mind; if I can get eleven sail together, they
shall not hurt me." "I am under no apprehension for the safety of his
Majesty's squadron," he said in a circular letter to his scattered
vessels, designed to heighten their ardor; "on the contrary, from the
very high state of discipline of the ships, I am confident, should the
enemy force us to battle, that we shall cut a very respectable figure;
and if Admiral Duckworth joins, not one moment shall be lost in my
attacking the enemy." It must be mentioned that St. Vincent had
expressed his opinion that the French were bound for Malta and
Alexandria, and Nelson, when he wrote these words, was hourly
expecting to see their sails appear on the horizon. He did not know
yet, however, that they were twenty-five, instead of nineteen, of the
line. To St. Vincent he expressed himself with the sober, dauntless
resolution of a consummate warrior, who recognized that opportunities
must be seized, and detachments, if need be, sacrificed, for the
furtherance of a great common object. "Your Lordship may depend that
the squadron under my command shall never fall into the hands of the
enemy; and before we are destroyed, I have little doubt but the enemy
will have their wings so completely clipped that they may be easily
overtaken"--by you. In this temper he waited. It is this clear
perception of the utility of his contemplated grapple with superior
numbers, and not the headlong valor and instinct for fighting that
unquestionably distinguished him, which constitutes the excellence of
Nelson's genius. This it was which guided him in the great Trafalgar
campaign, and the lack of which betrayed Villeneuve at the same
period to his wretched shortcomings. Yet, as has before been remarked,
mere insight, however accurate and penetrating, ends only in itself,
or at best falls far short of the mark, unless accompanied by Nelson's
great power of disregarding contingencies--an inspired blindness,
which at the moment of decisive action sees, not the risks, but the
one only road to possible victory.

Whilst thus expecting an engagement which, from the disparity of
numbers, could be nothing short of desperate, he drew up a codicil to
his will, making to Lady Hamilton a bequest, in terms that show how
complete were the infatuation and idealization now in possession of
his mind: "I give and bequeath to my dear friend, Emma Hamilton, wife
of the Right Hon. Sir William Hamilton, a nearly round box set with
di