humour that is humorous. He always appears to be in sombre earnest
about affairs that matter, and whimsically affected by those that
don't. The following lines, which are not my own, may be regarded as
something akin to Nelson's conception of himself. If he had come
across them, I think he would have said to himself, "Ah! yes, these
verses describe my mission and me."

"Like a warrior angel sped
On a mighty mission,
Light and life about him shed--
A transcendent vision.

"Mailed in gold and fire he stands,
And, with splendours shaken,
Bids the slumbering seas and lands
Quicken and awaken."

Nelson never attempted to carry out a mere reckless and palpably
useless feat for the purpose of show. His well-balanced genius of
caution and accurate judgment was the guiding instinct in his
terrific thrusts which mauled the enemy out of action at the Nile, St.
Vincent, Copenhagen, and Trafalgar, and enthralled the world with new
conceptions of naval warfare. He met with bitter disappointments in
his search for the illusive French fleet, which wore him, as he says,
to a skeleton, but never once was he shaken in his vigorous belief
that he would catch and annihilate them in the end. They cleverly
crept out of Toulon, with the intention, it is said, of going to
Egypt. Villeneuve was no fool at evasive tactics. His plan was
practically unerring, and threw Nelson completely off the scent and
kept him scouring the seas in search of the bird that had flown weeks
before. Once the scent is lost, it takes a long time to pick it up.
Villeneuve no doubt argued that it was not his purpose to give the
British Admiral an opportunity of fighting just then. He had other
fish to fry, and if he wished to get away clear from Toulon and evade
Nelson's ships, he must first of all delude him by sending a few ships
out to mislead the enemy's watchdogs or drive them off; if that
succeeded (which it did not), he would then wait for a strong fair
wind that would assure him of a speed that would outdistance and take
him out of sight of the British squadron, and make sure that no clue
to his destination was left. The wind was strong NNW.; the French
fleet were carrying a heavy press of canvas and steering SSW. The
British ships that were following concluded that they were out for
important mischief, and returned to convey the news to Nelson, who
quickly got under weigh and followed them. Meanwhile, Villeneuv