be thought, was hardly a suitable accompaniment to
cards.
When, after Dresden with its fussy state and so-
lemnity, they embarked on the Elbe for Hamburg, a
stock passage in the diaries of a charming woman re-
lates how that other Elliot, who was minister here
(there was always an Elliot), was pained to the quick
of his refinement by the noise of Emma and her party;
how undignified Nelson's excitability appeared to all;
how Sir William, to prove his nimbleness, " hopped "
on " his backbone," his legs, star and ribbon " all flying about in the air " ; how he and his friends withdrew shuddering at the shock of such breaches of taste; how
relieved they were when bated breath was restored,
and they were quit of these oddities and vulgarities;
how, when the Nelsonians at last got on board, they
looked like a troupe of strolling players; how Mrs.
Cadogan immediately began to cook the Irish stew for
which her daughter clamoured, while Emma's French
maid bawled out coarse abuse about forgotten provi-
sions. Most of this is probably true, but here again
the point of view needs adjusting. Fastidiousness is
as movable, and sometimes as unbearable, a term as
vulgarity, and no doubt the stiff Elliot would have been equally troubled at a violent sneeze, at any undue
328 EMMA, LADY "HAMILTON
emphasis whatever, or infringement of etiquette. He
had, it must be owned, good reason for being shocked
at Emma's want of manners. But over-nicety has its
own pitfalls also. There have been people who eat
dry toast with a knife and fork. There are others
who shiver at the stir of an unconventional footfall on
the pile carpets of " culture." At any rate, till now nobody had ever reproached Sir William, a paragon of
" taste," with violating the semblances of decorum.
However we may regret Emma's unpolished " coarse-
ness," at least this is true: blatant and self-assertive or not, she had certainly carried her own life and the
lives of others in her hand. The daughter of the
servants' hall had braved crisis without blenching.
The son of the Foreign Office had of necessity per-
formed its function of words, and had naturally sacri-
ficed himself to the comme il faut.
But if Emma, at bay, thus misbehaved, whither were
her inmost thoughts wandering?
She was thinking of how she could carry matters
through, of what would become of her poor Sir Will-
iam. She was thinking of Greville's reception, of
Romney and Hayley and Flaxman, and her old friends.
And of those new friends which Nelson had promised
and described to her; of his pious and revered father,
whose heart must be broken if ever he guessed the
truth; of his favourite brother Maurice, whose poor,
blind " wife," beloved and befriended by Nelson till she died, was no more his wedded partner than she was
Nelson's; of his eldest brother the pompous and
bishopric-hunting " Reverend," a schemer and a gour-mand, who added the sentimental selfishness of Har-
old Skimpole to the mock humility of Mr. Pecksniff;
of that brother's cheery, bustling little wife; of their pet daughter Charlotte, whom the father always styled
his " jewel " ; of the son already destined for the 329
navy, and long afterwards designated by Nelson to
marry Horatia; of his two plain-speaking, plain-living
sisters sickly Mrs. Matcham with her brood of eight,
and a husband always absent, ever changing plans and
abodes; of Mrs. Bolton, more prosperous and more
ambitious, with the two rather quarrelsome daughters
for whom she coveted an entry into the world of " deportment " and fashion ; of Davison, the hero's fickle factotum, whom Nelson had already requested to find
inexpensive lodgings in London. Beckford, the mag-
nificent, had put his house in Grosvenor Square at the
disposal of the Hamiltons. It was an offer of self-
interest, for he was already manoeuvring to rehabilitate himself by bribing his embarrassed kinsman into procuring him a peerage, and the astute Greville suspected
his generosity from the first. Indeed he wrote to Sir
Joseph Banks that he had warned his uncle of " consequences," and that he " hoped to put him out of the line of ridicule," even if he could not " help him to the comfort and credit to whi^h his character and good
qualities entitle him."
At Vienna Emma had found Nelson yet another fac-
totum in the person of the interpreter Oliver, who dur-
ing the next five years was so often to be the de-
positary of their secret correspondence.
From Dresden the Nelsonians repaired to Altona,
from Altona to Hamburg. Their sojourn there was
the most interesting of all, though it only lasted ten
days, before the three embarked in the St. George
packet-boat for London. There Emma, who had met
the young poet Goethe, now met, and was appreciated
by, the aged poet Klopstock. There Nelson met, and
afterwards munificently befriended, the unfortunate
General Dumouriez. There the Lutheran pastor hast-
ened many miles to implore the signature of the great
man for the flyleaf of his Bible. Hamburg was en-
330 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON
raptured over Emma's " Attitudes " and her personality, which called forth an interesting book by a well-
known author. It was the more enraptured when the
whole party witnessed a performance at the " German Theatre." Both Emma and Nelson exhibited their
usual generosity towards the " poor devils " who applied to them. Another and a different experience may
be also mentioned as indicating how really artless they
were. A wine merchant of the city hastened to beg
the hero's acceptance of his offering six bottles of
the rarest hock, dating from the vintage of 1625.
Emma was warmly grateful, and urged Nelson to re-
ceive the present. Nelson took it with the thankful
compliment that he would drink a bottle of it after
each future victory, in " honour of the donor." This
" respectable " wine merchant cannot have been so simple a benefactor as he appeared. Hock one hundred and eighty years old must have been quite un-
drinkable, and only fit for a museum.
And Nelson was wondering whether and how his
wife would greet his arrival. When, on November
6, they reached Yarmouth, after such a storm that
only he could force the pilot to land, that wife was
absent from his enthusiastic welcomers. Amid the
music, the bunting, the deputations that seized his one
hand, the offended Fanny was missing. The carriage
was dragged by the cheerers to the Wrestlers' Inn, be-
fore which the troops paraded. The whole party
marched in state churchward to a service of thanks-
giving; the town was illuminated, his departure was
escorted by cavalry; but the wife, no longer of his
bosom, stayed in London with the dear old rector,
who had hurried up to greet him from Burnham-
Thorpe. The two days before the capital huzza'd him,
his route was one triumphal procession. His own
Ipswich rivalled Yarmouth, and Co
lchester, Ips-
EMMA, LADY HAMILTON 331
wich. But as the acclamations of the countryside rang
in their ears, a single thought must have possessed the
minds of Nelson and of Emma the thought of Fanny.
Nelson entered London in full uniform, with the three
stars and the two golden medals on his breast. 1 It was
Sunday a day which witnessed many of the crises in
his career. They all drove together to Nerot's Hotel
in King Street, where Greville had already called to
welcome his uncle, ailing and anxious about his pen-
sion. While Lady Hamilton disguised her tremor,
Nelson was left alone with his proud father and the in-
dignant wife, who had believed, and brooded over,
every whisper against him even the malicious slan-
ders of the Jacobins. Joy could not be expected of
her, but a word of pride in the achievements that had
immortalised him, and won her the very title which she
immoderately prized, she might surely have shown.
Not a soft answer escaped her pinched lips. That
night must have been one of hot entreaty on the one
side, and cold recrimination on the other. Her, mind
was thoroughly poisoned against him. He at once
presented himself at the Admiralty, just as Hamilton,
under Greville's tutelage, at once repaired to my Lord
Grenville in Cleveland Row. Together the three at-
tended the Lord Mayor's banquet the following night,
when the sword of honour was presented, after the citi-
zens of London, like those of Yarmouth, had un-
horsed the car of triumph and themselves drawn it
along the streets lined with applauding crowds, to the
Mansion House. There also Lady Nelson was absent.
Whether business or ovation detained him, the spectre
abode in its cupboard. For a time their open breach
1 Medals were struck to commemorate his return. On one
side is the medallion ; on the reverse Britannia crowning his vessel with laurels. The legend round runs : " Hail, virtuous hero ! Thy victories we acknowledge, and thy God." And underneath, "Return to England, November 5, 1800."
332 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON
was patched up, but nevertheless the distance between
them widened. Nelson was to aggravate it by harping
on Emma's virtues and graces till Fanny sickened at
her very name. Nor could Emma's early and friendly
approaches, in which Sir William joined, have been
expected to bridge it over. 1
Emma soon resumed her post as his amanuensis, his
companion, his almoner, his vade mecum. Nelson
again accompanied the Hamiltons on their speedy visit
to Fonthill, whose bizarre master desired to compound
for a peerage with Sir William. Prints exist of the
postchaise with postilions, flambeaux in hand, driving
the Nelsonians into the Gothic archway of that fan-
tastic demesne. Nelson may well have thought, " Que diable allait-il faire dans cette galere ! " Beckford had addressed his invitation to Emma in terms of extravagant flattery, to his " Madonna della Gloria."
He singled out, too, her performance as Cleopatra for
critical and special admiration. Yet so insincere was
he, that some forty years afterwards he not only be-
littled her beauty to Cyrus Redding, but claimed the
entire brunt of service to Britain for Hamilton, while
his ignorance of facts is shown by the egregious errors
in his account.
Nelson and Emma were always in evidence together.
He ordered his wife to appear in public with himself
and the Hamiltons at the theatre. Emma's sudden
faintness, and Lady Nelson's withdrawal from their
1 Cf. a remarkable letter from Lady Hamilton to Lady Nelson.
It bears no date, but must refer to a time shortly after their return. " I would have done myself the honour of calling on you and Lord Nelson this day, but I am not well nor in spirits.
Sir William and myself feel the loss of our good friend, the good Lord Nelson. Permit me in the morning to have the
pleasure of seeing you, and hoping, my dear Lady Nelson, the continuance of your friendship, which will be in Sir William and myself for ever lasting to you and your family." And she closes by Sir William's proffer of any service possible.
EMMA, LADY HAMILTON 333
box with her, gave the wife the first inkling of a
secret worse even than she had suspected. A violent
scene is said to have occurred between the two women,
and Lady Hamilton used to assert that Nelson wan-
dered about all night in his misery, and presented him-
self early next morning to implore the comfort and
the companionship of his friends. Emma and Nelson
continued all injured innocence. The circumstances
of Horatia's birth in the January following were to be
carefully veiled even from Horatia herself; nor were
they ever proved till some fifty years afterwards, and
even then generally disbelieved. Henceforward -Nel-
son and his wife were strangers; further efforts at
reconciliation failed. By the March of 1801 he had
provided for and repudiated her. " I have done," he was to write, " all in my power for you, and if I died, you will find I have done the same. Therefore, my
only wish is to be left to myself, and wishing you every happiness, believe that I am your affectionate Nelson
and Bronte." On this " letter of dismissal " she endorsed her " astonishment." That astonishment must surely have been strained.
Without question, sympathy is her due. Without
question she had been grievously wronged. But her
bearing, both before she had reason to be convinced of
the fact and afterwards, was such perhaps as to de-
crease her deserts. She seems to have been more ag-
grieved than heart-stricken. From this time forth she
withdrew completely from every member of his fam-
ily except Maurice and the good old father. At Bath,
or in London, she sulked and hugged her grievance,
her virtue, her money, and her rank. She proceeded
naturally to babble of the woman who had injured
her, and the husband of whom she had been despoiled.
Nelson's brother and sisters, who accepted Emma,
always entitled her " Tom Tit," nor would they con-334 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON
cede a grain of true love to her disposition. That she
was not the helpmeet for a hero was not her fault;
it was her drawback and misfortune. She failed in
the temperament that understands temperament, and
the spirit that answers and applauds. Her piety never
sought to win back the wanderer. She incensed him
by desiring even now to rent Shelburne House. She
caused him to feel " an outcast on shore." While she could have avenged her cause by suing for a divorce,
she preferred to avenge herself on the culprits by their punishment in being barred from wedlock. After Nelson's death she litigated with his successor.
This was Emma's doing, and Nelson's. They were
both pitiless, while the other was implacable. Emma
could be far tenderer than gentle. She was never a
gentlewoman, nor was over-delicacy her foible. Her
" Sensibility " did not extend to her discarded rival, whose very wardrobe she could handle, at Nelson's
bidding, and retur
n. She rode rough-shod over poor
Lady Nelson's discomfiture. " Tom Tit," she told Mrs. William Nelson in the next February, " does not come to town. She offered to go down, but was refused. She only wanted to go to do mischief to all
the great Jove's relations. 'Tis now shown, all her ill
treatment and bad heart. Jove has found it out."
It is a sorry, but hardly a sordid spectacle. Rather
it is, in a sense, volcanic. 1 Here is no barter, no balance of interests or convenience. It is a passionate
convulsion, which uprooted the wife. I can but vary
the apophthegm already quoted : " Apologies only try to explain what they cannot undo."
1 On January 25 following Nelson wrote to her: "Where friendship is of so strong a cast as ours, it is no easy matter to shake it. Mine is as fixed as Mount Etna, and as warm in the inside as that mountain." Morrison MS. 502.
CHAPTER XI
FROM PICCADILLY TO " PARADISE " MERTON
1801
IT was not long before the Hamiltons were in-
stalled in a new abode, No. 23 Piccadilly, one of
the smaller houses fronting the Green Park. Sir
William had been querulous over the loss of so many
treasures in the Colossus among them the second ver-
sion of Romney's " Bacchante," which has never to this day reappeared. Most of their furniture had
been rifled by French Jacobins. Emma promptly sold
enough of her jewels to buy furniture for the new
mansion, and these purchases were afterwards legally
assigned to her by her husband.
Among the first visitors to their new home were
Hayley and Flaxman, whom Emma had eagerly in-
vited. A letter from the latter to the former com-
memorates an interesting little scene. As they entered,
Nelson was just leaving the room. " Pray stop a little, my Lord," exclaimed Sir William; " I desire you to- shake hands with Mr. Flaxman, for he is a man as
extraordinary, in his way, as you are in yours. Be-
lieve me, he is the sculptor who ought to make your
monument." " Is he ? " replied Nelson, seizing his hand with alacrity; "then I heartily wish he may."
And eventually he did.
This year was to link her and Nelson for ever. It
was the year of Horatia's birth, of the Copenhagen
335
536 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON
victory, of the preliminaries to the acquirement of
Merton.
"Sooner shall Britain's sons resign
Full text of Memoirs of Emma, lady Hamilton, the friend of Lord Nelson and the court of Naples; Page 38