nd Gravina now made their way to Vigo, and thence finally to
Cadiz: while Nelson, having at length received accurate intelligence of
their motions, took the command in the Mediterranean, and lay watching
for the moment in which they should be tempted to hazard another egress.
The coasts of Spain being strictly blockaded, some difficulty began to
be felt about providing necessaries for the numerous crews of the allied
fleets; but the circumstance which had most influence in leading them to
quit, once more, their place of safety, was, according to general
admission, the impatience of Villeneuve under some unmerited reproaches
with which Napoleon visited the results of the battle off Cape
Finisterre. Villeneuve, a man of dauntless gallantry and the highest
spirit, smarting under this injury, was anxious to take the noble
revenge of victory. And, in truth, had numbers been to decide the
adventure, he ran little risk: for Nelson commanded only twenty-seven
sail of the line, and three frigates, manned in the ordinary manner;
whereas the fleet in Cadiz mustered thirty-three ships of the line, and
seven frigates; and, besides the usual crews, carried 4000 troops,
chiefly rifle-men. The result was the most glorious day in the proud
annals of the English Marine. The combined fleets sailed from Cadiz on
the 19th of October, and on the morning of the 21st--the very day after
Mack surrendered at Ulm--they came in sight of the English Admiral, off
Cape Trafalgar.

The reader is referred to the historian of Lord Nelson for the
particulars of this great action. The French and Spaniards awaited the
attack in a double line. Nelson hoisted the famous signal--"England
expects every man to do his duty"; charged in two columns, and broke
their array at the first onset. The battle, nevertheless, was sternly
contested. In the end nineteen ships of the line were taken; and of
those Spanish vessels which escaped into Cadiz, seven had been rendered
wholly unserviceable. Four French ships of the line, under Commodore
Dumanoir, made way for the Straits, and were captured a few days after
by Sir Richard Strachan, commander of the English squadron off
Rochefort. The fleets of France and Spain were annihilated: yet, great
as was the triumph, glorious and unrivalled, it was dearly
purchased--for Nelson fell, mortally wounded, early in the action. The
hero lived just long enough to hear the cheer of consummated victory;
and then breathed out his noble s