ssels at Nevis; and when the matter was
brought into court at that place he pleaded his own cause, and the ships
were condemned.

While the lawsuit was proceeding, Nelson formed an attachment to a young
widow, Mrs. Nisbet, niece of the President of Nevis, and was married to
her on March 11, 1787. She was then in her eighteenth year, and had one
child, a son, Josiah, who was three years old. They returned together to
England and took up their abode at the old parsonage, where Nelson
amused himself with farming and country sports, and continued a
relentless campaign against the speculators and fraudulent contractors
attached to the naval service in the West Indies. After many vain
attempts to secure a ship, he was at last appointed, on January 30,
1793, to the Agamemnon, sixty-four guns.

_II.--In the Mediterranean_

The Agamemnon was ordered to the Mediterranean under Lord Hood, and
Nelson was sent with despatches to Sir William Hamilton, our envoy to
the court of Naples. Sir William, after his first interview with him,
told Lady Hamilton that he was about to introduce a little man to her
who could not boast of being very handsome, but who would one day
astonish the world. Thus that acquaintance began which ended in the
destruction of Nelson's domestic happiness, though it threatened no such
consequences then. Here also began that acquaintance with the Neapolitan
court which led to the only blot on Nelson's public character.

Having accomplished this mission, Nelson was sent to join Commodore
Linzee at Tunis, and shortly afterwards to co-operate with General Paoli
and the Anti-Gallican party in Corsica. At this time, 1794, Nelson was
able to say, "My seamen are now what British seamen ought to be, almost
invincible. They really mind shot no more than peas." And again, after
capturing Bastia, "I am all astonishment when I reflect on what we have
achieved! I was always of opinion, have ever acted up to it, and never
had any reason to repent it, that one Englishman was equal to three
Frenchmen." The Agamemnon was then dispatched to co-operate in the siege
of Calvi with General Sir Charles Stuart, at which Nelson lost the sight
of one eye; and later played a glorious part in the attack by Admiral
Hotham's squadron on the French fleet. This action saved Corsica for the
time.

Nelson was made colonel of marines in 1795, a mark of approbation which
he had long wished for; and the Agamemnon was ordered to Genoa, to
co-