but I sincerely hope you are recovered before this. General Dalling will be with you by the middle of July, you may depend on it. Pray remember me kindly to the two Despards, Bulkeley, Harrison, Mounsey, and all my good friends about you; and believe me with very great esteem, Your ever well wisher, And obedient Servant, HORATIO NELSON. TO HERCULES ROSS, ESQ., KINGSTON, JAMAICA. Dear Sir, [From a Copy in the Nelson Papers.] Ads Mountain, June 12th, 1780. I got up here yesterday morning, and am but just got out of bed to answer your letter. I am exceedingly obliged to you for sending the letters. Oh, Mr. Ross, what would I give to be at Port-Royal. Lady P.8 not here, and the servants letting me lay as if a log, and take no notice. I am yours, most sincerely, HORATIO NELSON. 4 Captain Andrew Despard; and Lieutenant, afterwards Colonel Edward Marcus Despard, of the 79th Regiment, who was executed for high treason in February 1803. Lord Nelson attended his trial, and gave satisfactory evidence of his bravery and character as an Officer. There was also a Thomas Despard, who was then an Ensign in the same Regiment. 5 Captain Richard Bulkeley of the 79th Regiment. Apparently Captain William Causabon Harrison, of a "Corps serving in Jamaica."-Vide the Army List for 1780. A Lieutenant Robert Harrison was then serving in the same Corps. 7 Captain-Lieutenant James Mounsey, or, Lieutenant Thomas Mounsey, of the 79th Regiment. • Margaret Lady Parker, who was a Miss Nugent, wife of Vice-Admiral Sir Peter Parker, Commander-in-Chief. This Letter appears to have been written in her house. They both lived to see Nelson a Peer, and in a beautiful Letter from Lady Parker after the Battle of the Nile, she told Nelson that they had always looked upon him as their son. TO SIR PETER PARKER, KNIGHT, VICE-ADMIRAL OF THE BLUE, AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF AT JAMAICA. Sir, [Original, in the Admiralty.] Port-Royal, Jamaica, the 30th of August, 1780. Having been in a very bad state of health for these several months past, so bad as to be unable to attend my duty on board the Janus,9 and the faculty having informed me that I cannot recover in this climate; I am therefore to request that you will be pleased to permit me to go to England for the reestablishment of my health. I am, Sir, &c. HORATIO NELSON.10 TO WILLIAM LOCKER, ESQ., GRAY'S INN. [Autograph, in the Locker Papers.-Captain Nelson, on his arrival in England, in the autumn of 1780, proceeded to Bath for the recovery of his health, and remained there several months.] Dear Sir, Bath, January 23rd, 1781. I must crave your pardon for [not] having wrote to you before this, but I know you will readily believe the reason was He was removed from the Hinchinbrook to the command of the Janus of 44 guns, early in April 1780. The following Officers served with Captain Nelson in the Janus, from the 2nd of May 1780 to the 19th of September following:-Lieutenants, Geo. H. Stevens, J. C. Haswell, C. C. Priswick, and Henry Knight; Surgeon, T. Jameson; Master, J. Flenwick; Purser, W. Hickman.-Clarke and M'Arthur, in Appendix. 10 The Admiral in his reply, dated on the 1st September 1780, (in the Nelson Papers,) said, "The Report of the Surgeons who have examined into your complaints, confirms my opinion of the absolute necessity for your immediate return to Europe; and you have therefore my leave to go to England by the first opportunity, with my very sincere wishes for your speedy recovery; being with true esteem, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, P. PARKER." inability; for I have been so ill since I have been here, that I was obliged to be carried to and from bed, with the most excruciating tortures, but, thank God, I am now upon the mending hand. I [am] physicked three times a day, drink the waters three times, and bathe every other night, besides [qu. not] drinking wine, which I think the worst of all. I am sorry to hear the account of your friend, Captain Sutton; but I well know the situation of a Ship just from the River, and I have no doubt but the Court-Martial will consider it in that light. Pray let me know how it ends. I suppose by this time you are alone again; when you write to Mr. G. Smith, pray remember me to him. I wish much for a new Navy List: if it is convenient to you, I should thank you much for one, for I do not know how to get one. I called upon Mr. Welch the day after I saw you last. I beg you will make my compliments to him, and all other friends when you see them. I hope your health is better, at least that you have got rid of that cursed bile. Adieu, and believe me to be, your Devoted humble Servant, Mr. Spry's, Pierrepont Street, Bath. HORATIO NELSON. If you write, direct for me only at Bath, then if I should change lodgings, they will always come safe. 'Captain Evelyn Sutton, of the Isis, 50, on his passage from the Nore to Spithead, in December 1780, had a short and indecisive action with the Rotterdam, Dutch ship of war of 50 guns, the Isis being sixty men short of complement. A Court of Inquiry into Captain Sutton's conduct was held at Spithead, which acquitted him of misconduct and cowardice; but he was afterwards tried by a CourtMartial, and reprimanded. The Rotterdam was captured in January 1781, by the Warwick, 50, Captain the Hon. Keith Elphinstone, afterwards Viscount Keith, K.B. Captain Sutton, who died a Superannuated Rear-Admiral, is mentioned in a subsequent Letter. 2 George Smith, of Camer in Kent, Esq. His son, William Masters Smith of Camer, Esq., states that his father once took a cruize in the Lowestoffe with Captain Locker, while Nelson was a Lieutenant of that Ship, when their acquaintance commenced. Letters from Lord Nelson to Mr. Smith will be found in another volume. TO WILLIAM LOCKER, ESQ., GRAY'S INN. Dear Sir, [Autograph, in the Locker Papers.] Bath, January 28th, 1781. I received your letter of the 22nd on the 25th, for which I am much obliged to you. Your scolding at my not writing I own I expected it, although I am convinced I did not deserve it; for even now, although I am much better, I am scarcely able to hold my pen. Your letter of the 25th, with the Navy List, I received last night, for which I am much obliged to you, as also for the Newspaper, though I would not have you be at the trouble of sending any more, as we receive all the Papers here in ten or eleven hours after they are published. I shall be very happy whenever I am appointed to a Ship, for as you will suppose, I do not set under the hands of a Doctor very easy, although I give myself credit this once for having done everything, and taken every medicine that was ordered, that Dr. Woodward, who is my Physician, said he never had a better patient.3 I am sorry to see by yesterday's papers that Captain Pole is come home, having lost his Ship, which I am sorry for: if he remembers me, make my compliments to him. Although I have not quite recovered the use of my limbs, yet my inside is a new man; and I have no doubt, but in two or three weeks, I shall be perfectly well, when nothing will give me more pleasure than seeing you in Gray's Inn, and finding you are appointed to a good Ship. Adieu, dear Sir, and believe me to be Your most devoted Servant, HORATIO NELSON. 3 Of this generous member of the most liberal of all Professions, it is stated, that when Nelson expressed surprise at the smallness of his fees, and wished to increase his remuneration, Dr. Woodward observed, "Pray, Captain Nelson, allow me to follow what I consider to be my professional duty. Your illness, Sir, has been brought on by serving your King and Country, and believe me, I love both too well to be able to receive any more."-Clarke and M'Arthur, vol. i. p. 43, on the authority of Viscountess Nelson. 4 His friend Captain Charles Morice Pole, whose Ship, the Hussar, was lost on the Pot Rock, in Hell Gates Passage, North River, America. TO WILLIAM LOCKER, ESQ., GRAY'S INN. Dear Sir, [Autograph, in the Locker Papers.] Bath, February 15th, 1781. It is really so long since I have wrote to you, that I am almost ashamed to write at all; but I know your goodness will forgive me, although I hardly deserve it. My health, thank God, is very near perfectly restored; and I have the perfect use of all my limbs, except my left arm, which I can hardly tell what is the matter with it. From the shoulder to my fingers' ends are as if half dead; but the Surgeon and Doctors give me hopes it will all go off. I most sincerely wish to be employed, and hope it will not be long. I have thought several times you were appointed to a Ship, else you would have wrote, if only to scold me for neglect: if I am not employed, I intend coming to town the beginning of March. I hope when I come to town to see a fine trio in your room. If Mr. Rigaud has done the picture, send word in the next letter you write to me, and I will inclose you an order upon Mr. Paynter. Tell Mr. Rigaud I wish him joy of his picture being got to the Sardinian Ambassador's Chapel, and to hear it so well spoke of in the public Papers. Captain Kirke's 5 man has just been here to tell me his master, mistress, and family are come down. I am glad of it. I think the bathing will do infinite service to Mrs. Kirke. I must wish you a good night, and drink your health in a draught of my Physician's cordial and a bolus. Adieu, and believe me to be, Your sincere friend and devoted humble Servant, Pray give my best compliments to Captain Pole, and tell him I hope we shall renew our acquaintance. When you get the pictures, I must be in the middle, for God knows, without good Supporters, I shall fall to the ground. 5 Captain James Kirke, a Commissioner of the Victualling Office: he was made a Post-Captain 23rd June 1748, and died in 1787. 6 A Portrait of Nelson, by John Francis Rigaud, R.A., which was placed by Captain Locker, to whom it was presented, between the portraits of Captains, afterwards Admirals, Sir George Montagu and Sir Charles Morice Pole. It is now in the possession of Edward Hawke Locker, Esq., F.R.S. |