in the
national interest, expected to be rewarded, and on occasions when it
was too tardily withheld, he became peevish, whimpered a good deal
about his illtreatment, and on more than one occasion showed
unbecoming rage at being neglected.

After Copenhagen, the wigs were fairly on the green because he was
created a Viscount instead of an Earl. He talked a good deal about the
Tower, a Dukedom, or Westminster Abbey, and had ways of demanding
attention for which Collingwood had neither the aptitude nor the
inclination, though his naval qualities were quite equal to Nelson's.
But with all their faults and virtues, there was never any petty
jealousy between the two heroes, who lie at rest side by side in the
tombs at St. Paul's. Faithful to their naval orthodoxy that it was
incumbent for every Christian sailor-man to wash clean his conscience
when he was passing from time into eternity, Nelson on the 21st
October, 1805, and Collingwood five years later, avowed to those who
had the honour of closing their eyes for evermore that they "had not
been great sinners," and then slipped into eternal sleep; each of them
leaving behind a name that will live and descend into distant ages.

We left Villeneuve, the unfortunate but distinctly brave French
Commander-in-Chief of the allied fleet at Trafalgar, aboard the
_Mars_. He was subsequently sent a prisoner to England, and after a
short stay, he was allowed to go to France, and broke his journey at
Rennes on his way to Paris. The poor broken-hearted fellow was found
dead in his room, having committed suicide. There is not the remotest
foundation for the unworthy report that was spread that he was put to
death by Napoleon's orders. The Emperor was much too big a man,
occupied with human projects too vast, to waste a moment's thought or
to stain his name over an unfortunate admiral who had brought his
fleet to grief by acting against his instructions. It is only little
men who write, not that which is founded on fact but that which they
imagine will appeal to the popular taste of the moment; and so it was
with the French Emperor; a lot of scandal-mongers were always at work
hawking hither and thither their poisonous fabrications. A great many
people get their living by appealing to the lowest passions.
Napoleon, when in captivity, referred incidentally to the misfortunes
of Villeneuve, and made the following statement to Dr. O'Meara:--

"Villeneuve," said he, "when taken prisone