Then, to reward your persevering toils, With honours crown’d—enrich’d with hostile spoils— (Her bravest sons—her guardian sailors’ friend) “Your grateful country” shall her arms extend, To greet your glad return with conscious pride, And in her bosom bid your cares subside. And, while our fam’d “Britannia” shall resort, In awful grandeur to her wished-for port, Her loveliest daughters shall with pleasure meet, And bless “the heroes of the British fleet!” Your wives, your children, and your friends shall come, With tears of joy to bid you “welcome home.” Nor storms nor battle more your bliss shall mar, But “Peace and Plenty crown the toils of war!” At this point we may fitly end the story of “Old Ironsides” at Trafalgar—and this book. FOOTNOTES [1] See _post_; p. 65. [2] Our West India possessions, except Jamaica, Barbados, and St. Lucia, and Antigua were lost; and the four named were about to be attacked when Rodney’s victory saved them. Demerara, our West African settlements, Trincomalee and Ceylon, Minorca, and the American Colonies went also—all because the Ministry of the day refused to keep the Fleet up to the “Two Power standard” of those times, “superior to the combined forces of the House of Bourbon,” _i.e._ France and Spain, who had the two next powerful fleets after Great Britain. In cash, the war cost England £200,000,000. [3] I am indebted to the courtesy of the proprietors of the _Graphic_ for permission to reproduce the diagrams here given. [4] The Kent Trophy Challenge Shield, of which an illustration is given, is of silver. In the centre chief point appears a representation of H.M.S. _Kent_, taken from a drawing supplied by the Admiralty. This is embossed and oxydized. It is surmounted by an enamelled shield, bearing the Arms of the Association of “Men of Kent and Kentish Men.” Underneath the ship, entwined with branches of laurel, are scrolls to take the names of the Officers Commanding. The lower part of shield shows the arms and motto of the County of Kent, while turrets with protruding guns form an artistic background. Below is a large ornamental tablet displaying the presentation inscription, and round the edge of the shield flows a beautifully modelled pattern of Kentish Hops, Cherries, Oakleaves, and Cob-nuts, each spray of which is separately modelled and bent into position, forming an excellent contrast with the white and burnished groundwork shield. The whole is mounted on a stout polished-oak shield, size 2 ft. 6 in. by 2 ft., and surrounded by thirty silver wreath-medallions, to be inscribed each year with the name of the winning gun-crew’s captain. The total weight of silver used is 146 ozs.