warm I suppose Lord C. will come back, in his last letter he said he
should leave William in a Frigate, but Dr Gray is inclined to think he
would bring him home. All the reports respecting the Toulon Fleet
being out, will, I hear, prove false.


On March 20th Mrs Stanhope wrote--"It is said that Sir C. Cotton is going
out immediately to take Lord Collingwood's command, for that he wrote word
if they did not supersede him quickly he should supersede himself. I fear
his health is very bad." Not till April, however, did this intelligence
receive confirmation--"At last Sir C. Cotton has sailed, so that, by the
end of June, Lord Collingwood may be back, having given up the command to
Sir C. Cotton. He was better the last account. Captain Waldegrave dines
here to-day, you would be exceedingly pleased with him, for his manners
are agreeable and his intelligence great."

Little did Mrs Stanhope, as she penned the reference to her dinner-party,
foresee the conditions under which this was destined to take place. Still
less did the authorities who were sending out that belated relief to the
wearied Admiral, or the family who now so joyously pictured his return,
dream how that service had been already superseded or in what guise that
return would take place. Weeks before, at Cadiz, the last act of a
prolonged tragedy had been performed. Still firmly refusing to forsake his
post till a competent successor had been appointed, Collingwood did not
surrender his command to Rear Admiral Martin till March 3rd, when a
complete collapse of strength made this imperative. Two days subsequently
were lost in the vain endeavour to leave port in the teeth of a contrary
wind, but on March 6th, the _Ville de Paris_ succeeded in setting sail for
England.