escribed in the public letter--joining at the instant,
it became necessary to collect the squadron, to resist an attempt
to wrest these ships, the Salvador del Mundo, and San Ysidro, from
us, which occasioned the discontinuance of the action."

It is evident from this letter, and it's consequences, that the merits
of Commodore Nelson were now duly appreciated. The handsome
acknowledgment, by the commander in chief, that he had contributed much
to the fortune of the day, was a very sufficient hint that he ought to
participate in the honours and advantages which it might be expected to
produce. Sir John Jervis, accordingly, became the Earl of St. Vincent;
and Commodore Nelson, Sir Horatio Nelson, K.B.

In the mean time, so enraptured was Sir John Jervis, with the skill and
bravery which he had witnessed in the gallant commodore, that he
literally clasped him in his arms, when he came on board the Victory,
after the action--dirtied and disfigured as he was, with great part of
his hat shot away--and pressed to his own valiant bosom one of the most
heroic hearts that ever inhabited a human breast.

This undoubted fact is given on no less authority than that of Thomas
Bolton, Esq. who received it from the honourable lips of his immortal
brother-in-law.

A week after the action, on his way to Lisbon, the commodore wrote a
letter to Captain Locker, dated on board the Irresistible, Lagos Bay,
February 21, 1797; in which, observing that he had been too unwell to
write by the Lively frigate, which carried the news of victory to
England, he mentions that, as he knows how anxious his friend would be
for his welfare, both in health and reputation, he sends him a short
detail of the transactions of the Captain: adding that, if he approved
of it, he was at perfect liberty to insert it in the newspapers;
inserting the name of "Commodore," instead of "I." He mentions, that
Captain Miller and Berry, &c. authenticated the truth, till he quitted
the San Josef, to go on board La Minerve; and that, farther than this,
the detail should not be printed. As he does not write for the press, he
modestly intimates, there may be parts which require the pruning-knife,
which he desires him to use at discretion, without fear. "I pretend not
to say," concludes he, "that these ships might not have fallen, had I
not boarded them: but, truly, it was far from impossible that they might
have forged into the Spanish fleet, as the other two sh