line of battle a-head, on the starboard tack, about twelve miles to leeward, and standing to the south. Our fleet consisted of twenty-seven sail of the line and four frigates; theirs of thirty-three and seven large frigates. Their superiority was greater in size and weight of metal than in numbers.

Soon after day-light Nelson came upon deck. The wind was now from the west, light breezes, with a long heavy swell. Signal was made to bear down upon the enemy in two lines, and the fleet set all sail. Collingwood, in the Royal Sovereign, led the lee-line of thirteen ships; the Victory led the weatherline of fourteen. The enemy tacked to the northward, and formed their line on the larboard tack, thus bringing the shoals of Trafalgar and St. Pedro under the lee of the British, and keeping the port of Cadiz open for themselves. This was judiciously done; and Nelson aware of all the advantages which it gave them, made signal to prepare to anchor. Villeneuve was a skilful seaman, worthy of serving a better master and a better cause. His plan of defence was as well conceived, and as original, as the plan of attack. He formed the fleet in a double line, every alternate ship being about a cable's length to windward of her second, ahead and astern. Nelson, certain of a triumphant issue to the day, asked Blackwood what he should consider as a victory. That officer answered, that, considering the handsome way in which battle was offered by the enemy, their apparent determination of a fair trial of strength, and the situation of the land, he thought it would be a glorious result if fourteen were captured. He replied, "I shall not be satisfied with less than twenty." Soon afterwards he asked him if he did not think there was a signal wanting. Blackwood made answer, that he thought the whole fleet seemed very clearly to understand what they were about. These words were scarcely spoken, before that signal was made which will be remembered as long as the language, or even the

memory, of England shall endure,-Nelson's last signal,- -" ENGLAND EXPECTS EVERY MAN TO DO HIS DUTY!" It was received throughout the fleet with a shout of answering acclamation, made sublime by the spirit which it breathed, and the feeling which it expressed. Now," said Lord Nelson, I can do no more. We must trust to the great Disposer of all events, and the justice of our cause. I thank God for this great opportunity of doing my duty."

A long swell was setting into the bay of Cadiz; our ships, crowding all sail, moved majestically before it, with light winds from the S.W. The French Admiral, from the Bucentaur, beheld the new manner in which his enemy was advancing, Nelson and Collingwood each leading his line and, pointing them out to his officers, he is said to have exclaimed, that such conduct could not fail to be successful. Yet Villeneuve had made his own dispositions with the utmost skill, and the fleets under his command waited for the attack with perfect coolness. Ten minutes before twelve they opened their fire. Eight or nine of the ships immediately a-head of the Victory, and across her bows, fired single guns at her, to ascertain whether she was yet within their range. The Victory did not at first return a single gun; fifty of her men were by this time killed or wounded, and her main-topmast, with all her studding sails and their booms, shot away. Nelson declared, that in all his battles he had seen nothing which surpassed the cool courage of his crew on this occasion. four minutes after twelve she opened her fire from both sides of her deck. It was not possible to break the enemy's line, without running on board one of their ships. Hardy informed him of this, and asked him which he would prefer. Nelson replied, "take your choice, Hardy, it does not signify much." The master was ordered to put the helm to port, and the Victory ran on board the Redoubtable, just as her tiller ropes were shot away. The French ship received her with a broadside; then instantly let down her lower deck ports, for fear of being boarded

At

through them, and never afterwards fired a great gun during the action. Her tops, like those of all the enemy's ships, were filled with riflemen. Nelson never placed musketry on his tops; he had a strong dislike to the practice; not merely because it endangers setting fire to the sails, but also because it is a murderous sort of warfare, by which individuals may suffer, and a commander now and then be picked off, but which can never decide the fate of a general engagement. Often as the superiority of British courage has been proved against France upon the seas, it was never more conspicuous than in this decisive conflict. Five of our ships were engaged muzzle to muzzle, with five of the French; in all five the Frenchmen closed their lower deck ports, and deserted their guns, while our men continued deliberately to load and fire till they had made the victory secure.

It was always Nelson's prayer that British sailors might be distinguished by their humanity in victory. Himself setting the example of this, he twice gave orders to cease firing upon the Redoubtable, supposing that she had struck, because her great guns were silent. From this ship, which he was thus anxious to spare, he received his death. In the heat of action, at about a quarter after one, a ball fired from the mizen-top pierced his shoulder; he fell on his face, and was immediately carried below, attended by Captain Hardy. Yet even now, not losing for a moment his presence of mind, he observed, as they were carrying him down the ladder, that the tiller ropes, which had been shot away, had not yet been replaced, and ordered that new ones should be rove immediately. Then, that he might not be seen by the crew, he took out his handkerchief, and covered his face and the stars with which his uniform was decorated. The wound was at once pronounced to be mortal; and, after three hours of great agony, he expired, with his latest breath uttering these memorable words: "Thank God, I have done my duty!”

He lived long enough to know that the victory was decisive; and the last guns which were fired at

the flying enemy were heard a minute or two before he expired.

The total loss of the British in the battle of Trafalgar amounted to 1,587. Twenty of the enemy struck; unhappily the fleet did not anchor, as Nelson almost with his dying breath had enjoined: a gale came on from the south-west; some of the prizes went down; some went on shore; one effected its escape into Cadiz; four only were saved, and these by the greatest exertions.

The death of Nelson was felt in England as something more than a public calamity: men started at the intelligence and turned pale, as if they had heard of the loss of a dear friend. An object of our admiration and affection, of our pride and of our hopes, was suddenly taken from us; and it seemed as if we had never, till then, known how deeply we loved and reverenced him. What the country had lost in its great naval hero-the greatest of our own, and of all former times, was scarcely taken into the account of grief. So perfectly, indeed, had he performed his part, that the maritime war, after the battle of Trafalgar, was considered at an end: the fleets of the enemy were not merely defeated, but destroyed; new navies must be built, and a new race of seamen reared for them, before the possibility of their invading 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 that they could now bestow upon him, whom the King, the Legislature, and the Nation, would have alike delighted to honour; whom every tongue would have blessed; whose presence in every village through which he might have passed, would have wakened the church bells, 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 increase 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 are no longer in existence.

L.

BUONAPARTE.

(Journal at Elba.)

[The death of Napoleon Buonaparte will probably open many sources of information respecting the conduct and cha racter of this extraordinary man, which have hitherto been closed to the public. Much curiosity has been excited by a variety of highly interesting particulars, already communicated to the world. But amidst this mass of information, so much of fraud has been detected, as to throw considerable distrust over those memoirs which are genuine.

The following is extracted from a short journal which we kept during a very interesting visit to Napoleon in the Island of Elba in May, 1814, shortly after his abdication.]

Porto Ferrajo, May 8, 1814.

WE had scarcely anchored when Captain Usher came on board from the Undaunted, to welcome our arrival; and we were soon surrounded with other boats from the shore. After some little time spent in mutual inquiries, he pointed out to us Napoleon at a distance amusing himself in a boat, and he left us to announce to him who we were. He soon returned, in company with Colonel (now Sir) Niel Campbell, the British Commissioner, who attended the Emperor from Fontainbleau, bringing a message from the exEmperor, inviting us to visit him on shore.

We landed immediately, and Colonel Campbell accompanied us to the Hotel-de-Ville, which serves