uary, off Malta, where his lordship found his health
much affected, he wrote to Lord Keith, that it was impossible he could
remain much longer there. "Without some rest," says his lordship, "I am
gone. I must, therefore, whenever I find the service will admit of it,
request your permission to go to my friends at Palermo, for a few weeks,
and leave the command here to Commodore Troubridge. Nothing but
necessity obliges me to write this letter." Finding, however, on the
28th, from the report of his friend Captain Ball, that the French ships
were perfectly ready for sea, and would probably attempt to escape the
first fair wind, he writes thus to Lord Keith--"My state of health is
very precarious. Two days ago, I dropped with a pain in my heart, and I
am always in a fever; but the hopes of these gentry coming out, shall
support me a few days longer. I really desire to see this Malta business
finished." The following passage, which occurs in another part of this
letter, is highly characteristic--"The intended movements of their
ships, is a convincing proof, to me, that the garrison has lost all
hopes of a successful resistance, and I wish General Graham would make
false attacks. I am no soldier; therefore, ought not to hazard an
opinion: but, if I commanded, I would torment the scoundrels night and
day."

Having waited till the 8th of March, with the vain expectation that the
French ships would venture out, his lordship wrote to Lord Keith, that
his health continued so bad, he was obliged, in justice to himself, to
retire to Palermo for a few weeks, directing Commodore Troubridge to
carry on the service during his necessary absence: and, in a day or two
after, sailed for Palermo; where he did not arrive, having had a
tedious passage, till the 16th.

On the 20th, his lordship writes to Lord Keith--"It is too soon to form
any judgment of what effect it may have on my health; but, on the 18th,
I had near died, with the swelling of some of the vessels of the heart.
I know, the anxiety of my mind, on coming back to Syracuse in 1798, was
the first cause; and more people, perhaps, die of broken hearts, than we
are aware of." To Commodore Troubridge he writes, also, on this day,
much in the same strain--"It is too soon to form an opinion whether I
can ever be cured of my complaint. At present, I see but glimmering
hopes; and, probably, my career of service is at an end: unless the
French fleet should come into the Mediterranean, wh