of the ardour with which he had served his king had been

shot away.

His reception in England tended further to soothe the annoyance which this event and its consequent sufferings had produced. His reception by the king at his investiture of the Bath was of the kindest and most flattering nature. "You have lost your right arm, Sir Horatio," observed the old king. "Yes, your majesty, but not my right hand," replied Nelson, presenting Captain Berry.

The king received the captain with pleasure, and closed the interview by assuring Nelson that his country had still a claim for a bit more of him. Besides the honorary rewards of the freedom of the cities of Bristol and London, a pension of 1,000l. a year was granted to him on his presenting a memorial of his services. That official record tells a strange tale. "I have been," it stated, "in four actions with the fleets of the enemy, and in three with their frigates, in six engagements against batteries, ten actions in boats in cutting out and destroying vessels, and at the taking of three towns; for four months I have served on shore with the army, commanded batteries at the sieges of Bastia and Calvi, assisted at the capture of seven sail of the line, six frigates, four corvettes, and eleven privateers, and taken or destroyed nearly fifty sail of merchant men, Upwards of 120 times I have been engaged with the enemy, have been severely bruised and wounded in my body, and lost my right eye and right arm." Such had been Nelson's services during his short career.

For three months Nelson's sufferings were of the most painful and ceaseless nature; a nerve had been taken up by the ligature, and the irritation caused by the silk thread added materially to the pain of the wound: in addition to this, it was necessary daily to attempt to pull off the silk, and thus to increase the sufferings of the admiral. At her husband's 's request Lady Nelson attended the dressing of his arm, until she gained sufficient knowledge to enable her to take the entire duty on herself. It was during this time of suffering that the news of the victory of Camperdown filled the streets of London with the populace as they gazed at the illumination by which the battle was celebrated. Nelson's lodgings in Bond-street alone presented a dark blank, and

brought on the owner a loud and rude demand from the mob to light up. The information that Nelson lay there sick and wounded quieted the people at once, and, with an assurance that they should hear no more of them, they went their way in haste, and left the house in all its darkness, without another attempt at disturbance. At length the ligature came away, the pain ceased, and the wound began to heal. Nelson lost not a moment in expressing his sense of God's mercy: a notice that an officer desired to return thanks to Almighty God for his perfect recovery from a severe wound, and also for the many mercies bestowed on him, was immediately sent to the clergymen of the parish in which his recovery had taken place.

The most singular effect of this operation on Nelson has but lately been communicated by Sir G. Magrath, the surgeon of the Victory, during the years 1803-4.

"Of all the sufferings of the operation," says Sir George, "and its subsequent facts so strongly pressed upon his mind, he complained most of the coldness of the knife in making the first circular cut through the integuments and muscles. So painfully and deeply was the recollection engrafted on his feelings that I had general instructions, in consequence, whenever there was a prospect of coming to action, to have a hanging stove kept in the galley for the purpose of heating water in which to immerse the knife, in the event of his being the subject of operation, and on which he always calculated. His lordship's abhorrence of the cold instrument was practically illustrated off Toulon when expecting to come into action with Monsieur Latouche Treville. In the hurry of clearing the ship the cockpit had become the recipient of much of the movable lumber, I applied to the executive officers to have my quarters cleared, but, from the bustle on the occasion, ineffectually. In a state of despair I was compelled to appeal to his lordship on the quarter-deck, who promptly sent for the first lieutenant (Quillan), to whom he gave peremptory orders instantly to see the cockpit in a proper state, accompanied with the significant remark that he (Quillan) might be amongst the first to require its accommodation. When

I thanked his lordship for his interference, and was departing for my quarters, he called me back, and good-na

turedly said, 'Doctor, don't forget the warm water.' I then intimated to him that a hanging-stove was in readiness in the galley, when he signified his approbation by a smile and an approving nod."

At the time when his arm was amputated the surgeon asked whether he should embalm it, to send it to England to be buried. "No, no," said Nelson; "place it in the hammock with the poor fellow that was killed beside me;" and in the seaman's hammock the severed limb was dropped into the sea,

"Not having been in England till now," relates Dr. Southey, "since he lost his eye, Nelson went to receive a year's pay, as smart money, but could not obtain payment, because he had neglected to bring a medical certificate that the sight was destroyed. A little irritated that this form should be insisted on, because, though the fact was not apparent, he thought it was sufficiently notorious, he procured a certificate at the same time of the loss of his arm, saying they might as well doubt the one as the other. This put him in good humour with himself, and with the clerk who had offended him. On his return to the office, the clerk finding it was only the annual pay of a captain, observed, he thought it had been more. 'Oh,' replied Nelson, this is only for an eye; in a few days I shall come for an arm, and in a little time longer, most probably, for a leg.' Accordingly, he soon afterwards went, and with perfect good humour exhibited the certificate for the loss of his arm."

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Among the more accidental shapes in which his fame returned to him, was the readiness with which Lord Chancellor Loughborough granted his application for a living for his younger brother. "In addressing this letter to you, my lord," wrote Nelson, some persons may think me wrong, and that I ought to have chosen the interference of a friend; but, feeling a conviction that if what I have to ask is proper for your lordship to grant, that I require on the present occasion no interest but your own opinion of my endeavours to serve the state, I therefore enclose my request, which, if your lordship has the goodness to comply with, will be a small provision for the youngest son of my venerable father, and a lasting obligation conferred upon

your most obedient servant, H. Nelson." The request was the gift of one of the small livings held by his father, and which he now desired to resign. "You have judged perfectly rightly," replied the chancellor, "in the mode of your application to me. Any interference would have much diminished the satisfaction I feel in acknowledging the perfect propriety of your request, and the just title your great services have gained to every mark of attention which, in the exercise of a public duty, it is in my power to express." The news of the victory at Camperdown had drawn from Nelson, amid all his suffering, an expression, "that he would have given his other arm to have been with Duncan." No sooner was his wound healed than his desire for active service returned. During the winter of 1797, indeed, he remained quiet at home, but with the commencement of the new year fresh employment was ready for him, a new ship selected for his flag, and his destination once more the fleet of his old commander and friend, Lord St. Vincent.

Early in the year 1798, Sir Horatio Nelson hoisted his flag on board the Vanguard, and rejoined the squadron of Lord St. Vincent. Conscious that his reckless daring would ever expose Nelson to the greatest danger, his young wife regarded his departure with almost equal forebodings as his aged father. The port of Toulon was now crowded with the expedition destined for Egypt, and Nelson's charge comprised a careful watch over that port and its busy tenants. As the defeat of this armament was a paramount object with our government, the blockade of Cadiz assumed a second-rate place, and every ship was ordered to be sent into the Mediterranean rather than let the Toulon fleet escape. The destroyer of this fleet had already been marked out by Lord St. Vincent when the admiralty orders arrived with the suggestion confirmatory of his decision. The first lord of the admiralty was perfectly right in saying that it was unnecessary to suggest to St. Vincent the name of Nelson. He was already on his course towards Toulon; all that he now required was reinforcements. The Toulon fleet mustered twenty powerful ships, and Nelson but three seventy-fours and four frigates wherewith to watch so formidable a force: nor was this small force permitted to do its work. Within ten days of

his sailing from Gibraltar a storm overtook it in the gulf of Lyons, and in a few hours "the proud squadron that looked up to their chief to lead them to glory, and in which that chief placed the firmest reliance, was dismasted, dispersed, and the vain commander in such distress that the meanest frigate out of France would have been an unwelcome guest." From that awful storm Nelson's ship was rescued

by the talent and daring of Captain Ball, who nobly towed his admiral's dismasted ship, at the imminent danger of his own vessel. The dense mist of the storm saved the shattered squadron, from that powerful fleet which he had so lately been watching, as, within a few leagues, it sailed by on its mission to Egypt, little dreaming how helpless lay its future destroyer within its very reach.

Impressed with the necessity of a speedy refit, Nelson bore up for the Sardinian port of St. Pietro, anchored in the harbour, and in four days restored the Vanguard as perfectly as it would have taken four months to effect in England. Completely in the power of the French government, the Sardinian court dared not to open their ports to our ships, lest such an act should be made the groundwork