Robert Southey

The Life of Horatio, Lord Nelson Robert Southey

Originally published in 1813, The Life of Horatio, Lord Nelson is one of the classics of early biography. The author, Robert Southey, was appointed Poet Laureate of England in the same year he published this book. Still regarded as England's greatest naval hero, Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson is here depicted by a contemporary biographer, with access to many of the people who knew Nelson intimately. Summary: Having entered the British Navy at the age of twelve, Horatio Lord Nelson achieved the rank of captain at the age of twenty. As captain, he was quickly recognized as a magnetic and controversial figure. He triumphed at Cape St. Vincent and the Nile, but failed at Tenefife and Boulogne. With the glories of Copenhagen and Trafalgar yet ahead of him, his ardent passion for Emma Hamilton, the wife of a British Ambassador, cast a heavy shadow over his career. Audacious in battle (he once ignored a superior's order to cease action at Copenhagen by putting his telescope to his blind eye and saying he could not see the signal) and winner of some of Britain's greatest victories, Nelson possessed an extraordinary amount dash and courage, thus rendering him one of history's great romantic figures.