hen Lord Nelson was blockading Toulon, he was joined
from England by a line-of-battle ship, commanded by an officer who, as
the story goes, had long applied for and expected an appointment to a
cruising frigate, and who, in consequence of this disappointment, came
growling out to join the fleet, in high dudgeon with the Admiralty at
being condemned, as he called it, to the galley-slave duty of a
blockade, in a wretched old tub of a 74, instead of ranging at large
in a gay frigate over the Atlantic or the Adriatic, and nabbing up
prizes by the dozen. It appears farther, that he rather unreasonably
extended a portion of his indignation to the Admiral, who, of course,
had nothing to do with his appointment; and this sulky frame of mind
might have proved the captain's ruin, had his Admiral been any other
than Nelson. But the genius of that great officer appeared to delight
in such occasions of recalling people to a sense of their duty, and
directing their passions and motives into the channels most useful to
themselves and their country. Knowing the officer to be a clever man,
and capable of performing good service if he chose, it was Nelson's
cue to make it his choice. When, therefore, the captain came on board,
full of irritability and provocation, the Admiral took no notice, but
chatted with him during breakfast on the news from England, and other
indifferent matters, as if his guest had been in the best humour
possible. The other, who was nursing his displeasure, waited only for
an opportunity of exploding, when he could do so without a breach of
decorum. Lord Nelson soon gave him the occasion he appeared to seek
for, by begging him to step into the after-cabin, and then asking him
what he thought of the station, and how he should like cruising in
the Levant and other interesting parts of the Mediterranean.

"Why, as to that, my lord, I am not very likely to have any choice. I
am sent here to join the blockading fleet, and here, no doubt, I am
doomed to stick. I care nothing about the Mediterranean, and it would
matter little if I did."

"I am sorry to hear you speak in that way," said Nelson, "for I had
reckoned a good deal on your activity, personal knowledge, and
abilities, to execute a service of some consequence in the upper parts
of the station. In this view I have been cutting out a cruise for you,
which I had hoped might enable you to see everything that is
interesting, and at the same time to execute a delicat