"If I could tell when to begin a letter to my dearest beloved Emma I could never tell when to stop."

"If I could tell when to begin a letter to my dearest beloved Emma I could never tell when to stop." NELSON (HORATIO) (1758-1805) FINE AUTOGRAPH LETTER TO EMMA HAMILTON, [HMS] VICTORY Augt 13th 1804 principally about a son of a friend of Emma's, Mrs Voller, embarking on a career in the navy, "... but what can I do for a child who has never been to Sea for although he may have been borne upon Ships books, that will not make him a Seaman" adding that "Capt Hardy has been so good as to rate him Midsmn here and leant him to Capt Durban where if he chuses he may learn his profession." Turning to his own prospects at this critical juncture Nelson discusses the admiralty, observing "I have every reason to believe that as a Board my whole conduct met their entire approbation, and to say the truth the old Earl was led wrong agt. his better judgement many a time. I am not so vext with him as with the others", bifolium, 23.5 x 37.5cm four pages written in Nelson's left hand, ink on laid paper, watermarked 1803 Provenance: Collection of Alfred Morrison (1821-1897), see his privately published catalogue, Vol II, 1894, No 777.