while large inroads had been made by debt and inter-
rupted Merton improvements. Her available capital
must have been small. Her net income may be taken
as under some 1200, apart from Nelson's annuity
payable half-yearly in advance. Had this been so
paid regularly from the first, another 450, after de-
ducting property-tax, would have been hers. But I
have discovered that Earl Nelson, on the excuse that
the money he actually received from the Bronte estate
up to 1806 was for arrears of rent accrued due before
Nelson's death, never apparently allowed her a penny
until 1808, and then, after consulting counsel, haggled
over the payment in advance directed by the codicil,
and in fact never paid her annuity in advance until
1814. The receipt for the first payment in advance
still exists. This surely puts a somewhat different
complexion on her " extravagance," since a year's delay in the receipt of income by one already encumbered
would prove a dead weight. Imprudent and improvi-
dent she continued; embarrassed by anticipated ex-
pectations, eager, indeed, to compound with creditors
she became much sooner than has hitherto been
imagined. She remained absolutely faithful to Hora-
tia's trust up to the miserable end. Within three years
from Nelson's death Emma and Horatia were to be-
come wanderers from house to house; treasure after
treasure was afterwards to be parted with or dis-
trained upon; and the Earl, who had flattered and
courted Emma in her heyday, and still protested his
willingness to serve her, and his hopes that Govern-
ment would yield her " a comfortable pension," had joined the fair-weather acquaintances who left her and
her daughter in the ditch. On the income, even apart
from her variable annuity and the furniture proceeds,
EMMA, LADY HAMILTON 435
she might have been comfortable, if she had been con-
tent to retire at once into decent obscurity. She could
not bring herself to forfeit the flatteries of worthless pensioners and cringing tradesmen; and, moreover, I
cannot help suspecting that Nurse Gibson may not have
rested satisfied with the occasional extra guineas be-
stowed on her, and that whether by her or by servants
who had guessed the secret of Horatia's birth, con-
tinual hush-money may possibly have been extorted.
From December 6, 1805, when he received his
brother's " pocket-book " or " memorandum-book "
(in the letters it is named both ways) from Hardy, the
new Earl held in his hands the " codicil " on which hung Emma's fate and Horatia's.
Only once do Earl Nelson's papers cast direct light
on its adventures, but two of them about his wishes
for the national vote, hint his attitude, though I think that she misconstrued and exaggerated its motives.
From December 6 to December 12 it seems to have
been kept in his own possession. He then took it to
Lady Hamilton's friend, Sir William Scott, at Somer-
set House, where she was led by him to believe that its
formal registration with Nelson's will was in favour-
able process. Before Pitt's death in the ensuing Janu-
ary it was determined that the memorandum-book
should be sent to the Premier. Pitt died at an un-
fortunate moment, and Grenville became Prime Min-
ister. After consultation with persons of consequence,
the Earl resolved in February to hand it over to Lord
Grenville, and in Grenville's keeping it actually re-
mained till so late as May 30, 1806. If even, as is
possible, the " pocket-book " and the " memorandum-book " mean two separate things, and what Grenville retained was only the latter, referring to the " codicil "
in the first, still the undue delay was no less shabby;
and Nelson's sisters agreed with Emma, whose warm
436 EtyMA, LADY HAMILTON
adherents {hey remained, in so entitling it. Grenville
was the last person in the world to act favourably
towards Emma, but of course it was for him to decide
from what particular source, if any, Government
could satisfy Nelson's petition.
]Jp to February 23, 1806, the Earl's letters were
more than friendly, and even many years afterwards
they professed goodwill and inclination to forwarci
her claims for a pension, but in the interval a quarrel
ensued.
Emma subsequently declared that, after so long
withholding the pocket-book, the Earl, as her own
guest at |ier own table, tossed it back to her " with a coarse expression." She then registered the codicil herself. She added that the reason for its detention
was that the Earl desired nothing to be done until he
was positive of the national grant to him and his
family.
For such meanness I can see no sufficient reason.
To put his motives at the lowest, self-interest would
tempt him to fprward Emma's claims to some kind of
Government pension. But I do think that his course
was ruled solely by a wish for his own safe self-ad-
vantage. He did qot choose to risk offending Gren-
ville. The codicil was not proved till July 4.
Earl Nelson certainly never erred on the side of gen-
erosity. Despite his assiduous court to Emma during
Nelson's lifetime, and his present amicable professions, he himself, as executor, went ferreting for papers at
that Merton where he had so often found a home, ancj
whose hospitality his wife and children still continued
gratefully to enjoy; though he was probably angered
when the shrewd Mrs. Cadogan proved his match
there and worsted him. With reluctance, and " with
a bleeding heart," he conceded Emma's " right " to the
" precious possession " of the hero's coat, as the docu-EMMA, LADY HAMILTON 437
ment concerning its surrender, in his wife's handwrit-
ing, still attests. In the future, only two years after
declaring, " No one can wish her better than I do," he was to begrudge one halfpenny of the expenses after
her death. Only a few months before it, his behaviour
caused her to exclaim in a letter which has only this
year seen the light, and which is one of the most piteous yet least complaining that she ever wrote, " He has never given the dear Horatia a frock or a sixpence."
He squabbled over Clarke and M' Arthur's Life of his
brother. And long after Emma lay mouldering in a
nameless grave, he declined to put down his name for
the book of a brother clergyman, on the ground that
for books he had long ceased to subscribe. If Emma
rasped him by overbearing defiance (and she never set
herself to conciliation), it would excuse but not justify him, since Horatia's prospects were as much concerned
as Emma's in the fulfilment of the last request of the
departed brother, to whom he and his owed absolutely
everything.
The worst was yet far distant. But harassing
vexations already began to cluster round the unhappy
woman, who was denied her demands by ministers
alleging as impediments long lapse of time and the in-
applicability of t
he Secret Service Fund, though Rose
and Canning afterwards acknowledged them to be just.
Pitt's death with the dawning year rebuffed anew, as
we have seen, the main hope of this unfortunate and
importunate widow. Hidden briars beset her path
also. Her once obsequious creditors already clamoured,
and were only staved off temporarily by the delusive
promises of Nelson's will. For a time one at least of
the Connors x caused her secret and serious uneasiness
1 Ann, who, with the touch of madness peculiar to the whole family, and at this time dangerous in Charles, associated herself now with Emma " Carew," whose pseudonym she took, as Lady 438 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON
by ingratitude and slander; while the whole of this
extravagant family preyed on and " almost ruined "
her. But, worse than all, the insinuations of her
enemies began at length to find a loud and unchecked
outlet. " How hard it is," she wrote of her de-tractors, during a visit to Nelson's relations, in a letter of September 7, 1806, to her firm ally the departed
hero's friend and chaplain, " how cruel their treatment to me and to Lord Nelson! That angel's last wishes
all neglected, not to speak of the fraud that was acted
to keep back the codicil. ... It seems that those that
truly loved him are to be victims to hatred, jealousy,
and spite. . . . We have, and had, what they that per-
secute us never had, his unbounded love and esteem,
his confidence and affection. ... If I had any influ-
ence over him, I used it for the good of my country.
... I have got all his letters, and near eight hundred
of the Queen of Naples' letters, to show what I did
Hamilton's daughter. " How shocked and surprised I was, my dear friend," writes Mrs. Bolton. " Poor, wretched girl, what will become of her? What could possess her to circulate such things? But I do not agree with you in thinking that she ought to have been told before, nor do I think anything more ought to have been said than to set her right. ... I am sure I would say and do everything to please and nothing to fret."
Morrison MS. 896, Friday, October n, 1806. In her "will"
of 1808 Emma records : " I declare before God, and as I hope to see Nelson in heaven, that Ann Connor, who goes by the name of Carew and tells many falsehoods, that she is my
daughter, but from what motive I know not, I declare that she is the eldest daughter of my mother's sister, Sarah Connor, and that I have the mother and six children to keep, all of them except two having turned out bad. I therefore beg of my mother to be kind to the two good ones, Sarah and Cecilia.
This family having by their extravagance almost ruined me, I have nothing to leave them, and I pray to God to turn Ann Connor alias Carew's heart. I forgive her, but as there is a madness in the Connor family, I hope it is only the effect of this disorder that may have induced this bad young woman to have persecuted me by her slander and falsehood." Morrison MS. 959.
EMMA, LADY HAMILTON 439
for my King and Country, and prettily I am re-
warded." For glory she had lived, for glory she had been ready to die. In seeking to rob her of glory by
refusing to acknowledge her services, and by traducing
her motives her foes had wounded her where she
was most susceptible. Pained to the quick, yet as
poignantly pricked to defiance, she uplifted her voice
and spirit above and against theirs :
" Psha ! I am above them, I despise them ; for,
thank God, I feel that having lived with honour and
glory, glory they cannot take from me. I despise
them; my soul is above them, and I can yet make
some of them tremble by showing how he despised
them, for in his letters to me he thought aloud." The parasites were already on the wing. " Look," she resumed, " at Alexander Davison, courting the man he
despised, and neglecting now those whose feet he used
to lick. Dirty, vile groveler." She meets contumely with contumely.
But her warm and uninterrupted intercourse with
Nelson's sisters and their families proved throughout a
ray of real sunshine. She stayed with them espe-
cially the Boltons incessantly, and they with her at
Merton. The Countess Nelson herself, even after
her husband's unfriendliness, was her constant visitor.
Horatia was by this time adopted " cousin " to all the Bolton and Matcham youngsters. Nothing could
be further from the truth, as revealed in the Morrison
Autographs, than the picture of Emma, so often given,
as now a broken " adventuress." She led the life at home of a respected lady, befriended by Lady Elizabeth Foster and Lady Percival. Lady Abercorn
begged her to bring Naldi and perform for the poor
Princess of Wales. But her heart stayed with Nel-
son's kinsfolk, with Horatia's relations. She stifled
her sorrow for a while with the young people, who
440 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON
still found Merton a home, as Mrs. Bolton tenderly ac-
knowledged. Charlotte Nelson was still an inmate,
and Anne and Eliza Bolton were repeatedly under its
hospitable roof. Emma's godchild and namesake,
Lady Bolton's daughter, was devoted to Mrs. Cadogan
they all " loved " her, she called her " grandmama."
The Cranwich girls reported to " dearest Lady Ham-
ilton " all their tittle-tattle, the country balls, their musical progress, the matches, the prosperous poultry,
their dishes and gardens. They awaited her Sunday
letters their " chief pleasure " with impatience.
They never forgot either her birthday or Mrs. Cado-
gan's. When in a passing fit of retrenchment she
meditated migration to one of her several future lodg-
ings in Bond Street, who so afraid for her inconveni-
ence as her dear Mrs. Bolton? When the ministry,
after Pitt's demise, brought Canning to the fore, who*
again so glad that George Rose was his friend and
hers, so convinced that the " new people who shoot
up " as petitioners were the real obstacles to her success ? And so in a sense it proved, for one of the min-
istry's excuses may well have been that a noble fam-
ily had been ten years on their hands. Mrs. Bolton
still hoped even in 1808 that the " good wishes of
one who is gone to heaven will disappoint the wicked."
Mrs. Matcham, too, who " recalled the many happy
days we have spent together," was always soliciting a visit : " It will give us great pleasure to fete you, the best in our power." She longed in 1808 again to
pass her time with her, though it might be a " selfish wish." But Emma preferred the Bolton household.
She and Horatia went there immediately after the
" codicil " annoyances, and twice more earlier in that same year alone. Emma, they repeated, " was beloved by all." And her affection extended to their friends at Brancaster and elsewhere. Sir William Bolton re-EMMA, LADY HAMILTON 441
mained in his naval command, and Lady Hamilton
kept her popularity with the navy. Anne and Eliza
Bolton, together with their mother, hung on her light-
est words, and followed her singing-parties at " Old Q.'s," in 1807, with more than musical interest. Eliza, indeed, one regrets to recount, confided a dream to
Emma, a dream of " Old Q.'s " death and a thumping legacy. " There is a feeling for you at this heart of mine," wrote Anne Bolton, just before the crash, " that will not be conquered, and I believe will accompany
me wherever I may go, and last while I have life."
Surely in Emma must have resided something mag-
netic so to draw the hearts of the young towards her
even when, as now, she seemed to neglect them.
Those who judge, or misjudge her, might have modi-
fied their censoriousness had they experienced the win-
ning charm of her friendship.
But all this while, and under the surface, Emma
continued miserable, ill, and worried. Her impor-
tunities with the Government were doomed to failure;
her monetary position, aggravated by reckless gen-
erosity towards her poverty-stricken kinsfolk, grew
more precarious; but her pride seems not to have let
her breathe a syllable of these embarrassments to the
Boltons or the Matchams.
For a while she removed to 136 Bond Street as a
London pied-a-terre. One of her letters of this period
survives, addressed to Captain Rose, her befriender's
son. Horatia insisted on guiding Emma's hand, and
both mother and daughter signed the letter. " Con-
tinue to love us," she says, " and if you would make Merton your home, whenever you land on shore you
will make us very happy." To Merton, so long as she could, she and her fatherless daughter still clung.
To carry out Nelson's wishes with regard to Hora-
tia's education was her main care, but her ideas of
442 EMMA, LADY HAMILTON
education began and ended with accomplishments.
Horatia's precocities both delighted and angered her.
Of real mental discipline she had no knowledge, and
her stormy temper found its match in her child's.
Her restless energy, bereft of its old vents, found
refuge in getting Harrison to write his flimsy life of
the hero; in trying to dispose of the beloved home,
which she became hourly less able to maintain; in
coping with her enemies ; in dictating letters to Clarke, another of the throng of dependants with whom she
liked to surround herself; in hoping that Hayley
would celebrate her in his Life of Romney. An un-
published letter from her to him of June, 1806 a
portion of which has been already cited depicts her
as she was. She is " very low-spirited and very far from well." She was " very happy at Naples, but all seems gone like a dream." She is " plagued by lawyers, ill-used by the Government, and distracted by
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