comprehend
that a moment can be lost in deciding. But, Sir, I find, few think,
as I do--that, to obey orders, all perfection. To serve my king,
and to destroy the French, I consider as the great order of all,
from which little ones spring; and, if one of these little ones
militates against it--(for, who can tell exactly, at a
distance?)--I go back to obey the great order, and object; to
_down_, _down_, with the damned French villains! Excuse my warmth;
but my blood boils at the name of a Frenchman. I hate them _all_;
royalists and republicans.

"My late letters from Egypt are, that Sir Sidney Smith is hurt at
the notorious cowardice and want of discipline in the Turkish army;
and I find, that General Koehler does _not approve_ of such
irregular proceedings, as naval officers attacking and defending
fortifications. We have but one idea; to get close along-side. None
but a sailor, would have placed a battery only a hundred and eighty
yards from the Castle of St. Elmo: a soldier must have gone
according to art, and the zig-zag way; my brave Sir Thomas
Troubridge went straight, for we had no time to spare. Your royal
highness will not believe, that I mean to lessen the conduct of the
army. I have the highest respect for them all. But General Koehler
should not have wrote such a paragraph in his letter. It conveyed a
jealousy which, I dare say, is not in his disposition.

"May health and every blessing, attend your royal highness, is the
constant prayer of your attached and obliged servant,

"Bronte Nelson."

Lord Nelson had, as it may be seen, signed his letters to foreigners as
Duke of Bronte, from the time of obtaining that honour; but this epistle
to the Duke of Clarence was one of the first in which he ever prefixed
the word Bronte to his name when addressing any British subject. It is
probable, therefore, that he had, about this time, received his
sovereign's recognition of that Sicilian title.

Though his lordship had hitherto been unsuccessful in his repeated
applications for troops at Minorca, he continued still to offer new
reasons why they ought to be sent. With the most unwearied exertions,
did this great man constantly labour for the promotion of whatever
related to the honour or advantage of his king, his country, and his
friends; and his assiduities never relaxed, till he had secu