Ay, thus do little things Steal into my mind, too. But ah, my heart Knows not your calm philosophy!--There's one-- Come nearer to me, Hardy.--One of all, As you well guess, pervades my memory now; She, and my daughter--I speak freely to you. 'Twas good I made that codicil this morning That you and Blackwood witnessed. Now she rests Safe on the nation's honour.... Let her have My hair, and the small treasured things I owned, And take care of her, as you care for me! [HARDY promises.] NELSON [resuming in a murmur] Does love die with our frame's decease, I wonder, Or does it live on ever?... [A silence. BEATTY approaches.] HARDY Now I'll leave, See if your order's gone, and then return. NELSON [symptoms of death beginning to change his face] Yes, Hardy; yes; I know it. You must go.-- Here we shall meet no more; since Heaven forfend That care for me should keep you idle now, When all the ship demands you. Beatty, too. Go to the others who lie bleeding there; Them can you aid. Me you can render none! My time here is the briefest.--If I live But long enough I'll anchor.... But--too late-- My anchoring's elsewhere ordered!... Kiss me, Hardy: [HARDY bends over him.] I'm satisfied. Thank God, I have done my duty! [HARDY brushes his eyes with his hand, and withdraws to go above, pausing to look back before he finally disappears.] BEATTY [watching Nelson] Ah!--Hush around!... He's sinking. It is but a trifle now Of minutes with him. Stand you, please, aside, And give him air. [BEATTY, the Chaplain, MAGRATH, the Steward, and attendants continue to regard NELSON. BEATTY looks at his watch.] BEATTY Two hours and fifty minutes since he fell, And now he's going. [They wait. NELSON dies.] CHAPLAIN Yes.... He has homed to where There's no more sea. BEATTY We'll let the Captain know, Who will confer with Collingwood at once. I must now turn to these. [He goes to another part of the cockpit, a midshipman ascends to the deck, and the scene overclouds.] CHORUS OF THE PITIES [aerial music] His thread was cut too slowly! When he fell. And bade his fame farewell, He might have passed, and shunned his long-drawn pain, Endured in vain, in vain! SPIRIT OF THE YEARS Young Spirits, be not critical of That Which was before, and shall be after you! SPIRIT OF THE PITIES