Read LETTER X of The Letters of Lord Nelson to Lady Hamilton‚ Vol. I, free online book, by Horatio Nelson, on ReadCentral.com.

No 2. San Josef, February 16th, 1801.

MY DEAREST FRIEND,

Your letters have made me happy, to-day; and never again will I scold, unless you begin. Therefore, pray, never do; My confidence in you is firm as a rock.

I cannot imagine, who can have stopped my Sunday’s letter! That it has been, is clear: and the seal of the other has been clearly opened; but this might have happened from letters sticking together.

Your’s all came safe; but the numbering of them will point out, directly, if one is missing. I do not think, that any thing very particular was in that letter which is lost.

Believe me, my dear friend, that Lady A. is as damned a w as ever lived, and Mrs. W is a bawd! Mrs. U a foolish pimp; eat up with pride, that a P will condescend to put her to expence. Only do as I do; and all will be well, and you will be every thing I wish.

I thank you for your kindness to poor dear Mrs. Thomson. I send her a note; as desired by her dear good friend, who doats on her.

I send you a few Lines, wrote in the late gale; which, I think, you will not disapprove.

How interesting your letters are! You cannot write too much, or be too particular.

Though ’s polish’d verse superior shine,
Though sensibility grace every line;
Though her soft Muse be far above all praise.
And female tenderness inspire her lays:

Deign to receive, though unadorn’d
By the poetic art,
The rude expressions which bespeak
A Sailor’s untaught heart!

A heart susceptible, sincere, and true;
A heart, by fate, and nature, torn in two:
One half, to duty and his country due;
The other, better half, to love and you!

Sooner shall Britain’s sons resign
The empire of the sea;
Than Henry shall renounce his faith,
AND PLIGHTED VOWS, TO THEE!

And waves on wares shall cease to roll,
And tides forget to flow;
Ere thy true Henry’s constant love,
Or ebb, or change, shall know.

The weather, thank God, is moderating.

I have just got a letter from the new Earl at the Admiralty, full of compliments. But nothing shall stop my law-suit, and I hope to cast him.

I trust, when I get to Spithead, there will be no difficulty in getting leave of absence.

The letters on service are so numerous, from three days interruption of the post, that I must conclude with assuring you, that I am, for ever, your attached, and unalterably your’s,

NELSON & BRONTE.

I shall begin a letter at night.