text:  All that was to be expected from the well-known talent of the editor united to an enthusiasm for his hero which has carried him triumphantly through the extraordinary labour of investigating and ascertaining every fact in the slightest degree bearing upon his subject is to be found in this volume in which from the beginning to the end by a continued series of letters Nelson is made his own historian; and we sincerely believe divesting ourselves as far as possible of all prejudice and partiality that no character ever came purer from the ordeal of unreserved communication--where not a thought is concealed or an expression studied--than the true friend the good son the affectionate brother Horatio Nelson