The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: an exacting lover. And she never betrayed the greatness of his
trust! She attended him to the end of his life, and he died
pressing her last gift (nineteen prizes) to his heart. "Anchor,
Hardy - anchor!" was as much the cry of an ardent lover as of a
consummate seaman. Thus he would hug to his breast the last gift
of Fame.
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.
 The Mirror of the Sea |