ng the 15th
of September, when he left to embark at Portsmouth to return no
more; and I can assert with truth that a more complete contrast
between this lady's portrait and my thorough recollection of him
could not be forced on my mind. Lord Nelson in private life was
remarkable for a demeanour quiet, sedate, and unobtrusive,
anxious to give pleasure to every one about him, distinguishing
each in turn by some act of kindness, and chiefly those who
seemed to require it most.

During his few intervals of leisure, in a little knot of
relations and friends, he delighted in quiet conversation,
through which occasionally ran an undercurrent of pleasantry,
not unmixed with caustic wit. At his table he was the least
heard among the company, and so far from being the hero of his
own tale, I never heard him voluntarily refer to any of the
great actions of his life.

I have known him lauded by the great and wise; but he seemed to
me to waive the homage with as little attention as was
consistent with civility. Nevertheless, a mind like his was
necessarily won by attention from those who could best estimate
his value.

On his return from his last interview with Mr. Pitt, being asked
in what manner he had been received, he replied that he had
reason to be gratified with his reception, and concluded with
animation, "Mr. Pitt, when I rose to go, left the room with me,
and attended me to the carriage"--a spontaneous mark of respect
and admiration from the great statesman, of which, indeed, he
might well be proud.

It would have formed an amusement to the circle at Merton, if
intemperance were set down to the master of the house, who
always so prematurely cut short the _sederunt_ of the gentlemen
after dinner.

A man of more temperate habits could not, I am persuaded, have
been found. It appears that the person of Lord Nelson (although
he was not as described, a little man, but of the middle height
and of a frame adapted to activity and exertion) did not find
favour with the lady; and I presume not to dispute her taste,
but in his plain suit of black, in which he alone recurs to my
memory, he always looked what he was--a gentleman. Whatever
expletives of an objectionable kind may be ascribed to him, I
feel persuaded that such rarely entered into his conversation.
He w