i have not only to lament , in common with the british navy and the british nation , the fall of the c-in-c , the loss of a hero whose name will be immortal , and his memory ever dear to his country , but my heart is rent with the most poignant grief for the death of a friend , to whom , by many years intimacy , and a perfect knowledge of the virtues of his mind which inspired ideas superior to the common race of men , i was bound by the strongest ties of affection , a grief to which even the glorious occasion on which he fell , does not bring the consolation which perhaps it ought .