saying that ten thousand troops would place the king again on his
throne." The health of his lordship appears to have been, at this
period, very indifferent. Indeed, the air of Sicily seems by no means
to have ever agreed with him. He says, in this letter, speaking of Sir
William and Lady Hamilton--"We, of this house, are all anxious to get
home; yet, in the present moment, cannot move. Indeed, we have been the
main-spring, joined with you, that have kept, and are keeping, this so
much out of repair machine from breaking to pieces." The difficulties,
indeed, of supporting a government every way so feeble in what
constitutes the true strength of a state, perplexed our hero in no small
degree. He saw, every where, that inactivity and indecision which so
little accorded with his own prompt and active mind; and he languished
for the busy scenes of action, from which he was detained by the alarms
of their Sicilian Majesties, and the constant claims on the wisdom of
his councils, which they could not always find the means, or even the
firmness, completely to carry into execution.
Captain Ball had transmitted a painful picture of the wretched state of
the inhabitants of Malta, but their Sicilian Majesties were incapable of
affording them relief; Captain Troubridge had been obliged to part with
all his flour, to preserve the recovered islands from starving. "I
have," says his lordship, in another letter to the Earl of St. Vincent,
dated the 17th of April, "eternally been pressing for supplies; and
represented that a hundred thousand pounds, given away in provisions,
just now, might purchase a kingdom. In short, my dear lord, my desire
to serve, as is my duty, faithfully their Sicilian Majesties, has been
such, that I am almost blind, and worn out; and cannot, in my present
state, hold out much longer. I would, indeed, lay down my life for such
good and gracious monarchs; but I am useless, when I am unable to do
what, God knows, my heart leads me to."
Happily, this sombre state was a little relieved a few days after, by
|