were then at Spithead, but not yet ready.  The “Victory” therefore sailed without them, accompanied only by Blackwood’s frigate, the “Euryalus.”  The wind outside, being west-southwest, was dead foul, and it was not till the 17th that the ship was off Plymouth.  There it fell nearly calm, and she was joined by two seventy-fours from the harbor.  The little squadron continued its course, the wind still ahead, until the 20th of the month, when it had not yet gained a hundred miles southwest from Scilly.  Here Nelson met his former long-tried second in the Mediterranean, Sir Richard Bickerton, going home ill; having endured the protracted drudgery off Toulon only to lose, by a hair’s breadth, his share in the approaching triumph.

On the 25th the “Victory” was off Lisbon.  “We have had only one day’s real fair wind,” wrote Nelson to Lady Hamilton, “but by perseverance we have done much.”  The admiral sent in letters to the British consul and naval officers, urging them to secure as many men as possible for the fleet, but enjoining profound secrecy about his coming, conscious that his presence would be a deterrent to the enemy and might prevent the attempt to leave Cadiz, upon which he based his hopes of a speedy issue, and a speedy return home for needed repose.  His departure from England, indeed, could not remain long unknown in Paris; but communications by land were slow in those times, and a few days’ ignorance of his arrival, and of the reinforcement he brought, might induce Villeneuve to dare the hazard which he otherwise might fear.  “Day by day,” he wrote to Davison, “I am expecting the allied fleet to put to sea—­every day, hour, and moment.”  “I am convinced,” he tells Blackwood, who took charge of the inshore lookout, “that you estimate, as I do, the importance of not letting these rogues escape us without a fair fight, which I pant for by day, and dream of by night.”  For the same reasons of secrecy he sent a frigate ahead to Collingwood, with orders that, when the “Victory” appeared, not only should no salutes be fired, but no colors should be shown, if in sight of the port.  The like precautions were continued when any new ship joined.  Every care was taken to lull the enemy into confidence, and to lure him out of port.

At 6 P.M. of Saturday, September 28th, the “Victory” reached the fleet, then numbering twenty-nine of the line; the main body being fifteen to twenty miles west of Cadiz, with six ships close in with the port.  The next day was Nelson’s birthday—­forty-seven years old.  The junior admirals and the captains visited the commander-in chief, as customary, but with demonstrations of gladness and confidence that few leaders have elicited in equal measure from their followers.  “The reception I met with on joining the fleet caused the sweetest sensation of my life.  The officers who came on board to welcome my return, forgot my rank as commander-in-chief in the enthusiasm with which they greeted me.  As soon as these emotions were past, I laid before them