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

by Yelena Kopylova

  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