he appeared on shore. The people, however, could not be hindered from manifesting their loyal sentiments in various demonstrations of respect; and to this very day the urbanity and kindness of His Royal Highness are remembered there with grateful affection. His stay at Halifax was but short. He arrived there on the 8th of October; and, in the middle of November following, the Pegasus anchored in English Harbour, Antigua, where the Prince had the pleasing satisfaction of meeting with Captain Horatio Nelson, then the senior officer on the Leeward Island station. The friendship that had before subsisted between these illustrious seamen, and which had been kept up by occasional correspondence, was now renewed; and they formed that permanent regard for each other, which became so highly honourable and beneficial to both. From this time, till their separation, they dined alternately with each other, and the Prince acknowledged many years afterwards, that-

"It was at this era he first formed his character as a naval officer, and was employed in a manner highly gratifying to his feelings. It was then," added his Royal Highness, "that I particularly observed the greatness of Nelson's superior mind. The manner in which he enforced the spirit of the navigation act, first drew my attention to the commercial interests of my country. We visited the different islands together; and, as much as the manoeuvres of fleets can be described off the headlands of islands, we fought over again the principal naval actions in the American war. Excepting the naval tuition which I had received on board the Prince George, when the present Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Keats was lieutenant of her, and for whom both

of us equally entertained a sincere regard, my mind took its first decided naval turn from this familiar intercourse with Nelson."

The Prince entered most zealously into the various reforms which Nelson was now carrying on in the dockyard at Antigua, and in correcting the abuses among the contractors and prize-agents. Nelson's opinion of his naval coadjutor appears in a letter written to his friend Captain Locker, December 29th this year.

"You must have heard, long before this reaches you," says he, “ that Prince William is under my command. I shall endeavour to take care that he is not a loser by that circumstance. He has his foibles, as well as private men; but they are far overbalanced by his virtues. In his professional line he is superior to nearly two-thirds, I am sure, of the list; and in attention to orders, and respect to his superior officer, I hardly know his equal. This is what I have found him."

In another letter, written to the same gentleman, from Montserrat, on the 14th of February, 1787, Nelson

says

"I am here with the Pegasus and Solebay. The island has made fine addresses, and good dinners. To-morrow we sail for Nevis and St. Christopher's. His Royal Highness keeps up strict discipline in his ship, and, without paying him any compliment, she is one of the finest-ordered frigates I have seen. He has had more plague with his officers than enough. His first lieutenant will, I have no doubt, be broke. I have sent him under arrest, he having written for a court-martial on himself, to vindicate his conduct, because his captain thought proper to reprimand him in the order-book. In short our service has been so relaxed during the war,

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NELSON'S MARRIAGE.

that it will cost many a court-martial to bring it up again."

So far, however, from being broke, the officer here alluded to, was not even tried; and he not long after wards became a post-captain.

Nelson was at this time on the eve of marriage; and, in a letter to the lady, he says :—' "What is it to attend on princes? Let me attend on you, and I am satisfied. Some are born for attendants on great men; I rather think that is not my particular province. His Royal Highness often tells me, he believes I am married, for he never saw a lover so easy, or say so little of the object he has a regard for. When I tell him I certainly am not, he says, 'Then he is sure I must have a great esteem for you, and that it is not what is vulgarly called love.""

The marriage of Captain Nelson and Mrs. Frances Nisbet, the widow of a physician at Nevis, took place in that island, March 11th, 1787. The bride was given away by his Royal Highness, who, with many others, congratulated their friend in having borne off the principal favourite of the island.

Nelson, writing to Captain Locker, ten days afterwards, off Tortola, says " My time since November has been entirely taken up in attending the Prince on his tour round these islands. However, except Granada, this is the last; when I shall repair to English Harbour, and fit the Boreas for a voyage to England. Happy shall I be when that time arrives. No man has had more illness or trouble on a station than I have experienced; but let me lay a balance on the other side—I am married to an amiable woman; that far makes amends for every thing. Indeed, until I married her, I never knew happiness, and

TOUR OF THE ISLANDS.

151

I am morally certain she will continue to make me a happy man for the rest of my days. Prince William did me the honour to stand her father upon the occasion; and has shewn every act of kindness that the most sincere friendship could bestow. His Royal Highness leaves this country in June, by which time I hope my orders will arrive, or that somebody will be appointed to the command."

In this tour of the Antilles, the Prince received, at every place where he landed, testimonies of sincere respect and admiration. The House of Assembly, at Barbadoes-the most English of all the islands, which he now visited-passed a resolution to present an address to his Royal Highness, accompanied with a gold-hilted sword of the value of three hundred guineas. That of Dominica presented to the Prince a chronometer of the same value.

The French were not less attentive to the illustrious navigator, who received invitations from the Vicomte de Damas, governor of Martinico, and the Baron de Clugny, governor of Guadaloupe, to favour those islands with a

visit

As Antigua was the principal station of the ships of war, the people there had, of course, more opportunities of becoming acquainted with the commander of the Pegasus than the inhabitants of the other islands. In a letter, written from thence in February 1787, an eminent merchant and planter says to his friend in England

"Prince William-Henry has been here for some time past, repairing his ship; where all ranks are vying with each other in making grand entertainments for their illustrious visiter. The Prince is quite the officer, never wearing any other dress than his uniform, and his star

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CAPTAIN HOLLOWAY.

and garter only when receiving addresses, or on any other public occasion. He has not slept a night out of his ship since his arrival in these seas, until coming into English Harbour, when the ship's heaving down obliged him to be on shore. His Royal Highness shews the most amiable disposition and condescension on every occasion, sees into the detail of the business of his ship, and delivers his own orders with the most minute attention to the duty and discipline of the frigate. In short, he promises to be what we all hope and wish, the restorer of the ancient glory of the British navy.”

During his short stay on this station, the Prince formed an intimacy with that valuable officer and admiral, then Captain John Holloway, commanding the Solebay frigate. Though junior in rank, he was some years older than Nelson, and remarkable for the blunt sincerity of his language. The plainness and rigid honesty of Holloway soon attracted the respect of the Prince; who shewed the innate excellence of his own heart, in receiving kindly the advice, which was sometimes more faithfully than courteously given.

Coming one day on board the Solebay, his Royal Highness observed a Bible lying open on the rudderhead. Then, addressing himself to Captain Holloway, he exclaimed, “Why, Jack, you are always reading the Bible! Are you going to write a commentary on it?" "No, sir," replied Holloway, " but the longer I read that book, the greater is my eagerness to return again to the perusal of its contents; for there I learn all the principles of my duty; and, among the rest, " to trust in the Lord, and not to put confidence in Princes."

This plain dealing did not lessen the esteem which his Royal Highness had conceived for his nautical Mentor,