section of society, or to suppose that he may not be criticized or
even ostracized if he defiantly offends the susceptibilities of our
moral national life. And it is rather a big tax on one's patience for
a man, because of his exalted position and distinguished deeds of
valour and high services rendered to the State, to expect that he may
be granted licence to parade his gallantries with women in boastful
indifference to the moral law that governs the lives of a large
section of the community. There are undoubtedly cases of ill-assorted
unions, but it does not lie within our province to judge such cases.
They may be victims of a hard fate far beyond the knowledge of the
serene critics, whose habit of life is to sneak into the sacred
affairs of others, while their own may be in need of vigilant enquiry
and adjustment.

It would hardly be possible, with the facts before us, to say a word
in mitigation of Nelson's ostentatious infatuation for Lady Hamilton,
were it not that he can never be judged from the same standpoint as
ordinary mortals. That is not to say that a man, mentally constituted
as he was, should not be amenable to established social laws.

Nelson was a compound of peculiarities, like most men who are put into
the world to do something great. He was amusingly vain, while his
dainty vanity so obscured his judgment that he could not see through
the most fulsome flattery, especially that of women. At the same time
he was professionally keen, with a clear-seeing intellect, dashing,
flawless courage, and a mind that quickly grasped the weak points of
the enemy's position or formation. He fought the old form of sea
warfare by methods that were exclusively his, and sent his opponents
staggering into confusion. Once a plan of battle had been arranged, he
never faltered in his judgment, and only manoeuvred as circumstances