as born. The tumbling stream, the garden,
The placid look of the grey dial there,
Marking unconsciously this bloody hour,
And the red apples on my father's trees,
Just now full ripe.

NELSON

Ay, thus do little things
Steal into my mind, too. But ah, my heart
Knows not your calm philosophy!--There's one--
Come nearer to me, Hardy.--One of all,
As you well guess, pervades my memory now;
She, and my daughter--I speak freely to you.
'Twas good I made that codicil this morning
That you and Blackwood witnessed. Now she rests
Safe on the nation's honour.... Let her have
My hair, and the small treasured things I owned,
And take care of her, as you care for me!

[HARDY promises.]

NELSON [resuming in a murmur]

Does love die with our frame's decease, I wonder,
Or does it live on ever?...

[A silence. BEATTY approaches.]

HARDY
Now I'll leave,
See if your order's gone, and then return.

NELSON [symptoms of death beginning to change his face]

Yes, Hardy; yes; I know it. You must go.--
Here we shall meet no more; since Heaven forfend
That care for me should keep you idle now,
When all the ship demands you. Beatty, too.
Go to the others who lie bleeding there;
Them can you aid. Me you can render none!
My time here is the briefest.--If I live
But long enough I'll anchor.... But--too late--
My anchoring's elsewhere ordered!... Kiss me, Hardy:

[HARDY bends over him.]

I'm satisfied. Thank God, I have done my duty!

[HARDY brushes his eyes with his hand, and withdraws to go above,
pausing to look back before he finally disappears.]

BEATTY [watching Nelson]

Ah!--Hush around!...
He's sinking. It is but a trifle now
Of minutes with him. Stand you, please, aside,
And give him air.

[BEATTY, the Chaplain, MAGRATH, the Steward, and attendants
continue to regard NELSON. BEATTY looks at his watch.]

BEATTY

Two hours and fifty minutes since he fell,
And now he's going.

[They wait. NELSON dies.]

CHAPLAIN

Yes.... He has homed to where
There's no more sea.

BEATTY

We'll let the Captain know,
Who will confer with Collingwood at once.
I must now turn to these.

[He goes to another part of the cockpit, a midshipman ascends to
the deck, and the scene overclouds.]

CHORUS OF THE PITIES [aerial