his brave friends who so gloriously fought at the battle of the Nile--if
his health and uneasiness of mind should not be mended. In the mean
time, he resolved to send Captain Troubridge to Egypt, as he had before
intended, that he might endeavour to destroy the transports in
Alexandria; after which, he was now to deliver up the Levant Seas to
the care of Sir Sidney Smith.

Piqued as Lord Nelson evidently was, on this occasion, by what he felt
as the obtrusion of Sir Sidney Smith, to the exclusion of his favourite
band of brothers, he nevertheless wished him all possible success, and
readily yielded him every requisite assistance in his power. At the same
time, with abundant address, his lordship selected, from the dispatches
which had been transmitted to him, an extract from Lord Grenville's
instructions, which he transcribed into the following letter to Sir
Sidney Smith, as a gentle hint that this officer's authority was not
wholly without restriction.

"Palermo, Dec. 31, 1798.


"SIR,

"I have been honoured with your letter from off Malta, with it's
several inclosures: viz. An extract of a letter from Lord Grenville
to John Spencer Smith, Esq. &c.--"And his majesty has been
graciously pleased to direct, that your brother, Sir Sidney Smith,
shall proceed to Constantinople with the eighty-gun ship Le Tigre.
His instructions will enable him to take the command of such of his
majesty's ships as he may find in those seas--unless, by any
unforeseen accident, it should happen that there should be, among