The "San Josef," the three-decker boarded by him at Cape St.Vincent, was named to receive his flag, and on the 17th of January it was hoisted on board her, at Plymouth,--blue at the fore, he having been promoted Vice-Admiral of the Blue on New Year's Day.

An arrangement, however, had already been made, that, if the impending difficulties with Denmark threatened to lead to hostilities, he should accompany the fleet sent to the Baltic, as second to Sir Hyde Parker, selected for the chief command.

While he was officially reporting to St.Vincent, on the 16th, at Torbay, preparatory to hoisting his flag, a letter from Parker informed him that the armament was decided upon.

This he showed at once to St.
Vincent, who acquiesced of course in the disappointment, but expressed a hope that after a brief absence he would rejoin him.
By the first of February the "San Josef" had gone round to Torbay, the rendezvous of the Channel fleet under St.Vincent's command, and there it was that Nelson received the news of the birth, on the 29th or 30th of January, of the child Horatia, whose parentage for a long time gave rise to much discussion, and is even yet considered by some a matter of doubt.

Fortunately, that question requires no investigation here; as regards the Life of Nelson, and his character as involved in this matter, the fact is beyond dispute that he believed himself the father, and Lady Hamilton the mother, of the girl, whose origin he sought to conceal by an elaborate though clumsy system of mystification.