other deeds; the battle of Trafalgar will stand, without the aid of sculpture or painting, the greatest memorial of British naval valour ever exhibited; no pen can do it justice, no description can convey an adequate idea of the glories of that day; and the event, which deprived us of our favourite chief, consummated his earthly fame, and rendered his name for ever dear to his country. Had not his transcendent virtues been shaded by a fault, we might have been accused of flattery. No human being was ever perfect, and however we may regret the blemish in the affair of Caraciolli, we must ever acknowledge, that the character of Nelson, as a public servant, is not exceeded in the history of the world.

The conversation related by Clerk and M'Arthur, which took place between Lord Nelson and the Honourable Captain (now Rear-admiral Sir Henry) Blackwood, is deeply interesting; and much as we have trespassed on that highly valued work, we cannot forbear transcribing the following passage.

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"I was walking with him on the poop, says Captain Blackwood, when he said, I'll now amuse the fleet with a signal,' and asked me if I did not think there was still one wanting. These words were scarcely uttered, when his last wellknown signal was made, England expects every man will do his duty.' The shout with which it was received throughout the fleet was truly sublime. Now,' said Lord Nelson, I can do no more; we must trust to the great Disposer of all

events, and the justice of our cause. I thank God forthis great opportunity of doing my duty.'

"When Captain Blackwood was ordered, about half-past eleven, to go on board of his own ship, Nelson said to him, 'God bless you, Blackwood; I shall never speak to you again.'

Nelson's decision of character has been displayed in a thousand instances; the following one may be relied on as authentic, the officer to whom the advice was given being still alive.

When the Neapolitans were at war with the Algerines, in 1799, a young commander, in a sloop of war, was ordered with a convoy of Neapolitan vessels to Cagliari, where they were to load with corn, and return to the ports of Italy. The Captain of the sloop, feeling the heavy responsibility of his trust, and knowing the extreme caution of our government towards the states of Barbary, asked Lord Nelson what he should do in the event of the Algerines attacking his convoy, “Let them sink you," said the hero, "but do not let them touch the hair of the head of one of your convoy ;— ALWAYS FIGHT AND YOU ARE SURE TO BE RIGHT."

A letter, which he addressed to the late Sir Evan Nepean, previous to his departure for Copenhagen, shews his character in a new, and if possible, a more brilliant light; we give it in a fac simile of his own hand on the opposite page.

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Adair, about eighteen seamen and marines, were killed, and Lieutenant (now Captain) G. M. Bligh, Mr. Palmer, midshipman, and about twenty seamen and marines, were wounded. The French ship, after having been twice on fire, had thrown some hand grenades on board the Victory, which had set fire to some ropes and canvas on the booms, but it was soon extinguished. The man who from the mizen-top had shot Lord Nelson, was himself killed by musketry from the Victory. Two men were all that remained in that part of the ship when Nelson received his wound; one of them was shot by a person from the poop of the Victory, while endeavouring to make his escape down the rigging; the other met the same fate from the hand of Mr. Pollard, a midshipman, and fell dead on the poop of the Redoutable.

We must now return to the Royal Sovereign, in which the brave Collingwood, leading the lee line, and larboard division of the fleet, had begun the action. In running down to engage, she had the van and rear of the combined fleet abaft her beam, before she was in action with the centre; a proof that their line was a curve, but so formed from the effect of accident, caused by the veering of the fleet together in the morning, when from the line ahead on the starboard tack it came to a very confused order of sailing or battle on the larboard tack.

As the Royal Sovereign approached, she found nearly the same obstruction in passing through the