goodness, and elegance of manners, with a good educa-
tion to fit her to move in that sphere of life which
she is destined to move in." Not long afterwards he added that his dearest wish was that Horatio Nelson
when he grew up, " if he behaves," should wed Horatia, and thus establish his posterity on Emma's foundation
as well as his brother's, and this wish he embodied in
one of his numerous wills.
In these mysteries of melodrama it is impossible not
416 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON
to discern Emma's handiwork. As a girl she had de-
voured romances and been thrilled by the strokes and
stratagems of the theatre. The same leaning that had
prompted the secret passage episode at Naples,
prompted this also; and from her Nelson caught the
pleasures of mystification. Nor can impartiality ac-
quit her of planting some of her relatives on Nelson's
bounty. Sarah Connor's salary is one instance;
Charles Connor's naval cadetship is another. At this
very time the youth, who was to end in madness, was
discoursing to " her Ladyship " of Nelson's " unbounded kindness." It is true that the unworthier
members of this family, especially Charles and Cecilia,
took advantage of Emma to the close, and that she had
to support all of them, including their parents ; but it is also true that Nelson's charities temporarily lightened
her burdens.
Nelson was now nearing the end of his Mediter-
ranean vigil. The King and Queen of Naples
despaired at his departure. Acton, in disgrace, had
thoughts of taking his new wife to England. Nelson
had tarried long enough in the scenes of his memories.
" Nothing, indeed," he tells his " dearest Emma," " can be more miserable and unhappy than her poor Nelson."
From February 19, 1805, he had been " beating " from Malta to off Palma, where he was now anchored. He
could not help himself; none in the fleet could " feel "
what he did ; and, " to mend his fate," since the close of November all his letters had gone astray, and he
was without even the solace of news.
And yet his energy was never more indispensable
than at this moment. The French strained every nerve
to meet the renewed vigour which characterised Pitt's
brief and final accession to power. Directing their
fleet to the West Indies, they hoped to strike Britain
where she was most vulnerable, her colonies. Eight
EMMA, LADY HAMILTON 417
months' strenuous activity dejected but could not sub-
jugate Nelson. " I never did," he assured Davison,
" or ever shall desert the service of my country, but what can I do more than swim till I drop? If I take
some little care of myself, I may yet live fit for some
good service." He was dying to catch Villeneuve.
Irritated at the command of Sir John Orde, destitute of
" any prize-money worthy of the name," he could still waft his thoughts and wishes beyond the waves. It
was not only each movement at Merton that he fol-
lowed ; he cared for poor blind " Mrs. Nelson," while he sat beside the sick-bed of many a man in his own
fleet. Nor did his vigilance concerning each veriest
trifle that might profit his country ever diminish.
Scott's descendants still cherish the two black-leathered and pocketed armchairs, ensconced in which, night by
night, Nelson and his secretary waded through the
polyglot correspondence, and those " interminable papers " which engrossed him. " His own quickness,"
writes one of the latter's grandsons, " in detecting the drift of an author was perfectly marvellous. Two or
three pages of a pamphlet were generally sufficient to
put him in complete possession of the writer's object,
and nothing was too trivial for the attention of this
great man's mind when there existed a possibility of its being the means of obtaining information." Nelson
insisted on examining every document seized in prize-
ships, and so tiring proved the process that " these chairs, with an ottoman that fits between them, formed,
when lashed together, a couch on which the hero often
slept those brief slumbers for which he was remark-
able." At the end of March he heard that the French were safe in port. Within three days his fleet was
equipped and refreshed. He scoured every quarter,
ransacked every corner, to sight the enemy in vain.
Villeneuve had left Toulon to form his junction with
418 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON
the Spaniards and effect his great design ; Orde retired from Cadiz, where the junction was effected. Nelson
ground his teeth and cursed his luck. By mid-April
the French were reported as having passed Gibraltar
with their colours flying. Nelson chased them once
again, foul winds and heavy swells hampering his
course. " Nothing," he wrote, " can be more unfortunate than we are in our winds. But God's will
be done ! I submit. Human exertions are absolutely
unavailing. What man can do, I have done." Orde's
remissness in taking no measures for ascertaining their
course over-exasperated Nelson. At last he heard of
their East Indiaward direction. Though they outnum-
bered him greatly in ships, and entirely in men, he
swore that he would track them " even to the Antip-
odes." Though, by the opening of May, the elements
still defied him off Gibraltar, and the linen had been
actually sent on shore to be washed, while the officers
and men had landed, their observant commander per-
ceived some indication of an east wind within twenty-
four hours. Without hesitation he took the risk of his
weatherwise observation. " Off went a gun from the
Victory, and up went the Blue-peter." The crew was
recalled, " the fleet cleared the gut of Gibraltar, and away they steered for the West Indies." He hurried
with unexampled expedition to Martinique and Bar-
badoes thus revisiting, in the last year of his life, the two scenes associated respectively with his love and his marriage. By the West Indies he was hailed as a deliverer, and it was their joy that first warned the
French of the approach of the sole commander whom
they dreaded. Nelson did not stay even to water his
ships. The shrewd Villeneuve, who had once escaped
from Egypt, hastened to escape once more, and his
superior force fled like a hare from Nelson's fury.
And Emma, meanwhile, was in an agony of sus-
EMMA, LADY HAMILTON 419
pense. To the incessant inquiries of Nelson's sisters,
she could give no answer, for she could glean no news.
At last letters arrived. He was longing to fly to
" dear, dear Merton." He dared not enclose one of his " little letters," for fear of " sneaking and cutting," but he published for all to read " that I love you beyond any woman in the world, and next our dear
Horatia." As for her, she paid visits. She threw herself into London distractions again she sought retire-
ment. But the hard fact of debt stared in the face
of all her emotions. Just before her return to Merton,
her mother wrote to her : " I shall be very glad to see you to-morrow, and I think you quite right for going
into the country to keep yourself quiet for a while;.
My dear Emma, Cribb is q
uite distrest for money,
would be glad if you could bring him the 13 that he
paid for the taxes, to pay the mowers. My dear
Emma, I have got the baker's and butcher's bills cast
up; they come to one hundred pounds seventeen shil-
lings. God Almighty bless you, my dear Emma, and
grant us good news from our dear Lord. My dear
Emma, bring me a bottle of ink and a box of wafers.
Sarah Reynolds thanks you for your goodness to in-
vite her to Sadler's Wells."
While Emma lingered, bathing at Southend, Mrs.
Tyson, returning from a visit to her there, described
a pleasant day spent at " charming Merton " with
" dear Mrs. Cadogan " : " She, with Miss Lewold "
(Emma always left her mother a companion) " did not forget to drink my Lord's and your health. Tom Bolton was of the party. We left them six o'clock, horse-
back, but, alas! I am got so weak that the ride is too
much for me. ... I am, my dear Lady Hamilton,
wishing all the blessings your good and charming dis-
position should have in this life. . . . Your Ladyship,
I beg, will pardon this and please give it to Nancy.
Memoirs Vol. 14 14
'420 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON
... I will be much obliged to look for a pair of silk
stockings marked H.S. or only H., as they were given
me at Bath, changed in the wash. . . . She has been
very pert about them, and I will not pay her till I hear from you." Nor did old sailors forget to show Emma
their appreciation. Captain Langford brought back
for her from Africa a crown-bird and a civet cat, which
must have astonished the Mertonites.
Far removed from such trivialities Nelson still strug-
gled to come up with that fleeing but unconquered
fleet. Once more at Cadiz he gained fresh advices : it
had been seen off Cape Blanco. He rounded Cape Vin-
cent, the scene of his earliest triumphs. Collingwood,
steering for the Straits' mouth, reported Cape Spartel
in sight; but still no French squadron. Anchored
again at Gibraltar, Nelson could descry not a trace of
them. He went ashore, as he recounts, for the first
time since June 16, 1803, and although it was " two years wanting ten days " since he had set foot in the Victory, still he would not despair. The French
destination might be Newfoundland, for aught he
knew; Ireland, Martinique again, or the Levant; each
probability had its chance. He searched every point
of the compass. He inquired of Ireland. He secured
Cadiz. He sailed off to Tetuan. He reinforced Corn-
wallis, lest the combined ships should approach Brest.
At last he heard of Sir Robert Calder's brilliant en-
counter, but problematic victory, sixty leagues west of
Cape Finisterre. Pleasure mingled with disappoint-
ment ; at least and at last he was free. On August 17
he rode off Portland, at noon off the Isle of Wight. He
anchored at Spithead on the following morning at nine,
and with a crew in perfect health, despite unfounded
allegations of the need of quarantine, he landed.
All his family were gathered at Merton with Emma,
who had sped from Southend to greet him. The next
EMMA, LADY HAMILTON 421
day saw him in Emma's and Horatia's arms. This
was his real reward. The society that resented his
isolation rushed to honour him. London was jubilant.
Deputations and gratitude poured in on his privacy.
But, rightly or wrongly, Merton was his Elysium, and
from Merton he would not budge.
" Thank God," wrote her lively cousin Sarah to Emma the day after his arrival, " he is safe and well.
Cold water has been trickling down my back ever since
I heard he was arrived. Oh ! say how he looks, and
talks, and eats, and sleeps. Never was there a man
come back so enthusiastically revered. Look at the
ideas that pervade the mind of his fellow-citizens in
this morning's post. Timid spinsters and widows are
terrified at his foot being on shore; yet this is the
man who is to have a Sir R. Calder and a Sir J. Orde
sent to intercept his well-earned advantages. I hope
he may never quit his own house again. This was my
thundering reply last night to a set of cowardly women.
I have lashed Pitt ... to his idolatrice brawler. I
send you her letter. The public are indignant at the
manner Lord Nelson has been treated." Outside his
family he received friends like the Perrys. With re-
luctance he acceded to the Prince's command that he
would give him audience before he went.
He had not long to remain. On September 13, little
more than three weeks after his arrival, the Victory
was at Spithead once more, preparing to receive him.
Villeneuve must be found, and the sole hope of the
French at sea shattered. Nelson's " band of broth-
ers " were to welcome the last trial of the magic " Nelson touch." Emma 'is said to have chimed with, and
spurred his resolve for, this final charge. Harrison's
recital of this story has been doubted, but she herself
repeated it to Rose at a moment, and in a passage,
that lend likelihood to sincerity. Moreover, in a strik-
422 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON
ing letter of self -vindication to Mr. A. J. Scott, Nel-
son's trusted intimate, she thus delivered herself in the following year, assuming his own knowledge of the
fact : " Did I ever keep him at home, did I not share in his glory? Even this last fatal victory, it was I
bid him go forth. Did he not pat me on the back, call
me brave Emma, and said, ' If there were more Emmas
there would be more Nelsons.' '
Together with his assembled relatives she shrank
from bidding him adieu on board. One by one all but
the Matchams departed. On that Friday night of
early autumn, at half-past ten, the postchaise drew up,
as he tore himself from the last embraces of Emma
and Horatia, in whose bedroom he had knelt down and
solemnly invoked a blessing. George Matcham went
out to see him off, and his final words were a proffer
of service to his brother-in-law. At six next morn-
ing he sent his " God protect you and my dear Hora-
tia " from the George at Portsmouth.
A familiar and pathetic excerpt from his letter-book
bears repetition:
Friday, Sept. 13, 1805.
" Friday night, at half -past ten, drove from dear, dear Merton, where I left all that I hold dear in this
world, to go to serve my King and country. May the
great God whom I adore enable me to fulfil the expec-
tations of my country, and if it is His good pleasure
that I should return, my thanks will never cease being
offered up to the throne of His mercy. If it is His
good providence to cut short my days upon earth, I
bow with the greatest submission, relying that He will
protect those so dear to me that I may leave behind.
His will be done. Amen. Amen. Amen."
The humility of true greatness rings through this
valediction.
EMMA, LADY HAMILTON 423
He seems to have felt som
e foreboding and his
last letters confirm it that he would never return.
During the two days on board before he weighed an-
chor, each moment that could be spared from business
was devoted to the future of Emma and his child. His
thoughts travelled in his letters to every cranny of his homestead. A few hours after he stepped on deck,
he asked Rose, come from Cuffnells, to bring Canning
with him to dinner. Canning was not present when
Nelson engaged his friend in a parting conversation
about Bolton's business, and also the prosecution of
Emma's claims, though she maintained eight years
later that she understood them to have given their joint assurances on her behalf. He purposely embarked
from the bathing-machine beach to elude the populace.
To Davison, in sad privacy, while he was off Portland,
he gave his last mandate for mother and child. He
twice answered Emma's last heart-broken notes.
" With God's blessing we shall meet again. Kiss dear Horatia a thousand times." " I cannot even read your letter. We have fair wind and God will, I hope, soon
grant us a happy meeting. We go too swift for the
boat. May Heaven bless you and Horatia, with all
those who hold us dear to them. For a short time,
farewell." The next day, off Plymouth, he entreated her to " cheer up," they would look forward to many, many happy years," surrounded by their " children's children." There are tears, and a sense of tragedy, in all these voices.
Passing the Scilly Islands, three days later, he again
conveyed his blessings to her and to Horatia. At that
very time Miss Connor wrote prettily of her young
charge to Charlotte, whose family the mother had
joined at Canterbury. " She is looking very well indeed, and is to me a delightful companion. We read
about twenty times a day, as I do not wish to confine
424 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON
her long at a time. . . . We bought some shoes and
stockings and a hat for the doll. She is uncommonly
quick. ... I told her she was invited to see a ship
launched; every morning she asks if it is to be to-day,
and wanted to know if there will be any firing of
guns." How these trifles contrast with the coming
doom, and lend a silver lining to the dark cloud hang-
ing over the sailor-father ! Poor child, there was soon
to be firing of guns enough, and a great soul, as well
as a ship, was to be launched on a wider ocean. Emma
Full text of Memoirs of Emma, lady Hamilton, the friend of Lord Nelson and the court of Naples; Page 48