Note 77 — Chapter VIII
Reading edition
This stanza was written by Miss Knight, whom the officers of the fleet called Nelson’s “charming poet-laureate.” Mr. Pettigrew, in his Life of Nelson, says that it was written on the occasion of the capture of the Guillaume Tell, the following having been previously written to celebrate the capture of the Généreux:
“Lord, thou hast heard our vows!
Fresh laurels deck the brows
Of him we sing.
Nelson has laid full low
Once more the Gallic foe;
Come let our bumpers flow
To George our King.”