a person holding the office similar to our under-secretary of
state, who had been sent with my Order of Merit: for, by the form
of the investiture, that seems to me the properest name to call it.

"And now, my lord, having left the command of the two sail of the
line in the Levant Seas to Sir Sidney Smith--than whom, I dare say,
no one could be so proper--Commodore Duckworth will ably, I am
sure, watch Toulon; for I shall very soon, I hope, be able to send
him one or two sail of the line: and, Captain Troubridge, or some
other of my brave and excellent commanders, being left to guard the
One Sicily, and the coast of Italy; I trust, I shall not be thought
hasty, in asking permission to return to England for a few months,
to gather a little of that ease and quiet I have so long been a
stranger to.

"Captain Troubridge goes directly to Egypt, to deliver up to Sir
Sidney Smith the blockade of Alexandria, and the defence of the
Ottoman empire by sea; for, I should hope, that Sir Sidney Smith
will not take any ship from under my command, without my orders;
although Sir Sidney, rather hastily, in my opinion, writes Sir
William Hamilton, that Captain Hood naturally falls under his
orders. I am, probably, considered as having a great force; but I
always desire it to be understood, that I count the Portuguese as
nothing but trouble. Ever believe, my dear lord, your most obliged


"Nelson."

"January 2d. General Acton has just wrote me, that the French are
within thirty miles of Naples, on the 30th. Marquis De Niza is