. His account of the interview, transmitted to us by Croker, is as
follows:--

WALMER, October 1st, 1834. We were talking of Lord Nelson, and
some instances were mentioned of the egotism and vanity that
derogated from his character. "Why," said the Duke, "I am not
surprised at such instances, for Lord Nelson was, in different
circumstances, two quite different men, as I myself can vouch,
though I only saw him once in my life, and for, perhaps, an
hour. It was soon after I returned from India. I went to the
Colonial Office[110] in Downing Street, and there I was shown
into the little waiting-room on the right hand, where I found,
also waiting to see the Secretary of State, a gentleman, whom,
from his likeness to his pictures and the loss of an arm, I
immediately recognised as Lord Nelson. He could not know who I
was, but he entered at once into conversation with me, if I can
call it conversation, for it was almost all on his side and all
about himself, and in, really, a style so vain and so silly as
to surprise and almost disgust me. I suppose something that I
happened to say may have made him guess that I was _somebody_,
and he went out of the room for a moment, I have no doubt to ask
the office-keeper who I was, for when he came back he was
altogether a different man, both in manner and matter. All that
I had thought a charlatan style had vanished, and he talked of
the state of this country and of the aspect and probabilities of
affairs on the Continent with a good sense, and a knowledge of
subjects both at home and abroad, that surprised me equally and
more agreeably than the first part of our interview had done; in
fact, he talked like an officer and a statesman. The Secretary
of State kept us long waiting, and certainly, for the last half
or three quarters of an hour, I don't know that I ever had a
conversation that interested me more. Now, if the Secretary of
State had been punctual, and admitted Lord Nelson in the first
quarter of an hour, I should have had the same impression of a
light and trivial character that other people have had; but
luckily I saw enough to be satisfied that he was really a very
superior man; but certainly a more sudden and complete
metamorphosis I never saw."[111]

This is not the only record that remains to us of those interesting
interviews with C