some other service; "they had no wish," they said, "to quit the British navy, but they entreated that they might not be led to fight against their own country." There was not in our whole navy a man who had a higher and more chivalrous sense of honour and duty than Riou. The tears came into his eyes while the men were addressing him; he ordered his boat instantly, and did not return to the Amazon till he had procured their exchange. This anecdote, which has never be fore been made publick, is recorded in respect to the memory of as brave and honourable a man as ever died in battle.

The battle of Copenhagen requires less detail than that of the Nile, though it made the talents of Nelson, if that be possible, yet more conspicuous. The Danes were admirably prepared for defence. Upwards of a hundred pieces of cannon were mounted upon the crown batteries at the entrance of the harbour, and a line of twenty five two deckers, frigates, and floating batteries, was moored across its mouth. A Dane who came on board during the ineffectual negotiation that preceded hostilities, having occasion to express his proposals in writing, found the pen blunt, and, holding it up, sarcastically said: "If your guns are not better pointed than your pens, you will make little impression on Copenhagen." He and his countrymen relied upon the fortifications of the Sound, as their outposts, but the Swedish batteries were silent, and the fleet passed without damage. The soundings were made under Nelson's own eye; day and night he was in the boat, till his health had nearly sunk under the unremitting fatigue. The action was fought on the 2d of April. Nelson had with him twelve ships of the line, with all the frigates and small craft. The remainder of the fleet was with the commander in chief, about four miles off. Three

of his squadron grounded, and owing to the fears of the masters and pilots the anchors were let go nearly a cable's length from the enemy. Had they proceeded they would have deepened their water, and the victory would have been decided in half the time. Of all the engagements in which Nelson had born a part, this, he said, was the most terrible. It began at ten in the morning, and at one, victory had not declared itself on either side. A shot through the main-mast knocked a few splinters about the admiral. "It is warm work," he observed, "and this day may be the last to any of us at a moment." "But mark you," said he, stopping short at the gangway, "I would not be elsewhere for thousands." Just at this time sir Hyde made signal for the action to cease. It was reported to him. He continued walking the deck, and appeared to take no notice of it. The signal lieutenant meeting him at the next turn, asked if he should repeat it? "No," replied Nelson, ❝acknowledge it." Presently he called after him to know if the sig nal for close action was still hoisted, and being answered in the affirmative, said to him, "mind you keep it so." He now walked the deck moving the stump of his right arm in a manner which always denoted great agitation. "Doctor, you know," said he to the surgeon, "what's shown on board the commander in chief? No. 39 !" He was asked what that meant: "Why to leave off action;" then shrugging up his shoulder as he repeated the words

leave off action! "No damn me if I do! You know, Foley," said he to the captain, "I have only one eye; I have a right to be blind sometimes. Damn the sig nal! hoist mine for closer battle; that is the way I answer such signals. Nail mine to the mast!" Admiral Graves disobeyed that of the commander in chief in like manner, whether intentionally, or by a fortu

nate mistake, has not been explained. The squadron of frigates hauled off. At the moment the Amazon showed her stern to the enemy; Riou was killed-almost his last words had been an expression of regret at being obliged to retreat. "What," said he, "will Nelson think of us?"

About two, great part of the Danish line had ceased to fire, some of their lighter ships were adrift, and many had struck. It was, however, difficult to take possession of them, partly because they were protected by the batteries on Amak Island, and partly because an irregular fire was made on the English boats as they approached, from the ships themselves, the Danes being continually able to recruit their crews from the shore. This irritated him: ❝he must either," he said, "send on shore and stop these irregular proceedings, or send in fire ships and burn the prizes." In this part of the battle the victory was complete, but the three ships ahead were still engaged, and exposed to a superiour force. Nelson, with a presence of mind peculiar to himself, seized this occasion to secure the advantage which he had already gained, and open a negotiation. He therefore wrote thus to the crown prince: "Vice admiral lord Nelson has directions to spare Denmark when she no longer resists. The line of defence which covered her shores has struck to the British flag; but if the firing is continued on the part of Denmark, he must be obliged to set on fire all the prizes that he has taken, without having the power of saving the brave Danes who have defended them." A wafer was brought him for this letter; he ordered wax and a candle, saying, "it was no time to appear informal;" and he affixed a larger seal than usual. Captain Frederick Thesiger was sent in with it. During his absence the remainder of the enemy's line castward was silenced. The

crown batteries continued to fire till the Danish general Lindholm returned with a flag of truce, when the action closed, after four hours continuance. His message from the prince was to inquire what was the object of Nelson's note? Nelson replied, "it was humanity, he consented that hostilities should cease, and that the wounded Danes should be taken on shore, and he on his part would take his prisoners out of the vessels, and burn or carry off his prizes as he thought fit. He presented his humblest duty to the prince, saying he should consider this the greatest victory he ever gained, if it might be the cause of a happy reconciliation between the two countries."

Having given this reply, he referred Lindholm to the commander in chief, and availed himself of the opportunity to get his ships out of the intricate channel, from which, had hostilities continued, they could not have disengaged themselves, till the crown battery was destroyed. His proposal was accepted in the course of the evening, and a suspension agreed on for four and twenty hours, during which it was resolved that he should land and negotiate in person with the prince. Accordingly on the morning of the fourth he landed; a strong guard protected him from the people, whose admiration would not, perhaps, have else been sufficient to restrain the impulse of rage and vengeance. This battle, so dreadfully destructive to the Danes, was within sight of the city; the whole of the succeeding day had been employed in landing the wounded, and there was scarcely a house without its cause for mourning. It was no new thing for Nelson to show himself regardless of danger, and it is to the honour of Denmark that the populace suffered themselves to be restrained. Some difficulty occurred in adjusting the duration of the armistice. He required sixteen weeks,

giving like a seaman the true reason that he might have time to act against the Russian fleet and return. This not being acceded to, a hint was thrown out by one of the Danish commissioners of the renewal of hostilities. "Renew hostilities!" said he to one of his friends, for he understood French enough to comprehend what was said, though not to answer it in the same language, "tell him we are ready at a moment! ready to bombard this very night!" Fourteen weeks were at length agreed to. The death of Paul intervened, and the northern confederacy was destroyed. For this signal service, in which Nelson appeared not less conspicuous as a statesman, than as an admiral, he was raised to the rank of Viscount. There was some prudence, perhaps, in dealing out honours to him step by step-had he lived long enough, he would have fought his way to a dukedom.

When England was alarmed by preparations at Boulogne, which it would have become her to have despised, Nelson was appointed to a squadron on that station. His attack upon the flotilla failed, because the divisions did not all arrive in time. The enemy's vessels were moored by the bottom to the shore, and to each other with chains, and it was not possible to retain possession of those which struck, because as soon as this was attempted, the French, with a cruelty peculiar to that people, fired upon them, regardless of their own men. The peace of Amiens was concluded shortly afterwards, and when it was found equally incompatible with the honour and safety of this country to remain at peace with Buonaparte, Nelson went out as commander in chief to the Mediterranean. We must pass on to the concluding scene, the consummation of his labours and his glory. After having watched the fleet for nearly two years, ready at any time to give them battle with an inferiour force, they escaped him, formed a junction with

the Spaniards, and ran for the West Indies. With ten ships and three frigates, he pursued eighteen sail of the line, and six frigates, with 12,000 troops aboard. There is just a Frenchman a piece, he used to say to his captains, leaving me for the Spaniards; when I haul down my colours, I expect you to do the same, but not till then. The mere terrour of his name compelled them to fly before him. False intelligence, which he, and he alone, suspected to be false, misled him, and they secured their return to Europe, whither they fled, without having accomplished any other part of their purpose than that of reenforcing their own islands. Ours were preserved from pillage, invasion, and, not improbable, conquest, by this pursuit, which is in all its circumstances unparalleled in naval history.

Having pursued them to Europe he delivered over his squadron to admiral Cornwallis, lest they should make for Brest to liberate that fleet, and place him between two fires; and then he returned to England, meaning to enjoy a little leisure with his friends He had not been at Merton a month, when captain Blackwood, on his way to the Admiralty with despatches, called at five in the morning, and found him already dressed. Upon seeing him he exclaimed: “I am sure you bring me news of the French and Spanish fleets! I think I shall have yet to beat them!"It was as he supposed: they had liberated the squadron from Ferrol, and being now 34 sail of the line, got safely into Cadiz. "Depend on it Blackwood," he repeatedly said, “I shall yet give M. Villeneuve a drubbing!" But when Blackwood had left him, he wanted resolution to declare his wishes to his sister, and endeavoured to drive away the thought. He had done enough: "Let the man trudge it who has lost his budget" said he. His countenance belied his lips, and as he was pacing one ofthe walks in his garden, which he used to call the quarter deck,

lady Hamilton came up to him and told him she saw he was uneasy. He smiled, and said: "No, he was as happy as possible, he was surrounded by his family, his health was better since he came home, and he would not give sixpence to call the king his uncle.' She replied that she did not believe him; that he was longing to get at the combined fleet; that he considered them as his own property, and would be miserable if any man but himself did the business; that he must have them as the price and reward of his two years long watching. His services were as willingly accepted as they were offered, and lord Barham giving him the list of the navy, bade him choose his own officers. He reached Portsmouth only 25 days after he had left it. Numbers followed him to the shore, and many when they saw him embark knelt down and blest him; a proof of publick love, of which, perhaps, our history affords no other example. The wind was against him, and blew strong, nevertheless such was his impatience to be upon the scene of action, that he worked down channel, and after a rough passage arrived off Cadiz on his birth day, September 29, on which very day the French admiral, Villeneuve, received orders to put to sea the first opportunity. From this time till the 21st of October, when the battle of Trafalgar was fought, Nelson never came in sight of land; he feared that if the enemy knew his force they would not venture out, notwithstanding their superiority. This was the case. Villeneuve had called a council of war on hearing that Nelson had taken the command; and their determination was not to leave Cadiz unless they had reason to believe themselves one third stronger than the British force. Many circumstances tended to deceive them into

such an opinion, and an American contributed unintentionally to mislead them, by declaring that Nelson

could not possibly be with the fleet, for he himself had seen him only a few days before in London. Relying upon this, and upon their superiority, which was in truth sufficiently great, though they imagined it greater than it was, in an unhappy hour they sailed from Cadiz. On the 19th, the signal was made that they were at sea. In the afternoon of the next day it was signified that they seemed determined to go to the westward; and that, said Nelson in his journal, they shall not do, if it be in the power of Nelson and Bronte to prevent them.

He had previously arranged his plan of attack. The confidence which he felt in his officers, appears strikingly in the manner with which he prefaced it; the business of a commander in chief, he said, being to lay his ships close on board the enemy as expeditiously as possible, and to continue them there till the business was concluded. Knowing his object to be that of a close and decisive action, his admirals and captains would supply any deficiency of signals, and act accordingly. The order of sailing was to be the order of battle, the fleet in two lines of sixteen ships, with an advanced squadron of eight, the fastest sailing two deckers. The second in com mand having the entire direction of his line, was to break through the enemy, about the twelfth ship from the rear; he would lead through the centre, and the advanced squadron was to cut off three or four ahead of the centre. They were so to proportion this to the strength of the enemy, that they should always be one fourth superiour to those whom they cut off. The only difference from this plan on the day of action was, that the fleet bore up by signal in two columns. The British force consisted of twenty seven sail of the line. The enemy's of 33, and their superiority was greater in size and weight of metal than in numbers; 4000 troops were on board,

1

and the best riflemen who could be selected were dispersed through the fleet. Many of them were Tyrolese. It is painful to hear of the Tyrolese and the Spaniards shedding their blood in the cause of France, and then to remember the present situation of Spain and the Tyrol. The plan of defence was as original as that of attack. They were formed in a double line, every alternate ship being about a cable's length to windward of her second ahead and a

stern.

Nelson never went into a battle without a full sense of its danger, and always seems rather to have prepared his mind for death, than to have banished the thought of it. On the morning of the 21st, he wrote a prayer in his journal, followed by an extraordinary memoir; in which he solemnly bequeathed lady Hamilton as a legacy to his king and country. He left also to the beneficence of his country his adopted daughter, desiring she would use, in future, his name only. "These," said he, "are the only favours I ask of my king and country at this moment, when I am going to fight their battle." He had put on the coat which he always wore in action, and kept for that purpose, with a degree of veneration. It bore the insignia of all his orders. "In honour I gained them," he said, "and in honour I will die with them." When it was certain that the enemy could not avoid an engagement, he became highly animated, saying he should not be content with less than twenty of them! captain Blackwood was walking with him on the poop, and he asked him if he did not think there was a signal wanting. The captain replied, he "thought the whole of the fleet seemed very clearly to understand what they were about." He had, however, scarcely spoken, before that signal was made, which will be remembered as long as the language and the name of England shall endure Nelson's last signal-ENGLAND Vol. IV.

EXPECTS EVERY MAN TO DO' HIS DUTY. It was received with a shout throughout the fleet; an answering acclamation, made sublime by the feeling which it conveyed. "Now," said 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 for this great opportunity of doing my duty." Captain Blackwood being about to return to his ship, took him by the hand, saying, he "hoped soon to return and find him in possession of his twenty prizes." He replied: "God bless you, Blackwood, I shall never see you again.”

It had been represented so strongly to Nelson, both by captain Black, wood, and his own captain, Hardy, how advantageous it would be to the fleet for him to keep out of action as long as possible, that he consented, at length, to let the Temeraire, which was then sailing abreast of the Victory, be ordered to pass ahead, and the Leviathan also. They could not possibly do this if the Victory continued to carry all her sail; and so far was Nelson from shortening sail, that he seemed to take pleasure in baffling the advice to which he could not but assent. As usual, he hoisted several flags, that they might not be shot away. The enemy showed no colours till late in the action, when they began to feel the necessity of having them to strike. The Santissima Trinidad, Nelson's old acquaintance, as he used to call her, was therefore only distinguished by her four decks. To the bow of this opponent he ordered the Victory to be steered. It was not possible to break the enemy's line without running on board one of their ships. Before this could be done, and before the Victory fired a shot, fifty of her men were killed and wounded, and her mizen top mast, with all her studding sails and their booms on both sides shot away. In this state, she ran on board the Redoutable, which, firing her broad