Excerpt from Nelson's Words and Deeds: A Selection From the Dispatches and Correspondence of Horatio Nelson But Nelson's unofficial letters - particularly those to his friend Davison, to his wife, and to Lady Hamilton - are full of clever, of exhilarating, of high, and of noble thought. Most of the follov'ving extracts are made from this side of his correspond ence so that in this little book the reader will find Nelson not only as Patriot and Sailor, not only as Politician and plain dealer in Marine Philosophy, but as Husband, Son, Brother, Lover, and Friend. He was before all things a Seaman and his was pre eminently the nautical characteristic Of whipping out with what was in his mind when untrammelled by official form. He is never so engaging, so inspirit ing, and, it may be added, so lovable, as when he is in earnest and writing with quarter-deck candour. Most of the thoughts collected here flowed from his heart, and they were chosen for that reason. The memory of his tactics, the inspiration of his professional opinions, the example of his sea manship, in a word, can no longer serve the country who owed her security and her continuance as a nation to his genius and valour as a sea-captain. The steam-engine has extinguished the topsail and it is now long ago since there came an end to wearing and tacking, to weather-gauges, and to lee manoeuvrings. It may interest but it cannot edify living and future generations to learn that Rodney cut the enemy's line in one place, and Nelson in two; that the battle of Trafalgar was fought and won without reference to the tactics of Clerk and that the most signal of the St. Vincent achievements was the result of a disregard of the fiagship's signals. But the ironclad is manned by a breed of men surely not less heroic in ardour, not less magnanimous in patriotic sentiment, not less chivalrous in spirit, than those whose cannon thundered at Copenhagen and off Cadiz. So long as the English sailor pre serves his qualities, the name of Nelson must prove a note of magic, animating to a degree not to be matched by the inspiration of the greatest of the military memories of these kingdoms. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.