to invite the little fellows to breakfast with him, when relieved.  At table with them, he would enter into their boyish jokes, and be the most youthful of the party.  At dinner he invariably had every officer of the ship in their turn, and was both a polite and hospitable host.  The whole ordinary business of the fleet was invariably despatched, as it had been by Earl St. Vincent, before eight o’clock.  The great command of time which Lord Nelson thus gave himself, and the alertness which this example imparted throughout the fleet, can only be understood by those who witnessed it, or who know the value of early hours....  He did not again land whilst in the Baltic; his health was not good, and his mind was not at ease; with him, mind and health invariably sympathized.”

While thus generally pleasant on board ship, he resolutely refused intercourse with the outside world when not compelled by duty.  In this there appears to have been something self-imposed, in deference to Lady Hamilton.  There are indications that she felt, or feigned, some jealousy of his relations with others, especially with women, corresponding to the frenzied agitation he manifested at the association of her name with that of any other man, and especially with that of the then Prince of Wales.  Whatever her real depth of attachment to him, her best hope for the future was in his constancy, and that he would eventually marry her; for Sir William’s death could not be far distant, and matters might otherwise favor the hope that both he and she cherished.  Her approaching widowhood would in fact leave her, unless her husband’s will was exceptionally generous, in a condition as precarious, her acquired tastes considered, as that from which her marriage had rescued her; and her uneasiness would naturally arouse an uncertain and exacting temper, as in the old days at Naples, when Hamilton could not make up his mind.  The condition of Nelson’s health furnished him an excuse for declining all civilities or calls, even from a reigning prince, on the ground that he was not well enough to go ashore and return them.  Soon after this, however, he was able to write Lady Hamilton that he was perfectly recovered.  “As far as relates to health, I don’t think I ever was stronger or in better health.  It is odd, but after severe illness I feel much better.”  Thus he was, when definitely informed that his relief was on the way.  “To find a proper successor,” said Lord St. Vincent, when announcing the fact to him, “your lordship knows is no easy task; for I never saw the man in our profession, excepting yourself and Troubridge, who possessed the magic art of infusing the same spirit into others, which inspired their own actions; exclusive of other talents and habits of business, not common to naval characters.”  “I was so overcome yesterday,” wrote Nelson to Lady Hamilton, “with the good and happy news that came about my going home, that I believe I was in truth scarcely myself.  The thoughts of going do me good, yet all night I was so restless that I could not sleep.  It is nearly calm, therefore Admiral Pole cannot get on.  If he was not to come, I believe it would kill me.  I am ready to start the moment I have talked with him one hour.”