thin the few hours before; yet,
on the other hand, nothing could have been better calculated to
compose the thoughts, or to facilitate the transition from the
excitement of battle to the resumption of daily life.

If, by the escape of two ships-of-the-line, the British triumph lacked
something in technical completeness, the disaster to the French was no
less absolute. Victory, said Nelson truly, is not the name for such a
scene as I have witnessed. There remained now to gather up the spoils
of the field, and to realize the consequences of the battle, great and
small, near and remote. The first was speedily done; battered as they
were, "only two masts standing out of nine sail-of-the-line," within a
fortnight six of the nine prizes were ready to start for Gibraltar.
Little by little, yet with the rapidity of his now highly trained
intuitions, Nelson saw the greatness of what he had effected, and with
his full native energy struggled on, amid mental confusion and bodily
suffering, and in the heat of an Egyptian August, to secure all the
fruits of success. With splitting head and constantly sick, a
significant indication of the rattling shock his brain had received,
he was wonderfully helped, so far as the direction of his efforts was
concerned, by the previous familiarity of his mind with the various
elements of the problem. First of all, the home government must be
informed of an event that would so profoundly affect the future.
Berry's orders, as bearer of despatches to St. Vincent off Cadiz, were
issued on the 2d of August; but there were no frigates, and the
"Leander," appointed to carry him, could not sail till the 6th. For
the same reason it was not until the 14th that the "Mutine" could be
sent off with duplicates, to go direct to the Admiralty by way of
Naples,--a wise precaution in all events, but doubly justified in this
case; for the brig reached port, whereas the fifty-gun ship was
captured by the "Genereux." The "Mutine's" account, though hastened
forward without delay, reached London only on the 2d of October, two
months after the action.

The news was received at the first with an applause and a popular
commotion commensurate to its greatness, and promised for the moment
to overflow even the barriers of routine in one of the most
conservative of nations. "Mr. Pitt told me the day after Captain Capel
arrived," wrote his old admiral, Hood, to Nelson, "that you would
certainly be a Viscount, which I made kno