[53]. Even the Protestantism of Dr. Johnson might have forgiven this as an outburst of anti-republican zeal. See antè, Chapter I.
[54]. The late Duke of Sussex.
[55]. Sir William Hamilton, who was at that time sixty-eight years of age, had been for nearly half that period British minister at the Court of Naples. He had then been married to Lady Hamilton nearly seven years.
[56]. There was at that time a treaty between Naples and France, by which the former bound herself not to admit more than two English ships of war at a time into any Neapolitan or Sicilian port.
[57]. Maria Caroline, daughter of Maria Theresa of Austria. She was married, in 1768, to Ferdinand IV., King of Naples, son of Charles III. of Spain. A woman of great feminine beauty, but of a masculine understanding, she has earned for herself an unhappy notoriety in history as a princess of a cruel and ferocious nature, pitiless and unscrupulous in the attainment of her ends. But it may be doubted whether her vices have not been exaggerated both by English and French historians. At all events, it should be borne in mind that she was mated to a very weak prince, and that his feebleness rendered necessary, in the troublous times in which their lot was cast, an assertion of her masculine strength.
[58]. Afterwards Sir W. Hoste, K.C.B. His Memoirs and Correspondence were published by Lady Hoste in 1833.
[59]. Afterwards Admiral the Honourable Sir Bladen Capel, K.C.B. Hoste and Capel brought a letter of introduction from Nelson to Lady Hamilton, in which he says: “I beg leave to introduce Captain Capel, who is going home with my despatches, to your notice. He is a son of Lord Essex, and a very good young man. And I also beg your notice of Captain Hoste, who to the gentlest manners joins the most undaunted courage. He was brought up by me, and I love him dearly.”
[60]. There is some error in these statements. Captain Capel, not Captain Hoste, was appointed to the Mutine on the promotion of Captain Hardy. Hoste was appointed to her afterwards. The battle of the Nile was fought on the 1st of August. The despatches were not received in London till the 2nd of October.
[61]. Afterwards Admiral Sir Thomas Troubridge.
[62]. This is the Captain, afterwards Sir Alexander, Ball, of whom Coleridge has given an interesting account in one of the numbers of the Friend. There was an early coldness between him and Nelson, but the great storm of the 20th of May, 1798, had brought them together, under very interesting circumstances, and a close friendship was cemented between them. Captain Ball was created a baronet in 1801, and was for some time governor of Malta, where he died in 1809.