On landing at the quay, the carriage of a respectable merchant, by whom it had been purposely sent, was respectfully offered to his lordship:  the royal carriage, intended for our hero’s conveyance, not having arrived sufficiently soon; owing to the suddenness of his arrival, and the vast press of people who had assembled to behold him.  Much has been said, respecting the temper of this prodigious multitude, on first seeing the British hero among them:  some protesting, that the conqueror of their country in the morning, was hailed, in the afternoon, as their guardian angel—­which, all things considered, he perhaps well deserved to have been; while others maintain, that the people’s fury was so excessive, and their knowledge of his lordship’s views so imperfect, that they were with difficulty restrained from absolutely tearing in pieces the pacific hero who had thus, inspired by the most humane and generous sentiments, fearlessly ventured his person among them.  It may be very difficult, and cannot on this occasion prove of much importance, to ascertain the exact truth; which seldom resides in extremes, and is not always found precisely in the centre, where dull and formal gravity is ever induced alone to seek it.  Whatever might seem the momentary bias of the mob, they unquestionably proceeded to no actual outrage; and it is universally agreed, that the Danes, of all ranks, were no sooner made acquainted with our hero’s humane and generous motives, than they greeted him with every testimony of the truest admiration and regard.

Lord Nelson having walked to the royal palace of the Octagon, the crown prince received him in the hall; conducted him up stairs; and presented him to the king, whose very infirm state is said to have greatly affected our hero’s sensibility.  The preliminary objects of this impressive interview having been arranged, with every appearance of reciprocal sincerity, his lordship readily accepted an invitation to partake of some refreshment with the crown prince.  During the repast, Lord Nelson spoke in raptures of the valour of the Danes; and he is asserted to have declared that, though the French fought bravely, they could not have stood one hour the fight which the Danes had maintained for four.  “I have been,” observed his lordship, “in one hundred and five engagements, in the course of my life, but that of to-day was the most terrible of all.”  It is added, that he particularly requested the crown prince would introduce him to a very young officer, whom he described as having performed wonders during the battle, by attacking the Elephant immediately under the lower guns.  This proved to be a youth of seventeen, named Villemoes:  whom the hero, on his being presented, immediately embraced with the affection of a brother; and delicately intimated, that he ought to be made an admiral.  The crown prince, with peculiar felicity, instantly replied—­“If, my lord, I were to make all my brave officers admirals, I should have no captains or lieutenants in my service.”