Hrady may possibly have occupied a place nearer to the heart of the Hero of the Nile, but Collingwood is entitled to the adjoining niche in the Pantheon of British admirals; and his fame is now firmly fixed as inferior to Nelson's only. It is not, however, that renown, high and absolute as it is, that gives his memory so strong a claim upon the biographer of the greatest naval hero of England; but it is his reputation, in connection with his having been the friend, coadjutor, and successor of that great man, from the first commencement of his bold career to his glorious death in the arms of victory.

There is a remarkable parallelism in the circumstances and events of both their lives. Nelson and Collingwood were the children of parents highly respectable, but not in the enjoyment of worldly wealth: both received some discipline at the grammar-schools of their native places, and at those institutions imbibed religious principles, which materially influenced their after lives. Entering the navy at a tender age, they applied with so much sincerity to their duties, that they soon won the aid of patronage, then their only disqualification for command.