d made a conditional application to the admiral,
though with evident reluctance, for a short leave of absence on
account of his health. "I don't much like what I have written," he
confessed at the end of his diffident request, and some days later he
again alludes to the subject. "My complaint is as if a girth was
buckled taut over my breast, and my endeavours, in the night, is to
get it loose. To say the truth, when I am actively employed, I am not
so bad. If the Service will admit of it, perhaps I shall at a future
day take your leave." The service now scarcely admitted it, and the
active duty apparently restored his health; at all events we now hear
no more of it. Everything yielded to the requirements of the war.
"The Captain has wants, but I intend she shall last till the autumn:
for I know, when once we begin, our wants are innumerable."

In his still limited sphere, and on all matters directly connected
with it and his professional duties, his judgment was sound and acute,
as his activity, energy, and zeal were untiring. The menace to Corsica
from the fall of Leghorn was accurately weighed and considered. Midway
between the two lay the since famous island of Elba, a dependence of
Tuscany, so small as to be held readily by a few good troops, and
having a port large enough, in Nelson's judgment, to harbor the
British fleet with a little management. "The way to Corsica," he wrote
to the Viceroy, "if our fleet is at hand, is through Elba; for if they
once set foot on that island, it is not all our fleet can stop their
passage to Corsica." The Viceroy took upon himself to direct that the
island be occupied by the British. Nelson complied without waiting for
Jervis's orders, and on the 10th of July a detachment of troops,
convoyed by his squadron, were landed in the island, and took charge,
without serious opposition, of the town of Porto Ferrajo and the works
for the defence of the harbor. The measure was justified upon the
ground that the seizure of Leghorn by the French showed that Tuscany
was unable to assure Elba against a similar step, prejudicial to the
British tenure in Corsica. The administration remained in the hands of
the Tuscan officials, the British occupation being purely military,
and confined to the places necessary for that purpose.

The blockade of Leghorn was enforced with the utmost rigor and great
effectiveness. For a long time no vessels were allowed to go either
out or in. Afterwards the rule wa