Sir William Blackett, a man of large fortune in Northumberland. He has
two daughters, the eldest must be nearly fourteen. I had this morning
a long account from my uncle of a ball given by Lady Collingwood at
Newcastle, where 450 people sat down to supper. Unfortunately the
Mayor instead of giving Lord Collingwood's health, gave _The Memory
of Lord Nelson_, with a solemn dirge, which so affected Lady
Collingwood that she fainted, and was obliged to leave the room. She
had not heard from Lord Collingwood for some time which made it the
more affecting.

It was on December 23rd, that Nelson's body preserved in spirits arrived
at Greenwich, and forthwith the favourite toast in Yorkshire was one
perhaps peculiarly characteristic of the county, "Here's to the Hero who
died for his country and came home in spirits!" On January 9th, his
funeral took place at St Paul's Cathedral, and Stanhope, who attended it,
must have felt a tightening of the throat as he realised how soon his
small son was to face dangers such as had occasioned the death of the
gallant man whom all England mourned. Moreover, Lord Collingwood had
encouraged few delusions with regard to his own capability of aiding the
career of the future midshipman. "If Parents were to see how many of their
chicks go to ruin from being sent too early abroad they would not be so
anxious about it," he wrote on one occasion, while on another he pointed
out--"I need not say how glad I shall be to take all the care of William I
can, and do him all the service in my power, but it is rather late in my
day to be very useful to him as I shall be seeking to retire about the
time he is launching into the world." Still more did he emphasise his
inability to obtain promotion for those for whom he might have most
desired it. On one occasion when Stanhope enclosed a letter from his
friend Sir James Graham begging for the advancement of a young lieutenant,
Collingwood replied, "I would gladly show every attention in my power to