GREAT BRITAIN: Hero’s Hair

May the great God, whom I worship, grant to my country and for the benefit of Europe in general, a great and glorious victory. . . .

So wrote Horatio, Lord Nelson on Oct. 21, 1805, off Cape Trafalgar. Few hours later the one-armed commander signaled his famed slogan (“England expects every man to do his duty”) to his fleet, then swept on the French and Spanish lines, blasted them with his broadsides, clinched the victory for which he had prayed. He then died of a shattered spine after bidding farewell to his flag captain, Thomas Hardy.*

In Dorchester, England, last week, items from the Hardy family collection were put up for auction, including two bits of Nelsoniana. One sentimental antiquarian bid nine guineas (about $47) for the manuscript of the Trafalgar prayer. Hottest bidding, however, was over a wisp of hair, which the auctioneer swore had been cropped from Nelson’s pate by his vivacious and tenacious mistress, Lady Emma Hamilton. The seadog’s wisp was knocked down for £11 ($55).

* Not to be confused with his distant kin, Author Thomas Hardy, who was not born until 34 years after Trafalgar.