"

Having received information, by Captain Troubridge, that the French
were at Malta, on the 8th, going to attack it; and that Naples, being at
peace with the French republic, could afford us no assistance; he seemed
to lament that even a day had been lost, by visiting the Bay of Naples,
and resolved instantly, by the shortest cut, to make the Pharos of
Messina.

Such, at least, was the apparent face of the business; but, in truth,
one grand object of Captain Troubridge's mission had been secretly
successful to a very high degree. He had reached Naples at five in the
morning: when Sir William Hamilton immediately arose, and communicated
on the business with the King of the two Sicilies and General Acton;
who, after much deliberation, agreed, that nothing could possibly be
done, which might endanger their peace with the French republic. Lady
Hamilton, in the mean time, aware what would be the decision; and
convinced, by all she heard from Captain Troubridge, of the importance
to the British fleet, as well as to the real security of the Neapolitan
and Sicilian territories, that the ports of these countries should by no
means be closed against those who were alone able to protect them from
the force or perfidy of General Bonaparte; without consulting any thing
but her own correct judgment, and well-intentioned heart, she contrived
to procure, from some being of a superior order, sylph, fairy, magician,
or other person skilled in the occult sciences, as many in Naples, as
well as elsewhere, positively profess themselves to be, a small
association of talismanic characters, fraught with such magical and
potential influence, in favour of the possessor, that the slightest
glance of this mystic charm no sooner saluted the eye of a Sicilian or
Neapolitan governor, than he was incapable of regarding any other object
except what the bearer presented to his dazzled view, or of hearing any
other injunction but that which the same person addressed to his
astonished ear; while his tongue was, at the same time, impelled to
secrecy, by the dread of an assured death. Possessed of this treasure,
Sir Horatio had immediately sailed; but, as his possession of this
talisman was to remain a profound secret, till those periods should
arrive when it must necessarily be produced, the same sort of
correspondence continued to be kept up, between the parties, as if no
such favour had been conferred on the hero by any friendly enchantress
whatever.