then going as convoy to the Mediterranean in command of Captain Robinson. Returning to England in April, 1777, he passed his examination for a lieutenancy, and immediately received his commission as second lieutenant of the "Lowerstoffe," 32 guns, under the command of Captain Locker. He afterwards requested and obtained the command of the schooner attached to the frigate, with which he gained a complete knowledge of the intricate passages among the Florida Keys. In 1778, Sir Peter Parker, being favorably impressed with Nelson's character, took him on board his flag-ship as third lieutenant, and in a short time raised him. to the first lieutenancy. Near the close of the same year, Sir Peter appointed him to the command of the "Badger," an armed brig, with which he was to cruise for the protection of the Bay of Honduras and the Mosquito shore. In June, 1779, he was made a post-captain, and obtained the command of the "Hinchinbrooke" of 28 guns. He distinguished himself in some desperate attacks on the Spanish forts in Nicaragua, and served on the American coast till the general peace in 1783.

In March, 1784, Nelson was nominated to the command of the frigate "Boreas," bound for the Leeward Islands, as a cruiser, under the orders of Sir Edward Hughes, commanderin-chief. In that station he seized several American ships for alleged violation of the Navigation Act. His conduct in this matter received little support from the admiral, and incurred the enmity, as well of the English planters, as of the American traders. The latter prosecuted him for detention and false imprisonment, and laid their damages at a very heavy sum. Captain Nelson was obliged to remain a sort of prisoner on board his ship to avoid arrest; he, however, gained his cause at court. While in the West Indies he married Mrs. Nesbit, the widow of a physician.

In 1793, when England began to take part in the wars of the French Revolution, Nelson was appointed to the "Agamemnon," a 64-gun ship. His views of a British seaman's duty are shown by his remarks about this time to a new midshipman, the son of a friend, who was a staunch Whig. He thus admonished the lad: "There are three things, young

gentleman, which you are constantly to bear in mind: first, you must always implicitly obey orders, without attempting to form any opinion of your own respecting their propriety; secondly, you must consider every man as your enemy who speaks ill of your king; and, thirdly, you must hate a Frenchman as you do the devil."

Nelson sailed to the Mediterranean under the command of Lord Howe, by whom he was sent, in August, 1793, with dispatches to Sir William Hamilton, British envoy extraordinary and plenipotentiary at Naples. There he contracted that intimate connection with Sir William and Lady Hamilton, especially with the latter, which is so conspicuous in the history of his private life. After conveying some Neapolitan troops to Toulon, he proceeded to the coast of Corsica, where he was very active both on sea and land, while co-operating with Paoli and the patriotic party in that island against the French. He assisted greatly at the reduction of Bastia and Calvi, where he commanded the seamen. At the siege of the latter he had the misfortune to lose the sight of an eye, in consequence of some gravel forcibly driven into it by a shot which struck the ground near him.

In February, 1797, Nelson bore a distinguished part in Jervis's victory over the Spanish fleet off Cape St. Vincent. Being in command of the "Captain," 74 guns, he boarded and captured two of the enemy's largest ships. He bravely led the boarders himself from the first of these prizes to the other, shouting the well-known words, "Westminster Abbey or victory!" He was now knighted and advanced to the rank of rear-admiral. In July of the same year, Nelson led an attack on the Island of Teneriffe, which was beaten off with severe loss to the assailants. He himself lost his right arm, and his life was saved with the greatest difficulty by his stepson, Lieutenant Nesbit. In a memorial which he was required to present, as a matter of form, after the action, to entitle him to a pension of £1,000 per annum, he gave the following catalogue of his services. He had been in four actions with the fleets of the enemy, in three cutting-out expeditions, and in taking three towns. He had served ashore with the army four months, and commanded the batteries in