impossible. My back is shot through. Beatty will tell you so." Captain
Hardy then, once more, shook hands with him; and, with a heart almost

bursting, hastened upon deck.
By this time all feeling below the breast was gone; and Nelson,

having made the surgeonascertain this, said to him: "You know I am
gone, I know it. I feel something rising in my breast,"-- putting his

hand on his left side,--"which tells me so." And upon Beatty's inquiring
whether his pain was very great, he replied, "So great, that he wished

he was dead. Yet," said he, in a lower voice, "one would like to live a
little longer too!" And after a few minutes, in the same under tone, he

added--"What would become of poor Lady Hamilton, if she knew my
situation!" Next to his country she occupied his thoughts. Captain

Hardy, some fifty minutes after he had left the cockpit, returned; and,
again taking the hand of his dying friend and commander, congratulated

him on having gained a complete victory. How many of the enemy were
taken he did not know, as it was impossible to perceive them distinctly;

but fourteen or fifteen at least. "That's well," cried Nelson, "but I
bargained for twenty." And then, in a stronger voice, he said: "Anchor,

Hardy; anchor." Hardy, upon this, hinted that Admiral Collingwood would
take upon himself the direction of affairs. "Not while I live, Hardy,"

said the dying Nelson, ineffectually endeavouring to raise himself from
the bed: "Do you anchor." His previous order for preparing to anchor had

shown how clearly he foresaw the necessity of this. Presently, calling
Hardy back, he said to him in a low voice, "Don't throw me overboard:"

and he desired that he might be buried by his parents, unless it should
please the king to order otherwise. Then reverting to private feelings:

"Take care of my dear Lady Hamilton, Hardy take care of poor Lady
Hamilton. Kiss me, Hardy," said he. Hardy knelt down and kissed his

cheek; and Nelson: said, "Now I am satisfied. Thank God I have done my
duty." Hardy stood over him in silence for a moment or two, then knelt

again and kissed his forehead. "Who is that?" said Nelson; and being
informed, he replied, "God bless you, Hardy." And Hardy then left him

--for ever.
Nelson now desired to be turned upon his right side, and said, "I

wish I had not left the deck; for I shall soon be gone." Death was,
indeed, rapidly approaching. He said to the chaplain, "Doctor, I have

NOT been a GREAT sinner;" and after a short pause, "Remember that I
leave Lady Hamilton and my daughter Horatia as a legacy to my country."

His articulation now became difficult; but he was distinctly heard to
say, "Thank God I have done my duty." These words he repeatedly

pronounced; and they were the last words which he uttered. He expired
at thirty minutes after four--three hours and a quarter after he had

received his wound.
Within a quarter of an hour after Nelson was wounded, above fifty of

the VICTORY's men fell by the enemy's musketry. They, however, on their
part, were not idle; and it was not long before there were only two

Frenchmen left alive in the mizzen-top of the REDOUTABLE. One of them
was the man who had given the fatal wound: he did not live to boast of

what he had done. An old quarter-master had seen him fire; and easily
recognised him, because he wore a glazed cocked hat and a white frock.

This quarter-master and two midshipmen, Mr. Collingwood and Mr.
Pollard, were the only persons left in the VICTORY's poop; the two

midshipmen kept firing at the top, and he supplied them with cartridges.
One of the Frenchmen, attempting to make his escape down the rigging,

was shot by Mr. Pollard, and fell on the poop. But the old quarter-
master, as he cried out, "That's he, that's he," and pointed at the

other who was coming forward to fire again, received a shot in his
mouth, and fell dead. Both the midshipmen then fired at the same time,

and the fellow dropped in the top. When they took possession of the
prize, they went into the mizzen-top, and found him dead, with one ball

through his head, and another through his breast.
The REDOUTABLE struck within twenty minutes after the fatal shot had

been fired from her. During that time she had been twice on fire in her
fore-chains and in her forecastle. The French, as they had done in other

battles, made use in this, of fire-balls and other combustibles;
implements of destruction which other nations, from a sense of honour

and humanity, have laid aside; which add to the, sufferings of the
wounded, without determining the issue of the combat: which none but

the cruel would employ, and which never can be successful against the
brave. Once they succeeded in setting fire, from the REDOUTABLE, to some

ropes and canvas on the VICTORY's booms. The cry ran through the ship,
and reached the cockpit; but even this dreadful cry produced no

confusion: the men displayed that perfect self-possession in danger by
which English seamen are characterised; they extinguished the flames on

board their own ship, and then hastened to extinguish them in the enemy,
by throwing buckets of water from the gangway. When the REDOUTABLE had

struck, it was not practicable to board her from the VICTORY; for,
though the two ships touched, the upper works of both fell in so much,

that there was a great space between their gangways; and she could not
be boarded from the lower or middle decks because her ports were down.

Some of our men went to Lieutenant Quilliam, and offered to swim under
her bows, and get up there; but it was thought unfit to hazard brave

lives in this manner.
What our men would have done from gallantry, some of the crew of the

SANTISSIMA TRINIDAD did to save themselves. Unable to stand the
tremendous fire of the VICTORY, whose larboard guns played against this

great four-decker, and not knowing how else to escape them, nor where
else to betake themselves for protection, many of them leaped overboard

and swam to the VICTORY; and were actually helped up her sides by the
English during the action. The Spaniards began the battle with less

vivacity than their unworthyallies, but they continued it with greater
firmness. The ARGONAUTA and BAHAMA were defended till they had each lost

about four hundred men; the SAN JUAN NEPOMUCENO lost three hundred and
fifty. Often as the superiority of British courage has been proved

against France upon the seas, it was never more conspicuous than in this
decisiveconflict. Five of our ships were engaged muzzle to muzzle with

five of the French. In all five the Frenchmen lowered their lower-deck
ports, and deserted their guns; while our men continued deliberately to

load and fire till they had made the victory secure.
Once, amidst his sufferings, Nelson had expressed a wish that he were

dead; but immediately the spirit subdued the pains of death, and he
wished to live a little longer, doubtless that he might hear the

completion of the victory which he had seen so gloriously begun. That
consolation, that joy, that triumph, was afforded him. He lived to know

that the victory was decisive; and the last guns which were fired at the
flying enemy were heard a minute or two before he expired. The ships

which were thus flying were four of the enemy's van, all French, under
Rear-Admiral Dumanoir. They had borne no part in the action; and now,

when they were seeking safety in flight, they fired not only into the
VICTORY and ROYAL SOVEREIGN as they passed, but poured their broadsides

into the Spanish captured ships; and they were seen to back their
topsails for the purpose of firing with more precision. The indignation

of the Spaniards at this detestable cruelty from their allies, for whom
they had fought so bravely, and so profusely bled, may well be

conceived. It was such that when, two days after the action, seven of
the ships which had escaped into Cadiz came out in hopes of re-taking

some of the disabled prizes, the prisoners in the ARGONAUTA, in a body,
offered their services to the British prize-master, to man the guns

against any of the French ships, saying, that if a Spanish ship came
alongside, they would quietly go below; but they requested that they

might be allowed to fight the French in resentment for the murderous
usage which they had suffered at their hands. Such was their

earnestness, and such the implicit confidence which could be placed in
Spanish honour, that the offer was accepted and they were actually

stationed at the lower-deck guns. Dumanoir and his squadron were not
more fortunate than the fleet from whose destruction they fled. They

fell in with Sir Richard Strachan, who was cruising for the Rochefort
squadron, and were all taken. In the better days of France, if such a

crime could then have been committed, it would have received an
exemplary punishment from the French government. Under Buonaparte it

was sure of impunity, and perhaps might be thought deserving of reward.