his flag in the Vanguard, and was ordered to rejoin Earl St. Vincent. Upon his departure, his father addressed him with that affectionate solemnity by which all his letters were distinguished. "I trust in the Lord," said he, "that he will prosper your going out and your coming in. I earnestly desired once more to see you, and that wish has been heard. If I should presume to say, I hope to see you again, the question would be readily asked, How old art thou? Vale! vale! Domine, vale!" It is said, that a gloomy foreboding hung on the spirits of Lady Nelson at their parting. This could have arisen only from the dread of losing him by the chance of war. Any apprehension of losing his affections could hardly have existed; for all his correspondence to this time shows that he thought himself happy in his marriage; and his private character had hitherto been as spotless as his public conduct. One of the last things he said to her was, that his own ambition was satisfied, but that he went to raise her to that rank in which he had long wished to see her.

Immediately on his rejoining the fleet, he was dispatched to the Mediterranean, with a small squadron, in order to ascertain, if possible, the object of the great expedition which at that time was fitting out, under Buonaparte, at Toulon. The defeat of this armament, whatever might be its destination, was deemed by the British government an object paramount to every other; and Earl St. Vincent was directed, if he thought it necessary, to take his whole force into the Mediterranean, to relinquish, for that purpose, the blockade of the Spanish fleet, as a thing of inferior moment: but, if he should deem a detachment sufficient, "I think it almost unnecessary," said the first lord of the admiralty, in his secret instructions, "to suggest to you the propriety of putting it under Sir Horatio Nelson."

The armament at Toulon consisted of thirteen ships of the line, seven forty gun frigates, with twenty-four smaller vessels of war, and nearly two hundred transports. Mr. Udney, our consul at Leghorn, was the first person who procured certain intelligence of the enemy's design against Malta; and from his own sagacity, foresaw that Egypt must be their after object. Nelson sailed from Gibraltar on the 9th of May, with the Vanguard, Orion, and Alexander, seventyfours; the Caroline, Flora, Emerald, and Terpsichore frigates; and the Bonne Citoyenne sloop of war; to watch this formidable armament. On the 19th, when they were in the Gulf of Lyons, a gale came on from the N.W. It moderated so much on the 20th, as to enable them to get their top-gallantmasts and yards aloft. After dark, it again began to blow strong but the ships had been prepared for a gale, and therefore Nelson's mind was easy. Shortly after midnight, however, his main-top-mast went over the side, and the mizen-top-mast soon afterward. The night was so tempestuous, that it was impossible for any signal either to be seen or heard; and Nelson determined, as soon as it should be daylight, to wear and scud before the gale: but at half-past three the fore-mast went in three pieces, and the bowsprit was found to be sprung in three places. When day broke they succeeded in wearing the ship with a remnant of the spritsail; the Vanguard was a that time twenty-five leagues south of the Islands of Hiéres, with her head lying to the N.E. and if she had not wore, the ship must have drifted to Corsica. Captain Ball, in the Alexander, took her in tow, to carry her into the Sardinian harbour of St. Pietro. Nelson, apprehensive that this attempt might endanger both vessels, ordered him to cast off: but that excellent officer, with a spirit like his commander's, replied, he was confident he could save the Vanguard, and by God's help he would do it. There had been a previous coolness between these great men; but from this time Nelson became fully sensible of the extraordinary talents of Captain Ball, and a sincere friendship existed between them during the remainder of their lives. "I ought not, said the admiral, writing to his wife, "I ought not to cal what has happened to the Vanguard by the cold name of

accident: I believe firmly it was the Almighty's goodness to check my consummate vanity. I hope it has made me a better officer, as I feel confident it has made me a better man. Figure to yourself, on Sunday evening, at sunset, a vain man walking in his cabin, with a squadron around him, who looked up to their chief to lead them to glory, and in whom their chief placed the firmest reliance that the proudest ships of equal numbers belonging to France would have lowered their flags; figure to yourself, on Monday morning, when the sun rose, this proud man, his ship dismasted, his fleet dispersed, that the meanest frigate in France would have been unwelcome guest." Nelson had, indeed, more reason to refuse the cold name of accident to this tempest than he was then aware of; for on that very day the French fleet sailed from Toulon, and must have passed within a few leagues of his little squadron, which was thus preserved by the thick weather that came on.

The British Government at this time, with a becoming spirit, gave orders that any port in the Mediterranean should be considered as hostile, where the governor, or chief magistrate, should refuse to let our ships of war procure supplies of provisions, or of any article which they might require.

In these orders the ports of Sardinia were excepted. The Continental possessions of the King of Sardinia were at this time completely at the mercy of the French, and that prince was now discovering, when too late, that the terms to which he had consented, for the purpose of escaping immediate danger, necessarily involved the loss of the dominions which they were intended to preserve. The citadel of Turin was now occupied by French troops; and his wretched Court feared to afford the common rights of humanity to British ships, lest it should give the French occasion to seize on the remainder of his dominions-a measure for which, it was certain, they would soon make a pretext, if they did not find one. Nelson was informed, that he could not be permitted to enter the port of St. Pietro. Regardless of this interdict, which, under his circumstances it would have been an act of suicidal folly to have regarded, he anchored in the harbour; and, by the exertions of Sir James Saumarez, Captain Ball, and Captain Berry, the Vanguard was refitted in four days; months would have been employed in refitting her in England. Nelson, with that proper sense of merit, wherever it was found, which proved at once the goodness and the greatness of his character, especially recommended to Earl St. Vincent the carpenter of the Alexander, under whose directions the ship had been repaired; stating that he was an old and faithful servant of the Crown, who had been nearly thirty years a warrant carpenter, and begging most earnestly that the commander-in-chief would recommend him to the particular notice of the Board of Admiralty. He did not leave the harbour without expressing his sense of the treatment which he had received there, in a letter to the Viceroy of Sardinia. "Sir," it said, "having, by a gale of wind, sustained some trifling damages, I anchored a small part of his Majesty's fleet under my orders off this island, and was surprised to hear, by an officer sent by the Governor, that admittance was to be refused to the flag of his Britannic Majesty into this port. When I reflect, that my most gracious Sovereign is the oldest, I believe, and certainly the most faithful ally which the King of Sardinia ever had, I could feel the sorrow which it must have been to his Majesty to have given such an order; and also for your Excellency, who had to direct its execution. I cannot but look at the African shore, where the followers of Mahomet are performing the part of the good Samaritan, which I look for in vain at St. Peter's, where it is said the Christian religion is professed."

The delay which was thus occasioned was useful to him in many respects: it enabled him to complete his supply of water, and to receive a reinforcement, which Earl Vincent, being himself reinforced from England, was enabled to send him, It consisted of the best ships of his fleet;

the Culloden, 74, Captain T. Trowbridge; Goliah, seventy-four, Captain T. Foley; Minotaur, seventy-four, Captain T. Louis; Defence, seventy-four, Captain John Peyton; Bellerophon, seventy-four, Captain H. D. E. Darby; Majestic, seventy-four, Captain G. B. Westcott; Zealous, seventy-four, Captain S. Hood; Swiftsure, seventy-four, Captain B. Hallowell; Theseus, seventyfour, Captain R. W. Miller; Audacious, seventy-four, Captain Davidge Gould. The Leander, fifty, Captain T. B. Thompson, was afterwards added. These ships were made ready for the service as soon as Earl St. Vincent received advice from England that he was to be reinforced. As soon as the reinforcement was seen from the mast-head of the admiral's ship, off Cadiz Bay, signal was immediately made to Captain Trowbridge to put to sea; and he was out of sight before the ships from home cast anchor in the British station. Trowbridge took with him no instructions to Nelson as to the course he was to steer, nor any certain account of the enemy's destination: everything was left to his own judgment. Unfortunately, the frigates had been separated from him in the tempest, and had not been able to rejoin: they sought him unsuccessfully in the Bay of Naples, where they obtained no tidings of his course, and he

sailed without them.

The first news of the enemy's armament was, that it had surprised Malta. Nelson formed a plan for attacking it while at anchor at Gozo; but on the 22d of June intelligence reached him that the French had left that island on the 16th, the day after their arrival. It was clear that their destination was eastward-he thought for Egypt-and for Egypt, therefore, he made all sail. Had the frigates been with him he could scarcely have failed to gain information of the enemy for want of them, he only spoke three vessels on the way; two came from Alexandria, one from the Archipelago; and neither of them had seen anything of the French. He arrived off Alexandria on the 28th, and the enemy were not there, neither was there any account of them; but the Governor was endeavouring to put the city in a state of defence, having received advice from Leghorn, that the French expedition was intended against Egypt, after it had taken Malta. Nelson then shaped his course to the northward, for Carmania, and steered from thence along the southern side of Candia, carrying a press of sail, both night and day, with a contrary wind. It would have been his delight, he said, to have tried Bonaparte on a wind. It would have been the delight of Europe, too, and the blessing of the world, if that fleet had been overtaken with its general on board. But of the myriads and millions of human beings who would have been preserved by that day's victory, there is not one to whom such essential benefit would have resulted as to Bonaparte himself.

Baffled in his pursuit, he returned to Sicily. The Neapolitan Ministry had determined to give his squadron no assistance; however, Lady Hamilton's influence at Court procured him orders to the Sicilian governors; and under those orders he obtained everything which he wanted at Syracuse. "It is an old saying," said he, "that the devil's children have the devil's luck. I cannot to this moment learn, beyond vague conjecture, where the French fleet are gone to; and having gone a round of six hundred leagues at this season of the year, with an expedition incredible, here I am, as ignorant of the situation of the enemy as I was twenty-seven days ago. Every moment I have to regret the frigates having left me; had one-half of them been with me, I could not have wanted information. Should the French be so strongly secured in port that I cannot get at them, I shall immediately shift my flag into some other ship, and send the Vanguard to Naples to be refitted; for hardly any person but myself would have continued on service so long in such a wretched state." "Thanks to your exertions," said he, in writing to Sir W. and Lady Hamilton, we have victualled and watered. We shall sail with the first breeze; and be assured I will return either crowned with laurel, or covered with cypress."

66

On the 25th of July, the squadron left Syracuse for the Morea. Being off the gulf of Coron, Captain Trowbridge was dispatched to that place in the Culloden. In less than three hours he returned with an account from the Governor, that the enemy had been seen about four weeks previous steering in a S.E. direction from Candia. Upon this information the admiral resolved a second time to visit Alexandria: every sail was instantly set, and with hearts beating high with expectation the squadron steered for that place.

At noon, on the 1st of August, they made the harbour, which was discovered to be full of vessels, and the French flag was seen flying from some of the ships. Every bosom swelled with joy at the sight of the enemy, and none beheld it with more heartfelt satisfaction than Nelson himself.

On the valour and conduct of every captain in the squadron, the admiral justly placed the firmest reliance. During the whole cruise it had been his practice, whenever circumstances would permit, to assemble the captains on board the Vanguard, and there fully to explain to them his own ideas of the different and best modes of attack, together with such plans as he purposed to execute on falling in with the enemy, whatever might be their situation by night or day. There was no possible position in which they could be found, that he had not digested and arranged the best possible disposition of his force. Each of his captains was, therefore, thoroughly acquainted with the ideas and intentions of their commander, without the aid of any further instructions. Signals were thus rendered comparatively useless, much time was saved, and the almost undivided attention of every captain could be paid to the conduct of his own particular ship; a circumstance from which, on this occasion, the advantages to the general service were incalculable.

From a narrative, published in "The Naval Chronicle," and reported to be from the pen of one of Nelson's captains, we have the following unadorned sketch:

"The enemy's fleet was first discovered by the Zealous, Captain Hood, who immediately communicated by signal the number of ships (sixteen) lying at anchor in a line of battle, in a bay on the larboard bow, which was afterwards found to be Aboukir Bay. The admiral hauled his wind that instant; a movement which was immediately observed and followed by the whole squadron. The wind was at this time N.N.W.; and blew what seamen call a top-gallant breeze. It was necessary to take in the royals to haul up on a wind. The admiral made the signal to prepare for battle; and that it was his intention to attack the enemy's van and centre as they lay at anchor according to the plan previously developed. His idea, in this disposition of his force was, first, to secure the victory, and then to make the most of it, as circumstances might permit. A bower cable of each ship was immediately got out abaft, and bent forward. They continued carrying sail, and standing in for the enemy's fleet in close line of battle. As all the officers of the squadron were totally unacquainted with Aboukir Bay, each ship kept sounding as she stood in.

"The enemy appeared to be moored in a strong and compact line of battle, close in with the shore; their line describing an obtuse angle in its form, flanked by numerous gun-boats, four frigates, and a battery of guns and mortars on an island in their van. This situation of the enemy seemed to secure to them the most decided advantages.

"The position of the enemy presented the most formidable obstacles: but the admiral viewed them all with the eye of a seaman determined on attack; and it instantly struck his eager and penetrating mind, that where there was room for an enemy's ship to swing, there was room for one of ours to anchor.' No farther signals were necessary than those which had already been made. The admiral's designs were fully known to his whole squadron; as was his determination to conquer, or perish in the attempt The Goliah and Zealous had

the honour to lead inside, and to receive the first fire from the van ships of the enemy, as well as from the batteries and gun-boats with which their van was strengthened. These two ships, with the Orion, Audacious, and Theseus, took their stations inside the enemy's line, and were immediately in close action. The Vanguard anchored the first on the outer side of the enemy; and was opposed within half-pistol shot, to Le Spartiate, the third in the enemy's line. The shores of the Bay of Aboukir were soon lined with spectators, who beheld the approach of the English, and the awful conflict of the hostile fleet, in silent astonishment.

"Sir Horatio Nelson, as Rear-admiral of the Blue, carried the blue flag at the mizen; but, from a standing order of the Earl of St. Vincent, the squadron wore the white, or St. George's ensign, in the action. This being white, with a red cross, the first quarter bearing the union, it occasioned the display of the cross on the renowned and ancient coast of Egypt.

"So entirely was the admiral resolved to conqueror to perish in the attempt, that he led into action with six ensigns or flags: viz., red, white, and blue, flying in different parts of the rigging. He could not bear to reflect on the possibility of his colours being carried away even by a random shot from the enemy.

"In standing in, the leading ships were unavoidably obliged to receive into their bows, the whole fire of the broadsides of the French line, till they could take their respective stations; and it is but justice to observe, that the enemy received their opponents with great firmness and deliberation; no colours having No. 6.

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