ven of the line, three of
fifty guns, and two frigates; and after a combat of four hours succeeded
in capturing two ships of the line, and defeated the greatest and best
combined project ever formed by the genius of Napoleon. The French
admiral sought refuge in Ferrol, and then threw himself into Cadiz.
Nelson was now once more appointed to the command of the fleet, and once
more he went in search of the enemy. He considered the enemy's fleet,
which he had so long pursued, his own proper game, the price and reward
of his long and anxious search. In this feeling, also, his country
joined.

Describing his departure from Portsmouth, his biographer remarks:--"Many
were in tears, and many knelt down before him, to bless him as he
passed. All men knew that his heart was as humane as it was fearless;
that there was not in his nature an alloy of selfishness or cupidity,
but that he served his country with a perfect and entire devotion;
therefore they loved him as truly and fervently as he loved England."
Nelson arrived off Cadiz on the 29th of September, the very day on which
the French admiral received orders to put to sea the first opportunity.
That it might not be known to the enemy that the hero of the Nile was
watching them, Nelson did not suffer his flag to be saluted, and took
every precaution of keeping his arrival secret, as well as the numerical
force of his fleet. He took his station fifty miles westward of Cadiz,
near Cape St. Mary, where he prepared his plan of attack, which he sent
to Admiral Collingwood, who was blockading all the small ports between
Cadiz and Algesiras, in order that Villeneuve might finally be compelled
for want of provision to set sail. Nelson's plan was to be nearly that
of sailing, which was in two lines, with an advanced squadron of eight
fast-sailing two-deckers: the second in command, having the direction of
his line, was to break through the enemy about twelve ships from their
rear, and Nelson himself was to lead through the centre, while the
advanced squadron was to cut off three or four ahead of it. This plan
received Collingwood's cordial approbation; and Nelson then called his
admirals and captains together, and thus addressed them:--"The enemy's
fleet is supposed to consist of forty-six sail of the line, the British
forty; if either is less only a proportionate number of the ships are to
be cut off. British to be one fourth superior to the enemy they cut off.
Something must be left