ld have to contend
with a fresh fleet of fifteen or sixteen sail-of-the-line. But I will
do my best; and I hope God Almighty will go with me. I have much to
lose, but little to gain; and I go because it's right, and I will
serve the Country faithfully." He doubtless did not know then that
Calder, finding Villeneuve had gone to Cadiz, had taken thither the
eighteen ships detached with him from the Brest blockade, and that
Bickerton had also joined from within the Mediterranean, so that
Collingwood, at the moment he was writing, had with him twenty-six of
the line. His anticipation, however, was substantially correct.
Despite every effort, the Admiralty up to a fortnight before Trafalgar
had not given him the number of ships he thought necessary, to insure
certain watching, and crushing defeat. He was particularly short of
the smaller cruisers wanted.

On the 12th of September Minto took his leave of him. "I went
yesterday to Merton," he wrote on the 13th, "in a great hurry, as Lord
Nelson said he was to be at home all day, and he dines at half-past
three. But I found he had been sent for to Carleton House, and he and
Lady Hamilton did not return till half-past five." The Prince of Wales
had sent an urgent command that he particularly wished to see him
before he left England. "I stayed till ten at night," continues Minto,
"and I took a final leave of him. He goes to Portsmouth to-night.
Lady Hamilton was in tears all day yesterday, could not eat, and
hardly drink, and near swooning, and all at table. It is a strange
picture. She tells me nothing can be more pure and ardent than this
flame." Lady Hamilton may have had the self-control of an actress, but
clearly not the reticence of a well-bred woman.

On the following night Nelson left home finally. His last act before
leaving the house, it is said, was to visit the bed where his child,
then between four and five, was sleeping, and pray over her. The
solemn anticipation of death, which from this time forward deepened
more and more over his fearless spirit, as the hour of battle
approached, is apparent in the record of his departure made in his
private diary:--

Friday Night, September 13th.

At half-past ten drove from dear dear Merton, where I left all
which I hold dear in this world, to go to serve my King and
Country. May the great God whom I adore enable me to fulfil the
expectations of my Country; and if it is His good pleasure that
I sho