should leave him and attend to those to whom he might be useful. For,' said he, you can do nothing for me.'-All that could be done was to fan him with paper, and frequently to give him lemonade to alleviate his intense thirst. He was in great pain, and expressed much anxiety for the event of the action, which now began to declare itself. As often as a ship struck, the crew of the Victory hurraed; and, at every hurra, a visible expression of joy gleamed in the eyes, and marked the countenance of the dying hero. But he became impatient to see Captain Hardy; and as that officer, though often sent for, could not leave the deck, Nelson feared that some fatal cause prevented him, and repeatedly cried, Will no one bring Hardy to me? He must be killed! He is surely dead!'An hour and ten minutes elapsed, from the time when Nelson received his wound, before Hardy could come to him. They shook hands in silence; Hardy in vain struggling to suppress the feelings of that most painful, and yet sublimest moment. Well, Hardy,' said Nelson, how goes the day with us? Very well,' replied Hardy; ten ships have struck, but five of their van have tacked, and show an intention of bearing down upon the Victory. I have called two or three of our fresh ships round, and have no doubt of giving them a drubbing. I hope,' said Nelson, 'none of our ships have struck?' Hardy answered, There was no fear.' Then, and not till then, Nelson spoke of himself. I am a dead man, Hardy,' said he; I am going fast:-it will be all over with me soon. Come nearer to me. Let my dear Lady Hamilton have my hair, and all other things belonging to me.' Hardy observed that he hoped Mr. Beatty could yet hold out some prospect of life. O, no!' he replied, "it is 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.

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"By this time all feeling below the breast was gone; and Nelson, having made the surgeon ascertain this, said to him, You know I am gone. I know it. I feel something rising in my breastputting 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!' 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 kiss'd 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

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"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 Horatio, 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 had 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."

Nelson was altogether a man of many great and many amiable qualities. His heroism was of the most sublime species, because it was seldom, indeed we believe never, except in the two instances which we have mentioned, separated from the most refined sentiments of humanity, and from a sort of hallowed impression of a providential Governor of the world. His devotion, for he was perpetually devout, was equally remote from the chilly feeling of philosophical scepticism, and from the torrid fervour of fanatical delusion. His courage was not the effect of an unreflecting mind, nor of physical insensibility. In all his plans he showed great quickness of discernment and compre hension of view. He did not rush blindly into danger without calculating the means of resistance, or the adaptation of his strength to the foe which he had to subdue, or the obstacles to overcome. But he knew and felt the resources of his own ge nius; and what might have been regarded only as precipitate rashness in minds of an inferior order, was often only sober daring in him. He might, without any charge of temerity, rush upon a hydra, where it would be a sufficient degree of enterprise in other men to attack a snake. His daring assault upon Copenhagen is, in point of wisdom, the most questionable of all his enterprises; but, if wisdom be justified of her children, in this case the wisdom was proved by the result. What might have

been fool-hardiness in a common commander was prospective sagacity in him.

The two specks in the sun of Nelson's glory, of the broadest surface and the deepest die, are the transactions which we have mentioned in the bay of Naples. Here, even his sense of justice and his feeling of humanity, both of which appear uniformly to have governed his conduct in other parts of his life, were, for a moment, forgotten, that he might yield a base and unworthy compliance with the wishes of the fair sorceress by whom his affections were beguiled. But, if the heart of Nelson were not made of stuff sufficiently stern to withstand the blandishments of Lady Hamilton, let him not be censured with bitterness, nor condemned without mercy. No one, who has not been in similar circumstances, can measure the force of the temptation with which he had to contend, or the variety of the lures by which he was finally overcome. Let it be remembered that there are often partial defects in great characters, which are a sort of tax which they pay to the vulgar mass as the price of their elevation. They thus, in some measure, tend to preserve the equilibrium of humanity. For, if there were any characters so great or so brilliant as to be without any defects or blots, who, after contemplating them, would be able to endure the rest of his species?

If Nelson became in any degree the victim of a particular infirmity, let it not be forgotten that this infirmity has been the accompaniment of men as great, or greater than himself. Athens never produced a greater man than Pericles; but even Pericles was sometimes befooled by the witcheries of beauty in the form of Aspasia. Who does not recollect that Alexander was, sometimes, blind to the view of glory, deaf to the voice of fame, and torpid to all the nobler impulses of ambition in the arms of a courtezan? Ambition never burned with a more impetuous flame in any breast than in that of Cæsar; but even in the breast of Cæsar, the desire of subduing the world was, for an interval, smothered, if not extinguished, by the softer blandishments of Cleopatra.

We say not this to apologize for the temporary deviation from rectitude of the hero of the Nile and Trafalgar; but we do say that his infirmity has been that of many noble minds. Those who have not intellect enough to estimate his other excellencies, may, if they please, indulge their malignity in carping at this defect. We may suggest it as a problem for the solution of the curious, whether Nelson would have been altogether more estimable if the ingredients in his character had been mingled in different proportions; or if his excellencies had been in any VOL. II. 2D ED.

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considerable degree less balanced by his defects. He had some vice, but he had more virtue; and who is there, in the average of human instances, with so much of the one, or so little of the other? Nelson had not sufficient virtue to be regarded as a prodigy; but had he sufficient vice to incur our detestation? We admire him as transcendently brave; but can we also altogether help regarding him as an amiable character? He was not a saint, but he was a hero; and, what is better for human happiness, he was a friendly and an honest man.

For the Analectic Magazine.

HINTS ON THE NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.

THE brilliant victories obtained by our gallant navy naturally lead every lover of his country to consider the means by which its glory may be perpetuated and its successes continued. Both of these objects are rendered difficult in a state of war, particularly with Great Britain; whose numerous fleets appear to render a long struggle for our existence upon the ocean almost impracticable. Those gallant sailors who have gained the trophies of which we so justly boast, have their ranks thinned by death and captivity; the commercial marine, from which recruits must be drawn, is driven from the ocean, and its navigators are obliged to seek bread in other occupations, to which comparative case will attach them. It will therefore become more and more difficult to recruit picked and experienced hands for the service; and our crews, blockaded in ports by superior force, will lose those habits of discipline and subordination to which their victories were owing. The inexperienced in naval affairs who boast of the natural superiority of their countrymen, may ridicule such gloomy forebodings; " when we meet an enemy in equal force we will always subdue them," they cry; but let them recollect that equal force does not always constitute equal terms; that skill in seamanship and gunnery can only be obtained by unremitted exercise, and that a port is destructive of discipline among sailors. Let them recollect that the marine of France, which, at the commencement of the reign of Lewis XIV., bade defiance to the united navies of England and Holland, was annihilated before his death; not by the force of his énemies, but by inattention to its equipment and exercise. Let them also recollect that the lion of England is roused; that her