dient, humble servant,

HORATIO NELSON.

Except this vexatious but passing cloud, his service upon the Riviera,
despite the procrastinations and final failure of his associates in
the campaign, was pleasant both personally and officially. He earned
the warm esteem of all with whom he acted, notably the British
ministers at Turin and Genoa; and though necessarily in constant
collision with the Genoese authorities upon international questions,
he upheld the interests and policy of his own government, without
entailing upon it serious cause of future reclamations and
disputes.[34] Hotham's very indifference and lethargy, while crippling
his enterprise, increased his independence. "I cannot get Hotham on
the coast," he said, "for he hates this co-operation;" but he owns to
the fear that the admiral, if he came, might overrule his projects.
The necessity for exertion delighted him. "My command here is so far
pleasant," he wrote to his friend Collingwood, "as it relieves me from
the inactivity of our fleet, which is great indeed, as you will soon
see." "At present," he tells his wife, "I do not write less than from
ten to twenty letters every day; which, with the Austrian general, and
aide-de-camps, and my own little squadron, fully employ my time: this
I like; active service or none." As usual, when given room for the
exercise of his powers, he was, for him, well. He had a severe attack
of illness very soon after assuming the duty--"a complaint in the
breast"--the precursor perhaps of the similar trouble from which he
suffered so much in later years; but it wore off after an acute attack
of a fortnight, and he wrote later that, except being at home, he knew
no country so pleasant to serve in, nor where his health was so good.
This well-grounded preference for the Mediterranean, as best suited to
his naturally frail constitution, remained with him to the end.

Besides his official correspondence, he wrote freely and fully to
those at home, unburdening to them the thoughts, cares, and
disappointments of his career, as well as the commendations he
received, so dear to himself as well as to them. Mrs. Nelson and his
father lived together, and to her most of his home letters were
addressed. "I have been very negligent," he admits to her, "in writing
to my father, but I rest assured he knows I would have done it long
ago, had you not been under the same roof.... Pray draw on me," he
continues, "for L200, my father and mysel