“Poor Hewson!”
“In the battle of the Nile Nelson took nine French ships of the line, and burnt two; but Trafalgar was his grand fight. Collingwood, in the Royal Sovereign, led the lee-line of fourteen ships. Nelson, in the Victory, was at the head of the weather-line, consisting of fourteen ships. Besides these there were four frigates.”
“How many ships were there against them?”
“The ships of France and Spain opposed to the British were in number thirty-three, with seven large frigates. The odds were great against the English, but the superior tactics, and well-known bravery of Nelson, clothed him with power, and more than made up the difference. I speak, boys, of Nelson as a man, well knowing that the God of battle can alone give success to a mortal arm. Nelson knew this well, and, when everything was prepared for the engagement, he retired into his cabin alone and wrote down the following prayer.
“‘May the great God, whom I worship, grant to my country, and for the benefit of Europe in general, a great and glorious victory, and may no misconduct in any one tarnish it, and may humanity after victory, be the predominant feature in the British fleet! For myself, individually, I commit my life to Him that made me; and may his blessing alight on my endeavours for serving my country faithfully! To him I resign myself, and the just cause which is entrusted to me to defend. Amen! Amen! Amen!’”
“What a solemn prayer! It seems almost as if he thought he should be sure to be killed.”
“He wore on the day of the battle his admiral’s frock coat, and on his left breast, over his heart, boys, four stars of the orders of honour, which had been conferred upon him. Those around thought it was dangerous to wear his stars, lest he should be too plainly seen by the enemy, but they were afraid to tell him so, because he had said, ‘In honour I gained them, and in honour I will die with them.’”
“O dear! he should not have worn his stars.”
“The effect produced by the signal given by Lord Nelson, ‘England expects every man to do his duty!’ was wonderful; it ran from ship to ship, from man to man, from heart to heart, like a train of gunpowder. Officers and men seemed animated with one spirit, and that was a determination to win the day, or at least never to surrender to the enemy.”
“There must be something terrible in preparing for such a fight.”