person could be found who was of opinion that he might possibly recover
without quitting the island. No such person was obtainable; and,
accordingly, in a state of the most extreme debility, towards the close
of this year, he returned home, in his majesty's ship the Lion,
commanded by the Honourable William Cornwallis, the now celebrated
admiral; whose kind care and attention, during their passage, greatly
contributed to preserve his valuable life.

On his arrival in England, though then barely in existence, and almost
wholly without the use of his limbs, such was the excessive ardour of
his mind for employ, that nothing could prevent him from being
immediately carried to the Admiralty, and applying for a ship. "This
they readily promised me," he jocosely observed, soon after, to one of
his relations, "thinking it not possible for me to live."

He now went, directly, to Bath: where he was, at first, under the
necessity of being carried to the springs, and wherever else he wanted
to go; and, for several weeks afterwards, constrained to use crutches.
These, however, he at length threw aside, much sooner than his friends
at the Admiralty had expected; though it was nearly three months before
he entirely recovered the use of his limbs. In a letter which he wrote,
from this place, dated February 15, 1781, to his friend Captain Locker,
he observes that he is, thank God, very near perfectly restored; having
the complete use of all his limbs, except his left arm, of which he can
hardly tell the ailment: from the shoulder to his fingers ends felt as
if half dead, but the faculty gave him hopes that it would all go off.
He expresses his anxiety to be employed; and, as if willing to
demonstrate that his spirits were more lively than his limb, he says,
with considerable pleasantry and wit, speaking of three portraits--one
of the present Admiral George Montague, another of Sir Charles Pole, and