On the 3d of July, Lord Nelson had the high gratification of receiving
official notice of the liberal grant of ten thousand pounds, which had
been unanimously voted to his lordship by the Honourable East India
Company, for his services at the battle off the Nile; and his
considerate regard to their interests, demonstrated by his judicious
conduct immediately after that glorious event. To the letter from Sir
Stephen Lushington, Bart. Chairman of the Court of Directors, which
conveyed this agreeable information, his lordship instantly wrote the
following answer.

"Foudroyant, Naples Bay,
3d July 1799.

"SIR,

"I was this day honoured with your letter of May 1st, conveying to
me the resolutions of the Honourable East India Company. It is
true, Sir, that I am incapable of finding words to convey my
feelings, for the unprecedented honour done me by the Company.
Having, in my younger days, served in the East Indies, I am no
stranger to the munificence of the Honourable Company; but this
generous act of their's to me so much surpasses all calculation of
gratitude, that I have only the power of saying that I receive it
with all respect. Give me leave, Sir, to thank you for your very
elegant and flattering letter, and to add, that I am, with the
greatest respect, your most obliged and obedient servant,

"Nelson."

Nor did this generous man, for whose just praise language must ever be
at a loss, rise from the table at which he had penned the above letter
of thanks, till his liberal soul, invited every dear relative in the
first degree to a kind participation of the bounty which he had just
received; by making out drafts, of five hundred pounds each, for his
venerable father--his elder brother, Maurice Nelson, Esq. of the Navy
Office--the Reverend Dr. Nelson, the present Earl--and his two most
amiable sisters, Mrs. Bolton and Mrs. Matcham: thus nobly disposing of a
fourth part of what he had so honourably acquired, in a way which must
ever reflect unfading glory on his memory, and no inconsiderable lustre
on the characters of those who were thought thus uniformly entitled to
the tender regards of such an exalted as well as kindred mind. It will
scarcely be supposed possible, that any human being could convert this
generous token of his lordship's affection and esteem for his family,
into a cause of violent complaint. There was one person, howe