by Admiral Dickson, the then commander of the fleet.  The Mayor and Corporation of Yarmouth immediately waited on his lordship with the freedom of the town; which, in consequence of his eminent services, had been previously voted.  With the blundering fatality, however, that seldom fails to mark some member in almost every town-corporate, on any extraordinary occasion, when the usual oath was tendered to his lordship, who placed his left and only hand on the book, the officer who administered it incautiously exclaimed—­“Your right hand, my lord!” His lordship, with a good-humoured smile, mildly reminded him that he had no right hand.  The surrounding company, however, were less merciful; and not only indulged an immediate hearty laugh at his expence, but sarcastically fastened on him, for ever after, the unfortunate phrase—­"Your right hand, my lord!” In the mean time, all the troops quartered in the town paraded before the inn, with their regimental band; paying every military honour to his lordship, and firing feux de joie.  The corporation, after presenting Lord Nelson with the freedom, went in procession, with his lordship, to church; whither he was also attended by all the naval officers on shore, as well as the principal inhabitants, who joined his lordship in this public thanksgiving to the Almighty, on thus landing in his native country.  At night, the whole town was illuminated, bonfires were kindled, and discharges of musketry and ordnance continued till midnight.  On quitting the town, next day, the corps of Volunteer Cavalry, commanded by William Palgrave, Jun.  Esq. now Collector of the Customs at the port of Yarmouth, and who had paid his lordship and friends the most polite attentions, unexpectedly drew up, saluted, and followed the carriage; not only to the town’s end, but as far as the extreme boundary of the county of Norfolk:  a mark of respect, which too sensibly impressed his lordship, ever to be forgotten; and, accordingly, he never afterwards went to Yarmouth, without making his first visit to Mr. Palgrave.

In Suffolk, his lordship was no less honoured than in his native county.  The people of Ipswich came out to meet him, and dragged the carriage a mile into town; and, on his leaving it, drew it three miles out.  When his lordship was Captain of the Agamemnon, he had felt desirous to be returned member for this town, and some leading men of the then corporation had been consulted by a friend.  The terms, however, were such as could not be listened to; and his lordship, shrewdly observing that he would endeavour to find a preferable path into parliament—­meaning, no doubt, that which so honourably conducted him into the House of Peers, instead of the House of Commons—­wrote to his sister, Mrs. Bolton, that there might a time come, when the people of Ipswich would think it an honour for him to have ever represented them; a time which, most certainly, had now long since arrived.

At Colchester, in Essex, and every other place through which his lordship passed, he was received with similar demonstrations of joy, and experienced every respectful attention.