of us to make out his real character; there was such a reserve and
sternness in his behaviour, with occasional sallies, though very
transient, of a superior mind. Being placed by him, I endeavoured to
rouse his attention by showing him all the civilities in my power; but
I drew out little more than 'Yes' and 'No.' If you, Fanny, had been
there, we think you would have made something of him, for you have
been in the habit of attending to these odd sort of people."

Mrs. Nisbet very quickly made something of him. Little direct
description has been transmitted to us concerning the looks or
characteristics of the woman who now, at the time when marriage was
possible to him, had the misfortune to appear in the line of
succession of Nelson's early fancies, and to attract the too easily
aroused admiration and affection of a man whose attachment she had not
the inborn power to bind. That Nelson was naturally inconstant, beyond
the volatility inherent in youth, is sufficiently disproved by the
strength and endurance of his devotion to the one woman, in whom he
either found or imagined the qualities that appealed to the heroic
side of his character. How completely she mastered all the approaches
to his heart, and retained her supremacy, once established, to the
end, is evidenced by the whole tenor of his correspondence with her,
by his mention of her in letters to others, by the recorded
expressions he used in speaking to or about her. Despite all that he
certainly knew of her, and much more that it is unreasonable to doubt
he must have known of her history, there is no mistaking the profound
emotions she stirred in his spirit, which show themselves continually
in spontaneous outbreaks of passionate fondness and extravagant
admiration, whose ring is too true and strong for doubt concerning
their reality to find a place.