'Well then,' I exclaimed, 'I will be a hero! and, confiding in Providence, I will brave every danger!'" Long afterwards Nelson loved to speak of the feelings of that moment; and from that time, he often said, a radiant orb was suspended in his mind's eye, which urged him onward to renown.

The state of mind in which these feelings began, is what the mystics mean by their season of darkness and desertion.

If the animal spirits fail, they represent it as an actual temptation.

The enthusiasm of Nelson's nature had taken a different direction, but its essence was the same.

He knew to what the previous state of dejection was to be attributed; that an enfeebled body, and a mind depressed, had cast this shade over his soul; but he always seemed willing to believe that the sunshine which succeeded bore with it a prophetic glory, and that the light which led him on was "light from heaven." His interest, however, was far better than he imagined, During his absence, Captain Suckling had been made Comptroller of the Navy; his health had materially improved upon the voyage; and as soon as the DOLPHIN was paid off, he was appointed acting lieutenant in the WORCESTER, sixty-four, Captain Mark Robinson, then going out with convoy to Gibraltar.