nce Royal in
his barge, on the night of December 21, 1798; and which his majesty
desired might be accepted, by Captain Hope, as a mark of his royal
gratitude. This, and other similar presents of rings and gold boxes,
were sent by Sir John Acton, to Sir William Hamilton, from his Sicilian
Majesty; with a request that his excellency would have the goodness to
present them to the Duke of Bronte, that he might distribute them
according to the note enclosed, and in the name of his Sicilian Majesty,
as a small mark of his royal gratitude to the several English
commanders. The pleasure which this agreeable task afforded Lord
Nelson's excellent heart, may be judged of by the following effusion of
it's feelings, addressed to Captain Hood on the occasion. "My dear
Hood, I never had greater pleasure, than in executing his Sicilian
Majesty's orders, for sending you a box from his majesty; and, as the
dispatch expresses it--To Captain Hood, for services in the Gulph of
Naples, and at Salerno; for his operations on shore, and his care of the
castles of Naples." In afterwards describing these presents from his
Sicilian Majesty, on writing to England, his lordship informs Mr.
Nepean, that each of the captains had a very valuable gold box, set
round with diamonds. In the centre of that given to Commodore
Troubridge, was his majesty's portrait; and, to him, he also gave an
elegant ring. In the centre of the others, were his majesty's cypher of
f.r. neatly set in diamonds. His majesty, he adds, has also
presented Captain Thomas Masterman Hardy, his lordship's captain in the
Foudroyant, with an elegant box, set round with a double row of
diamonds, and his portrait in the centre, and an elegant diamond ring;
and, to Mr. Tyson, his lordship's secretary, a diamond ring of great
value.

Transient, however, seem to have been all the felicities of his
lordship's most eventful life. The happiness which he enjoyed, in seeing
the companions of his cares and successes thus rewarded with truly royal
munificence; while he felt himself remunerated, beyond his proudest hope
or expectation; the pleasing sensations which he must necessarily have
experienced on beholding the vast and magnificent preparations to
celebrate their united atchievments on the anniversary of receiving, at
Naples, the first intelligence of the glorious victory off the Nile,
which had arrived on the 3d of the preceding September; were not
permitted to remain undisturbed in his eve