suffered much from ennui at Leghorn, where she had no other society than the merchants and their wivesunder-bred people; she was worried by the Italians, who seemed to think that every one should speak their language, and she felt the heat and close atmosphere of a mercantile town quite insufferable. D had

hinted too, that some rumours of war had sprung up; that if a rupture took place between France and England, it were well that she were safe at Malta; and as there was always some ship-of-war off this port, the Consul could soon join her should matters come to a crisis." The worthy gentleman, too candid not to acknowledge inwardly the sacrifice that so young and lovely a person had made, in uniting herself to one thirty years older than herself, felt more real satisfaction in giving way to the generous and indulgent propensities of his nature, than in urging any motive of duty and affection on his wife, which might have induced her to remain against her inclination in a place for which she now seemed to have taken a thorough dislike, and kissing her cheek (the lips being somehow inadvertently averted), in the kindest manner, he presented her with a hundred pounds in gold coin of Tuscany, and gave orders that the arrangements for the short voyage should be immediately commenced.

In the humour in which the officers of the frigate were with their captain, this became an additional

cause of offence, and they determined that their memorial should be presented to Nelson immediately on the arrival of the frigate at Malta. Lord Nelson was beyond all doubt a thorough-bred honest sailor, uniting the strictest ideas of discipline to the feelings of a warm and generous heart. The whole conduct of the captain of the frigate on this occasion he felt was heterogeneous to the character of a British officer; and he determined, from his respect for the fine fellows he commanded, to remove him from the frigate. As the causes of offence, however, were not of a very heinous character, and the family and connections of the captain of considerable respectability and influence, he resolved to do it in as lenient and delicate a manner as possible. He immediately sent for D-; in a long conversation told him his mind in his usual frank but decided way; and concluded by strongly recommending him to take ill, and he would presently return him to England on the sick-list, to save the alternative of a court-martial. With this the captain found it prudent to comply, and the first lieutenant, Moubray, a sailor to the back-bone and a man after Nelson's own heart, beloved by all who knew him, was soon appointed to the command of this fine ship, while D, chop-fallen and sulky, as well as sick, left next day for England, leaving the fair Lady A with her fashionable military friends, who were very soon joined by the excellent and amiable

Consul, who began to consider the political atmosphere so lowering, that he was better out of a town containing three thousand French troops commanded by so very unscrupulous a leader.

LETTER EIGHTH.

PISA, August, 18—.

MY DEAR,

ACCOMPANIED by my kind friend Pesciolini, I generally attend the conversazione of Madame Mastiani on such nights as there is no opera, where we often meet with strangers from various parts. Last night we were introduced to the Cavalier Gori, an intelligent lively little man, one of the first nobles of Siena. He had just returned from Paris, and his whole conversation was regarding the first Consul, whose elevation appears the more extraordinary to the people here, as they knew the family so long in a state of comparative poverty; whilst it is evident they envy their sudden elevation, they strongly manifest their feeling by a perpetual inclination to turn them into ridicule. He had attended the levee of the first Consul, and had had the high honour of being presented to the great man. His description of the scene was exceedingly amusing.

The assembly, he said, was numerous, attended by every ambassador of the various courts of Europe, many illustrious and distinguished men, (among whom, by-thebye, he mentioned the great English statesman, Charles Fox,) many remarkable generals of the French and other services, with innumerable officers in splendid uniforms. Some time elapsed before the appearance of the first Consul, when at length a dead silence prevailed as two folding doors were thrown open, and there strutted in, with a quick and undignified step, a little fellow, as he called him, of five feet five, in a black stock and plain uniform, his brows knit, his eyes fierce and excited. He bowed to no one on entering; but going quickly up to Count Cobentzell, the Austrian ambassador, much like a bull-terrier accosting a Newfoundland dog, and speaking so close to his face that the spray from his mouth made the Count retire a little way, he called out with incredible violence and furious gesticulation, "Votre empereur, veut la guerre, moi," which he pronounced mowa. "Je le veus aussi, et s'il renvoit en Italie soixante mille hommes, moi je renverrai quatre vingt mille." He then turned round and insulted the Russian ambassador. "J' entendu," he bawled out, "que le czar, veut renvoyer a Corfu vingt mille hommes, Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!"

To Charles Fox he was more polite, having conceived him to be a partizan of his own, and evidently having

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