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THE

Historical & Geographical Reader,

FOR STANDARD V.

THE DEATH OF NELSON.

cockpit -room between | miscalculated

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reckoned

wrongly surrender-give in prophetic-that of a prophet

Hardy

"He fell with his face upon the deck. turned round as some men were raising him. 'They have done for me at last, Hardy,' said he. Soon after he had been carried to the cock-pit, his wound was discovered to be mortal; he felt this himself, and insisted that the surgeon should leave him, to attend those whom he might yet save. He was in great pain, and intensely anxious to know how the battle went. Will no one bring Hardy to me?" he asked, 'he must be killed! he is surely dead!' At length Hardy came, and the two friends shook hands in silence. After a pause, the dying man faintly uttered "Well, Hardy, how goes the day?' 'Very well; ten ships have already struck.' Finding that all was well,

and that no British ship had yielded, he turned to speak of himself—' I am a dead man, Hardy! I am going fast. It will soon be all over with me.' Hardy hoped that there was yet a chance of recovery. 'O no! it is impossible. I feel something rising in my breast that tells me so.' Captain Hardy having been again on deck, returned at the end of an hour, to his dying friend. He could not tell, in the confusion, the exact number of allies that had surrendered, but there were at least fifteen; for the other ships had followed the admiral's into action, breaking the enemy's line and engaging closely to leeward, in the same gallant style as the Victory and Sovereign. Nelson answered, that is well, but I bargained for twenty.' And his wish was prophetic; he had not miscalculated the superiority of his followers; twenty actually surrendered. Having ordered the fleet to anchor, he again spoke of himself. 'Don't throw me overboard. Kiss me Hardy!' Hardy knelt down and obeyed in silence. 'Now I am satisfied; I thank God I have done my duty.' Hardy kissed him again, received the blessing, and then took leave of him for ever."

"The most triumphant death is that of the martyr; the most awful, that of the martyred patriot; the most splendid, that of the hero in the hour of victory; and if the chariot and the horses of fire had been vouchsafed for Nelson's translation, he could scarcely have departed in a brighter blaze of glory. He has left us, not indeed his mantle of inspiration, but a name and an example, which are at this hour inspiring thousands of the youth of England: a name which is our pride, and an example which will continue to be our shield and our strength."

SOUTHEY'S Life of Nelson.

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Stop-for thy tread is on an Empire's dust!
An earthquake's spoil is sepulchred below!
Is the spot marked with no colossal bust,
Nor column trophied for triumphal show?
None; but the moral's truth tells simpler so.
As the ground was before thus let it be.-
How that red rain has made the harvest grow!
And is this all the world hath gain'd by thee,
Thou first and last of fields, king-making Victory?

There was a sound of revelry by night!
And Belgium's capital had gather'd then
Her beauty and her chivalry; and bright
The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men;*
A thousand hearts beat happily; and when
Music arose, with its voluptuous swell,

:

Soft eyes look'd love to eyes which spake again, And all went merry as a marriage bell;But hush! hark; a deep sound strikes like a rising knell !

* The Duke of Wellington was with his officers in Brussels, when he heard that the French were advancing. He prepared for the battle, which was fought June 18, 1815.

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