Full text of Memoirs of Emma, lady Hamilton, the friend of Lord Nelson and the court of Naples;

by Yelena Kopylova

  Emma was wholly offensive to him, and the patronising

  air of one whom Braham's pathos " entertained " may, after its own manner, have been irritating also. The

  ambassador was an official type of good taste, and of

  Emma, it must be thought, there was always overmuch

  in a room. His looks on this occasion must have been

  vinegar, and can have ill accorded with that natural

  sweetness of expression which, by consent of friend

  and foe alike, distinguished Emma from first to last.

  Officialism had set itself against Nelson like a flint,

  and, likely enough, his devotee was supercilious to her

  enemy, whom probably she mimicked after he had

  gone, as she certainly used to mimic Nelson's fussy

  brother. Still, however it may be deplored, the stub-

  born fact remains that Britain's deliverer loved this

  woman's reality, and misliked the spirit of officialism; that against him were arrayed the pettiest forces at

  home and the mightiest abroad. Nelson endures in

  history, and with him Emma, while patterns of the

  primmest diplomacy have long faded into the vague-

  ness of distance. To appraise Emma, not defence but

  understanding is requisite. Antipathy, like flattery,

  is the worst critic; and pedantic antipathy is perhaps

  its worst form. Burleigh would have made a bad

  judge of the Queen of Scots, and Cicero of Cleopatra.

  Emma's " immensity " had been for some time in 390 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON

  evidence, and was grossened in the caricatures. She

  affected to think that fatness became her fine stature

  and large proportions. It was due, partly, to the por-

  ter which she drank for the sake of her voice, and

  which, as appears in the earlier letters of the Morrison Collection, had been forwarded by Greville to his uncle

  long before Emma had entered his life at Naples.

  In the June of this year, too, died Admiral Sir John

  Willet-Payne, who, after sitting in Parliament, had for

  some time been treasurer of Greenwich Hospital. Nel-

  son must have known him, and curiosity is aroused

  as to whether Emma ever saw her first tempter again,

  and what he thought of her marvellous career.

  And in November was to flicker out that sensitive

  genius and singular being to whom Emma had been so

  beholden in her girlhood. Romney, wasting with mel-

  ancholy, had resought the refuge of the Kendal roof-

  tree and the ministering wife so long neglected. In

  one of his conversations with Hayley, he told him that

  he had always studied " Sensibility " by observing the fibrous lines around the mouth. It was Emma's mouth

  that had been a revelation to him. One cannot help

  wishing that some final correspondence between them

  may one day be discovered.

  For the summer, Hamilton had planned a driving

  tour to the Mil ford property, where the nephew and

  steward wished to show his uncle the best work of his

  life a flourishing settlement of labourers. Emma

  and Nelson accompanied him on the Welsh trip, which

  soon turned into a fresh triumphal progress for the

  hero of the Nile and of Copenhagen, who shamed the

  Government by remaining a Vice-Admiral. Greville's

  presence may be assumed. Certainly he was at Mil-

  ford. Before they started, William Nelson, who had

  just returned from bowing to " Billy " Pitt at Cam-bridge, his wife and their young Horatio, were added

  EMMA, LADY HAMILTON 391

  to the group of travellers. It is strange on this occa-

  sion to find the triple alliance of Nelson and the Ham-

  iltons reinforced by Greville, before whom, Nelson

  had told Emma, conversation must be restrained; in

  his official presence they could not speak freely " of kings and beggars." This journey, like its continental predecessor, was certainly not calculated to allay irritation in high places.

  They started on the Qth of July with Box Hill once

  more " a pretty place, and we are all very happy."

  They went on to Oxford, where Nelson received the

  freedom of the city in a fine box to the music of finer

  orations, and where the Matchams joined the caravan.

  It was here that on a visit to Blenheim the Marlbor-

  oughs infuriated Emma by declining to receive her.

  She was determined to appeal, for herself and her hero,

  to the Caesar of the people. She performed her music

  both for the select and the vulgar. Everywhere Emma

  beat the big drum of popular enthusiasm. The long

  highroads, the swarming streets, the eager villages

  from Burford to Gloucester, from Gloucester to Ross,

  from Ross to Monmouth, Caermarthen and Milford,

  from Milford to Swansea, from Swansea to Cardiff,

  were thronged with stentorian admirers. On the re-

  turn journey, from Cardiff to Newport and Chepstow,

  and so to Monmouth again, on to Hereford, Leomin-

  ster, Tenbury, Worcester, Birmingham, Warwick,

  Coventry, Dunstable, Watford, and Brentford, all

  turned out like one man to cheer the postilioned car-

  riages. Bells were rung, factories and theatres vis-

  ited, addresses read, speeches made, the National

  Anthem and " Rule Britannia " sung by the shouting crowds. Wherever they went, the neighbouring magnates loaded Nelson and his friends with invitations,

  and Payne-Knight implored Emma for a visit. And

  everywhere this exuberant daughter of democracy led

  392

  and swelled the chorus. Her Nelson should " be first."

  " Hip, hip, hip! " " God Save the King! " " Long live Nelson, Britain's Pride ! "

  "Join we great Nelson's name

  First on the roll of fame,

  Him let us sing;

  Spread we his praise around,

  Honour of British ground,

  Who made Nile's shores resounds

  God save the King ! "

  It was Naples over again, and Emma was in her

  true element. Let the whole official brotherhood look

  to themselves and dare their worst. They were routed

  now. The people were on the side of those who had

  toiled hard, of those who had really borne the brunt,

  who had risked their lives to save their homes from the

  bogey of Europe. " Hip, hip, hip, in excelsisl " No wonder that, when all was over and, hoarse but happy,

  Emma reposed at Merton once more, awaiting a fresh

  but private jubilation on Nelson's approaching birth-

  day, she took up her pen with triumph :

  " We have had a most charming Tour which will

  Burst some of THEM. So let all the enimies of the

  GREATEST man alive [perish?] ! And bless his

  friends." In this same letter her native goodness of heart breaks out with equal vehemence about the death

  of " poor Dod," one of Nelson's countless proteges :

  " Anything that we can do to assist the poor widow

  we will." How this "we " reminds us of the " we "

  before Sir William married her, which had so an-

  noyed Legge' And the sensation of this progress still

  tingled in the air. In October Lord Lansdowne

  begged in vain for a visit, should they stay again at

  Fonthill. While Banks sympathised with Greville's

  sigh of relief, Ball told Emma of hi
s interest, smiled

  EMMA, LADY HAMILTON 393

  over her huzzaings, and recalled her kindness to the

  Maltese Deputies. Her enthusiasm was still con-

  tagious.

  But this trip did not close without a conjugal breeze

  easily raised and easily calmed.

  Emma insisted on recruiting her health by her old

  remedy of sea-baths, probably at Swansea; Hamilton,

  however, longed to get home. He was exhausted, and

  she was petulant, as the following little passage at arms bears witness :

  " As I see it is pain to you to remain here, let me beg of you to fix your time for going. Weather I dye

  in Piccadilly or any other spot in England, 'tis the same to me; but I remember the time when you wished for

  tranquillity, but now all visiting and bustle is your

  liking. However, I will do what you please, being ever

  your affectionate and obedient E. H." On the back of it Sir William wrote :

  " I neither love bustle nor great company, but I like some employment and diversion. ... I am in no

  hurry, and am exceedingly glad to give every satisfac-

  tion to our best friend, our dear Lord Nelson. Sea-

  bathing is usefull to your health; I see it is, and wish you to continue a little longer ; but I must confess that I regret, whilst the season is favourable, that I cannot enjoy my favourite amusement of quiet fishing. I care

  not a pin for the great w r orld, and am attached to no

  one as much as you." On its fly-leaf Emma added,

  " I go, when you tell me the coach is ready," to which Hamilton retorted : " This is not a fair answer to a fair confession of mine." So ended the last of their tiny quarrels. Nestor w^as reconciled to Penelope.

  The sands of his life were fast running down, and

  he was soon to have that euthanasia which he had

  praised to Nelson. Emma's heart smote her as she

  beheld his fading powers. He suffered no pain, but he

  394 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON

  gradually sank. He was removed to Piccadilly, and

  by the March of 1803 it was clear that his end was in

  sight. Both Emma and Nelson were constant in their

  attendance and attention. It had been Nelson who, in

  his passionate outpouring, occasionally speculated on

  " my uncle's " demise; but Emma, apart from gratitude and a sense of the wrong that she had done him,

  well knew that his death would remove a real friend

  and a loving counsellor. All the past rose up vividly,

  from the days of the selfishness of Greville, who was

  now again half-hardening himself against her, to

  those of the loving husband who had trusted and

  shielded her. Some feeling of sorrow, compunction,

  and forlornness possessed her. However grievously

  she had erred, she did her duty at the last. And at the

  last the old man's mind had wandered.

  On April 6, 1803, at eleven o'clock, Nelson wrote

  this hurried note to Davison :

  " Our dear Sir William died at 10 minutes past Ten

  this morning in Lady Hamilton's and my arms without

  a sigh or a struggle. Poor Lady H. is as you may

  expect desolate. I hope she will be left properly, but I doubt."

  Greville had once more succeeded.

  Nelson would not so have written if Emma had not

  so felt. His feelings were coloured by hers. Among

  Nelson's papers remains one in Emma's handwriting

  intended for no eye but his, and to which no hypocrisy

  can be imputed :

  "April 6. Unhappy day for the forlorn Emma.

  Ten minutes past ten dear blessed Sir William left

  me."

  In all her private answers to condolence the refrain

  is the same " What a man, what a husband." It can scarcely be called falsetto. Not until she had lost him

  did she realise all that he had been to her, and how she EMMA, LADY HAMILTON 395

  had wronged him. Strange as it may sound, she was

  stricken indeed.

  And yet her attitudinising heart soon alternated be-

  tween different moods. She cut off her flowing locks

  and wore them a la Titus in the fashionable mode of

  mourning. When Madame Le Brun met her a few

  months afterwards, she sat down and sang a snatch

  at the piano. On a later occasion the French paintress

  noticed that she had put a rose in her hair, and in-

  quiring the reason, was told, " I have just received a letter from Lord Nelson." Later on, she consented to oblige Madame Le Brun by privately showing before

  a few of the noblesse emigrce some of her " Atti-

  tudes," which she had never been willing to display in London.

  " On the day appointed," notes the artist in her chronicle, " I placed in the middle of my drawing-room a very large frame, with a screen on either side

  of it. I had a strong lime-light prepared and disposed,

  so that it could not be seen, but which would light up

  Lady Hamilton as though she were a picture. . . . She

  assumed various attitudes in this frame in a way truly

  admirable. She had brought a little girl with her,

  who might have been seven or eight years old, and who

  resembled her strikingly. One group they made to-

  gether reminded me of Poussin's ' Rape of the Sabines.'

  She changed from grief to joy, and from joy to ter-

  ror, so that we were all enchanted."

  Such a " lime-light," perhaps revealing without being seen, was Emma's own organisation unconsciously

  " lighting up " the possibilities of others. Her " Attitudes " were the expression of her successive and often self-deceiving emotions. In the old Indian music, we are told, are certain selected notes, called

  " ragas," that, separately and without harmonised relations, strike whole moods into the heart of the listener.

  396 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON

  Such, it seems to me, was her temperament, and such

  its function.

  Sir William Hamilton was buried by the side of his

  first wife, as he had promised her twenty-five years be-

  fore.

  A month after his decease the will was read in Pic-

  cadilly before the assembled relations the Grevilles,

  the Cathcarts, the Meyricks, the Abercorns, and the

  rest. Nelson forwarded the announcement to Davison

  by Oliver. He had suggested the advisability of read-

  ing Sir William's deed of gift of the furniture to

  Emma before a full conclave, as it might otherwise " be supposed that Mr. C. Greville gives Lady H. the furniture," which her money had bought for Sir William.

  The will itself proved Nelson's suspicion of Greville's

  influence not altogether unfounded, and the fact

  " vexed " him sorely. Though Hamilton had forestalled income, his means were ample ; even Elliot was

  astonished at the inadequate provision for his widow. 1

  To his " dear wife Emma " he bequeathed a sum of 300, and an annuity of 800, to include provision for

  her mother. In a codicil he recites that as he had

  promised to pay her debts, amounting to 700, but of

  this sum had only paid 250, Greville was to pay her

  in advance the current annuity of 800, for herself and

  Mrs. Cadogan, while the unpaid remainder of her debts

  she was to recover as a charge upon the arrears of pen-

  sion owed him by the Government. The last arrange-

  ment was nugatory on the face of it. The Government

  that had disregarded Sir William was unli
kely to re-

  1 Minto Life and Letters, vol. ii. p. 283. "Worse off than I imagined." He adds : " She talked very freely of her situation with Nelson, and of the construction the world may have put upon it, but protested that her attachment was perfectly pure which I can believe, though I declare it is of no consequence whether it is so or not." Maria Carolina also deplored her "indifferent provision."

  EMMA, LADY HAMILTON 397

  gard his widow. It is but just towards Greville, who

  had been always at his uncle's elbow, to relate that

  within a week of Sir William's demise he urged his

  dying wishes on the then Foreign Secretary in the

  strongest terms, while at the same time he repeated

  his (Hamilton's) previous strictures on the Govern-

  ment's past treatment. " I know," he concluded, " that the records of your office confirm the testimony of their Sicilian Majesties by letter as well as by their Ministers of circumstances peculiarly distinguished and

  honourable to her, and at the same time of high im-

  portance to the public service." But Emma was thus

  left with no capital except the furniture, of uncertain

  value, and with an income diminished by a debt which

  her husband had promised to discharge, but of which

  only one-quarter had been settled. Greville and his

  brother, the Colonel, were declared executors, the first being residuary legatee. To Nelson he gave an enamel

  of Emma " as a very small token of the great regard I have for his lordship, the most virtuous, loyal, and

  truly brave character I ever met with. God bless him,

  and shame fall on all those who do not say Amen."

  This avowal does Hamilton honour. Poor Nestor!

  however reluctant his submission, whatever his mis-

  givings, he steeled himself against them to the last.

  I do not think that Hamilton was wholly befooled, but

  how could the Nelson that he loved reconcile to his

  conscience such tributes of trust from one whom he

  had long cherished with more than esteem? He and

  Emma must both have felt a pang of shame and re-

  morse. They had skated on thin ice together. Though

  their duplicity, uncongenial to the frankness of both,

  had been imposed on them by their united care for each

  other's interest, and Horatia's, it had also imposed upon others. Bearing in mind every extenuation, one would

  fain forget this unlovely spectacle; apart from extenu-

  398 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON

  ation it is hideous. Their falsity towards Hamilton

  cannot be condoned. Their sin had impaired Emma's