ame testimony is borne by a lady, of whom Nicolas speaks as "the
personal and intimate friend both of Lord and Lady Nelson, and the
widow of one of his most distinguished followers," but whose name he
does not give.[19] "I am aware of your intention not to touch upon
this delicate subject: I only allude to it in order to assure you,
from my personal knowledge, in a long and intimate acquaintance, that
Lady Nelson's conduct was not only affectionate, wise, and prudent,
but admirable, throughout her married life, and that she had not a
single reproach to make herself. I say not this to cast unnecessary
blame upon _one_ whose memory I delight to honour, but only in justice
to that truly good and amiable woman.... If mildness, forbearance, and
indulgence to the weaknesses of human nature could have availed, her
fate would have been very different. No reproach ever passed her lips;
and when she parted from her Lord, on his hoisting his flag again, it
was without the most distant suspicion that he meant it to be final,
and that in this life they were never to meet again. I am desirous
that you should know the worth of her who has so often been
misrepresented, from the wish of many to cast the blame anywhere, but
on him who was so deservedly dear to the Nation."

The latter years of Lady Nelson's life were passed partly in Paris,
where she lived with her son and his family. Her eldest grandchild, a
girl, was eight or ten years old at the time of her death. She
remembers the great sweetness of her grandmother's temper, and tells
that she often saw her take from a casket a miniature of Nelson, look
at it affectionately, kiss it, and then replace it gently; after which
she would turn to her and say, "When you are older, little Fan, you
too may know what it is to have a broken heart." This trifling
incident, transpiring as it now does for the first time, after nearly
seventy years, from the intimate privacies of family life, bears its
mute evidence to the truth of the last two witnesses, that Lady Nelson
neither reproached her husband, nor was towards him unforgiving.[20]
Nelson's early friend, the Duke of Clarence, who had given her away at
the wedding, maintained his kindly relations with her to the end, and
continued his interest to her descendants after his accession to the
throne.

Thus abruptly and sadly ended an attachment which, if never ardent,
had for many years run undisturbed its tender course, and apparently
had sat