yet experienced; at least, I will lay down my life in the attempt."

NELSON's dearest hopes were fulfilled, by intelligence, on Saturday the 19th of October, that the Enemy's Fleet had put to sea; and having made the necessary arrangements for meeting them, he wrote two letters, one to Lady Hamilton, in which he said,

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May the God of Battles crown my endeavours with success; at all events I will take care that my name shall ever be most dear to you and to Horatia;" and the other to his child, sending her his "affectionate parental blessing."

On Sunday the 20th, LORD NELSON apprehended, from its blowing fresh and being thick weather, that the Enemy would return into Port; but at daylight on the 21st of October the Combined Fleet was discovered in a close Line of Battle about ten miles distant, apparently waiting his attack. The signals to "Form the Order of Sailing in two columns," and to "Prepare for Battle," were immediately hoisted; and every preparation having been made for Action, he retired to his Cabin, and, on his knees, wrote that Prayer which, from its simple beauty as a composition, and from its indicating the sentiments of his mind at such a moment, will, like his immortal Signal, be remembered as long as the English language may endure. He then added, in his own hand, a Codicil to his Will, solely to solicit the beneficence of his Country to the two persons whom he loved best in the world,-to the one, on public grounds in reward of public services

and to the other as his adopted daughter, who hẹ desired should, in future, bear the name of NELSON only. "These are," he said, "the only favours I ask of my King and Country at this moment when I am going to fight their Battle. May God bless my King and Country, and all those I hold dear." This solemn request has, however, to this hour, been utterly disregarded.

The vast importance and imperishable glory of the Battle of TRAFALGAR, and the deep interest which must ever be felt respecting NELSON's death, have induced the Editor to collect, from every available source, all the information on the subject in his power; and he believes that no similar event has ever been so fully illustrated.

To the narrative by Dr. (afterwards Sir William) Beatty, of what took place before the Battle, have been added the letters of Captain Blackwood, and some valuable communications from Admiral Sir Edward Codrington, who commanded the Orion, and from Captain Pasco, who was LORD NELSON'S Signal Lieutenant. Of the Battle three accounts are given, namely, the one in "James's Naval History," which is the fullest and most circumstantial that has been written; the French account in the "Monumens des Victoires et Conquêtes des Français," no Official report having ever been published; and the Spanish Official and other accounts.

Mr. James's narrative has been illustrated by a copy of the Log of every British Ship in the Action, including those of the Frigates, Cutter, and Schooner,

which are now for the first time printed, and of all the Signals that were made; by the Official and Private Letters of Vice-Admiral Lord Collingwood; and by Letters from Captain Blackwood, the Marquis de Solano, Governor of Cadiz, and Vice-Admiral Alava.

The fall of LORD NELSON and his dying moments are described in Dr, Beatty's most interesting Narrative, to which some notes are appended.

Of the statements that appeared in some of the French Newspapers (the "Moniteur" maintained a rigid and prudent silence), and of those circulated in Spain, it is sufficient to observe that their mendacity was as audacious as it was absurd; but the description given of the Battle in the celebrated French work above mentioned, is more worthy of a great Nation, whose indisputable prowess and military glory require no aid from the misrepresentation of facts.

To these statements are added, an account of the proceedings in England respecting the Battle of Trafalgar; of the honours rendered to NELSON'S memory by Addresses to the Throne, a Public Funeral, &c.; of the feeling manifested by his Sovereign and the Royal Family, and especially by His late Majesty, King George the Fourth, then Prince of Wales; and of the Speeches in Parliament on voting a provision for the inheritors of his Honours. Then follow notices of the "Victory," and of the Admirals and Captains who were at Trafalgar; remarks on the dress in which NELSON fell, to disprove the often repeated assertion

that he purposely put on his decorations on going into Battle; of the Monuments that have been erected to his memory; and of the Poems in which it has been attempted to celebrate his fame. To these is added, what will probably be read with no common interest, all that is known of the history of the child whom he styled his "adopted daughter," HORATIA NELSON. That statement is the more curious from its containing some particulars of the true cause of LORD NELSON'S separation from his wife.

It has been observed in the Prefaces to the other Volumes of this Work, that many of LORD NELSON'S Letters had been sent to the Editor too late for insertion in their proper places, and among others, those to Admiral Sir John Jervis, to Mr. Trevor, Minister at Turin, to Mr. Drake, Minister at Genoa, to Mr. Wyndham, Minister at Florence, and to other persons, in 1795 and 1796; to Earl Spencer, to the Earl of St. Vincent, to Mr. Davison, to Lady Nelson, and to Lady Hamilton. These Letters, in all about two hundred and fifty, have been inserted in the form of ADDENDA, in strict chronological order, illustrated in the same manner as the former. As one of the illustrations of the latter part of the Correspondence consists of extracts from such of the Logs of LORD NELSON'S Ships as are now in the Editor's possession, he has prefixed to those additional Letters such passages in the Logs of the "Albemarle" and "Boreas," from August 1781 to December 1787, and of the "Agamemnon" and "Captain," from January 1793 to the end of 1796, as would have formed Notes

to the Letters in the First Volume, had those manuscripts then been in his hands. These extracts, and particularly the Logs of the "Albemarle" and "Boreas," afford much information on a period of LORD NELSON'S career of which little was previously known.

His correspondence in 1795 and 1796 related chiefly to his proceedings on the Coast of Italy, and some of the Letters were partly printed in the first and second Volumes from Clarke and M'Arthur's "Life of Nelson," but so incorrectly and with so many omissions, that it was necessary to reprint them; and if their copies be compared with the originals, the unjustifiable manner in which those writers mutilated documents will be at once perceived.

Having been favoured with a copy of a very full and interesting description of the Battle of the Nile, written at the time by the gallant Captain Miller, who commanded the Theseus in the Action, and for which the Editor has to offer his best thanks to Miss Miller, he has placed it among the additional Letters.

The Letter from Sir John Acton to LORD NELSON, of the 1st of August 1799, deserves particular attention, as it shows that when he went to Naples in June in that year, he had received the fullest powers from the King of the Two Sicilies. After alluding to the misconduct of Cardinal Ruffo, and to his "unaccountable and shameful capitulation intended for the Castles of Ovo and Nuovo," and saying that LORD NELSON'S " prudent moderation in regard to the Cardinal had been followed by His Majesty," Sir