Thank you, everyone, for comments and the reference. I was reminded of St. V's comment when it was mentioned in a book I was reading recently, 'Nelson's Wife' by E.M. Keate (a descendant of Fanny and Josiah, and, collaterally, of Keate, one of the medical men who attended Nelson ashore after the amputation of his arm.)
It appears that St. V.'s comments were made at a time when Nelson's private life was causing him much disgust. He apparently didn't want him as his second in command of the Channel Fleet, an appointment which the Admiralty seemed minded to make. Keate has a footnote saying, 'this seems to be the first and last time that such a thing was suggested of a ship under Nelson's command. It was not in such terms that St Vincent wrote to Nelson himself.' Not true, apparently! It would be interesting to track down other references.
Evelyn Berckman also mentions St. V.'s comment in her biography of him, 'Nelson's Dear Lord'.
It was, she remarks, 'Unfair of St Vincent, for he knew this to be only half the reality. Perhaps it was true that Nelson was indulgent to his men [was it? He was fair, but certainly strict] and that they might be remiss in some formal points of discipline, but when it came to the pinch - and the pinch was the day of battle - they fought for him like demons, and surely St Vincent knew, none better, that this was the discipline to ensure which all other disciplines were invented.'
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