our shores could again be contemplated. It was not,
therefore, from any selfish reflection upon the magnitude of our loss
that we mourned for him: the general sorrow was of a higher character.
The people of England grieved that funeral ceremonies, and public
monuments, and posthumous rewards, were all which they could now
bestow upon him whom the King, the legislature, and the nation would
have alike delighted to honor; whom every tongue would have blest;
whose presence in every village through which he might have passed
would have wakened the church-bells, have given schoolboys a holiday,
have drawn children from their sports to gaze upon him, and "old men
from the chimney-corner" to look upon Nelson ere they died. The
victory of Trafalgar was celebrated, indeed, with the usual forms of
rejoicing, but they were without joy; for such already was the glory
of the British navy, through Nelson's surpassing genius, that it
scarcely seemed to receive any addition from the most signal victory
that ever was achieved upon the seas; and the destruction of this
mighty fleet, by which all the maritime schemes of France were totally
frustrated, hardly appeared to add to our security or strength; for,
while Nelson was living to watch the combined squadrons of the enemy,
we felt ourselves as secure as now, when they were no longer in
existence.

There was reason to suppose, from the appearances upon opening his
body, that in the course of nature he might have attained, like his
father, to a good old age. Yet he can not be said to have fallen
prematurely whose work was done; nor ought he to be lamented, who died
so full of honors, and at the height of human fame. The most
triumphant death is that of the martyr; the most awful, that of the
martyred patriot; the most splendid, that of the hero in the hour of
victory; and if the chariot and the horses of fire had been vouchsafed
for Nelson's translation, he could scarcely have departed in a
brighter blaze of glory. He has left us, not indeed his mantle of
inspiration, but a name and an example which are at this hour
inspiring thousands of the youth of England--a name which is our pride
and an example which will continue to be our shield and our strength.
Thus it is that the spirits of the great and the wise continue to live
and to act after them.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 18: From "The Life of Nelson."]

[Footnote 19: Sir Thomas Hardy was flag captain of the _Victory_,
Nelson's ship a