s that Troubridge
refuses to endorse his recommendations of officers for promotion, that
he has been so rebuffed that his spirits are broken and the great
Troubridge has cowed him (this, of course, in derision), and if he
asked for anything more he would not get it. He would never forget it.
No wonder he was not well. The Admiralty are "beasts" for not allowing
him to come to London, which would only deprive him of a few days'
comfort and happiness, and they have his hearty prayers. He continues
in the same ludicrous strain, "I have a letter from Troubridge urging
me to wear flannel shirts, as though he cared for me. He hopes that I
shall go and have walks ashore, as the weather is now fine." "I
suppose he is laughing at me, but never mind." He suffers from
sea-sickness and toothache, and "none of them care a damn about my
sufferings," and so on. These misdirected outbursts of feverish
antipathy to poor Troubridge were frequent, and always inconceivably
comical as well as distressingly peevish. But behind it all there was
a consciousness of unequalled power which every one who knew him
recognized, and they therefore patiently bore with his weaknesses,
trying as they sometimes were.

Lord St. Vincent believed, and stated to Nelson, that the only other
man who possessed the same power of infusing into others the same
spirit as his own was Troubridge, and no doubt this innocent praise
of a noble and gallant sailor rankled in Nelson's mind, and was the
beginning of the jealousy that grew into hate. He could not brook any
one being put on an equality with himself, and he clung tenaciously,
though generously, to this idea of authority and superiority when he
requested in his last dying gasp that he should not be superseded.

After signing what is called the codicil to his will, Captains Hardy
and Blackwood joined him on the poop to receive his instructions. He
was calmly absorbed with the enemy's plan of defence and his own of
attack. He asked Blackwood what he would consider a victory, and the
latter replied, "Considering the disposition of both fleets, he
thought fourteen captures would be a fine result." Nelson said he
would not be satisfied with less than twenty, and that nothing short
of annihilation was his object. Soon afterwards he gave orders to Mr.
Pasco to make the memorable signal that

ENGLAND EXPECTS EVERY MAN TO DO HIS DUTY,

which sent a thrill of fiery enthusiasm throughout the whole fleet.
Then the sign