It pleased him to have her sit by him, for her "magnetism" was marvellous; and she would sit by the hour as patiently as though she had been his mother--amusing him if he would be amused, listening to him if he would talk, or writing his letters, if he desired it, to his wife; and I, who witnessed it all, think that at that time there was nothing in her mind but pure woman's hero-worship, and I could not help crying to myself, "What a man, and what a woman!" This man had re-writ the history of Europe with his famous sea-fight, in which he had taken risks such as no man ever took before in the world, and was withal as sympathetic as a woman; and this woman led even the chaplain to exclaim that she had, what the ancients prized above all things, that mysterious quality of VENUSTAS, which he endeavoured to explain to us as sheer loveliness--the possession of all the graces which went to form their conception of Venus, the goddess of love and beauty. And so within a few days the Admiral was about and able to attend, in some fashion, the _fêtes_ given day and night in his honour (and much to his inconvenience), the principal of which were the grand ball given by Count Esterhazy, and the ball of the British Ambassador on the 29th, which was the Admiral's birthday, and of which more anon. CHAPTER X.--What happened at the Ball given by Lady Hamilton in honour of the Admiral. No one is ever likely to forget the entertainment given by the Ambassador and Lady Hamilton in honour of the Admiral's birthday. Eighty sat down to dinner, mind you, in a private house; but I will not attempt to describe by hearsay what happened there--the toasts that were given, the _furore_ with which they were received; for, naturally, I was not present, being only a midshipman at the time. But at the ball which followed I was present from the opening to the end, and it was a truly wonderful affair. There were about seventeen hundred present, and eight hundred of us sat down to supper, and the supper was rich enough to have been a dinner. There was more dancing here and at Count Esterhazy's ball than there had been at Syracuse; for many English of consideration went to Naples in those days, and the ladies of high Neapolitan society had made it a fashion to learn the English dances; but the midshipmen and the younger lieutenants, fresh from the sea-fare of a long cruise, supped more than danced. You can be sure that there was no lack of toasting, for which the Admiral's stepson, Josiah Nisbet, whom he always treated as his own son, was a fair mark. Some one coupled a toast with his name, and the jest took, and after that he had no respite; and before the night was over Josiah had taken a good deal more than his share of the Ambassador's very excellent wine, and had become well accustomed to the sound of his own voice.