This brilliant, action-packed biography appeared only eight years after Nelsons death at the Battle of Trafalgar (a scene unforgettably described). It helped transform Nelson into the most popular wartime hero that Britain has ever placed on top of a column.It first gave currency to the proverbial stories of his courage and exhibitionism, from the blind eye at Copenhagen, to Kiss me, Hardy and the scandal of Beloved Emma at Naples. It was written by the romantic poet and historian Robert Southey, a one-time radical who was converted to patriotism by Nelsons shining (though not untarnished) example.