came about. My doubts were, however, removed when
Lord Hood introduced me to him. There was something irresistibly
pleasing in his address and conversation, and an enthusiasm, when
speaking on professional subjects, that showed he was no common
being. Nelson, after this, went with us to the West Indies, and
served under Lord Hood's flag during his indefatigable cruize off
Cape Francois. Throughout the whole of the American war the
height of Nelson's ambition was to command a line-of-battle ship;
as for prize-money, it never entered his thoughts; he had always
in view the character of his maternal uncle. I found him warmly
attached to my father, and singularly humane; he had the honour
of the king's service and the independence of the British navy
particularly at heart; and his mind glowed with this idea as much
when he was simply captain of the Albemarle, and had obtained
none of the honours of his country, as when he was afterwards
decorated with so much well-earned distinction."

Nelson's opinion of the prince, as a seaman, was scarcely less high;
and it says not a little, in favour of both parties, that their
friendship appears to have been founded on mutual respect. In July,
1783, the Albemarle was paid off; and Nelson having finished the war,
as he expresses it in a letter to his friend Mr Ross, without a
fortune, but without a speck on his character, remained nine months on
half-pay. But as he determined to make use of his spare time in
mastering the French--a feat which he afterwards accomplished without
a grammar--he resolved to go to France with his friend Captain James
Macnamara for that purpose. There are some very Nelsonian sentences in
his correspondence while in the land of the Mounseers. His contempt
for epaulettes--which were not introduced into the English navy till
1795--is very amusing; and he little thought, that in one of the
dandified officers he despised so much, he should find one of his most
distinguished comrades, the gallant Sir Alexander Ball:--

To William Locker, Esq.
"St Omer, _Nov. 2, 1783_.

"My dear sir--Our travels, since we left you, have been extended
to a much greater length then I apprehended; but I must do
Captain Mac the justice to say it was all my doings, and in a
great measure against his advice; but experience bought is the
best