. He
had indulged in pleasant dreams when looking on to this as his place
of residence and rest. "To be sure," he says, "we shall employ the
tradespeople of our village in preference to any others in what we
want for common use, and give them every encouragement to be kind and
attentive to us." "Have we a nice church at Merton? We will set an
example of goodness to the under-parishioners. I admire the pigs and
poultry. Sheep are certainly most beneficial to eat off the grass. Do
you get paid for them, and take care that they are kept on the premises
all night, for that is the time they do good to the land. They should
be folded. Is your head-man a good person, and true to our interest? I
intend to have a farming-book. I expect that all animals will increase
where you are, for I never expect that you will suffer any to be killed.
No person can take amiss our not visiting. The answer from me will
always be very civil thanks, but that I wish to live retired. We shall
have our sea-friends; and I know Sir William thinks they are the best."
This place he had never seen till he was now welcomed there by the
friends to whom he had so passionately devoted himself, and who were
not less sincerely attached to him. The place, and everything which Lady
Hamilton had done to it, delighted him; and he declared that the longest
liver should possess it all. Here he amused himself with angling in the
Wandle, having been a good fly-fisher in former days, and learning
now to practise with his left hand what he could no longer pursue as a
solitary diversion. His pensions for his victories, and for the loss of
his eye and arm, amounted with his half-pay to about L3400 a-year. From
this he gave L1800 to Lady Nelson, L200 to a brother's widow, and
L150 for the education of his children; and he paid L500 interest for
borrowed money; so that Nelson was comparatively a poor man; and though
much of the pecuniary embarrassment which he endured was occasioned by
the separation from his wife--even if that cause had not existed, his
income would not have been sufficient for the rank which he held,
and the claims which would necessarily be made upon his bounty. The
depression of spirits under which he had long laboured arose partly from
this state of his circumstances, and partly from the other disquietudes
in which his connection with Lady Hamilton had involved him--a
connection which it was not possible his father could behold without
sorrow and disple