The Life of the Right Honourable Horatio Lord Viscount Nelson, Volume 1Harrison, James
History
The Life of the Right Honourable Horatio Lord Viscount Nelson, Volume 1
Harrison, James
Admirals -- Great Britain -- Biography; Great Britain. Royal Navy -- Biography; Nelson, Horatio Nelson, Viscount, 1758-1805
Three days after, in another letter to Earl Spencer, the benignity of
his excellent heart pleads powerfully for a son of the late Captain
Faddy. It's perusal cannot fail to gratify every feeling reader.
"Vanguard,
at Sea,
19th Sept. 1798.
"MY LORD,
"Captain Faddy, of the marines, who was killed on board the
Vanguard, has a family of small children: his eldest son is now on
board this ship, only fourteen years of age. I beg to solicit your
lordship for a commission in the marines for him. I understand, it
has been done; and the youth permitted to remain at school, till of
a proper age to join the corps. If, however, this should, in the
present instance, be thought wrong, may I request that his name may
stand as an eleve of the Admiralty, and Mrs. Faddy acquainted of
it; which must give her some relief, under her present misfortune.
"Ever your lordship's most obedient servant,
"Horatio Nelson."
With his mind thus humanely and diligently employed, amidst the toil and
bustle inseparable from an active naval commander, on the 22d, early in
the morning, the hero approached within view of Naples. No sooner was
the Vanguard perceived, at the distance of several leagues, than upwards
of five hundred boats and pleasure-barges, having been apprised of his
coming, by the previous arrival of the Culloden and Alexander, on the
16th, immediately went out to meet him; with bands of music in most of
them, and joy depicted on every countenance. Sir William and Lady
Hamilton, in their state-barge, accompanied by several of the Neapolitan
nobility, led the way, and were consequently his first visitors. The
transports of Sir William, and his amiable lady, at seeing their friend
return covered with laurels, and of the thus honoured hero, at once more
beholding his estimable friends, can only be conceived by minds of equal
susceptibility. The interview, indeed, was exquisitely impressive, and
even affecting, to all by whom it was witnessed. While the company were
partaking of some refreshment in his cabin, a small bird familiarly
perched on his shoulder. On the circumstance being remarked--"It is,"
said he, "a very singular thing; this bird came on board the day before
the battle off the Nile: and I have had other instances of a bird's
coming into my cabin previously to former engagements." This is the more
remarkable, as the same thing is said to have afterwards happened prior
to the battle of Copenhagen. In superstitious times, some inference
would probably have been made from such facts; but philosophy will not
warrant any other deduction, than that, as birds of passage frequently
seek shelter in ships, these visits were merely accidental. The
coincidence, however, is certainly somewhat curious.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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