wo English vessels arrived; and Nelson himself is expected
to-morrow, in a third. To give you some idea of the favour in which the
enemies of our country are held here, you must know that, with my own
eyes, I saw the King of Naples go more than two leagues to sea, to meet
the English, to applaud and congratulate them. The two vessels which are
arrived have brought two French officers with them, one of them is
Vice-Admiral Blanquet." Lachavardiere also gives an account of the
battle; which, however, contains nothing of peculiar importance. One
circumstance, indeed, is sufficiently singular--"Admiral Brueys," he
says, "was wounded in the head and the hand: but continued to command,
till a cannon-ball cut him in two; and," adds this Frenchman, "_he lived
a quarter of an hour afterwards!_"

The integrity of our heroic Nelson seems to have revolted at the
characteristic falsehood and deceit so generally experienced in the
French. He could not be prevailed on, by his friends at Naples, to visit
Admiral Blanquet, who had his nose shot off, and was otherwise
dreadfully wounded in the face. On this occasion, he seems to have
adopted all the rough bluntness of a British tar. He had beaten him, he
said, and would not insult him. "Seeing me," added the hero, "will only
put him in mind of his misfortune. I have an antipathy to Frenchmen;
which is so powerful, that I must, I think, have received it from my
mother, at my birth."

He was, himself, at this period, though in excellent spirits, so
corporeally weak and reduced, that he was obliged to be kept chiefly on
ass's milk for some time after his arrival. Indeed, though excess of
joy, at the first meeting of such friends as Admiral Nelson, and Sir
William and Lady Hamilton, absorbed every other consideration, a most
essential personal difference was manifest in the hero from that which
had appeared on his former visit to Naples. It is to be recollected,
that neither Sir William nor his lady had ever beheld him, prior to this
period, except for a very few days, while the Neapolitan subsidiary
troops were embarking for Toulon, when he was without any wound or
disfigurement whatever, though always of a plain but pleasingly
expressive countenance: he was now returned, in the short space of about
four years, having atchieved victories which might have graced an age
of absence; but, at what a price were they purchased! The vision of an
eye had been completely extinguished, at Calvi; an a