest affection, do I write this; for, were it not so, you know me well enough to be certain that, even at this moment, I would tell you of it. I daily thank God, who ordained that I should be attached to you. He has, I firmly believe, intended it as a blessing to me, and I am well convinced you will not disappoint his beneficent intentions. Fortune, that is, money, is the only thing I regret the want of, and that only for the sake of my affectionate Fanny. But the Almighty, who brings us together, will, I doubt not, take ample care of us, and prosper all our undertakings. No dangers shall deter me from pursuing every honourable means of providing handsomely for you and your's; and again let me repeat, that my dear Josiah shall ever be considered by me as one of my own. That omnipotent Being, who sees and knows what passes in all hearts, knows what I have written to be my undisguised sentiments towards the little fellow."

Again he writes: "Had I not seized any Americans I should now have been with you: but I should have neglected my duty, which I think your regard

Correspondence with Mrs. Nisbet.

for me is too great for you to have wished me to have done. Duty is the great business of a seaofficer. All private considerations must give way to it, however painful it may be. I trust that time will not have lessened me in the opinion of her whom it shall be the business of my future life to make happy.'

The following extract of a letter from Antigua is too characteristic to be omitted :-" To write letters to you is the next greatest pleasure I feel to receiving them from you. What I experience when I read such as I am sure are the pure sentiments of your heart, my poor pen cannot express; nor, indeed, would I give much for any pen or head that could describe feelings of that kind: they are worth but little when that can happen. My heart yearns to

you; it is with you; my mind dwells on nought else but you. Absent from you, I feel no pleasure; it is you, dearest Fanny, who are every thing to me. Without you I care not for this world: for I have found lately nothing in it but vexation and trouble. These, you are well convinced, are my present sentiments. God Almighty grant they may never change! Nor do I think they will: indeed, there is, as far as human knowledge can judge, a moral certainty they cannot; for it must be real affection that brings us together, not interest or compulsion, which makes so many unhappy. As you begin to know something about sailors, have you not often heard that salt water and absence always wash away love? Now, I am such a heretic as not to believe that faith; for behold, every morning, since my arrival, I have had six buckets of salt water at daylight poured upon my head, and, instead of finding what the seamen say to be true, I perceive the contrary effect; and if it goes on so contrary to the prescription, you must see me before my fixed time. At first I bore absence toler

Nelson becomes Senior Officer on the Leeward Island Station.

ably, but now it is almost insupportable; and, by and by, I expect it will be quite so. But patience is a virtue, and I must exercise it on this occasion, whatever it costs my feelings. I am alone in the commanding officer's house while my ship is fitting, and from sunset until bedtime I have not a human creature to speak to: you will feel a little for me, I think. I did not use to be over fond of sitting alone. The moment old Boreas is habitable in my cabin, I shall fly to it to avoid musquitoes and melancholies."

About a month before this last letter was written, in July, 1786, Nelson had become the senior officer on the Leeward Island station, in consequence of the recall of Sir Richard Hughes. In a letter to Captain Locker, dated September 27, he says: -"I have been since June so very ill, until lately, that I have only a faint recollection of any thing which I did. My complaint was in my breast, such a one as I had going out to Jamaica. The doctors thought I was in a consumption, and gave me quite up; but that Great Being, who has so often raised me from the sick bed, has once more restored me, and to that health which I very seldom enjoy."

In November he was joined at Antigua by his old friend Prince William Henry, captain of the Pegasus. Their friendship had been kept up by an occasional correspondence; and, during the time that the Prince remained under Nelson's command, from November, 1786, till the spring of the following year, when he went to Jamaica, his Royal Highness and Captain Nelson dined with each other alternately. His Majesty has been heard to declare that it was this period which first formed his character as a naval officer; and it was employed in a manner highly gratifying to his feelings. "It was then," he added, "that I particularly observed the greatness of Nelson's superior mind. The manner in which