of Nelson, which I should love, after imputing to it such crimes." Such eloquence is truly dangerous, being calculated to divert from the truth, and therefore deserving of the severest reprehension. Should the statements made in the IXth Chapter of this Biography tend to counteract the injurious opinions thus excited, I shall be truly gratified. My object has been, without prejudice, to state the facts of the case as far as the evidence in our possession will enable them to be displayed; and it is exceedingly to be regretted, that no statement proceeding from Nelson himself, on this subject, is upon record. His soul was, however, too generous to have yielded to any improper influence or wicked impulse. He was the soul of honour-the slightest suspicion of his sincerity was sufficient to rouse his most violent feelings. His letters, when accused at Genoa,' mark the character of the man and his most susceptible disposition; and will it be supposed that when human life was the subject of consideration, he would be less sensitive or tenacious? He was one as described by our Immortal Bard, and one who might with Hector truly say: "Mine honour keeps the weather of my fate : TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, Act v. sc. iii. The papers relating to the Treaty of Capitulation of the Castles of Uovo and Nuovo, emanating from the King and Queen of Naples to Lord Nelson, investing him with extraordinary powers, and solemnly denying the right of Cardinal Ruffo to treat with the rebels, or conclude any treaty without the sanction of his Sicilian Majesty, and the observations of the Queen upon each separate article of the Treaty will, I hope, serve to place the position of Lord Nelson in a See Vol. i. page 72. different point of view to that in which, by many, it has been considered in this affair. These appear to me the principal points to which it is essential to refer in these prefatory remarks; the various points of his character, as exhibited throughout his career, and upon which the estimate of his merits must be formed, I have endeavoured to bring under review in the concluding chapter. I am only fearful that it has not been in my power to do justice to the magnitude of my subject, and that to many it may appear extraordinary that one whose life has been devoted to professional, scientific, and antiquarian researches, should have been tempted into the paths of Naval Biography. Although the subject has, as it were, come to me accidentally, it is one which has had a charm for me from my earliest years. The names of our great Naval Commanders, Rodney, Howe, Hood, and St. Vincent, have always been in my remembrance, and the details of their glorious achievements poured into my ear by an affectionate parent, who, as Surgeon of the Barfleur and the Victory, formed part of that band who really constituted the bulwarks of the country. A familiarity with these subjects, and an intercourse of no very limited nature during my life with naval men, has made the labour to me one of great pleasure and satisfaction, for many of those who stood forth and proudly boasted of having been of Nelson's chosen band I have had the honour to rank among my dearest friends. In committing my work to the public judgment, I must say a word or two with regard to the Illustrations. For these I am proud to acknowledge my obligations: in the first place, to the Lords of the Admiralty, for their permission so graciously accorded to me to engrave the portrait of Lord Nelson by Leonardo Guzzardi, which now ornaments the Board Room of the Admiralty, and which exhibits the hero at a very interesting period of his life. It was painted for Sir William Hamilton at Palermo in 1799, one year after the Battle of the Nile, and upon his recovery from a severe attack of fever. This exceedingly interesting portrait, in which he appears with the Plume of Triumph, the diamond Aigrette, presented to him by the Grand Signior, agrees so entirely with what has been expressed by a noble writer in the Westminster Review for January, 1848, that I cannot forbear transcribing the following passage: "Those, indeed, who look upon the portraits, for the most part indifferent ones, of this celebrated man, some of which fitly adorn the antechambers of our Kings,-see the frail, wan, and wasted form, mutilated with wounds; yet, in the pale, melancholy features, which Vandyke would have loved to paint, in the silent eloquence of the blue, thoughtful eye, may be discovered the traces of that indomitable spirit which actuated the leader, and was successfully infused by him into his followers. In looking at the likeness, in recalling the many recorded traits. of his gentle, yet enthusiastic nature, his warm religious emotions, his ardent personal enterprise, we fancy we can comprehend the confidence and attachment he inspired among those who served under him." This statement is no less true than well expressed, for although the portraits of Nelson are numerous, they are not remarkable for their excellence, and I hope, therefore, in adding two more engravings from original and genuine sources, I am effecting a desirable object. The second portrait of Lord Nelson, by A. W. Devis, is highly interesting, in having been the last taken of the Immortal Hero-it is unfinished, and was executed just before his departure for Trafalgar, the last, therefore, ever painted from the life,1 and for one who holds his memory most dear -one of his own band of brothers'-his Flag Captain at the Battle of the Nile- the bearer of his dispatches to 1 6 A finished portrait cither from the sketch in the possession (Sir T. B. Copel, or copy belonging to the artist, was engraved for Sir William Beatty's Narrative of the Death of Lord Nelson, and this picture which bears the date of September, 1806, is now in the possession of Mrs. Smith of Twickenham. England on that glorious occasion-the Captain described in Nelson's letter of introduction of him to Lady Hamilton as "a son of Lord Essex, and a very good young man ;" the present Admiral the Honourable Sir Thomas Bladen Capel, K.C.B., Commander-in-chief at Portsmouth, to whom I beg to return my best thanks for his kind permission to engrave it, and to express my fervent hope that he may long live to enjoy the honours he has deservedly won by a most brilliant career of service. Although the portraits have been numerous, it is remarkable that there is only one original bust of his Lordship. Lady Damer executed a bust of Nelson in marble and presented it to the City of London. It is now in the Council Chamber of the Guildhall, and appears to be the only one for which Nelson sat. Lady Damer writes to Lady Hamilton from Strawberry Hill, Oct. 31st, 1809: "I must not forget one thing on which I wished to speak to you, that is, that I understand a fine edition of Lord Nelson's Life is coming out soon (I conclude under the directions of the present Lord and his friends). I have the greatest desire, that in some way or other, no matter how shortly or how simply said, either in a note or otherwise, my having had the honour I prize so much, of that immortal Hero's having sat to me, and to me alone, for a sculptural bust, should be mentioned. To you, my dear Lady Hamilton, and to my kind friend, Sir William, you know I owe this favour, and you will not wonder at my ambition and my anxiety that such a circumstance which I know so well how to value, should be recorded in a manner never to be forgotten, and that my name should thus be (if I may so term it), joined to the most brilliant name England ever gave birth to. "Your sincere and affectionate, "ANNE S. DAMER." See Vol. i. page 140. The engraving of the Danish line of Defence, at the attack on Copenhagen, April 2, 1801, is from an original drawing made for Lord Nelson, and sent home by him, intended to be framed and glazed, and placed in what he called “The Nelson Room," at Merton, which was intended to contain the various mementos of his battles. He describes this drawing as "correct to the minutest degree." The Fac-similes selected, are such as may be reasonably presumed of public interest. Independently of the autograph signatures of the King and Queen of Naples, the Emperor Paul, William IV., Victor Emanuel King of Sardinia, Prince Charles Felix of Savoye, Francisco Caracciolo, General Dumouriez, and the Rev. Edmund Nelson, the venerable father of Lord Nelson; there are those of Horatio Nelson, as subscribed by him to the Oath of Allegiance in the Admiralty, on the 11th of April, 1777, two days after passing his examination for Lieutenant; Horatio Nelson prior to losing his arm; Sir Horatio Nelson after the Battle off Cape St. Vincent, and after the loss of his arm; Nelson as a Peer of the Realm; Bronté Nelson of the Nile, after receiving the Ducal title and estate from his Sicilian Majesty; and Nelson and Bronté, which was used by him to the time of his death, and taken from the last letter he ever wrote; there are also separate fac-similes of his first letter as a Peer, proving his knowledge of his elevation as early as the 16th of October, 1798; an interesting letter of thanks to Lord Nelson from the Queen of Naples, the Prince Leopold (afterwards Prince of Salerno, who married Maria Clementina, daughter of the Emperor of Austria); the Princess Christina (afterwards married to Carlo Felice, King of Sardinia); Amelia (afterwards Duchess of Orleans, the present ex-Queen of the French); and the Princess Antoinette; verses written by Lord Nelson on the night of the day on which the action at 1 Vol. ii. p. 50. |