should I consult but my friends?1 Remember me in the most affectionate manner where proper, and respects and compliments as the person deserves to whom you give them."

He wrote again on the 25th under the influence of her most powerful fascination :

"Sir Hyde has just sent me word that the Arrow sloop sails for England this day, therefore I have only time to say that I hope in a fortnight to be in London. I am in expectation every moment for the removal of the fleet from the Baltic : be that as it may, I will not remain, no, not if I was sure of being made a DUKE with £50,000 a year. I wish for happiness to be my reward, and not titles or money. To-morrow is the birthday of Santa Emma. She is my guardian angel. It is not in my power to do much honour to her in this place, but I have invited the Admirals and all the Captains who had the happiness of knowing you, and of course experiencing your kindness when in the Mediterranean. You may rely my saint is more adored in this fleet than all the saints in the Roman Calendar. I know you prayed for me both at the Nile and here, and if the prayers of the good, as we are taught to believe, are of avail at the Throne of Grace, why may not yours have saved my life? I own myself a BELIEVER IN GOD, and if I have any merit in not fearing death, it is because I feel that His power can shelter me when He pleases, and that I must fall whenever it is His good pleasure. May the God of heaven and earth, the Protector of those who truly worship Him, bless and preserve you, my dearest Friend, for the greatest happiness which you can wish for in this world, is the constant prayer of your real, sincere and affectionate friend till death,

"All your letters, my dearest on the eve of your natal day.

"St. George, April 27th, 1801. Friend, to the 17th, came safe You will readily conceive the

This probably alludes to the paper on the Armistice.

pleasure they must have given me to know that you still take an interest in my glory. I transfer it all to my guardian angel, Santa Emma. Yesterday, I had twenty-four at dinner, and drank at dinner in a bumper of champagne, Santa Emma.

"I hope, if the fleet is not ordered home, to go in the Blanche, for both my mind and body are required in England, therefore, unless you are sure that we are ordered to attack the Russian fleet, it is of no use writing more letters. I hope to be in London as soon as this letter, and I should like a good lodging in an airy situation. I have directed Hardy to take care of all my letters, and return them to England. I have so much to tell you that I cannot tell you where to begin. I think we shall have a general peace, and then nothing shall stop my going to Bronté.

"Your affectionate and attached friend,

"My dearest Friend,

"NELSON AND BRONTÉ."

"St. George, April 28th, 1801.

"I had last night one of my dreadful attacks, and this day I have applied to Sir Hyde Parker, and he tells me the Blanche shall carry me to England. I have several letters ready wrote for you, but I do not send them, as it is more than probable this will never reach England. Write no more, I hope to be sailed within a week. Keep this to yourself. Ever your most attached and affectionate.

"A small vessel sails with letters in two days."

Sir Brooke Boothby, Bart.,1 to whom he had written an account of the engagement, replied as follows:

"Hamburgh, May 1, 1801. "A thousand thanks, my dear Lord, for your very kind

1 Sir Brooke Boothby, Bart., a minor poet, formed one of the literary coterie of Lichfield, enriched by the society of Darwin, Seward, and Edgeworth. He published a letter to Mr. Burke, Observations on the Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs, and Paine's Rights of Man; Sorrows sacred to the Memory of Penelope; Britannicus, from the French of Racine, a Tragedy; Fables and Satires; and a series of Elegiac Poems on his Daughter. He died March 17, 1824, and was succeeded in the title by his brother.

note, written on the evening of your glorious victory. I preserve it as a precious relic. It found me just beginning to breathe after a painful illness of four months, and really revived me.

"Of all your great actions, the last seems to be deservedly considered as that in which you have surmounted the most extraordinary difficulties, and rendered your country the most immediate and important service; that of Aboukir not excepted. From all I learn, I cannot help thinking you are the only man who could have performed what you have done.

"The poor Danes have been the dupes of the madness of Paul, and the rascality of Buonaparte, who had promised them Hamburgh and Lubeck; and their swindling seizure of this place well deserved the licking they have got, and more. You cannot conceive what extravagant rhodomontades appeared in the papers here, prophesying confidently, before the action, that all your glories were to be buried in Copenhagen roads; and even afterwards, endeavouring to make out that the completely beaten had the better of it; at least, they seem to content themselves with the honour of having contended with you, of which they have in truth some reason to be proud. If these fat and greasy citizens' had been bold enough to shut their gates, you would probably have saved them from disgrace, and what I believe they value more, the loss of 40 or 50,000 marks. The Prince of Hesse had no preparations for a siege, and the town had provision for at least a month, and in the meantime the first gun fired against Hamburgh might have been the signal for the destruction of Altona. The Bourgeoisie were earnest for resistance, but the cowardly spirit of riches prevailed. You will find, inclosed, some remarks I made on the Prince of Hesse's profligate and foolish manifesto. He has received a very peremptory note from Berlin to evacuate Hamburgh, but continues to negotiate, probably for the sake of the 6000 marks a-day.

"Your rapid proceeding, and the death of Paul, seem completely to derange the impudent plan of his brother tyrant, whom God confound! I remember when I saw you I thought less ill of this robber than you did, but you knew him best. God send the African expedition, which has commenced so well, may be finally successful, and then, I think, the century

opens propitiously for poor Old England. Before the battle of Copenhagen Roads we were a little chop-fallen, but now the carmagnoles are down, and we hold our heads high: the reputation of a country is half its strength."

May 15.

"Not knowing well how to direct, this letter, with the General's,1 has lain by. I learn with the greatest anxiety that the state of your health obliges you to return. The good of mankind will neither admit of your being long ill, or of your retreat; your services may indeed be soon wanted at home. The Corsican, whose situation is nothing less than pleasant, and who, it is said, has taken fright, must find employment for his troops, and the restless spirit of his new subjects, and will lead or drive them to the British coasts, to do mischief and to perish; both for his purpose.

"The General is almost the only person I see. He is planting his winter cabbages, and seems really to enjoy the content of a clear conscience. If it were nothing else, I think his understanding is of too high a sort for treachery. He was a good subject of the French (limited) monarchy, and has been cast out by their pretended democracy; is he not at liberty to become a member of any country that might adopt him?

"I rejoice that my friend, Lord St. Helens, goes to St. Petersburgh. He will do all that can be done. Will not what is passing in Italy, Portugal, &c. at last open the eyes of those blinded kings? Nothing but uniting all their powers, on the determined, openly declared ground of putting a stop to those impudent invaders, can ultimately save Europe. These detestable people are, I think, made of rather worse stuff than those of other countries, but when collected and inflamed, they may be resembled to those fulminating powders, which, though composed of very ordinary materials, are formidable in their explosion. Saltpetre may be made from horse-dung, brimstone is used to cure the itch, and charcoal for the basest purposes, yet these combined are the gunpowder which decides the fate of nations.

"Adieu, my dear Lord, I began a long letter, thinking it

General Dumouriez.

would find you aboard, and might fill up a leisure moment. Believe me, ever yours, with the sincerest attachment,

"BROOKE BOOTHBY.

"P.S. Amongst other reports equally true, the papers here gave a circumstantial account of the death of Sir Edward Berry, fighting by your side. I inclose you an epitaph I made for a magnificent monument in Westminster Abbey, which will have the effect, not very flattering, for a serious epitaph to make you smile. I am, I believe, not accurate in the places, but that is now, thank God, of no consequence. Pray when you have read it send it to your charming Poet Laureate,1 who, by the bye, I much wish to hear of. Do have the goodness to tell her so. I am leaving Hamburgh, but anything directed under cover to Sir James Crawfurd will find me."

The following is the letter from General Dumouriez,2 referred to in the preceding :

I Miss Knight.

:

2 Claude Francois Duperier Dumouriez, a French General, was born at Cambrai, Jan. 25, 1739. He served in Germany in the seven years war, and at the age of twenty-two years had attained the rank of Captain, was a Knight of St. Louis, and had received twenty-two wounds. Having travelled in Italy, Belgium, Spain, and Portugal, and acquired considerable knowledge of languages and the manners and customs of different nations, he was appointed Aide-Marechal General to the French expedition for the invasion of Corsica in 1768-9. He rose to the rank of Colonel, and afterwards served in a campaign to Russia. The Duc de Choiseul appointed him Minister to the Confederates of Poland, and Louis XV. sent him on a confidential mission to Sweden, but the Ministers becoming jealous of him from his having received instructions immediately from the King, and unknown to the Foreign Minister, the Duc d'Aguillon, he was arrested at Hamburgh, taken back to Paris, and imprisoned in the Bastille, where, after six months confinement, he was banished to the Castle of Caen for three months, and thence liberated by Louis XVI. on his accession to the throne. He was then intrusted with the command of the country from Nantes to Bordeaux, whilst the religious war raged in La Vendée, and was successful in calming the minds of the people. He furnished to the French Government plans for the conquest of Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Wight, and was at the commencement of the Revolution connected with the Girondists. He was appointed Foreign Minister, and prevailed on the King to declare war against Austria in 1792. The violence of the revolutionary movement alarmed him, and he became an object of hatred to the Jacobins, in consequence of which, he withdrew from politics, and went to serve under General Luchner on the northern frontiers. He replaced La Fayette in the army opposed to the Duke of Brunswick, and successfully checked the advance of the Prussians.

Dumouriez distinguished himself also at the battle of Jemappes, and succeeded