Page:Memoirs of the life and gallant services of Admiral Lord Nelson.pdf/22

 22 The Life and gallant Services niſh Rear-Admiral Don Baltazar Hidalgo Ciſneros. After ſuch a victory, it may appear unneceſſary to enter into encomiums on the particular parts taken by the ſeveral Commanders; the concluſion ſays more on the ſubject than I have language to expreſs; the ſpirit which animated all was the ſame: when all exert themſelves zealonſly in their country's ſervice, all deſerve, that their high merits ſhould ſtand re- corded; and never was high merit more conſpicuous than in the battle I have deſcribed. The Achille a (French ſeventy-four) after having ſurrendered, by ſome miſmanagement of the French- men, took fire and blew up; two hundred of her men were ſaved by the tenders. A circumſtance occurred during the action, which ſo ſtrongly marks the invincible ſpirit of Britiſh fea- men, when engaging the enemies of their country, that I cannot reſiſt the pleaſure I have in making it known to their Lordſhips; the Temeraire was board- ed by accident, or deſign, by a French ſhip on one ſide, and a Spaniard on the other; the conteſt was vigorous, but, in the end, the combined enſigns were torn from the poop, and the Britiſh hoiſted in their places. Such a battle could not be fought without ſuſtain- ing a great loſt of men. I'have not only to lament, in common with the Britiſh Navy, and the Britiſh Nation, in the fall of the Commander in Chief, the lost of a hero, whoſe name will be immortal, and his memory ever dear to his country; but my heart is rent with the moſt poignant grief for the death of a friend, to whom by many years intimacy, and a perfect knowledge of the virtues of his mind, which inſpired ideas ſuperior to the common race of men I was bound by the Itrongeſt ties of affection; : grief to which even the glorious occaſion in which he fell, does not bring the conſolation which per- haps it ought; his Lordſhip received a muſket-ball