t day-light, his lordship was abreast of Portland; at
noon, saw the Isle of Wight; and, at eleven at night, anchored off the
Princesses Shoal. Having weighed next morning at day-light, they worked
up to Spithead; and, at nine o'clock, anchored: just two years and three
months from his lordship's arrival at Portsmouth. A contagious fever
having recently made dreadful havoc at Gibraltar, where the ships
touched, his lordship became subject to the quarantine regulations.
However, after communicating, by signal, with the port-admiral, he
addressed the following satisfactory declaration to the collector of
the customs--

"Victory, Spithead, August 18, 1805.

"The Victory, with the fleet under my command, left Gibraltar
twenty-seven days ago: at which time, there was not a fever in the
garrison; nor, as Dr. Fellows told me, any apprehension of one. The
fleet lately under my command, I left with Admiral Cornwallis on
the 15th of August; at which time, they were in the most perfect
health. Neither the Victory, nor the Superb, have on board even an
object for the hospital; to the truth of which, I pledge my word of
honour.

"Nelson and Bronte."

"To the Collector of the Customs, or those whom it may concern."

In consequence of these positive assurances, Lord Nelson was, at length,
permitted to land; and, during the approach of his barge, a vast
concourse of people, who had been assembling on the rampart from the
moment his flag was first discovered, hailed the hero's approach with
their loudest acclamations.

Intelligence of Lord Nelson's arrival in England had no sooner been
received by Lady Hamilton and his nearest relatives, who were then
passing a few weeks together at South End, than they hastened to Merton
Place, where his lordship appointed to meet them. The delay in landing,
made it late that afternoon before he could proceed thither: but, by
travelling all night, he got to Merton at six o'clock in the morning of
the 19th; where his friends had already assembled, in anxious
expectation of beholding the beloved hero whose presence gladdened every
virtuous heart.

His lordship, on undertaking this command, had quitted England so very
expeditiously, that he could not be present at the Grand Installation of
the Knights of the Bath, which took place in Westminster Abbey, on the
19th of May 1803, the day after his arrival at Portsmouth; and,
consequently, was