On the 19th of June Nelson left the Baltic in the brig “Kite,” and on the 1st of July landed at Yarmouth.

FOOTNOTES: 

[22] Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxvii. p. 445.

[23] Ante, vol. i. pp. 199-202.

[24] Nelson to Lady Hamilton.  Pettigrew, vol. i. pp. 442-444.

[25] Pitt had resigned from office since then.

[26] Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxvii. p. 446.

[27] Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxvii., art.  “Layman.”

[28] That is, from north to south.  It may be well to notice that to go from the Kattegat to the Baltic is up, although from north to south.

[29] Trekroner, which was then a favorite military name in Denmark, refers to the three Crowns of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, once united.

[30] They are to be found in Nicolas’s “Despatches and Letters of Lord Nelson,” vol. iv. p. 304.

[31] Except numbers 4 and 5, whose stations, as has been said, were abreast the two southernmost Danes.

[32] The following is the order of the ships in the column of attack, as originally prescribed:—­

1.  Edgar, 74. 2.  Ardent, 64. 3.  Glatton, 54. 4.  Isis, 50. 5.  Agamemnon, 64. 6.  Bellona, 74. 7.  Elephant, 74. 8.  Ganges, 74. 9.  Monarch, 74. 10.  Defiance, 74. 11.  Russell, 74. 12.  Polyphemus, 64.

[33] To acknowledge a signal is simply to hoist a flag, showing that it has been seen and understood.  To repeat is to hoist the signal yourself, thus transmitting it as an order to those concerned.

[34] Life of Rev. Dr. A.J.  Scott, p. 70

[35] Norway was then attached to the Danish Crown, as now to that of Sweden.

[36] Midnight to four A.M.

CHAPTER XVII.

NELSON COMMANDS THE “SQUADRON ON A PARTICULAR SERVICE,” FOR THE DEFENCE OF THE COAST OF ENGLAND AGAINST INVASION.—­SIGNATURE OF PRELIMINARIES OF PEACE WITH FRANCE.

JULY-OCTOBER, 1801.  AGE, 43.

Before sailing for the Baltic, and throughout his service in that sea, the longing for repose and for a lover’s paradise had disputed with the love of glory for the empire in Nelson’s heart, and signs were not wanting that the latter was making a doubtful, if not a losing, fight.  Shortly before his departure for the North, he wrote to St. Vincent, “Although, I own, I have met with much more honours and rewards than ever my most sanguine ideas led me to expect, yet I am so circumstanced that probably this Expedition will be the last service ever performed by your obliged and affectionate friend.”  His old commander was naturally perturbed at the thought that the illustrious career, which he had done so much to foster, was to have the ignoble termination to be inferred from these words and the notorious facts.  “Be assured, my dear Lord,” he replied, “that every public[37] act of your life has been the subject of my admiration, which I should have sooner declared, but that I was appalled by the last sentence of your letter:  for God’s sake, do not suffer yourself to be carried away by any sudden impulse.”