tween Lady Hamilton and himself; for, immediately upon joining his
command in the Downs, he began writing about the search for a house,
as a matter already decided, in which she was to act for him. "Have
you heard of any house? I am very anxious to have a home where my
friends might be made welcome." As usual, in undertakings of every
kind, he chafed under delays, and he was ready to take the first that
seemed suitable. "I really wish you would buy the house at Turnham
Green," he writes her within a week. The raising of the money, it is
true, presents some difficulty, for he has in hand but L3,000. "It is,
my dear friend," he moralizes, "extraordinary, but true, that the man
who is pushed forward to defend his country, has not from that country
a place to lay his head in; but never mind, happy, truly happy, in the
estimation of such friends as you, I care for nothing."

Lady Hamilton, however, was a better business-man than himself, and
went about his purchase with the deliberation of a woman shopping. At
the end of three weeks he was still regretting that he could not "find
a house and a little ece of ground, for if I go on much longer with
my present command, I must be ruined. I think your perseverance and
management will at last get me a home." By the 20th of August she was
suited, for on that date he writes to her, "I approve of the house at
Merton;" and, as the Admiralty would not consent to his leaving his
station even for a few days, all the details of the bargain were left
in her hands. "I entreat, my good friend, manage the affair of the
house for me." He stipulates only that everything in it shall be his,
"to a book or a cook," or even "to a pair of sheets, towels, &c." "I
entreat I may never hear about the expenses again. If you live in
Piccadilly or Merton it makes no difference, and if I was to live at
Merton I must keep a table, and nothing can cost me one-sixth part
which it does at present." "You are to be, recollect, Lady Paramount
of all the territories and waters of Merton, and we are all to be your
guests, and to obey, all lawful commands."

In this way were conducted the purchase and preparation of the only
home of his own on English ground that Nelson ever possessed, where he
passed his happiest hours, and from which he set out to fight his last
battle. The negotiation was concluded three days before the rumors of
the peace got abroad, therefore about the 27th of September, 1801; and
in consequenc