e action to assist the BELLONA, became
fast on the same shoal. Nelson left the ELEPHANT soon after she took the
ground, to follow Lindholm. The heat of the action was over, and that
kind of feeling which the surrounding scene of havoc was so well fitted
to produce, pressed heavily upon his exhausted spirits. The sky had
suddenly become overcast; white flags were waving from the mast-heads of
so many shattered ships; the slaughter had ceased, but the grief was to
come; for the account of the dead was not yet made up, and no man could
tell for what friends he might have to mourn. The very silence which
follows the cessation of such a battle becomes a weight upon the
heart at first, rather than a relief; and though the work of mutual
destruction was at an end, the DANBROG was at this time drifting about
in flames; presently she blew up; while our boats, which had put off in
all directions to assist her, were endeavouring to pick up her devoted
crew, few of whom could be saved. The fate of these men, after the
gallantry which they had displayed, particularly affected Nelson; for
there was nothing in this action of that indignation against the enemy,
and that impression of retributive justice, which at the Nile had
given a sterner temper to his mind, and a sense of austere delight in
beholding the vengeance of which he was the appointed minister. The
Danes were an honourable foe; they were of English mould as well as
English blood; and now that the battle had ceased, he regarded them
rather as brethren than as enemies. There was another reflection also
which mingled with these melancholy thoughts, and predisposed him to
receive them. He was not here master of his own movements, as at Egypt;
he had won the day by disobeying his orders; and in so far as he had
been successful, had convicted the commander-in-chief of an error in
judgment. "Well," said he, as he left the ELEPHANT, "I have fought
contrary to orders, and I shall perhaps be hanged. Never mind: let
them!"

This was the language of a man who, while he is giving utterance to
uneasy thought, clothes it half in jest, because he half repents that it
has been disclosed. His services had been too eminent on that day, his
judgment too conspicuous, his success too signal, for any commander,
however jealous of his own authority, or envious of another's merits, to
express anything but satisfaction and gratitude: which Sir Hyde heartily
felt, and sincerely expressed. It was spe