It was this ardour which made him great.He was a flaming example to the wooers of glorious fortune.There have been great officers before - Lord Hood, for instance, whom he himself regarded as the greatest sea officer England ever had.A long succession of great commanders opened the sea to the vast range of Nelson's genius.
His time had come; and, after the great sea officers, the great naval tradition passed into the keeping of a great man.Not the least glory of the navy is that it understood Nelson.Lord Hood trusted him.Admiral Keith told him: "We can't spare you either as Captain or Admiral." Earl St.Vincent put into his hands, untrammelled by orders, a division of his fleet, and Sir Hyde Parker gave him two more ships at Copenhagen than he had asked for.
So much for the chiefs; the rest of the navy surrendered to him their devoted affection, trust, and admiration.In return he gave them no less than his own exalted soul.He breathed into them his own ardour and his own ambition.In a few short years he revolutionized, not the strategy or tactics of sea-warfare, but the very conception of victory itself.And this is genius.In that alone, through the fidelity of his fortune and the power of his inspiration, he stands unique amongst the leaders of fleets and sailors.He brought heroism into the line of duty.Verily he is a terrible ancestor.