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promotion of their felicity and glory, was the chief source of his own.
For himself, he had wealth more than sufficient; but he was too poor,
satisfactorily to assist those who were most dear to him. Had his
remunerations, and his honours, been as largely proportioned to those of
the Great Duke of Marlborough, as his merits, and his services, he would
not only have aggrandized his own family and friends, but proved a most
munificent patron of genius, and a bountiful dispenser of relief to
every species of human misery. Posterity will say, and it cannot be
denied, that our first naval hero was rewarded with too parsimonious a
hand. Should we ever see his equal, in all respects--which seems no more
likely than that we shall behold another Shakspeare--it will probably be
thought, that he is not unworthy of a dukedom. The King of Naples, as
the ally of his British majesty, restored to his throne by Lord Nelson,
deemed our hero entitled to the honour of a ducal coronet, with the
princely revenue of a dutchy; and it can never be enough lamented, that
any official etiquette, in his own country, should have prevented the
gracious sovereign who so sincerely loved him, and who was so sincerely
beloved by the hero, from bestowing on him, at least, an equal degree of
dignity, with the correspondent domains and emoluments for it's due
support. How many naval commanders have enriched themselves, by
fortunate captures of unopposing treasure-ships, or on long preserved
snug stations, without the smallest personal hazard, to a degree far
beyond what his lordship ever acquired, who was continually engaged in
scenes of the utmost fatigue and peril! All the prize-money he got, was
by hard fighting; and it was, in general, only derived from the capture
of those ships which his tremendous valour had frequently rendered
wrecks of little value. Even then, but a small portion fell to his
share; as he had, both at the Nile and Copenhagen, two of the greatest
victories ever gained, a commander in chief who was regularly entitled
to prodigiously more than himself. It is by no means pretended, that the
captors of rich prizes, the possessors of advantageous stations, and
commanders in chief, are not all of them justly and most honourably
entitled to the vast wealth they have often the good fortune to acquire;
it is only lamented, that our hero was, in these respects, constantly so
peculiarly unfortunate. After the Earl of St. Vincent left the
Medit