And as I am getting astray from my text, I
will clear my poor head with what you can see through."
The Marquis of Southdown filled his glass from a bottle of grand old
Chambertin--six of which had been laid most softly in a cupboard of
the wainscote for his use--and then he had it filled again, and saw his
meaning brilliantly.
"Our second point is the defeat of the French, and of this we may now
assure ourselves. They have not been defeated, for the very good reason
that they never would come out to fight; but it comes to the same thing,
because they are giving it over as a hopeless job. I have seen too many
ups and downs to say that we are out of danger yet; but when our fleets
have been chasing theirs all over the world, are they likely to come
and meet us in our own waters? Nelson has anchored at Spithead, and
is rushing up to London, as our host has heard to-day, with his usual
impetuosity. Every man must stick to his own business, even the mighty
Nelson; and he might not meddle with Billy Blue, or anybody else up
Channel. Still, Nelson is not the sort of man to jump into a chaise at
Portsmouth if there was the very smallest chance of the French coming
over to devour us.
"Well, my friends, we have done our best, and have some right to be
proud of it; but we should depart from our nature if we even exercised
that right. The nature of an Englishman is this--to be afraid of nothing
but his own renown.
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