of difficulty and emulation; and this
feeling was enhanced by the thought that their captain too was a
Norfolk man. To one possessing the sympathetic qualities of Nelson,
who so readily shared the emotions and gained the affections of his
associates, it was easy to bind into a living whole the units animated
by this common sentiment.

His stepson, Josiah Nisbet, at this time about thirteen years old, now
entered the service as a midshipman, and accompanied him on board the
"Agamemnon." The oncoming of a great war naturally roused to a yet
higher pitch the impulse towards the sea, which in all generations
has stirred the blood of English boys. Of these, Nelson, using his
captain's privilege, received a number as midshipmen upon his
quarter-deck, among them several from the sons of neighbors and
friends, and therefore, like the crew, Norfolk lads. It is told that
to one, whose father he knew to be a strong Whig, of the party which
in the past few years had sympathized with the general current of the
French Revolution, he gave the following pithy counsels for his
guidance in professional life: "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." On the last two items Nelson's practice was in full
accord with his precept; but to the first, his statement of which,
sound enough in the general, is open to criticism as being too
absolute, he was certainly not obedient. Not to form an opinion is
pushing the principle of subordination to an indefensible extreme,
even for a junior officer, though the caution not to express it is
wise, as well as becoming to the modesty of youth. Lord Howe's advice
to Codrington, to watch carefully all that passed and to form his own
conclusions, but to keep them to himself, was in every respect more
reasonable and profitable. But in fact this dictum of Nelson's was
simply another instance of hating the French as he did the devil. The
French were pushing independence and private judgment to one extreme,
and he instinctively adopted the other.

It was not till near the end of April that the "Agamemnon" finally
left the Thames, anchoring at Spithead on the 28th of that month.
Still the fleet which Lord Hood was to command was not ready. While
awaiting her consorts, the ship made a shor