and he desired that he might be buried by his parents, unless it should please the king to order otherwise. "Kiss me, Hardy," said he. Hardy knelt down and kissed his cheek, and Nelson said: "Now I am satisfied. 5 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 10 him forever. 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. His articulation now became difficult, but he was distinctly 15 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. 20 The death of Nelson was felt in England as something more than a public calamity; men started at the intelligence and turned pale, as if they had heard of the loss of a dear friend. An object of our admiration and affection, of our pride and of our hopes, was suddenly taken from 25 us; and it seemed as we had never till then known how deeply we loved and reverenced him. What the country had lost in its great naval hero- the greatest of our own and of all former times was scarcely taken into the account of grief. So perfectly indeed had he performed 30 his part that the maritime war after the battle of Trafal gar was considered at an end; the fleets of the enemy were not merely defeated, but destroyed; new navies must be built, and a new race of seamen reared for them, before the possibility of their invading our shores could again be contemplated. It was not, therefore, from any selfish reflection upon the magnitude of our loss that we 5 mourned for him; the general sorrow was of a higher character. The people of England grieved that funeral ceremonies and public monuments and posthumous rewards were all which they could now bestow upon him whom the king, the legislature, and the nation would have 10 alike delighted to honor; whom every tongue would have blessed; whose presence in every village through which he might have passed would have wakened the church bells, have given schoolboys a holiday, have drawn children from their sports to gaze on him, and “old men 15 from the chimney corner," to look upon Nelson ere they died. The victory of Trafalgar was celebrated, indeed, with the usual forms of rejoicing, but they were without joy; for such already was the glory of the British navy, 20 through Nelson's surpassing genius, that it scarcely seemed to receive any addition from the most signal victory that ever was achieved upon the seas; and the destruction of this mighty fleet, by which all the maritime schemes of France were totally frustrated, hardly 25 appeared to add to our security or strength, for while Nelson was living to watch the combined squadrons of the enemy, we felt ourselves as secure as now, when they were no longer in existence. He cannot be said to have fallen prematurely whose 30 work was done, nor ought he to be lamented who died so full of honors, and at the height of human fame. The most triumphant death is that of the martyr; the most awful that of the martyred patriot; the most splendid that of the hero in the hour of victory; and if the chariot 5 and the horses of fire had been vouchsafed for Nelson's translation, he could scarcely have departed in a brighter blaze of glory. He has left us, not indeed his mantle of inspiration, but a name and an example which are at this hour inspiring thousands of the youth of England — a 10 name which is our pride, and an example which will continue to be our shield and our strength. Thus it is that the spirits of the great and the wise continue to live, and to act after them. I. Tra fal gär'. ôr'ders: ranks; offices of honor. Threedeckers: war vessels carrying guns on three decks. Pierre Baptiste Ville neûve' (1763–1806): a French admiral. Studding sails light sails set at the side of the principal or square sails of a ship to increase her speed. II. Ep'au lět: a badge worn on the shoulder by military and naval officers to indicate the rank of the wearer. Rōve: twisted. Allē'vi āte: lessen; allay. Văn: front line of a fleet. Cuthbert, Lord Collingwood (1750-1810): an English admiral. Post'hu mous being or continuing after death. Frus'trát ěd: defeated; brought to nothing. Trăns lā'tion (shun): the act of changing to another place or position; hence, to remove as by death. The allusion here is to the translation of Elijah. See 2 Kings ii. 11-15. They are never alone that are accompanied with noble 15 thoughts. SIR PHILIP SIDNEY Ye Mariners of England BY THOMAS CAMPBELL Ye mariners of England, That guard our native seas, Whose flag has braved, a thousand years, The battle and the breeze! Your glorious standard launch again To match another foe: And sweep through the deep, While the stormy winds do blow; While the battle rages loud and long And the stormy winds do blow. For the deck it was their field of fame And ocean was their grave: Where Blake and mighty Nelson fell, Your manly hearts shall glow, As ye sweep through the deep, While the stormy winds do blow; While the battle rages loud and long And the stormy winds do blow. Britannia needs no bulwarks, No towers along the steep; Her march is o'er the mountain waves, With thunders from her native oak, 5 10 As they roar on the shore, When the stormy winds do blow; The meteor flag of England Till danger's troubled night depart When the storm has ceased to blow; And the storm has ceased to blow. Robert Blake (1599–1657): an English admiral. Bri tănniả: a Roman name for Great Britain. The Romans represented the island of Great Britain by the figure of a woman seated on a rock, from a fancied resemblance in the general outline of the island. The Might of the Lord FROM PSALM CIV 15 O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all the earth is full of thy riches. : So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. |