In The Course Of Our Readings, In 1865, Our Attention
Had Been Drawn To A Passage In The Life Of Nelson By The Laureate Of
England, Robert Southey, [132] And Enlarged On By Lamartine In The
Pleasant Sketch He Gave Of The Naval Hero.
Our investigations were
aided by the happy memory of an old friend, now deceased:
The late
Lt.-Col. John Sewell, who had served in the 49th under General Brock,
and whose birth was nearly contemporary with the visit of Nelson to
our port in September, 1782. It was evident the chief biographers of
the gifted sea captain ignored the details of his youthful attachment
on our shores.
"'At Quebec,' says Southey, 'Nelson became acquainted with Alexander
Davison, by whose interference he was prevented from making what would
have been called an imprudent marriage. The Albemarle was about
to leave the station, her Captain had taken leave of his friends, and
was gone down the river to the place of anchorage; when the next
morning, as Davison was walking on the beach, to his surprise he saw
Nelson coming back in his boat. Upon inquiring the cause of his re-
appearance, Nelson took his arm to walk towards the town, and told him
he found it utterly impossible to leave Quebec without again seeing
the woman whose society contributed so much to his happiness, and then
and there offering her his hand.' 'If you do,' said his friend, 'your
utter ruin must inevitably follow.' 'Then, let it follow,' cried
Nelson; 'for I am resolved to do it.' 'And I,' replied Davison, 'am
resolved you shall not.' Nelson, however, on this occasion was less
resolved than his friend, and suffered himself to be led back to the
boat.'
"This led us to prepare a short 'Novelette' on the subject in the
Revue Canadienne, in 1867, subsequently incorporated in the Maple
Leaves: amended and corrected as new light dawned upon us in the
Tourists' Note Book, issued in 1876, and Chronicles of the St.
Lawrence, published in 1878.
"Whether it was Alexander Davison, his tried friend in afterlife, as
Southey suggests, or another Quebecer of note, in 1782, Matthew
Lymburner, as Lt.-Col. John Sewell, on the faith of Hon. William
Smith, the Historian of Canada, had stated to us, is of minor
importance: one thing is certain, some thoughtful friend, in 1782,
seems to have extricated the impulsive Horatio from the 'tangles of
Neaera's hair' in the port of Quebec: the hand of fate had marked the
future Captain of the Victory, not as the Romeo of a Canadian
Juliet, but as the paramour of Lady Emma Hamilton. Alas! for his fair
fame! It seems certain that the Commander of the Albemarle,
during his repeated visits to our port, in July, September and
October, 1782, became acquainted, possibly at some entertainment at
Freemason's Hall, - the 'Windsor' of the period - with 'sweet sixteen'
(he himself was but twenty-four) in the person of Miss Mary Simpson,
the blooming daughter of an old Highlandman, Sandy Simpson, a cousin
to Mr. James Thompson, then overseer of works, and father of the late
Judge John Gwalor Thompson, of Gaspe, and of late Com.-General James
Thompson, of Quebec. Sandy Simpson was an habitue of this historical
and, for the period, vast old stone mansion where Captain Miles
Prentice, [133] as he had been styled in 1775, hung out, with good
cheer, the olive branch of Freemasonry and of loyalty to his
Sovereign. The bonne societe of Quebec, in 1782, was limited
indeed: and it was not probable the arrival from sea of one of H.M.'s
ships of war, the Albemarle, could escape the notice of the leading
men in Quebec.
"If the Quebec Gazette of 1782 and Quebec Herald, published in
1789-90, contain no mention of this incident, several passages in the
correspondence [134] exchanged by the Thompson family with the early
love of Nelson, when she had become a stately London matron, as spouse
of Colonel Matthews, Governor of the Chelsea Hospital, throw light on
his previous career in Quebec.
"The question as to whether Nelson's charmer was Miss Prentice or her
cousin, Mary Simpson, which we submitted in the Tourists' Note Book in
1876 (see pages 26 and 36), we had considered as settled, in 1878, in
favour of Miss Simpson, as the following passage in the Chronicles
of the St. Lawrence shows:
"Here anchored (Island of Orleans), it would seem, Nelson's sloop of
war, the Albemarle, in 1782, when the love-sick Horatio returned to
Quebec, for a last farewell from the blooming Miss Simpson, a daughter
of Sandy Simpson, one of Wolfe's Provost Marshals. Miss Simpson
afterwards married Colonel Matthews, Governor of the Chelsea
Pensioners, and died speaking tenderly of her first love, the hero of
Trafalgar.' (Chronicles of the St. Lawrence, p. 198.)
"This eclaircissement, as to dates, is not out of place, inasmuch as
one of our respected historians, Dr. Hy. Miles, in a scholarly
article, published March, 1879, three years after our mentioning Miss
Simpson, labours under the idea he was the first to give her name in
connection with Lord Nelson. Several inaccuracies occur in his
interesting essay. Miss Simpson is styled the daughter of 'James'
Simpson, whereas she was the daughter of Saunders Simpson, a cousin of
James Thompson, who had married a niece of Miles Prentice. In a foot
note appended to his essay the Doctor states that 'just before the
departure of our late popular Governor-General (Lord Dufferin), at a
breakfast at the Citadel, where His Excellency entertained the
Captains of the British war vessels Bellerophon and Sirius (he
means the Argus and the Sirius), then in port, at which we were
present, the conversation having turned on former visits of commanders
of ships-of-war, when, Nelson's name being brought up, the Earl
remarked that Mr. LeMoine (then present) was able to afford some
information about him.' 'Mr. LeMoine,' adds Dr. Miles, 'at His
Excellency's request, related what he had previously written, much to
the satisfaction of his hearers.' Mr. LeMoine's account of the affair,
however, as it is based on the now exploded doctrine that the heroine
was one of the nieces of Mrs. Miles Prentice, was not, as has been
shown in the foregoing article, the correct one, however gratifying to
the distinguished listeners to its recital on that occasion.'
"As the correctness of the information we were asked to impart on this
occasion is impugned by the learned historian, we will, we hope, be
pardoned for setting this point at rest.
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