The Right Honourable Viscount, one of the most celebrated naval commanders, was the son of the reverend Edmund Nelson, and was born at Burnham Thorpe, in Norfolk, where his father was rector, in the year 1758. He received his education at the school of North Walsham; but we are unacquainted with the particulars relative to his childhood, and whether the progress be made in his studies was in any respect ex- traordinary. It is certain, however, that he discovered a strong predilection for the naval profession at a very early period, and having quitted school at the age of twelve years, went on board the Raisonable of 64 guns, commanded by his mother's brother, Captain Maurice Suckling.

In the month of April 1773, a voyage of discovery to the north pole was undertaken by the honourable Constantine John Phipps, afterwards Lord Mulgrave, in consequence of an application by the Royal Society to Lord Sandwich; and although the instructions which were issued, prohibited all boys from being received on board, yet the enterprising spirit of Horatio Nelson earnestly solicited to be appointed cockswain to Captain Lutwidge, rather than submit to be left behind; and his unsubdued spirit so forcibly struck the captain, that his wish was complied with.

When the ship returned to England in the month of October 1773, Mr Nelson having received information that a squadron was fitting out for the East Indies, employed all his interest to be appointed to one of the ships. It was not long before he was placed in the Sea- horse of 20 guns, commanded by the celebrated Captain Farmer, and stationed in the fore-top to keep watch, but soon after removed to the quarter-deck.

He obtained the professional order of lieutenant on the 8th of April, 1777, and received his commission the next day, as second of the Lowestoffe of 32 guns, Captain William Locker, in which ship he arrived at Jamaica; but feeling that his glowing mind was circum- scribed in so small a frigate, he requested the com- mand of a schooner, which acted as tender to the Lowestoffe, thus availing himself of the opportunity of becoming an experienced pilot for every intricate pas- sage through the islands, situated on the northern side of Hispaniola.

When Sir Peter Parker arrived at Jamaica in the year 1778, Lieutenant Nelson was nominated by that gallant admiral to be the third of his own flag ship, the Bristol, and by rotation soon became the first. In this ship his services terminated in the rank of a lieutenant.

On the 11th of June, 1779, he obtained the rank of post-captain; and during the nine years he had been in the service he not only became an able officer by his constant attention to every part of his duty, and his keen observation, but he also laid the foundation of being a pilot of distinguished eminence. The first ship to which he was appointed after being made a post cap- tain, was the Hinchingbrooke. On the arrival of Count d'Estaing at Hispaniola, as an attack upon Jamaica was immediately apprehended, Captain Nelson was intrusted with the command of the batteries of Port-Royal, with the concurring approbation of the British admiral and generall. In the month of January 1780, it was re- solved on to reduce Fort Juan, on the river St John, in the gulf of Mexico, when Captain Nelson was made choice of to command the naval department, and that of the military was committed to Major Polson. In accomplishing the object of this arduous and interesting undertaking, Nelson's usual intrepidity was again exhib- ited. Having quitted the ship under his command, he superintended the transporting of the troops in boats, 300 miles up a river, which none but Spaniards had ever navigated since the time of the buccaneers.

His great and vigorous exertions were represented by Major Polson to General Dalling in their true colours, Nelson nor was his gallantry passed over by that officer in silence. After storming an out-work belonging to the enemy, he constructed batteries, and fought the Spaniards; and it is to his conduct in the reduction of Fort Juan that the success of Britain has been justly and chiefly ascribed. He was next appointed to the Janus, at that time stationed at Jamaica; on his arrival at which place every medical assistance was given him which his situation required; but as his health still continued on the decline, he deemed it expedient to return to England in his majesty's ship Lion, the honourable William Cornwallis commander, to whose unremitting care and attention he owed the preservation of his life. He obtained the command of the Albemarle in the month of August 1781, which put his delicate constitution to the severest trial, as he was stationed during the whole of the ensuing winter in the north seas.

He sailed from Quebec in the month of October, 1782, with a convoy to New York, where he had an opportunity of joining the fleet under Sir Samuel Hood; and in the month following he sailed with him to the West Indies, where he was honourably employed until the termination of hostilities. He soon after received orders to repair to England, being directed to attend in his way, his royal highness Prince William Henry on his visit to the Havannah. When he reached England, the Albemarle was paid off at Portsmouth on the 31st July, 1783. During the autumn of that year he paid a visit to France, where he continued till the spring of the ensuing year, when he received the command of the Boreas frigate of 28 guns, and his destination was the Leeward Islands, where he continued until June 1787, and was then ordered to repair to England. In the month of March the same year he was married to the amiable and accomplished widow of Dr Nesbit, of the island of Nevis. When the Boreas frigate was paid off at Sheerness on the 30th November, 1787, he retired to the parsonage-house of Burnham Thorpe, which had been conferred upon him by his father for a place of residence, there to enjoy the consolations which result from domestic felicity.

He again came forward on the 30th of January 1793, to shine forth more conspicuous as a naval officer than he had ever done before, at which time he received the command of the Agamemnon of 64 guns, being soon placed under the orders of that truly great and illustrious character, Lord Hood, who at that period was destined to command in the Mediterranean. The unlimited confidence reposed in him by this noble and gallant admiral, is an incontestable evidence of the high estimation in which his courage and naval abilities were held. If his superior designed to attack batteries, or cut ships out of the harbours in which they were moored; if troops were to be landed in perilous situations, or passages of extreme difficulty to be explored, the great Nelson took the lead on every such occasion, seconded by the brave officers and crew belonging to the Agamemnon. Toulon, Bastia, and Calvi, witnessed his gallant and intrepid deportment, of which Lord Hood did not fail to make honourable mention. At the siege of Calvi Captain Nelson lost the sight of his right eye, a shot from the battery of the enemy having struck that of which he had the command, and driven some particles of sand against his face with irresistible impetuosity.

When Lord Hood left his station in the Mediterranean in the month of October, 1794, the command devolved on Admiral Hotham, who honoured our hero with an equal share of his confidence and esteem. On the 13th and 14th of March, and 13th of July 1795, he again rendered himself conspicuous in the actions which then took place with the French fleet; and soon after he was chosen by Admiral Hotham to cooperate with General De Vins, on the coast of Genoa, in which service he continued so long as Hotham retained the command, who was superseded by Sir John Jervis. This officer so much applauded the conduct of Captain Nelson, that he received the honour of wearing a pendant of distinction; and in the month of May he was removed from the Agamemnon to the Captain of 74 guns. On the 11th of August he had a captain appointed under him.

From April to October 1795, Commodore Nelson was continually employed in the most active and arduous service, the blockade of Leghorn, the taking of Porto Ferrajo, with the island of Caprea, and finally in the evacuation of Bastia. In December 1796 he hoisted his broad pendant on board La Minerve frigate, and was dispatched with that ship, and La Blanche, to Porto Ferrajo, to bring the naval stores left there to Gibraltar, which the fleet was in much want of. While on this service in the night of the 17th December, he fell in with two Spanish frigates, one of which he immediately attacked, and ordered the Blanche to bear down to engage the other. About half past ten the commodore brought his ship to close action, which continued without interruption till half past one, when the Spanish frigate of 40 guns, 28 of which were 18 pounders, struck to La Minerve.

After various other active and important services during the three preceding months, Sir Horatio Nelson, in April 1797, hoisted his flag on board the Captain of 74 guns as rear-admiral of the blue, and in the end of May he shifted his flag from the Captain to the Theseus, when he was appointed to the command of the inner squadron at the blockade of Cadiz. While on this service he exhibited another remarkable proof of his undaunted personal courage. In the attack on the Spanish gun-boats in July, he was boarded in his barge, which had only the usual complement of 10 men, and the coxswain. The commander of the Spanish gun-boats, in a barge with 30 men and officers, made a desperate attack on the admiral and his brave companions. The conflict remained long doubtful, but after 18 of the Spaniards were killed, and almost the whole of the remainder wounded, the rear-admiral and his brave crew succeeded in carrying this superior force.

On the 15th of July the same year, Admiral Nelson was detached with a small squadron to attack the town of Santa Cruz in the island of Teneriffe. A thousand men, including marines, were landed in the course of a dark night, made themselves masters of the town, and retained possession of it for seven hours; but finding it impossible to storm the citadel, they prepared for their retreat, which the Spaniards allowed them to make unmolested, agreeable to the stipulations which had been entered into. In this unfortunate attack the brave Nelson lost his arm by a cannon shot.

But a more splendid scene of the life of our hero is now opening. On the 13th of April 1798 he was detached Nelson tacked from Earl St Vincent's fleet, in pursuit of the French to the coast of Egypt, with 12 sail of the line and one 50 gun ship, while the enemy's fleet consisted of 13 sail of the line and four frigates, protected by the batteries on the shore, and several gun-boats. This memorable action commenced at sunset, and terminated gloriously for the honour of our hero and that of the British navy. Nine sail of the line fell into the hands of the conqueror, two were burnt, and two effected their escape. The brave Nelson was wounded in the action, believing himself to have been shot through the head; but after his wound was examined by the surgeon, it was happily found not to be mortal, a circumstance which diffused the most lively satisfaction through the whole fleet. To the honour of this great man it ought to be mentioned, that even under the conviction of approaching dissolution, he prepared for the interesting change with calmness and fortitude, desired his chaplain to recommend him to Lady Nelson, appointed the brave Hardy to the rank of post-captain and to the command of a ship, and took an affectionate leave of Captain Louis.

The French admiral's ship, L'Orient, was blown up during the action. From the mainmast of this ship Captain Hallowell ordered a coffin to be constructed, which was presented to Admiral Nelson, and gratefully accepted by the hero, as a token of affectionate regard. For some months he had it placed upright in his cabin; but in consequence of the entreaties of an old servant, the admiral was at length prevailed on to allow it to be removed. Our readers will not be surprised that Lord Nelson should now be regarded as the great defence of the empire, and the support of her national glory. It is to his gallantry and naval skill that we are indebted for the victory of Copenhagen, and the annihilation of that formidable northern confederacy which menaced the prosperity, the commerce, the very existence of the rest of Europe.

One of the most important services which Lord Nelson performed, was the pursuit of the combined fleets of France and Spain to the West Indies. This fleet had sailed from Cadiz on the 10th of April, and it was at first conjectured that Egypt was the place of their destination. In consequence of this conjecture, Lord Nelson sailed in pursuit of the enemy for the coast of Egypt; and, having missed his object, after reconnoitring that coast, he passed the straits of Gibraltar, and anchored in Lagos bay on the 10th of May; soon after which he sailed for the West Indies with ten ships of the line; arrived off Barbadoes on the 4th of June; and having touched at Tobago, Trinidad, and Grenada, at the latter of which places he was informed that the combined fleet had been seen on the 6th off Dominica; he reached Antigua on the 12th, where he received information that the enemy had been seen on the 8th standing to the northward. Lord Nelson, without the loss of a moment, continued the pursuit of the enemy on their return to Europe, where they arrived about the end of July; and after taking in provisions and water at Gibraltar, and reconnoitring the harbour of Cadiz, he returned to England, where he arrived in the Victory, on the 18th of August, after having been engaged for nearly four months in one of the most arduous, and, at the same time, one of the most important and beneficial, although, in its immediate object, unsuccessful enterprises, for which his life was distinguished. His lordship had now been absent from England more than two years, on the Mediterranean station.

The concluding scene of this extraordinary man's naval career, kindles emotions of admiration and regret; and at once excites both transport and extreme of sorrow. Perhaps no action, in point of splendour and magnanimity, can equal that which deprived his country of one of the greatest heroes it ever produced. Britons appear to be sensible of its vast importance; yet it is not improbable that posterity will consider it as still more splendid, their love and admiration not being damped by the poignant recollection that they personally saw the man by whose loss it was accomplished.

When Lord Nelson perceived that, in consequence of his manoeuvres, he had reduced the enemy to the absolute necessity of engaging him, he exclaimed in the presence of Captain Hardy and the other officers who surrounded him on the quarter deck; "Now they cannot escape us; I think we shall at least make sure of twenty of them.—I shall probably lose a leg, but that will be purchasing a victory cheaply." But alas! amidst the inexpressible satisfaction and delight, which a victory so splendid could not fail to inspire, he has left us to lament that it was purchased by the loss of a life so incomparably valuable.

His lordship's flag ship fell on board the Redoubtable, by which means he was exposed to the fire of the musketry from the tops; and the insignia of his grandeur and dignity, it is supposed, singled him out to the aims of the enemy, which in the issue were too fatally successful. His secretary was cut in two by his side with a chain shot, and soon after a ball grazed his lordship's shoulder, entered his left breast, and passed through his lungs. He lived about three hours after this tragical event, during which he remained perfectly recollected, and he displayed the same heroic magnanimity in the arms of death, which had so eminently distinguished him through the whole of his career. His last words to Captain Hardy were, "I know I am dying; I could have wished to survive to breathe my last upon British ground, but the will of God be done!" In a few moments he expired. His last signal ought not, and will not be forgotten, which was by telegraph,— "That England expected every man would do his duty." He spoke in raptures concerning the event of the day only a short time before his dissolution, and sent word to Admiral Collingwood, desiring that he would make his affectionate farewell to all his brother seamen throughout the fleet. In this manner died, in the 47th year of his age, the greatest commander that perhaps ever adorned the British navy, leaving behind him a name dear to Great Britain, and an example of heroism which will inspire his companions in arms to emulate his virtues, that they too may live in the remembrance of a grateful posterity.

His singular plan of attack on this memorable occasion was communicated by his lordship to all his captains, who unanimously gave it as their opinion that it could not possibly fail of success, being concerted with such consummate wisdom; and they even pledged their lives for the favourable result of it. His titles were, Viscount Nelson, and Duke of Bronté.—The united parliament voted him a pension of £3000 a year, to continue during his own life and his two next heirs; the East