in life.  I also leave to the beneficence of my Country my adopted daughter, Horatia Nelson Thompson; and I desire she will use in future the name of Nelson only.  These are the only favours I ask of my King and Country at this moment when I am going to fight their battle.  May God bless my King and Country, and all those who I hold dear.  My relations it is needless to mention:  they will of course be amply provided for.”

At seven o’clock Nelson had returned from the poop to the cabin, for at that hour was made in his private journal the last entry of occurrences,—­“At seven the combined fleets wearing in succession.”  Here it seems likely that he laid down the pen, for, when he was found writing again, some hours later, it was to complete the long record of experiences and of duties, with words that summed up, in fit and most touching expression, the self-devotion of a life already entering the shadow of death.

Between eight and nine o’clock the other frigate commanders came on board the “Victory;” aides-de-camp, as it were, waiting to the last moment to receive such orders as might require more extensive wording, or precise explanation, than is supplied by the sententious phrases of the signal-book.  Blackwood himself, a captain of long standing and of tried ability, was in fact intrusted contingently with no small share of the power and discretion of the commander-in-chief.  “He not only gave me command of all the frigates, but he also gave me a latitude, seldom or ever given, that of making any use I pleased of his name, in ordering any of the sternmost line-of-battle ships to do what struck me as best.”  While thus waiting, the captains accompanied the admiral in an inspection which he made of the decks and batteries of the flagship.  He addressed the crew at their several quarters, cautioned them against firing a single shot without being sure of their object, and to the officers he expressed himself as highly satisfied with the arrangements made.

Meanwhile the two fleets were forming, as best they could with the scanty breeze, the order in which each meant to meet the shock of battle.  The British could not range themselves in regular columns without loss of time that was not to be thrown away.  They advanced rather in two elongated groups, all under full sail, even to studding-sails on both sides, the place of each ship being determined chiefly by her speed, or, perhaps, by some fortuitous advantage of position when the movement began.  The great point was to get the heads of the columns into action as soon as possible, to break up the enemy’s order.  That done, those which followed could be trusted to complete the business on the general lines prescribed by Nelson.  Collingwood’s ship, the “Royal Sovereign,” being but a few days out from home, and freshly coppered, easily took the lead in her own division.  After her came the “Belleisle,” also a recent arrival off Cadiz, but an old Mediterranean cruiser which had accompanied Nelson in the recent chase to the West Indies.  Upon these two ships, as upon the heads of all columns, fell the weight of destruction from the enemy’s resistance.