ents, in almost all matters connected
with naval affairs in the West Indies, were duly acknowledged by the
Government at home; and in moments of spleen when suffering under
inconveniences which a conscientious discharge of his duty had brought
on him, he talked of quitting the service of an ungrateful country. In
March, 1787, he married Mrs. Nisbet, a West-Indian lady, and in the
same year returned to England. He continued unemployed till January,
1793; when, on the breaking out of the French wars, he was appointed
to the Agamemnon, sixty-four, and ordered to serve in the
Mediterranean under the command of Lord Hood.

An ample field for action was now open to him. Lord Hood, who had
known him in the West Indies, and appreciated his merits, employed him
to co-operate with Paoli in delivering Corsica from its subjection to
France; and most laboriously and ably did he perform the duty
intrusted to him. The siege and capture of Bastia was entirely owing
to his efforts; and at the siege of Calvi, during which he lost an
eye, and throughout the train of successes which brought about the
temporary annexation of Corsica to the British crown, his services,
and those of the brave crew of the Agamemnon, were conspicuous. In
1795 Nelson was selected to co-operate with the Austrian and Sardinian
troops in opposing the progress of the French in the north of Italy.
The incapacity, if not dishonesty, and the bad success of those with
whom he had to act, rendered this service irksome and inglorious; and
his mortification was heightened when orders were sent out to withdraw
the fleet from the Mediterranean, and evacuate Corsica and Elba. These
reverses, however, were the prelude to a day of glory. On February 13,
1797, the British fleet, commanded by Sir John Jervis, fell in with
the Spanish fleet off Cape St. Vincent. In the battle which ensued,
Nelson, who had been raised to the rank of Commodore, and removed to
the Captain, seventy-four, bore a most distinguished part.
Apprehensive lest the enemy might be enabled to escape without
fighting, he did not hesitate to disobey signals, and executed a
manoeuvre which brought the Captain into close action at once with
three first-rates, an eighty, and two seventy-four gun ships. Captain
Trowbridge, in the Culloden, immediately came to his support, and they
maintained the contest for near an hour against this immense disparity
of force. One first-rate and one seventy-four dropped astern disabl