ted myself. I know this business better than Calder's traducers
do, and therefore conceive it my duty to defend him. He also has
rendered great services to his country."

When it was known that he had arrived in England, he was overwhelmed
with generous tokens of affection and gratitude from all classes.
Thousands crowded into Portsmouth to see him land, and the cheering
was long and lusty. In London the mob, drunk with excitement,
struggled to get sight of him, many crushing their way so that they
might shake him by the hand or even touch him. Lord Minto said he met
him in Piccadilly, took him by the arm, and was mobbed also. He goes
on to say: "It is really quite affecting to see the wonder,
admiration, and love for him from gentle and simple the moment he is
seen," and concludes by stating that it is beyond anything represented
in a play or in a poem of fame.

Commercial men everywhere passed resolutions of gratitude for the
protection he had secured in their different interests. The West India
merchants sent a deputation to express their never-to-be-forgotten
thanks, and would have loaded him with material tokens of their
goodwill had it been proper to do so. He lost no time in getting to
Merton, which was the thought and happiness of his soul. He was
invited here, there, and everywhere, and always replied that he could
not accept, as all his family were with him. Lord Minto, who was a
devoted friend, visited him on the 15th August, and says that he
"found him in the act of sitting down to dinner with his brother the
Dean, his wife, and their children, and the children of a sister. Lady
Hamilton was at the head of the table, and her mother, Mrs. Cadogan,
at the bottom. His welcome was hearty. Nelson looked well and was full
of spirits. Lady Hamilton," he continues, "had improved, and had added
to the house and place extremely well, without his knowing she was
doing it. She is a clever being, after all the passion is as hot as
ever."

These glad moments of keen rapture, which filled Nelson with a sort of
mystic joy, were soon to be cut short. Swiftly the sweet days were
passing away, and the sombre parting from "dear Merton and loving
hearts for evermore" was drawing near. In his day-dreams he saw more
fame, more professional gladness, more triumph. He saw, too, as he
pensively walked in his garden, the grave nearly ready to receive him
and the day of his glory and brightness coming. These were his abiding
premon