, either of them. They wear
fine epaulettes, for which I think them great coxcombs. They have
not visited me; and I shall not, be assured, court their
acquaintance. You must be heartily tired of this long epistle, if
you can read it; but I have the worst pen in the world, and I
can't mend it. God bless you; and, be assured, I am your sincere
friend, and affectionate humble servant,

"Horatio Nelson."

In another letter from St Omer, he returns to the charge against Dandy
Ball and Shepard:--

"Here are two navy captains, Ball and Shepard, at this place; but
we do not visit. They are very fine gentlemen, with epaulettes.
You may suppose, I hold them a little _cheap_ for putting on any
part of a Frenchman's uniform."

And in a short time after, he seems to have made up his mind on two
very important points--politics and the French people.

To his brother William.

"... As to your having enlisted under the banners of the
Walpoles, [Whigs,] you might as well have enlisted under those of
my grandmother. They are altogether the merest set of cyphers
that ever existed--in public affairs, I mean. Mr Pitt, depend
upon it, will stand against all opposition. An honest man must
always, in the end, get the better of a _villain_. But I have
done with politics. Let who will get in, I shall be left out."

"In about a week or fortnight, I think of returning to the
Continent till autumn, when I shall bring a horse, and stay the
winter at Burnham. I return to many charming women; but _no
charming woman_ will return with me. I want to be a proficient in
the language, which is my only reason for returning. I hate their
country and their manners."

In March of this year, (1784,) he was appointed to the Boreas frigate
of twenty-eight guns; and had the honour (not very highly valued) of
carrying out Lady Hughes, the wife of the admiral on the Leeward
Island station, and a number of other people, who did not add much to
the efficiency of a man-of-war. It was on this station that he had
first an opportunity of showing the determination and fearlessness of
his character in maintaining what he thought the right--though ill
supported, as was to be expected, by the authorities at home--against
local interests, which any other man would not have ventured to
oppose. We are not about to e