The anxiety which he endured during his long pursuit of the enemy, was
rather changed in its direction than abated by their defeat; and this
constant wakefulness of thought, added to the effect of his wound, and
the exertions from which it was not possible for one of so ardent and
wide-reaching a mind to spare himself, nearly proved fatal. On his way
back to Italy he was seized with fever. For eighteen hours his life was
despaired of; and even when the disorder took a favourable turn, and he
was so far recovered as again to appear on deck, he himself thought that
his end was approaching--such was the weakness to which the fever and
cough had reduced him. Writing to Earl St. Vincent on the passage, he
said to him, "I never expect, my dear lord, to see your face again. It
may please God that this will be the finish to that fever of anxiety
which I have endured from the middle of June; but be that as it pleases
his goodness. I am resigned to his will."

The kindest attentions of the warmest friendship were awaiting him at
Naples. "Come here," said Sir William Hamilton, "for God's sake, my dear
friend, as soon as the service will permit you. A pleasant apartment
is ready for you in my house, and Emma is looking out for the softest
pillows to repose the few wearied limbs you have left." Happy would it
have been for Nelson if warm and careful friendship had been all that
waited him there. He himself saw at that time the character of the
Neapolitan court, as it first struck an Englishman, in its true light;
and when he was on the way, he declared that he detested the voyage to
Naples, and that nothing but necessity could have forced him to it.
But never was any hero, on his return from victory, welcomed with more
heartfelt joy. Before the battle of Aboukir the Court at Naples had
been trembling for its existence. The language which the Directory held
towards it was well described by Sir William Hamilton as being exactly