"There was reason to suppose from the appearances upon opening the
body, that in the course of nature he might have attained, like
his father, to a good old age. Yet he cannot be said to have
fallen prematurely whose work was done; nor ought he to be
lamented, who died so full of honours, and at the height of human
fame. The most triumphant death is that of a 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 hundreds of the
youth of England; a name which is our pride, and an example which
will continue to be our shield and our strength."

Nelson left England the Queen of the Sea, and the great war with
Germany has failed to displace her from that splendid throne. For the
plain fact of history remains that, after the battle of Jutland, the
German High Seas Fleet never ventured out of port again till the end of
the war; and when it did emerge from its ignominious security, it sailed
to captivity at Scapa Flow, there ultimately to repose on the bottom of
the sea.

Your loving old
G.P.



19