ted from such as were closely allied to him by the ties of
blood: the father, from whom he derived his existence; the wife, whom he
had so disinterestedly selected from society, to participate in all his
earthly honours and enjoyments? That his worthy father did, indeed,
receive him with a heart which overflowed with paternal love, is not to
be doubted: to the Christian and the father, however, was he indebted
for the ardent and sincere embrace; while the tear of rapture was
blended with that of regret, drawn by imputations of apprehended private
guilt dreadfully detracting from the honourable list of his son's known
public virtues. The duteous hero, unconscious of crime, happily
perceived not, in his beloved father, any symptoms of suspicion. At the
obvious coldness of her ladyship, however, the warmth of his
affectionate heart felt a petrifying chill, which froze for ever the
genial current of supreme regard that had hitherto flowed with purity
through the inmost recesses of his soul. This is a topic which must, for
evident reasons, be touched with a tender hand. Woe to the woman who,
wedded to a man with superlative merits, whatever they may be, which are
acknowledged and admired by all the world, feels alone insensible of her
husband's transcendent worth! Where there is genius, the warmth of
affection is seldom wanting; if it be not returned with ardour, it
kindles into a fierce and dangerous flame. Lady Nelson's ideas were so
little congenial with those of his lordship, that she is said never to
have asked him a single question relative to that glorious victory which
had so astonished the world. On the contrary, all the scandalous
insinuations, and licentious remarks, with which the Jacobinical foreign
journalists had filled their pestiferous pages, relative to our hero
and his friends in Italy, and which had found their way into the most
thoughtless and depraved of our own newspapers, were preserved for his
lordship's immediate amusement. Without introducing the reader behind
the sacred veil of the connubial curtain, let it suffice to say, that
Lord Nelson rose at an early hour, and went to visit Sir William and
Lady Hamilton; where, at least, he was always sure to behold the actual
existence of conjugal happiness. He related, in a few words, the nature
of his situation; and assured Sir William that, such was his misery, it
would be mercy to dispatch him. These amiable friends did all they could
to tranquilize his p