the Two Sicilies, or Naples, on May 19, but
declared that Austria would only support Naples if France was the
aggressor, and would give no help if Naples began the war.[295]

His plans were disconcerted by the action of Ferdinand IV. of Naples.
After the battle of the Nile the British fleet in the Mediterranean was
broken up and employed in different directions. Nelson himself sailed to
Naples, was received as its deliverer, and was ensnared by the charms of
Emma, the wife of Sir William Hamilton, the British minister. She was a
woman of low birth, and in her youth had entered on an immoral life.
Though grown stout she was still beautiful, and her considerable natural
talents had been improved by Charles Greville, under whose protection
she had lived. He passed her over to Hamilton, who married her in 1791.
Queen Maria Caroline made a favourite of her, and used her for political
ends, for the queen was anxious for British help against the French and
the Neapolitan republicans. Under court and female influences, Nelson,
who had been ordered to protect Naples, came to consider its fortunes as
of the first importance. The queen, far bolder and more energetic than
her husband, was bent on war. Mack, the Austrian strategist, took
command of the army, and by Nelson's advice Ferdinand declared war on
France. Nelson assisted the operations by carrying troops to Leghorn.
Ferdinand entered Rome in triumph on November 29. His triumph was
short-lived; the Neapolitans were routed by the French, and Naples was
threatened. On December 23 the king and queen and their court took
refuge on board Nelson's ship, the _Vanguard_, and her companions, and
Nelson conveyed them to Palermo and remained with them there. The French
occupied Naples and the Parthenopean republic was established on the
mainland of the Two Sicilies. Among other operations in the
Mediterranean a small British force took Minorca from the Spaniards in
November without the loss of a man, and British and Portuguese ships
blockaded Valetta and compelled the surrender of Gozo. In order to avoid
offending the tsar, or exciting the jealousy of the Austrian or
Neapolitan courts, England renounced all desire for conquest either as
regards Malta, where she proposed that the knights should be
re-established, or the Adriatic, where Turkish and Russian ships were
attacking the French in the former possessions of Venice.[296]

[Sidenote: _THE SECOND COALITION._]

The ill-advised ac