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it bore the infignia of all his orders. “ In honour,” faid 
he, “ I gained them, and in honour I will die with them.” 
The laft order which his lordfhip gave previoufly to aftion 
was fiiort but coniprehenlive: “ England expects 
every man to do his duty.” It was received with a 
fnout of applaufe throughout the whole fleet. “ Now,” 
laid the admiral, \“ I can do no more; we mull t flu ft to 
the great Difpofer of all events, and the juftice of our 
caufe. I thank God for this opportunity of doing my 
duty.” It had been reprefented to him fo ftrongly, both 
by captain Blackwood, and hi9 own captain, Hardy, how 
advantageous it would be for him to keep out of the 
a 61 ion as long as poillble, that he confented that the 
Temeraire, which was then failing a-breaft of the Vidlory, 
ihould be ordered to pafs a-head, and the Leviathan alfo. 
They could not poflrbly do this if the Vi£tory continued 
to carry all her fail; and yet fo far was Nelfon from 
•Shortening fail, that he feetned to take pleafure in baffling 
the advice to which he could not but alien t. As ufual, 
he hoifted feveral flags, that they might not eafily be (hot 
away. The enemy, on the other hand, fliowed no colours 
till late in the a6tion, when they began to feel the neceffity 
of having them to ftrike. 
Lord Nelfon determined himfelf to fight the Santiffima 
Trinidada; diid it is worthy of remark, that he gained 
the higheft honour in grapplingwith this Ihip in the aftion 
off Cape St. Vincent. She was the largeft {hip in the world, 
carried 136 guns, and had four decks. The Vidtory did 
not fire a {ingle {hot till {he was clofe along-fide the Tri¬ 
nidada, and had already loft fifty men, in killed and 
wounded. Lord Nelfon ordered his fhip to be lafhed to 
his rival, and in this labour the commander of the Trini¬ 
dada ordered his men alfo to aflift. For four hours the 
conflift which enfued was tremendous. The Vidlory ran 
on-board the Redoubtable, which, firing her broadfides 
into the Englifli flag-fhip, inftantly let down her lower- 
deck ports, for fear of being boarded through them. Cap¬ 
tain Harvey, in the Temefaire, fell on-board the Redoubt¬ 
able on the other fide; another Ihip, in like manner, was 
on-board the Temeraire; fo that thefe four {hips, in the 
heat of battle, formed as compadt a tier as if they had 
been moored together, their heads lying all the fame way. 
The lieutenants of the Vidlory immediately deprefled 
their guns, and fired with a diminiflied charge, left the 
ihot fliould pafs through and injure the Temeraire: and, 
becaufe there was danger that the enemy’s ftiip might 
take fire from the guns of the lower-deck, whofe muzzles 
touched her fide when they' were run out, the fireman of 
each gun ltood ready with a bucket of water, which, as 
loon as the gun was difeharged, he dafhed at the hole 
made in her iides by the {hot. In the prayer to which 
we have already alluded, and which Nelfon wrote before 
the aftion, he defires that humanity, after viftory, might 
diftinguith the Britifh fleet. Setting an example himfelf, 
he twice gave orders to ceafe firing upon the Redoubtable, 
i'uppofing file had ftruck, becaufe her great guns were 
filent; and r as (lie carried no flag, there were no means of 
afcertaining the fa£L From this ftiip, whole deftrudtion 
was twice delayed by his wifh to fpare the vanquilhed, 
he received his death. Captain Hardy, on perceiving 
frequent ftiowers of mulket-balls fired on the Vi&ory’s 
quarter-deck, requefted lord Nelfon to take off the infignia 
by which he was expofed, as a mark, to the fharp-fhooters 
placed in the main-round-top of the enemy’s {hips. He 
anfwered, he would when he had time; but paid no farther 
attention to his fafety. In a minute afterwards, his fecre- 
tary, Mr. Scott, who ftood near him, was killed : amuiket- 
ball entered his head, and he fell dead inftantly. Another 
Ihot, a few minutes afterwards, ftruck the epaulette on 
Nellon’s left Ihoulder: he fell with his face on the deck. 
“ They have done for me at laft, Hardy,” he exclaimed ; 
“ my back-bone is (hot through.” He did not, for the 
fmalleft portion of time, lofe his prefence of mind ; but 
obferved, as they were carrying him down the ladder, 
that the tiller-ropes, which had been {hot away, were not 
replaced, and ordered that new ones fliould be rove im> 
SON. 
mediately; and, to prevent any deje&ion which the 
fight of their dying admiral might occalion, he took 
out his handkerchief and covered his face, and the in¬ 
fignia upon his coat; certain, by the fenfations which he 
felt in his back, that no human aid could benefit him. 
After the furgeon had probed the wound, he delired him 
to return to aflift thofe to whom his fervices might be ufe- 
ful; “ for,” faid he, “ you can do nothing for me.” 
From the feverity of the pain, he could not refrain from 
wifliing to die; “ yet,” faid he, checking himfelf, one 
would like to live a little longer;” no doubt, to hear the 
completion of a victory- which lie had feen fo glorioully 
begun. Having been placed in a chair, he delired that 
captain Hardy might attend him, and during the hour 
that he lived heddplayed all his coolnefs and recolleiStion, 
and employed the time in di&ating. orders relative to 
the battle, in receiving reports, in inquiring what was 
the condition of the enemy, and what fliips had ftruck. 
Upon hearing that fourteen or fifteen had certainly fur- 
rendered, “ That’s well,” faid he; “ but I bargained for 
twenty.” After a fliort paufe, he exclaimed, “ Anchor, 
Hardy, anchor.” To this the captain replied, that he 
fuppofed admiral Collingwood would now take upon 
himfelf the command. “ Not while I live,” cried the 
dying hero ; “ no, do you anchor, Hardy.” He had fore- 
feen the great importance of this ; for, by the pofition i;i 
which the enemy waited for the attack, the flioals of 
Trafalgar and St. Pedro were under their lee, and the port 
of Cadiz, with the exifting wind, open to them ; and it 
was on this account he had, before the aftion, made fignal 
to prepare to anchor. The laft ftiip that ftruck before his 
death was the Santiffima Trinidada, of which he heard 
with the moft lively emotions of joy. He felt himfelf 
now nearly at the laft gafp, and called for Hardy, and 
faid, in a low tone, “ Don’t throw me overboard;” and 
defired that he might be buried at Burnham-Thorpe, un- 
lefs it fliould pleafe the king to order otherwife. “ Kifs 
me, Hardy,” faid he. Plardy knelt and killed his cheek; 
and the admiral faid, “ Now I am fatisfied : I have done 
my duty. Thank God ! I have done my duty.” Thefe 
were the laft words that he uttered; and in the arms of 
his gallant captain he breathed his laft. 
The final' event of this aflion was the capture of eigh¬ 
teen men-of-war, of the French commander-in-chief, and 
two other flag-officers, with a general. See the article 
Great Britain, vol. viii. p. 818-20. It was a blow to 
the maritime ftrength of the two hoftile powers that en¬ 
tirely ruined their prefent projefis, and laftingly crip¬ 
pled their exertions. The maritime war might from this 
day be conlidered as at an end : the fleets of the enemy 
were not merely defeated ; they were as good as annihi¬ 
lated, and with them the fpirit of the French marine fo 
completely deprefled, as to forbid the hope of a revival, 
till a new race of men fliould arife, upon whom the terror 
of the name of Nelfon would ceafe to operate. Well then 
might the death of lord Nelfon be felt as fomething more 
than a public calamity : well might our countrymen, 
when the fatal intelligence was communicated to them, 
ftart and turn pale, as if they had heard of the lofs of a 
dear friend ; the obje6t of their admiration and affeftion, 
of their pride and hopes, had been fuddenly taken from 
them; and it is ftill in the remembrance of every one, 
that itfeemed as if they had never, till then, known how 
deeply they efteemed and reverenced him. The vidilory 
of Trafalgar was celebrated with the ufual forms of re¬ 
joicing, but they were without joy; for, fuch was the 
glory of Nelfon, and of the Britiili navy, in a great mea- 
fure through his genius, that they Icarcely feemed to re¬ 
ceive any addition from this; and the moft fignal viftory 
that ever was achieved upon the feas, and the deftruftion 
of fo great a fleet, hardly appeared to add to our ftrength 
orfecurity; for we felt ourfelves as ftrong and fecure 
while Nelfon was living to watch them, as v?i*en they 
were deftroyed. 
Perhaps in no country have higher public honours 
been paid to the memory of a public beneiailor than thofe 
that 
