fleet, on
the 14th of February last." Nelson's delight was great and
characteristic. Material rewards were not in his eyes the most real or
the richest. "Chains and Medals," he wrote to his brother, "are what
no fortune or connexion in England can obtain; and I shall feel
prouder of those than all the titles in the King's power to bestow."
To his wife he said: "Though we can afford no more than a
cottage--yet, with a contented mind, my chains, medals, and ribbons
are all sufficient." To receive honor was second to no possession,
except that of knowing he had deserved it.

On the evening of the Battle of St. Vincent, soon after the firing
ceased, Nelson shifted his commodore's pendant to the "Irresistible,"
of seventy-four guns, the "Captain" being unmanageable from the damage
done to her spars and rigging. Her hull also had been so battered,
that he wrote a few days later she would never be able to receive him
again, which proved to be true; for although, after she had been
patched up, he returned to her temporarily, a newly fitted ship, the
"Theseus," seventy-four, was assigned to his flag, as soon as a
reinforcement arrived from England.

After a vain effort to reach the Tagus against contrary winds, with
disabled ships, Jervis decided to take his fleet into Lagos Bay, an
open roadstead on the southern coast of Portugal, and there to refit
sufficiently to make the passage to Lisbon. While lying at Lagos
Nelson became a Rear-Admiral of the Blue, by a flag-promotion dated on
the 20th of February, although his flag was not hoisted until the
first of April, when the official notification of his advancement was
received by him. He was then thirty-eight and a half years of age. In
this rank he remained until after the Battle of the Nile was fought,
but it mattered comparatively little where he stood on the list of
flag-officers, while Jervis commanded; that he was an admiral at all
made it possible to commit to him undertakings for which he was
pre-eminently qualified, but which could scarcely have been intrusted
to a simple captain by any stretching of service methods, always--and
not improperly--conservative.

On the 23d of February the fleet sailed again, and on the 28th
anchored in the Tagus. The same day Nelson wrote to his wife that he
was to go to sea on the 2d of March, with three ships-of-the-line, to
look out for the Viceroy of Mexico, who was reported to be on his way
to Cadiz, also with three ships-of-the-li