m."

The year closed with the British fleet watching, as best it could, the
French ships, which, according to Nelson's expectation, had given the
blockaders the slip, and had made their junction at Toulon. There was
now no great disparity in the nominal force of the two opponents, the
British having fourteen ships-of-the-line, the French fifteen; and it
was quite in the enemy's power to fulfil his other prediction, by
keeping Hotham in hot water during the winter. In the middle of
November the "Agamemnon" had to go to Leghorn for extensive repairs,
and remained there, shifting her main and mizzen masts, until the 21st
of December. Nelson, who had endured with unyielding cheerfulness the
dangers, exposure, and sickliness of Calvi, found himself unable to
bear patiently the comfort of quiet nights in a friendly port, while
hot work might chance outside. "Lying in port is misery to me. My
heart is almost broke to find the Agamemnon lying here, little better
than a wreck. I own my sincere wish that the enemy would rest quiet
until we are ready for sea, and a gleam of hope sometimes crosses me
that they will." "I am uneasy enough for fear they will fight, and
Agamemnon not present,--it will almost break my heart; but I hope the
best,--that they are only boasting at present, and will be quiet until
I am ready." "It is misery," he repeats, "for me to be laid up
dismantled."

It was during this period of comparative inactivity in port, followed
by monotonous though arduous winter cruising off Toulon, which was
broken only by equally dreary stays at San Fiorenzo, that Nelson found
time to brood over the neglect of which he thought himself the victim,
in the omission of Lord Hood to notice more markedly his services in
Corsica. It is usually disagreeable to the uninterested bystander to
see an excessive desire for praise, even under the guise of just
recognition of work done. Words of complaint, whether heard or read,
strike a discord to one who himself at the moment is satisfied with
his surroundings. We all have an instinctive shrinking from the tones
of a grumbler. Nelson's insistence upon his grievances has no
exemption from this common experience; yet it must be remembered that
these assertions of the importance of his own services, and
dissatisfaction with the terms in which they had been mentioned, occur
chiefly, if not solely, in letters to closest relations,--to his wife
and uncle,--and that they would never have becom