there been a fresh breeze before the battle commenced, the chances are that the French would have secured a position that would have enabled more of the crippled ships to get into Cadiz, but even this is doubtful, as only a fluke of wind could have saved them from the strategy of the British Commander-in-Chief before the fighting began.  Between eleven and twelve o’clock on the 21st October every humanly possible, detailed arrangement had been completed.  Each captain knew that, so far as it was possible, he was to follow where his admiral and vice-admiral led.  The spirits of all those who manned the fleet were high of hope, and the inspiring spirit said he could do no more.

Nelson then went to his cabin and on his knees wrote a prayer that throbbed and will continue to throb through the universe.  It exhales the spirit of bravery, and triumphant assurance of the eternal justice of the cause for which he is about to sacrifice himself, for a sombre document it is; but the soul that is in it is imperishable, and who can peruse it without vividly picturing the writer kneeling before the Omnipotent, pleading for his country’s cause, and offering himself piously as a willing sacrifice!

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.

Then, as though apprehension of the inevitable passing was growing, the thought of the woman who is the mother of his child, and for whom he had an unquenchable love, blinds him to all sense of propriety.  It puts a severe strain on our imagination to realize how a man could composedly write such a request on the verge of the greatest naval conflict in history.  It is dated “21st of October, 1805, in sight of the combined fleets of France and Spain, distant ten miles":—­

Whereas the eminent services of Emma Hamilton, widow of the Right Honourable Sir William Hamilton, have been of the very greatest service to my King and country to my knowledge, without ever receiving any reward from either our King and country; First, that she obtained the King of Spain’s letter, in 1796, to his brother, the King of Naples, acquainting him of his intention to declare war against England, from which letter the Ministry sent our orders to the then Sir John Jervis, to strike a stroke, if opportunity offered, against either the arsenals of Spain or her fleets.  That neither of these was done is not the fault of Lady Hamilton; the opportunity might have been offered.  Secondly:  The British fleet under my command could never have returned the second time to Egypt,