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NELSON'S LEGACY 
 
FROM THE PAINTING BY GEORGE ROMNEY. IN THE 
 POSSESSION OF SIR ERNEST CASSEL, G.C.B., G.C.M.G., G.C.V.O. 
 
NELSON'S LEGACY 
 
 LADY HAMILTON : 
 HER STORY & TRAGEDY 
 
 BY 
 
 FRANK DANBY 
 
 WITH EIGHT PHOTOGRAVURE'S 
 
 NEW YORK 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
9.-i 
 
 ^^^.\f1 
 
 ^-tsS 
 
 1 7 \ ^^^^ 
 
AUTHOR'S NOTE 
 
 rxAHE following is a true and authentic account 
 -^ of the birth, life, and death of the notorious 
 adventuress, sometime Emy Lyon, but ultimately 
 the wife of Sir William Hamilton, his Majesty's 
 Minister at Naples, together with the story of 
 her many lapses from virtue both before and after • 
 her connection with Immortal Nelson, the Hero 
 of the Nile. It has been compiled from con- 
 temporary documents, the writings of eye-wit- 
 nesses, and other' reliable evidence. We trust that 
 sufficient excuse will be found for the relation in 
 the moral lesson conveyed. The features of the 
 unhappy subject of this memoir were limned by 
 all the most illustrious painters and designers of 
 the century. To gratify the curiosity of those who 
 would fain investigate the charms of one who 
 provoked so much controversy whilst she lived, 
 and has been the occasion of so much argument 
 since she paid the final debt of nature in the poor 
 
vi Author's Note 
 
 lodging-house at Calais, has proved a task not 
 wholly uncongenial. 
 
 Our acknowledgments and those of our readers 
 are due to many ladies and gentlemen who have 
 added their quota to our knowledge, and allowed 
 generous access to their treasures for the benefit 
 of our illustrations. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 1. Introduces Henry Cadogan and relates the events 
 
 that led to his strange situation at Great Nesse . 1 
 
 2. Little Emma is carried to Hawarden and repudiated 
 
 by Mr. George Cadogan ; welcomed by her grand- 
 mother, she is sent to school, where she meets her 
 first suitor ; and, worldly prudence dictating, she 
 accepts her first engagement on life's stage . . 22 
 
 3. Master Will Masters creates a diversion at Broadlane 
 
 Hall, and Mrs. Thomas decides that Emy must 
 shine in some other sphere ..... 39 
 
 4. Emy misbehaves in Chatham Place and follows it by 
 
 indiscretion at Mr. Linley's. She meets Mr. Harry 
 Angelo ........ 53 
 
 5. Captain Willett Payne is unexpectedly recalled to his 
 
 ship, and poor Emma finds herself in difficulties 
 and without means. In her extremity she applies 
 to Dr. Graham, who befriends her, and then en- 
 gages her for exhibition in his * Temple of Health.' 
 She meets Sir Henry Featherstonehaugh . . 86 
 
 6. Emma, entering into the second stage of her career, is 
 
 taken from London by Sir Henry Featherstonehaugh 
 and established by him at Up Park. He treats her 
 ill, and she is solaced by Mr. Charles Greville, whose 
 intervention has immediate consequence. She is 
 
viii Contents 
 
 dismissed from Up Park, but a correspondence she 
 immediately establishes with Mr. Greville indicates 
 that she has found a new protector . . . 102 
 
 7. Mr. Greville secures a mistress and a cook for one 
 
 low rate of payment. But desires a pupil more 
 ardently than either. Emma incurs his displeasure 
 by her high spirits, but wins his forgiveness by the 
 humility of her demeanour. It is arranged that her 
 portrait should be painted by Mr. Romney . . 125 
 
 8. Emma is taken by Cliarles Greville to Mr. Romney's 
 
 studio in Cavendish Square, and there sits for him 
 in many attitudes, and also in the nude. To this 
 Mr. Greville takes objection, and much accrues 
 from the circumstance. She makes the acquaintance 
 of Sir William Hamilton, who at once expresses 
 his admiration of her, and endorses his nephew's 
 taste 141 
 
 9. Sir William Hamilton becomes more and more en- 
 
 amoured with his nephew's mistress. Mr. Greville 
 sees great advantage in an arrangement which will 
 secure his succession to his uncle's estate, whilst 
 leaving him free to contract an alliance in accord- 
 ance \Nath his fortune . . . . . .163 
 
 10. Emma, neglected and abandoned by Greville, solicited 
 
 by the King of Italy, and pursued by the gentlemen 
 
 of his Court, yields at length to Sir William Hamilton 182 
 
 11. Sir William Hamilton brings Emma to London to ask 
 
 the consent of the King to his marriage. But in an 
 interview with Greville she offers to give up all her 
 prospects if he will restore her to her old place in 
 his heart. Mr. Greville rejects the proposal and 
 accuses her of having been unfaithful to him with 
 Mr. Romney. She seeks Mr. Romney, whose mind 
 is already clouded, and who dreams that she has 
 been his mistress, and not only his inspiration. 
 She marries Sir William Hamilton . . . 203 
 
Contents ix 
 
 CHAPTER PAGB 
 
 12. Explains the political position at the Court of Naples, 
 
 when Emma returns as the wife of the British Am- 
 bassador. The Queen uses Emma as one of the 
 pawns in the game she is playing with the Powers. 
 Emma imagines herself the Bishop, the Castle, and 
 all the larger pieces ...... 234 
 
 13. Chronicles the appearance of Nelson on the scene. 
 
 The destruction of the French Navy is followed by 
 the surrender of the Hero of the Nile to the wife of 
 the British Ambassador. He outwits Villeneuve, 
 to be himself outwitted by Frail Emma of Edgeware 
 Row 251 
 
 14. Revolution spreads from France to Italy, and Nelson 
 
 becomes anxious for the personal safety of the King 
 and Queen. Emma assists him in persuading them 
 to flight. They set sail for Palermo in the midst of a 
 great storm, during which one of the royal children 
 expires in Emma's arms. Her courage and capacity 
 arouse Nelson to enthusiasm and rivet his chains 
 forever ........ 285 
 
 15. The Hamiltons, with Nelson in their train, make a 
 
 triumphant progress through the capitals of Europe, 
 but on arriving in England are cold-shouldered by 
 the Court. Lady Nelson becomes a factor in the 
 situation and further estranges her husband by her 
 conduct to Emma. The pressing attentions of the 
 Prince of Wales excite the jealousy of the Admiral, 
 but the birth of Horatia is a signal for the renewal 
 of his ardour. The purchase of a country house 
 is decided upon, and a selection made of Merton 
 in Surrey 313 
 
 16. Clouds gather and the sky is overcast. The death of 
 
 Sir William Hamilton is followed by Amodeo Gibil- 
 manna's successful attempts to blackmail his widow. 
 He has obtained possession of Lord Bristol's letters. 
 
Contents 
 
 and threatens to show them to Nelson. Emma im- 
 poverishes herself to meet his demands, and then 
 enjoys a brief period of respite with Nelson at 
 Merton. But the battle of Trafalgar ends her 
 happiness, and henceforth all is gloom. Gibilmanna 
 returns to the attack, and when Emma can no 
 longer satisfy his cupidity, sells her correspondence 
 to Lovewell, a publisher of the Barbican. Emma 
 cannot face the gossip that ensues, and retires to 
 Calais, where her troubles end .... 342 
 
LIST OF PLATES 
 
 Emma. By George Romney 
 
 Frontispiece 
 Facing page 
 32 
 
 Lady Hamilton as Euphrosyne. By Romney 
 Lady Hamilton as St. Cecilia. By Romney 
 The Spinstress. By Romney .... 
 Lady Hamilton in a White Hood. By Romney . 
 Lady Hamilton as Cassandra. By Romney 
 Lady Hamilton : The Nun. By Romney 
 Lady Hamilton as a Bacchante. By Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds ....... 
 
 80 
 148 
 192 
 240 
 304 
 
 352 
 
NELSON'S LEGACY 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Introduces Henry Gadogan and relates the events that led to 
 his strange situation at Great Nesse. 
 
 IT happens frequently in the case of persons 
 who rise to eminence, that the envy of those 
 whom they defeat in the struggle for Fame seeks 
 to belittle their origin, and discredit their breeding, 
 failing to perceive by how much the more the 
 disgrace attaching to their own failure is thereby 
 increased. It happened no otherwise in the case 
 of the incomparable beauty whose adventures it 
 is attempted to trace in the following sheets. And 
 since legitimate birth into a family of ancient 
 lineage and fine tradition is a valuable possession 
 for anyone, even though the marriage that has 
 so resulted be not one of social equality in the 
 contracting parties, I purpose to set forth at the 
 outset the events which led to the introduction 
 of a future ambassadress into the world in 
 circumstances so humble as those belonging 
 
2 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 to the smithy in the remote village of Great 
 Nesse. 
 
 The father, then, of that Emma whom the 
 vicissitudes of fortune conducted to the nuptial 
 bed of Sir William Hamilton, His Britannic 
 Majesty's Ambassador to the Court of Naples, 
 whose beauty lives through the unrivalled art of 
 Mr. Romney, and whose wanton charm captured 
 the heart, and made happy the last years of the 
 Hero of the Nile, the victor at Trafalgar, immortal 
 Nelson, — the father of this remarkable woman 
 was Mr. Henry Cadogan, nephew and heir to Mr. 
 George Cadogan, a gentleman of small estate, but 
 not so small importance, in the village of Ha warden, 
 which lies about six miles west of the city of 
 Chester. His house was the next largest to Broad- 
 lane Hall, the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, 
 of whom we shall hear more as this history pro- 
 gresses. It lay on the bank of one of the three 
 brooks that fed the iron foundry and the boring 
 mill, but away from the smoke of the one and 
 the noise of the other. 
 
 Here, in a house already old, set in an ordered 
 garden, the leaden statues and stone sun-dial 
 diversifying the dipt yews and formal flower-beds, 
 lived Mr. George Cadogan, a scholarly man, of 
 refined and fastidious tastes. And here, being a 
 bachelor, he installed, as mistress of his establish- 
 
Nelson's Legacy 3 
 
 ment, the widow of his deceased brother, with 
 her only son, to whom, in course of time, he 
 purposed to bequeath all his worldly goods. 
 
 Mrs. Cadogan did not long survive her husband. 
 She died before her little Henry's tottering baby 
 feet had learnt to stand firm, but not before she 
 had directed them on the right path and shown 
 him a light by which to steer his wavering course. 
 He knew, already before the death of his mother, 
 that he must not hurt other people, and that he 
 must be gentle as she was gentle. So much 
 of the rules of conduct she inculcated in him. 
 Afterwards he strove to interpret them in action, 
 imperfectly perhaps, even incorrectly. But Provi- 
 dence having removed her before she had carried 
 his education farther, he was left to the care 
 and tutelage of a man who, never having known 
 the joys of fatherhood, lacked, and was unable 
 to acquire, that sympathetic understanding of the 
 development of youthful character which is one 
 of fatherhood's natural attributes. 
 
 Mr. George Cadogan was, nevertheless, one of 
 the worthiest of his sex, and if the enunciation of 
 abstract principles had been sufficient to form an 
 entirely virtuous character, his nephew could not 
 have been committed to a more desirable pre- 
 ceptor. Henry was an obedient pupil, somewhat 
 unchildlike, and apt to melancholy. In truth. 
 
4 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 he felt a mother-want about the world, and 
 groped after it silently ; giving but an inatten- 
 tive ear to the apothegmata of a long-deceased 
 Roman Emperor, or the moral conclusions arrived 
 at after repentance by an uninspired Bishop of 
 Hippo. 
 
 Henry Cadogan perhaps deemed Marcus Aure- 
 lius but a dull dog, and the holy Augustine's career 
 interesting only up to the point when he sat 
 under the fig-tree in the garden at Milan. Having 
 read the rest as an academic exercise with his 
 estimable uncle, he would dismiss the whole story, 
 with its valuable lessons, from his mind, and go 
 forth into the garden, or into the country beyond, 
 to employ his leisure hours in his own way, making 
 sketches of such objects as pleased his growing 
 sense of beauty, for he was ever zealous with his 
 pencil, or attempting to express in verse some 
 of the vague thoughts and emotions which over- 
 charged the heart of a youth whose disposition 
 was naturally romantic. To such of these as he 
 ventured to submit to his uncle's eye, the older 
 man gave a kindly and a tolerant attention. Mr. 
 George Cadogan took pleasure in his nephew's 
 society, and encouraged him in his poetical exer- 
 cises, regarding them, however, only as essays in 
 one department of literature, and not as the first 
 immature expression of a nature that might crave 
 
Nelson's Legacy 5 
 
 and exact more substantial satisfaction in the 
 days to come. 
 
 Yet this, in truth, is what these romantic and 
 heroic poems presaged. And as their author passed 
 from childhood to adolescence, and felt the throb 
 of the blood in his body, he ceased to be content 
 with visionary Lesbias as objects of his amorous 
 lyrics, and with imagined Evadnes and Cassanas 
 as heroines of his romantic narratives. The 
 mother- craving left him, and now he desired some 
 inamorata, whom he might idealise, and who in 
 return should inspire his genius to flights that 
 should set him far up on the slopes of Parnassus, 
 and at the end, perhaps, secure him a resting- 
 place in the Temple of Fame. Desiring, he sought, 
 and seeking, found. No society is so small but 
 what it contains one maiden at least, endowed 
 with charms of person, or witchery of sex, suffi- 
 cient to qualify her to be the divinity of a youth 
 in love with love. Hawarden certainly was not 
 so small. And in Mary Kidd, the daughter of an 
 honest labouring man, living in a little thatched 
 cottage at the far end of the village, Henry Cadogan 
 discovered a new outlet for the strange emotions 
 that had hitherto found their expression only in 
 verse. 
 
 Of the first passages of their courtship there 
 is no history. First love is ever shy and shuns 
 
6 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 observation. But even if proven facts were the 
 only material with which it is the historian's 
 business to deal, I venture to suggest that there 
 would still be no necessity for me to reconstitute 
 what every reader can imagine for himself. This 
 much, however, it is not impertinent to observe : 
 that the natural shyness and pretty reluctance of 
 young lovers to engage the attention of any save 
 the single object of their mutual affection, are in 
 themselves justification for that rigid fence of 
 etiquette by which, in polite circles, young females 
 are protected. The proprieties, in short, are the 
 unwritten laws of behaviour which society, as 
 the sum of its experience, has found to be neces- 
 sary for the safeguarding of the morality of its 
 inexperienced members, and in insisting upon their 
 observance it shows rather a prudent knowledge 
 of the temptations to which those members are 
 liable to be exposed while their characters are 
 still in process of formation, than mistrust of the 
 ultimate efficacy of the virtuous principles which 
 it simultaneously labours to instil. 
 
 Unhappily, in the lower ranks of society, to 
 which Mary Kidd belonged, no corresponding code 
 of etiquette exists, and the temptations to which 
 a young female is exposed can be resisted only 
 by her own invincible religious sense or by the 
 unceasing vigilance of her proper guardians. In 
 
Nelson's Legacy 7 
 
 the case of Mary Kidd no vigilance could be exer- 
 cised. Her family was for ever labouring with 
 dire poverty. She herself had to assist in its 
 maintenance by hard and unremitting labour in 
 the fields. Life had meant naught but labour in 
 the thatched cottage until Henry Cadogan saw 
 timidity yet aspiration in a pair of blue eyes, and 
 showed a counterpart of them in his own. There 
 followed long interviews, sweet, because stolen, 
 meetings in the moonlight, sighs and mutual pro- 
 testations, quick pleading, and presently surrender. 
 Then, one day, Mary had that to tell which sent 
 Henry back to his uncle's house with face flushed 
 by pride or shame, resolute to tell him what had 
 happened, and thus test the practical value of 
 his great store of abstract virtuous principles. 
 
 Mr. George Cadogan heard his nephew's con- 
 fession with steadily increasing astonishment. He 
 was at first so disconcerted by such amazing intelli- 
 gence that for the moment he even forgot the 
 habitual Latinity of his diction, and the hitherto 
 invincible courtesy of his manner. He took a pinch 
 of snuff before he spoke, but even that failed 
 completely and immediately to restore his calm. 
 
 * You've gotten the wench with child ! ' he 
 exclaimed, at the end of the long narrative, inter- 
 spersed with rhapsodies, and punctuated by sighs, 
 which his nephew inflicted upon him. Then 
 
8 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 there was another pause, and another pinch of 
 
 snuff. ' It is indeed a painful circumstance, a 
 
 most lamentable occurrence. I trusted I had 
 
 implanted in you the seeds of virtue.' 
 
 ' Virtuous and vicious every man must be, 
 Few in th' extreme, but all in the degree,' 
 
 quoted Henry respectfully. 
 
 Mr. Cadogan was somewhat mollified by the 
 response, which had the literary flavour and was 
 therefore to his taste. 
 
 ' True, true,' he answered. ' Most true. 'Twas 
 
 the trollop herself that led you to it, no doubt. 
 
 Yet if the responsibiHty be truly yours, you must 
 
 e'en shoulder it. What does Mr. Samuel Prior say ? 
 
 ' Amongst all honest Christian people 
 Whoe'er breaks limbs maintains the cripple.' 
 
 He would not be outdone in quotation by his 
 nephew. ' And who is the wench ? ' 
 
 ' Mary Kidd.' 
 
 ' Ah ! Comely ? 
 
 Henry indulged in the exaggeration incidental 
 to his state. And his uncle heard him with 
 patience, almost with complaisance, relating an 
 incident of his own youth, not, however, with- 
 out shaking his head, and sighing, and having 
 recourse to his snuff-box. But Henry could see 
 he was secretly not ill-pleased to recall the 
 story, and remind himself that, although a 
 
Nelson's Legacy 9 
 
 scholar and a recluse, he was also a man of the 
 world. 
 
 The trouble between them only arose when 
 Mr. Cadogan suggested that ten guineas should 
 be raised from Henry's small patrimony and given 
 to the companion of his vice on condition that 
 she left the neighbourhood. It was then Henry 
 showed the result of his mother's early teaching. 
 He protested that Mary loved him, and that he 
 would not desert her. He vowed that he would 
 make an honest woman of her, cover her frailty 
 with a marriage ring. . . . 
 
 * Marry ! marry, forsooth ! Marry the strum- 
 pet I ' Quite a flush came into the thin old cheeks 
 and the hand that held the snuff-box shook. 
 ' Have you taken leave of your senses ? Where 
 do you propose to live, and upon what do you 
 propose to maintain a wife ? ' Mr. Cadogan 
 strove after dignity and composure, but both 
 eluded him. When Henry urged his point with 
 persistence his exasperated uncle resorted to 
 dark threats of ' spinning-houses for waistcoateers, 
 and pounds for loose puppies.' He threatened to 
 make use of his commission of the peace to bring 
 the pair of them to heel, uttering a denunciation 
 of all loose women, including Mary by name in a 
 manner that roused all the mistaken chivalry and 
 impotent anger of the boy. For, in truth, at this 
 
10 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 time Henry was little more than a boy. And 
 Mr. Cadogan pursued the subject with further 
 quotation, more snuff-taking, and a growing calm. 
 He held the power of the purse, and other powers, 
 was bitter in argument, and now that his self- 
 possession had returned could play rapier-like with 
 sharp speech. His words bit, and the wounds 
 bled, letting out self-esteem and courage. Henry 
 became as a whipped child before him ; he could 
 have wept in his rage and revolt, and found 
 himself with no word or argument left. But there 
 was heat in his cheeks, and in his heart, and a 
 great blaze of pity and tenderness for the maid 
 who had given him in love that which his uncle 
 coarsened and brutalised in argument. 
 
 He was dismissed from Mr. Cadogan's presence 
 presently, with contemptuous coldness, and a 
 parting adjuration in the Latin tongue. 
 
 He had not regained his spirit when Mary 
 herself was in his arms. She had waited for him 
 in the orchard, beside two nymphs who guarded a 
 stone fountain where clear spring water gushed 
 from the mouth of an infant Triton. Underneath 
 the apple blossom, and the young spring green, 
 were tearful eyes, and tremulous lips that yielded 
 as they trembled, lips cold with fear, and hot with 
 love. What could Mr. Cadogan ever have known 
 of love ? His story was but of lust. 
 
Nelson's Legacy n 
 
 Henry heard the piteous appeal not to abandon 
 whom he had betrayed ; and it was not in him 
 to hear it unmoved. Incoherent murmurings of 
 love proved more potent than logical statements 
 of worldly facts. He vowed fidelity as the shadows 
 fell and the evening closed about them, when love 
 held out its wanton charms, and persuaded them 
 that which is beautiful and natural is also surely 
 right. The night guarded their secrets. 
 
 Next day, and on many succeeding days, the 
 struggle between uncle and nephew was renewed. 
 Now it took a literary, and again an academic 
 form. Mr. Cadogan cited authorities, and Henry 
 refuted them. Mr. Cadogan argued, and Henry 
 demurred. In the course of this conflict of will 
 and reason the weakness of the lad's character, 
 which was responsible for the injury he had done 
 the girl, manifested itself in obstinacy to persist in 
 what his uncle described as the folly of his inten- 
 tions with regard to her. And then the last word 
 was spoken ; the ultimatum given out. Henry 
 could pay the girl off generously, for money, if 
 not plentiful, was not wanting ; or he could carry 
 his Quixotism to the end, and marry her. In that 
 case he could go where he pleased, and ' take his 
 wanton' with him. But go he must. And if he 
 went, he went for ever. 
 
 It was the old story. Once more youth was 
 
12 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 given the choice between the world and love, 
 and once more youth counted the world well lost 
 for love. 
 
 As almost any girl in a like situation would 
 have done, Mary Kidd accepted the sacrifice 
 made on the altar of her frailty. She was 
 more mature than her boy-lover, and was the 
 counsellor in much that followed. It was on her 
 advice that Henry Cadogan took another name, 
 both in order to avoid awkward questions, and 
 to elude his uncle's threatened reprisals. In the 
 name of Henry Lyon he was married to Mary 
 Kidd, by the Rev. C. Gardener, curate, in the 
 parish church of Neston. With a pathetic pre- 
 tence of equaUty suggested by his native chivalrous- 
 ness — or perhaps it was with an as pathetic desire 
 to make discovery still more difficult — Henry 
 signed the register, as Mary did, with a mark. 
 Thenceforward he would have no use for scholar- 
 ship. 
 
 But he had a wife, and soon would have a 
 child, and must redeem the hostages he had given 
 to fortune. Dame Fortune gave him small choice 
 as to the way in which he should do so. For fifty 
 years John Hales had been blacksmith at Great 
 Nesse, and now the old man was failing, and 
 needed help. Henry Lyon bound himself appren- 
 tice to him, in hopes to learn the trade. But 
 
Nelson's Legacy 13 
 
 after four months John Hales died, leaving Henry's 
 education incomplete. All the money he had, 
 independently of his uncle — it represented his 
 mother's little savings — the unfortunate young 
 man invested in the goodwill and stock-in-trade 
 of the forge. Thus it came about that he who so 
 short a time before was Henry Cadogan, gentleman, 
 and heir to a respectable estate, was now become 
 Henry Lyon, smith, of Nesse. 
 
 It would have been difficult for him to have 
 picked a trade for which he had less aptitude. 
 He was disqualified for it by something more than 
 the tenderness with which he had been nurtured 
 in the solitude of his uncle's house. The rich 
 luxuriance of his red-gold hair, the transparence 
 of his temples, showing blue tracery of veins, the 
 moist redness of his mouth, shaped like a Cupid's 
 bow, the soft roundness of his white and slender 
 arms, the hectic ebb and flow of colour in his 
 face — these were so many outward signs of a 
 consumption that was no less his inheritance 
 than the little savings. He did not know this 
 yet, but each day left him more exhausted by 
 the unaccustomed toil, each day found him less 
 equal to the demands it made upon him. Only 
 the pride that comes of race sustained him in the 
 losing battle. 
 
 The end came suddenly. 
 
14 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 Old Sir Thomas Mostyn, Squire of the Parish, 
 rode to the forge to have his mare shod, and 
 Henry Lyon, though wearied more than ordin- 
 arily, dared not disappoint so valuable a cus- 
 tomer. Sir Thomas sat on the wooden bench 
 that was all the furniture the forge afforded, and 
 watched the young smith at work, noting the 
 effort needed to swing the heavy hammer, and the 
 uncertainty of its fall upon the metal. He grew 
 impatient of such incompetence. 
 
 ' Plague on it,' he said testily. ' You fiddle 
 about with a hammer like any fool of a woman. 
 Let it swing free, man, let it swing free.' 
 
 Henry made no answer but redoubled his 
 efforts. The squire watched him as he finished 
 beating out the iron, heating and shaping it, then, 
 stooping down to take the mare's hoof upon his 
 apron, fitted and fastened the shoe. The sweat 
 beaded on Henry's forehead and trickled down 
 into his eyes ; he breathed with difficulty. Squire 
 Mostyn noted the hairless whiteness of the exposed 
 chest, and the womanly slimness of the arms, bare 
 to above the elbow. 
 
 'You're no smith,' exclaimed Sir Thomas, 'and 
 not even John Hales could have made 'ee one. 
 The work's too hard for you.' 
 
 ' There are worse things than hard work,' 
 Henry answered breathlessly. 
 
Nelson^s Legacy 15 
 
 ' Want of it, for one,' put in the squire, dryly. 
 * Very true, very true. But you'd have no need 
 to be afraid of that if you'd buckle to and master 
 your trade. There's not another forge within 
 twenty miles, and would not be, if you learn to 
 give satisfaction to your customers.' 
 
 Henry was touched both by the encouragement 
 and the warning. He knew he must struggle on, 
 at least until after his child was born. Yet but a 
 boy himself, that which was coming to him would 
 need all his strength and courage. 
 
 He rose and straightened himself painfully, 
 answering respectfully. Then he led the newly 
 shod mare to the ghost stone outside, which the 
 squire, an old man now, was perforce obliged to 
 use as a mounting block. The squire was molli- 
 fied by his attitude, perhaps moved by his appear- 
 ance, and as he settled himself in the saddle, he 
 said, * A man ought to be fitted for his business.' 
 He gathered the reins in his hands. ' Belike 
 smithing is not yours. Why don't 'ee turn barber, 
 man, or schoolmaster, or both ? You could attend 
 to both sides of the children's heads then, inside 
 and outside ; and 'twould be an easier job to 
 knock learning into them, thick though they be, 
 than 'tis to beat out horseshoes. Give the matter 
 your thought, young man ; and if you're needing 
 help, come up to the house. . . .' 
 
i6 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 He tossed the smith a crown for his labour, 
 and rode off, unaware of the desperation smoulder- 
 ing behind him. The air of patronage and the 
 scarcely veiled scorn, had flicked Henry Lyon on 
 the raw. He would be neither barber nor school- 
 master. He was a scholar and a gentleman. . . . 
 When Sir Thomas had jogged away out of sight 
 he flung the crown upon the bench. And yet he 
 could not but give the matter thought, as he had 
 been enjoined. 
 
 Leaning against the door of the forge, he 
 rested his eyes on the wide estuary of the Dee, 
 and on the Welsh hills, showing purple in the 
 distance. It was a beautiful place to which his 
 folly, or his virtue, had brought him, a peaceful 
 and prosperous place. But the fairest prospect is 
 powerless to soothe the heart that is not at rest; 
 and Henry Lyon knew already that he was the 
 victim of irremediable discontent. Marcus Aurelius 
 and all the philosophers were proven fools, and 
 their maxims foolishness. How often had he 
 repeated to himself the adage, Leve jit quod bene 
 fertur onus, only to convince himself of its 
 falseness. 
 
 In the first ardour of his emancipation from his 
 state of pupilage he had thought to prove his 
 independence by making a living by his hands, 
 work was to have been the panacea for all his 
 
Nelson's Legacy 17 
 
 troubles. But instead of curing the malady, it 
 was killing the patient. For already, this after- 
 noon, the lad knew that he had come almost to 
 the end of his powers of endurance. He did not 
 regret his courtship or marriage — by it he had 
 proved his spirit, and established his manhood's 
 estate. But all at once he was nauseated by the 
 conditions into which they had brought him ; by 
 the dirt and the sweat of labour ; by the foetid 
 atmosphere of the cottage which he shared with 
 Mary, and which pleased her so greatly ; by the 
 coarseness of his meat, and the spiritual loneliness 
 of his days. The squire had brought it all home 
 to him ; he was removed from his equals in educa- 
 tion and politeness. Man cannot live by bread 
 alone, and feeding on sacrifice is less than bread. 
 
 Henry could work no more that day, and anon, 
 doffing his leathern apron, washing the worst of 
 the dirt from his hands and face, and closing the 
 smithy door, he betook him to the old quay fields, 
 there to lie for awhile on the warm bosom of 
 earth, to watch from afar the slow approach of 
 the Irish packet, to see the sails catch the breeze, 
 and to dream, futilely, that some day he too might 
 sail to a new haven, where there would be peace, 
 the wind and sky for sweet company, and rest in 
 sight. 
 
 In the cottage Mary waited the return of her 
 
i8 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 husband, at first with patience, then with growing 
 anxiety. When the night fell, and still he did 
 not come, anxiety gave place to panic, and she 
 sought her neighbour's aid. Gaffer Dowling, from 
 next door, and Mary Lyon, swinging their lanterns, 
 uncertain where to look, sallied forth into the cold 
 grey of the spring night. The gaffer was bent 
 and old, but Mary bore herself erect, albeit there 
 was fear at the back of her mind. She was truly 
 of stouter heart, and of more judgment, than 
 her husband, and if more time had been given 
 her, she might well have made a man of him. 
 But his weakness had won upon her, so that now 
 she loved her husband as she had never loved 
 her lover. She knew that he was delicate in 
 health, and she guessed too, as wives will, that 
 he was unhappy in his spirit. He had striven to 
 keep it from her, but she knew. Women are fain 
 to know such things. 
 
 Now she and the old gaffer went first to the 
 empty forge, and then to the village inn, where 
 they had tidings that the young blacksmith had 
 been seen to leave the forge, and to go toward 
 the quay, many hours ago. Other villagers joined 
 them, with more swinging lamps, and there was 
 talk of murder and highwaymen, and much rough 
 sympathy and foreboding. 
 
 And, indeed, when they found Henry, coming 
 
Nelson's Legacy 19 
 
 upon him suddenly, and with many an exclama- 
 tion and loud lament, it looked as if a murder 
 had been wrought. For he lay upon his back, and 
 there were patches upon his clothes, and on the 
 ground about him, darker than the night. The 
 sky might have been his pall, so still he lay, and 
 the murmur of the sea beneath might have been 
 his dirge. There were no stars, and no moon ; 
 truly the bracken might have hid an assailant. 
 But Mary, who was soon beside him, on her knees, 
 pillowing his head on her breast, crying to him, 
 saw that it was no murder. 
 
 ' I went to sleep, and woke coughing. My 
 mouth was full of blood. ... it is coming again ! 
 Mary . . .' 
 
 They carried him back to the cottage pre- 
 sently, and it seemed he would have died before 
 they brought him there, so great and so constant 
 was the flow of blood from his mouth. They 
 halted him at the inn, and tried the sovereign 
 remedy, but without avail. The village barber, 
 who was also the apothecary, was in the bar par- 
 lour, and he let blood from his arm to stay the 
 blood from his lungs. For awhile the treatment 
 seemed to avail. It was a living man they brought 
 home before the morning, to linger a few weeks 
 under his Mary's tender nursing. Whatever fault 
 may have been hers in the beginning, she strove 
 
20 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 to atone for it now, tending him night and day, 
 offering to send for his uncle, or go to Hawarden 
 herself to entreat forgiveness. For it was that 
 that weighed on the sufferer, a sense of ingratitude, 
 and a great home-sickness. But he could not 
 make up his mind to let her leave him. It was 
 always of her situation, and never of his own that 
 he murmured in his last days. He was full of 
 concern for her and her coming child. But for 
 himself, it seemed that death would bring him ease, 
 both of mind and body ; his fretting conscience 
 saw no other way. He knew now that for manual 
 labour he was unfit, and he had forfeited his right 
 to his uncle's affection and estate. Mary was his 
 wife, and would be the mother of his child, but 
 it was not true love he felt for her. The burden 
 of concealing from her that he was aware he had 
 made a mistake was a burden he would lay down 
 gladly. 
 
 Henry Cadogan lived to see his daughter. With 
 eyes fast glazing in death, he gazed upon her 
 lovely face, a replica in miniature of his own, and 
 with that strange gift of vision of the future which 
 Providence so often vouchsafes to dying men, he 
 appeared to have some foreknowledge of her 
 destiny. He uttered a broken blessing and 
 entreaty. 
 
 ' Oh, Mary,' he cried to the weeping woman, 
 
Nelson's Legacy 21 
 
 ' my Mary, let not her weakness, nor the weakness 
 she inherits from her unhappy father, deprive 
 her of maternal love. Cherish her, I beseech you ; 
 cherish her as you cherish my memory, and love 
 her whatever displeasure she may cause you. . . .' 
 And how well and truly she obeyed him the 
 pages of the following history will duly testify. 
 She was a woman of the people, and the child 
 she bore was a gentleman's child. He had sacri- 
 ficed much to her honour, and she too must make 
 sacrifices ; and, as will be seen, she did not spare 
 them. The little Emma, so early fatherless, was 
 ever surrounded with the love and devotion of 
 the best of mothers. Her low estate notwith- 
 standing, Mary Kidd had in truth a noble spirit. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 Little Emma Is carried to Hawarden and repudiated by Mr. 
 George Cadogan ; welcomed by her grandmother, she is 
 sent to school, where she meets her first suitor ; and, worldly 
 prudence dictating, she accepts her first engagement on 
 life's stage. 
 
 A TENDER heart can scarce bear to contem- 
 -^~^ plate the desolate plight in which a young 
 woman finds herself when prematurely bereft of 
 the husband of her girlhood, and the father of her 
 new-born babe. Even Pity is fain to steal away 
 from that dark chamber where the widow Lyon 
 kneeled and mourned her dead. Yet was it not a 
 manifestation of Pity from Him who knows the 
 human heart that cajoled the mourner from the 
 bier whereon her husband lay to the cradle where 
 her infant woke, and cried, and made its new 
 demand ? 
 
 This was the substance of the second act in 
 the tragic comedy of Life which the great drama- 
 tist, Fate, provided for Mary Lyon. And were 
 it Mary Lyon instead of her babe with whose 
 person and history this narrative is concerned, an 
 author would be remiss in discharging the obliga- 
 tions imposed upon him by his art, who failed to 
 
Nelson's Legacy 23 
 
 point the morals that are to be derived from so 
 affecting a situation. It is the daughter, however, 
 and not the widowed mother, who is to be the 
 heroine of this chronicle, and therefore it is un- 
 necessary to pause to depict the anguish brought 
 by a loss of which she was too young to be aware. 
 Only what is pertinent to herself, shall be recorded, 
 and in respect of Henry Lyon's death all that has 
 to be told therefore is how it affected the worldly 
 position of the child whom he had begotten. 
 
 All the money Henry possessed had been sunk 
 in the purchase of the forge, an investment than 
 which nothing could have proved more completely 
 the lack of prudence in worldly matters, with which 
 his uncle, Mr. George Cadogan, had been wont to 
 charge him. For, as it had provided him with an 
 occupation for which he was entirely unfitted, and 
 subjected him to an exertion to which he was so 
 unused that it undoubtedly hastened his end, so 
 now it represented a business which his widow 
 could not carry on, and which, had she been un- 
 able to dispose of it, would have been as completely 
 useless in supporting her as any of the lyrical poems 
 which he had been in the habit of addressing to 
 her in their ante-nuptial days. 
 
 It was the lady of that Sir Thomas Mostyn, 
 who had chafed at the smith's lack of craftsman- 
 ship, who now came to the assistance of his 
 
24 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 widow. Gaffer Dowling, Mary's neighbour, had a 
 nephew, a smith who had learned his trade in 
 Chester, and was wilhng to avail himself of an 
 opportunity to practise it in his native village. 
 Through the good offices of my Lady Mostyn, 
 negotiations were entered into between Thomas 
 Dowling and Mary Lyon, and brought to a happy 
 conclusion, whereby young Dowling covenanted to 
 take the forge upon lease, paying to Mary Lyon 
 a rental of eight shillings a week. The plan proved 
 perfectly agreeable to all the parties. Dowling, 
 an able-bodied and industrious man, restored the 
 business to the prosperity it had known in the 
 days of old John Hales, and Mary found the 
 income accruing to her amply sufficient for her 
 modest needs. Both she and her babe throve 
 upon it. 
 
 Common consent consented for once with 
 maternal pride, and the little ' Emy, daughter of 
 Henry Lyon of Nesse, by Mary his wife,' was 
 agreed on all sides to be the most beautiful babe 
 in the three villages. The sympathy that at first 
 had been the young widow's chief solace grew 
 to be less necessary as she found happiness 
 in her child. Her love for her young husband 
 was merged in an affection both stronger and 
 more sacred when his blue eyes smiled on her from 
 the infant's face, and the red-gold curls grew 
 
Nelson's Legacy 25 
 
 under her caressing hand. Mary forgot to be un- 
 happy when the babe crowed and kicked, forgot 
 to grieve for the rose, as she watched the bud 
 unfolding beneath her care. She set too much 
 store by it, the neighbours said, and bid fair to 
 spoil the child to whom she devoted every minute 
 of her time. But Mary paid no heed to them. 
 It was a tyranny to which she was the willing 
 subject, and it was a sweet picture of innocence 
 and domestic happiness that, all unconsciously, 
 she formed when playing with her child. 
 
 Yet, such is the ironical humour of Fate, Mary's 
 very happiness in her new condition was the cause 
 of her soon being driven from the place where 
 she had found it. Young, lovely, and already 
 relying upon him for her maintenance, she ap- 
 peared to Thomas Bowling in every respect a 
 desirable helpmeet. Affection followed where self- 
 interest led the way, and affection developed into 
 a truly passionate desire. But Mary had no love, 
 or even affection, to give. That of her heart 
 which lay not in her Henry's grave was centred 
 on the child with which he had so grandly dowered 
 her. She repulsed Thomas Bowling's advances, 
 and told him plainly she thought it showed his 
 ill-breeding to press them upon her. Yet she 
 should have known, none better, that it is idle 
 to attempt to counter love's assaults with argu- 
 
26 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 ment. To Thomas Dowling it seemed wholly 
 fitting that Mary Lyon should take as her second 
 husband a man who was also a smith, and already 
 her tenant. She might scorn his advances, and 
 taunt him with his ill-breeding, but in truth in 
 that respect she was no better than himself. Only 
 Mary knew, although she could not explain, that 
 a man is not a blacksmith merely because he 
 chances to work at a forge. Henry Lyon was a 
 gentleman, and intimate association with him had 
 made intimate association with anyone his social 
 and intellectual inferior for ever impossible to her. 
 Great love can hardly condescend from its ideal, 
 and it was great love that Mary had lavished upon 
 her husband, whom she had idolised in life, and, 
 dead, idealised. 
 
 So she persisted in her denial of all that Dowling 
 sought, and when he pursued her with ever-growing 
 pertinacity she determined to find safety in flight. 
 Her thoughts turned involuntarily, and often, to 
 Hawarden, and now to Mr. George Cadogan. She 
 would ask his protection for herself and for her 
 child. It was her right and her privilege to appeal 
 to its father's relatives for the child's maintenance, 
 and though he might be harsh to herself, the fond 
 mother deemed it impossible that any man with 
 a heart in his breast could resist the appeal of her 
 child's beauty and innocent helplessness. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 27 
 
 It was at the end of a long day's journey that 
 Mary found herself once more in Hawarden. With- 
 out pressing forward to pay her duty to her 
 mother, who lived at the extreme end of the village, 
 she made her way direct to that other dwelling 
 beneath whose roof her beloved had grown to 
 man's estate. If some tears suffused her eyes as 
 she tenderly recalled her happy conversations with 
 him the pledge of whose affection she now pressed 
 to her bosom, no lack of courage made her feet 
 falter. Widowhood lent her dignity, motherhood 
 gave her confidence. She walked up to the 
 thatched porch of the old house, by the open 
 door of which a heavy iron bell depended. But 
 while she was in the very act to pull it, Mr. George 
 Cadogan, in person, stood before her. He had a 
 large pair of scissors in hand, and was about to 
 engage in the congenial task of shearing a rose- 
 bush. He peered at Mary through his horned 
 glasses, without recognition, although with some 
 appreciation of her comeliness, and as Mary waited 
 for him to address her, she observed that he looked 
 older and more frail than the passage of so few 
 years since she had last seen him would seem to 
 warrant. Time, though inexorable, is not cruel ; 
 it is Care that graves the deepest lines upon the 
 human countenance, and corrodes the frame. 
 
 She dropped him a curtsey : ' An' it please 
 
28 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 you, sir,' she began, ' I am Mary Lyon that was 
 Mary Kidd.' 
 
 ' Ay,' he said, ' ay ? ' His hearing was a little 
 dull. ' Mary Lyon, that was Mary Kidd,' he 
 repeated with the usual recourse to his snuff-box. 
 ' And what may you be wanting of me ? Speak 
 freely, girl, speak freely. 'Tis a burden you 
 carry.' She hugged the burden closer. ' What 
 does our poet say ? 
 
 ' To mortal man great loads allotted be, 
 But of all packs, no pack like poverty. 
 
 You seek relief ? ' 
 
 The hand that restored the snuff-box to the 
 pocket, lingered there to draw forth a netted 
 purse, somewhat slenderly furnished : 
 
 ' In faith and hope the world will disagree, 
 Of all Mankind's concern is Charity,' 
 
 he quoted, not without sententiousness. ' Here 
 is a florin for you ; now go your way in peace, 
 wench.' For still she lingered, the coin in her 
 hand. ' I must to my roses ; the day grows 
 late. . . .' 
 
 She curtseyed again : ' You are good, sir, and 
 most truly kind. But if it please you . . .' and 
 again she repeated, ' I am Mary Kidd." 
 
 The name had brought nothing to his mind. 
 Of Kidds there were not a few in the district. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 29 
 
 sailors and labourers for the most part, all of the 
 humblest station. 
 
 But some dawn of knowledge must then have 
 been his, for into the thin old cheeks came a 
 reddening and his head shook a little, as if from 
 palsy. Could this be the trull for whose sake his 
 ward had defied and shaken off his authority, 
 with incredible ingratitude treated as naught the 
 affection and solicitude of an uncle who had 
 been father and mother in one, and thrown 
 away all the fair prospects of inheritance to an 
 honourable position in the country ? Was this 
 the trollop through whom he had lost the young 
 and animated companion of his solitude, and 
 through whom his old age was lonely ? And had 
 she the hardihood and boldness to attack him 
 here ? All the bitterness and anger that had 
 been pent up within his breast for so long, 
 rushed to his lips in an eruption as dreadful as 
 that which ^tna belches forth when Typhon 
 struggles beneath it in a paroxysm of impotent 
 rage. 
 
 ' You . . . you trull, the strumpet, that ruined 
 my nephew ! ' he stammered. ' Begone, begone, 
 or I'll set the dogs on you, you baggage. . . .' 
 All his philosophy had left him, all his reticence 
 and dignity ; he presented only the spectacle of a 
 palsied old man in an impotent rage. ' Begone, 
 
30 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 before I do you an injury. I'll have you in the 
 pound by the heel, I'll have no loose women in 
 Ha warden. . . .' 
 
 ' I'm an honest woman, and your nephew's 
 widow,' she faltered out, alarmed nevertheless by 
 his demeanour. 
 
 ' You're a witch, you're a . . . ' He used 
 another word with which I dare not disfigure my 
 page. ' An honest woman, forsooth ! A pretty 
 honesty, I warrant. You played upon the simple- 
 ness of a love-sick boy, who, to give him his due, 
 was more fool than knave, forcing him into the 
 marriage which led to his death.' And at the 
 thought of what had come to the lad, and his 
 untimely end, emotion overcame him, and he 
 stayed a moment in his ungoverned speech. ' Poor 
 lad I poor lad ! ' he murmured. ' A blacksmith's 
 forge, a blacksmith ! But perhaps I was over- 
 harsh with him. . . .' Then he recalled her 
 presence again. ' As for you, I wish to Heaven 
 I had made out a mittimus to Bridewell, where you 
 might have cooled your blood what time the lad 
 came to his senses. You married him, and then 
 you killed him. Ay, it was through you the boy 
 died. And now, with no husband, and none of 
 the fortune for which you plotted, you have the 
 impudence to come to me. I'll have nought to 
 do with you, nor yet with the child. How do I 
 
Nelson's Legacy 31 
 
 even know it's his, or with what Dick, Tom and 
 Harry you have had commerce ? ' 
 
 ' God knows, sir, I was a true wife to him, and 
 had commerce with none but my Henry before or 
 after we were wed. Nor ever will, an' it please 
 you, seeing what came of it. . . .' But Mr. 
 Cadogan, philosopher and scholar though he was, 
 was beyond listening to reason, more particularly 
 when it spoke to him from the lips of his nephew's 
 despised wife. 
 
 ' 'Twas a clever thing you thought you were 
 doing when you laid your bastard at my poor 
 boy's door, and snared him into a clandestine 
 marriage. And it's a pretty pass to which you 
 have brought yourself. But it's Heaven's judg- 
 ment on you, and I'll not interfere. Begone, I 
 say.' 
 
 She confronted him with unfailing courage, 
 though her limbs were tottering, and for the child's 
 sake she strove once more to melt his wrath. 
 But he drowned each faltering word of hers in 
 a new torrent of passionate invective, until in very 
 hopelessness she was compelled to turn and leave 
 him. In truth, he drove her from his door, but 
 when at last she passed from his view, neither his 
 roses nor his philosophy availed him ; he was 
 conscious only of his bereavement, and of the 
 vanity of man's hopes. 
 
32 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 Mary went down the long street hugging her 
 living burden yet closer to her bosom. She held 
 her head high, conscious of her own integrity, but 
 the colour burned in her cheeks and her eyes were 
 dry and brilliant. The harsh words hammered 
 on her confused brain, and now she was conscious 
 of a great fatigue. She came at last to her mother's 
 cottage. Motherhood meant so much more to her 
 now than it had when, nearly three years ago, she 
 had fled from its protection. But memory, in- 
 stinct, hope, told her that here succour awaited 
 her. And hope this time told no false, or flattering 
 tale. Mrs. Kidd, old in her forty-seventh year, 
 weighted with cares and poverty, was stooping 
 among her cabbages, and for a moment failed to 
 note the suppliant fumbling at the latch of her 
 little gate. Then she looked up and saw. Irreso- 
 lute, but only to believe so great a happiness, she 
 stood silent for a moment. ' I've come home,' 
 Mary faltered. ' I've come home,' . . . she held 
 out her baby, ' with my burden.' The tears 
 streamed down her face. ' Mother, mother, you'll 
 not turn me from your door ? ' 
 
 For answer there were open arms, and croon- 
 ing words of love for exhausted mother and hungry 
 babe. There were no questions, and no reproaches, 
 it was enough that Mary had come home again; 
 more than enough, a great joy, an overwhelming 
 
LADY HAMILTOX AS EUPHR08YNB 
 
 FROM THE PAINTING BY ROMNEY, IN THE POSSESSION 
 OF G. HARLAND PECK, ESQ. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 33 
 
 mercy. She could not make too much of the pair 
 of them. For Mrs. Kidd, the labouring woman, 
 no less than the philosopher in his garden, had 
 missed the young life about her. Mary's welcome 
 here lacked nothing in warmth ; and gradually her 
 grief was assuaged and her courage to face life 
 again, restored. 
 
 Nevertheless the situation of which our Emma's 
 dawning consciousness became aware, and which 
 furnished her with her earliest memories, was one of 
 bitter, grinding poverty. The cottage at Hawarden 
 was even smaller than the one at Great Nesse, 
 containing only two bedrooms under a thatched 
 roof, and downstairs a single living-room. A patch 
 of garden grew the potatoes which often formed 
 the only food for the family, and although Mrs. 
 Kidd gladly shared her all with daughter and 
 granddaughter, that all amounted to little more 
 than six shillings a week. Hunger was familiar 
 in the little cottage. Nevertheless the wolf 
 starvation kept from the door, and this small 
 family, females of three generations without one 
 pair of manly arms to work for them, furnished 
 a living proof that it is possible to be healthy 
 and hungry at one and the same time. 
 
 Health, at any rate, was Emy Lyon's dowry 
 in her babyhood, and with it a double portion of 
 the beauty that is health's proper attribute. 
 
34 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 Already in her tenth summer, her hair was a 
 miracle of length and thickness. Her skin was 
 almost transparently fair, eyes lustrous with 
 dancing blue, lips red and laughing, wondrously 
 shaped. The large cotton bonnets in which she 
 went to and fro to school, enhanced these beauties 
 by the modesty with which they half concealed 
 them. Her gentle parentage gave her a refine- 
 ment which the other village children did not 
 possess, and affected both her mother and her 
 grandmother with a sense that hers was a higher 
 nature than their own, to be more carefully nur- 
 tured, and more tenderly controlled. Remark- 
 able was her capacity for affection ; but with 
 the warmth of heart and generosity of disposition 
 that made the little creature adorable to all who 
 knew her, she had a passionateness of temper, 
 and a waywardness that were difficult to meet. 
 
 Variety of life, and the distractions of gaiety, 
 were hard to come by in so remote a village, but 
 already the child's heart inclined to them, and 
 of such excitements as were provided by the great 
 cattle-fairs held every spring and autumn she 
 took full advantage, sorely trying the loving dis- 
 cipline of her natural guardians. There were rough 
 men and boys about on these occasions, and 
 maternal love was racked by anxiety ; it could 
 not be wholly blind to the dangers lying in wait 
 
Nelson's Legacy 35 
 
 for one so beautiful, but withal so fitful in mood, 
 so emotional, and so captivating. Yet, if fear 
 was latent in the mother's heart, pride and hope 
 flourished there too, and these were not all un- 
 happy days for Mary Lyon. 
 
 And now there was woven into the pattern of 
 the child's life a thread, in close context with 
 which the weft of her own career was after- 
 wards to be entangled and knit in complicated 
 design. 
 
 In the west corner of the churchyard at 
 Hawarden stands the Grammar School, founded 
 and endowed by good George Ledsham. Here the 
 child was taught the first beginnings of that 
 education which, later, she was at great pains to 
 carry further ; and here she met the first of the 
 opposite sex to pay her those attentions which, 
 later, some of the greatest in the land vied in 
 laying at her feet. 
 
 Will Masters, like herself, was an only child, 
 and his mother, too, was a widow. Will Masters 
 singled Emy out from the others for his chosen 
 companion, and soon between the two children a 
 pretty and idyllic intercourse was established. 
 He was her knight, championing her cause when 
 other boys grew too rude and violent in their 
 play, teasing, and being teased in turn by her, 
 and in quieter moments weaving simple stories 
 
36 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 of what they should do when they were grown 
 up, and Emy had become his wife. Heaven, 
 that allows the heads of little children to be filled 
 with harmless fancies, knows that in this early 
 sweethearting there was nothing that was not 
 pure and innocent. And yet the place the boy 
 won in the maid's affectionate heart was so secure 
 that, later, she was to pay a bitter price to save 
 him from distress. Even now this first courtship 
 was destined to make a change in her situation. 
 
 Mrs. Thomas, wife of the squire living at 
 Broadlane Hall, found something ominous of dan- 
 ger in this attraction of boy to girl and girl to 
 boy. In her position of leading lady in the parish 
 of Ha warden she was well qualified to judge of 
 the difficulties Mary Lyon might find in safe- 
 guarding the virtue and modesty of her daughter 
 when she should come to marriageable age. Had 
 not Mary Lyon's own mother found some diffi- 
 culties not so long ago ? Mrs. Thomas and the 
 schoolmaster held conference together. Already 
 it was impossible to ignore the beauty of the 
 little cottage girl. The schoolmaster and the Lady 
 of the Manor combined in disapproving of the 
 romping games and too early courtships that were 
 so prevalent in the village. More than once evil 
 had come of such games. At the Hall, under 
 the discipline that prevailed in that well-ordered 
 
Nelson's Legacy 37 
 
 establishment, impropriety was impossible, and 
 danger kept at bay. So, Mary Lyon consenting, 
 Mrs. Thomas took Emy, who now was thirteen 
 years of age, into her service, to act as nurse-girl 
 and maid to her own three children, and be taught 
 to earn her living Christianly and virtuously under 
 Mrs. Thomas's own supervision. 
 
 On the face of it the arrangement appeared 
 entirely good. For at home Emy's natural gaiety 
 and the lightness of her nature, robbed reproof of 
 all its force. Neither Mrs. Kidd nor Mary Lyon 
 could find it in their heart to punish her as 
 beseemed them when thoughtlessness carried her 
 beyond the bounds of prudence. 
 
 Emy's loving and lovable disposition, her im- 
 petuous repentance and easy tears won her quick 
 forgiveness. To her mother she was the living 
 representation of romance and the joy of life. 
 Mother and grandmother combined in her spoiling, 
 and indeed they acknowledged it to each other. 
 Already little Emy was almost beyond parental 
 control, and Will Masters was a yet further com- 
 plication. The household of Mrs. Thomas pre- 
 sented a solution of all difficulties. There she 
 would be well provided for, and placed out of 
 reach of temptation. And if she were not happy, 
 was not the cottage door always open to her ? 
 To Broadlane Hall, then, Emy was duly conveyed, 
 
38 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 on the understanding that she might visit her 
 home every week, and that every week her mother 
 and grandmother might come to see her at the 
 Hall. 
 
 Thus it came about that on her thirteenth 
 birthday Emy made her first venture into the 
 world, beginning, as many another great actress 
 hath done, with the humble part of a serving- 
 maid, to rise in after years to be the accepted 
 queen of the theatre. 
 
 But the little Emy was destined also to play 
 her part, not in the stilted tragedies and comedies 
 of the stage, but in the great drama of contem- 
 porary history. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 Master Will Masters creates a diversion at Broadlane Hall, and 
 Mrs. Thomas decides that Emy must shine in some other 
 sphere. 
 
 T TAPPINESS dwells in ordered ways as surely 
 J- A as doth security. Nay, it were apter to 
 the fact to declare that Happiness is the offspring 
 of Security, but for whose maternal labour and 
 ensuing vigilance it could neither have its being nor 
 endure. Yet such is the perverseness of human 
 nature, it often finds in security naught but tedium, 
 and would adventure happiness for variety, not 
 knowing the value of its most valuable possession. 
 Even of those of gentle disposition there are some 
 who forfeit the satisfaction of quietude, disturb- 
 ing the placid atmosphere by the admission of 
 elements which the wisdom of their guardians 
 deems it necessary to exclude. And this was the 
 first misfortune of our heroine, who, in childish 
 ignorance of all that it might entail, was a con- 
 senting party to the intrusion of her old associa- 
 tions into her new. 
 
 For assuredly in that first year she found 
 happiness at Broadlane Hall. It was her dispo- 
 
 39 
 
40 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 sition to be happy, and there was nothing in her 
 new circumstance to war with her disposition. 
 From the poverty of old Mrs. Kidd's cottage, 
 where there was seldom meat enough to stay 
 healthy hunger, where fuel was too scant to dis- 
 pel the cold that rose from the flagged floor, she 
 had come to the enjoyment of the creature 
 comforts, the warmth and plenty of the spacious 
 Hall. In a less conscious degree she was grateful 
 for the sense of safety it afforded, for that very 
 protection which it was the excellent Mrs. Thomas's 
 object to secure her. She strove to requite kind- 
 ness with good service, minding the children when 
 she took them on expeditions in search of nuts 
 or berries, playing with them decorously in the 
 house or garden when they were not permitted to 
 go further abroad, listening soberly to the instruc- 
 tion of her mistress, and accepting praise or 
 rebuke in a becoming spirit. It seemed now as 
 if a fair breeze filled the sails of her life's little 
 barque, to waft it evenly to the haven of good 
 fortune. But of a sudden and without premoni- 
 tion, the breeze fell away, the sky altered, and a 
 horrid tempest broke, driving the barque on an 
 uncertain course into the open sea of perilous 
 adventure. 
 
 Within the limits of his not inconsiderable 
 fortune Mr. Thomas gratified his wife's taste for 
 
Nelson's Legacy 41 
 
 the Fine Arts and, in particular, for painting. His 
 eldest daughter had already acquired some pro- 
 ficiency in this pleasing accomplishment, and had 
 made a portrait of Emy Lyon, than whom she 
 herself was but little less attractive in exterior 
 appearance. Her eyes were blue, though of a 
 lighter hue than those of her lovely model, and 
 her hair was ringleted, albeit fairer than were 
 Emy's auburn curls. But to her fond mother's 
 thinking. Miss Thomas at the age of sixteen, 
 possessed a more elegant shape. Emy had not 
 yet grown to her full height, and was inclined to 
 be buxom in the figure. 
 
 Mr. Rumney was at this time but a journeyman 
 artist, with his reputation still in the making. 
 But recommendation of him was spreading far 
 and wide, and flattering accounts of his skill in 
 portraiture had reached the ears of Mrs. Thomas. 
 That lady entered into communication with the 
 artist, and ascertaining that his circumstances 
 were poor, prevailed upon him to travel from 
 Colchester, where he then was, to Hawarden, for 
 the purpose of painting a composite portrait of 
 her husband, attended by herself and eldest 
 daughter. 
 
 It was while he was engaged in the execution 
 of this commission that the storm broke on Emy 
 Lyon's head, and that Mr. Rumney first beheld 
 
42 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 her who later inspired so many of his exquisite 
 achievements. 
 
 He had been painting in the great oak parlour, 
 Mr. Thomas standing before him, straight and 
 stiff, Mrs. Thomas, in all the glory of a new purple 
 paduasoy, sitting in an arm-chair, Miss Thomas re- 
 clining at her feet. It was a truly admirable com- 
 position, and Mr. Rumney, walking back from the 
 easel, palette swinging from his thumb and brush 
 in hand, was able to assure his patron that this 
 was one of the best things he had done. He 
 begged Mr. Thomas to step down and look at it, 
 and even now was perpending his criticism. Mr. 
 Thomas could find no fault with the likeness, 
 which indeed was excellent, nor with the paint- 
 ing, which was spirited and lively ; but he felt it 
 obligatory upon his reputation as a connoisseur, 
 and his dignity as a patron, to take exception to 
 something in technique or in detail. He therefore 
 expressed himself as being hardly satisfied with 
 the representation of the red coat he had donned 
 for the occasion. 
 
 ' It sags under the arms, mister, for all the 
 world as if 'twas a sack, and no coat at all.' He 
 went up to it, thrusting a broad first finger on to 
 the wet paint. ' And what's worst of all, these 
 buttons be too far apart.' 
 
 Mr. Rumney's pride as an artist was touched. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 43 
 
 but his discretion deterred him from arguing the 
 point. When a man's pocket is empty, the first 
 thing he puts in it — and he be wise — is his pride, 
 and de gustibus, especially non est disputandum, 
 'twixt client and patron. So poor was Mr. Rumney 
 in these days that he had been obliged to leave 
 his wife and son behind him while he travelled 
 up to London to make his fortune, painting por- 
 traits by the way, at five guineas a head, with 
 reduction on taking the quantity. There were ten 
 guineas at stake on this very canvas, enough to 
 mitigate a much greater mortification than could 
 be caused by the censure of one whose qualifi- 
 cations as critic Mr. Rumney had the lowest 
 opinion. So the artist pursed his lips, and affected 
 to be considering of the matter, whilst in reality 
 he was framing a speech whereby he might tell 
 Mr, Thomas to go to the devil, and take his buttons 
 with him, yet so as not to give any offence. 
 
 How Mr. Rumney would have yoked civility 
 with candour — ever a difficult pair to drive in 
 double harness— will never be known, for at that 
 critical moment a shriek resounded from the 
 kitchen quarters, followed by shrill ejaculations, 
 the sound of blows, and yet more screaming. 
 Consternation seized the party in the great oak 
 parlour. The complaisant smile which Mrs. Thomas 
 had worn until her lips were stiff was drawn into 
 
44 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 a round O of amazement and alarm ; her daughter's 
 angehc sweetness was lost in excited curiosity. 
 Both of them were on their feet in a trice and 
 hurrying to the kitchen, where it was evident a 
 battle was proceeding. Mr. Thomas retained his 
 composure long enough to possess himself of a 
 stout cudgel wherewith to enforce his authority if 
 need be. Then he followed the ladies, hurriedly, 
 yet not without dignity. Mr. Rumney brought 
 up the rear of the procession, allured by the same 
 curiosity that will draw an entire town to see a 
 dog fight, and quite forgetting the discomfiture 
 into which he had been thrown by Mr. Thomas's 
 criticism of his fine oil painting. 
 
 The kitchen was in a dreadful turmoil, the 
 principal figure in which was Mrs. Ogle, a woman 
 of most ample proportions, whose face, always red, 
 was now scarlet and moist with sweat. With one 
 huge hand, she grasped Will Masters, with the 
 other a poker snatched from the hearth. She was 
 belabouring him, and he grappling with her, kick- 
 ing and trying to bite, the while the pair of them 
 revolved about the room, crashing against the 
 chairs and table, alternately screaming and shout- 
 ing most terrible invectives. 
 
 ' I'll learn you to come thieving into my 
 kitchen, you lazy, idle, blubbering loon,' the angry 
 woman bawled. ' I'll learn you, I'll learn you.' 
 
Nelson's Legacy 45 
 
 And indeed it seemed that a lesson so rubbed in 
 could not lightly be forgotten. 
 
 All the children were in the kitchen, each one 
 setting up his separate scream of fright or delight 
 at such noise and confusion. The gardener's boy 
 was there, too, grinning and calling out encourage- 
 ment to both the combatants. Joe Codgers, from 
 the stables, was spurring Mrs. Ogle on to greater 
 efforts. 
 
 ' That's right, mother. Lay it into him. 
 Shouldn't be surprised if 'twas him that was busy 
 in my harness-room ; get on to him.' Joe gave 
 her a yell of encouragement, a species of tally-ho, 
 that would have struck terror into the heart of 
 the stoutest old dog otter that ever fought terrier ; 
 it delighted the children, and almost outvoiced 
 Will Masters's howls. For he was howling in 
 earnest now, his scarcely adolescent strength beaten 
 down by the weight of the angry woman's blows. 
 
 Such was the scene upon which burst Mr. 
 Thomas, his wife, eldest daughter and Mr. Rumney. 
 
 ' Ha' done, woman, ha' done before you kill 
 the lad. Is this a Bedlam or a bear-pit ? Let un 
 go, I tell you.' Mr. Thomas forced his way be- 
 tween them, sending Will Masters reeling against 
 the wall and thrusting Mrs. Ogle back into a 
 chair. 
 
 Then arose a babel of explanations, of how 
 
46 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 Mrs. Ogle had found Will Masters hiding in the 
 wood cupboard, and charges of thieving were 
 shouted against the boy, who gave back through 
 his sobbing breath loud and fierce denial. But it 
 was not to these that the itinerant artist gave 
 heed, nor to the screaming children and excited 
 servants. His gaze was fixed upon a face pale 
 with terror, a pair of dark blue eyes drowned in 
 tears, lips of incomparable beauty, quivering and 
 trembling in distress, upon a mass of auburn 
 ringlets escaping from under a mob cap. 
 
 ' What an exquisite child ! ' he murmured to 
 himself. The scene in the disordered kitchen was 
 forgotten, and he feasted his eyes upon every line 
 of beauty and wonder of colouring. And now, 
 gathering courage, Emy darted forward and poured 
 out a passionate defence of the friend and champion 
 of her school-days. It was ' only Will Masters,' 
 she said, 'Will Masters from the village,' and she 
 protested that he was not thieving, and he was 
 not a thief, that it was her he had come to see, 
 and he meant no harm at all. Then she fell to 
 sobbing, and Mr. Rumney thought she was even 
 more beautiful than before. When Will Masters 
 presently drew close to her for mutual society, 
 help and comfort, Mr. Rumney whipped out his 
 pocket-book and began to make a pencil drawing 
 of the pair of them. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 47 
 
 Order was restored with some difficulty, the 
 children pacified, the servants sent about their 
 proper business, and Mrs. Ogle interrogated. Such 
 scenes could not be permitted in Broadlane Hall, 
 both Mr. and Mrs. Thomas insisted, and they 
 pressed for further explanation. 
 
 A very slight investigation led to the dismissal 
 of the charge of theft against Will Masters. But 
 it had to be admitted that he was concealed in 
 the wood cupboard for an unlawful purpose, the 
 said unlawful purpose being to intercept Emy on 
 the way to the nursery with the dinner, and per- 
 suade her to let him walk home with her that 
 day from Broadlane Hall to Mrs. Kidd's cottage. 
 
 Mrs. Thomas's face showed grim disapproval. 
 Such scenes could not be permitted in her house, 
 she repeated, and if this one had truly arisen on 
 Emy's account, Emy must go back to the cottage. 
 And at that the girl wept afresh, more curls coming 
 down, and Mr. Rumney noted that they fell far 
 below her waist. He could not but observe, too, 
 the whiteness of her neck and the perfection of 
 its moulding. His fingers itched for the drawing 
 of her. 
 
 But Mr. Thomas fell to laughing, and seizing 
 Emy by the arm, looking into her face rather 
 rudely, he swore that the lad had good taste. 
 
 ' 'Tis as pretty a wench as ever I saw,' he 
 
48 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 declared, pinching her cheek. Then, more soberly, 
 with Mrs. Thomas's eye upon him, he bade her 
 ' be a good girl and mend her ways.' 
 
 ' I do try, sir,' she answered, dropping him a 
 cm'tsey, * I do, indeed, for my mother's sake, and 
 because Mrs. Thomas has been so good to me.' 
 There was no sign of softening on Mrs. Thomas's 
 countenance. That good lady was, indeed, be- 
 coming more and more displeased by the admira- 
 tion of her little nurse-maid so openly shown by 
 both Mr. Thomas and Mr. Rumney. Emy was 
 not unobservant, and now she addressed her appeal 
 to her master rather than to her mistress. 
 
 * And Will here, sir, believe me, he meant no 
 harm, he only wanted to ask me to walk with 
 him. Do, sir, do beg Mrs. Ogle to forgive him, 
 for indeed she has used him sore.' 
 
 She looked up at him with such pleading eyes, 
 luminous through their blue depths, and humid 
 with tears, that he pinched her cheek again, and 
 did as he was asked. 
 
 ' Leave off railing at the boy,' he said to Mrs. 
 Ogle, ' and see if you can't put something inside 
 of him to make up for the bruises you've set on 
 the outside. A full belly's a fine cure for a sore 
 head. As for his walk home with you this after- 
 noon,' he went on to Emy, ' that's for your mis- 
 tress to decide. For my part, I think it's tempting 
 
Nelson's Legacy 49 
 
 the lad too far. If he ben't a thief now, 'tis put- 
 ting him in the way of becoming one.' And 
 at that he gave another great laugh, and turned 
 on his heel. But Mr. Rumney lingered and 
 noted again the pretty wondering flush on the 
 child's cheek, and the grace of the curtsey she 
 dropped as Mr. Thomas left the kitchen, followed 
 by his indignant wife. 
 
 Will was duly fed, and further comforted by 
 a stoup of small ale. Mrs. Ogle was not a bad- 
 natured woman, only one of quick temper, and 
 in truth the unexpected appearance of Will Masters 
 in the wood cupboard had greatly alarmed her. 
 She was willing to make up for her violence at 
 her master's bidding, and was so generous with 
 the ale that it came about Will walked not home 
 at all with Emy Lyon that afternoon, but slept 
 instead, heavily, and without dreams. His place 
 was taken by Mr. Rumney, who said afterwards 
 that, child though she was, only in her fifteenth 
 year, Emy had charmed him by the sprightly 
 nature of her discourse, and ravished him by the 
 grace with which she moved by his side. 
 
 It may be that Mr. Rumney spoke too warmly 
 of her, or perhaps it was the generosity with which 
 Mr. Thomas concurred in the praises, that con- 
 firmed Mrs. Thomas in the resolve, nebulous during 
 the melee in the kitchen, but soon to take shape 
 
50 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 and form. No woman, least of all one of experi- 
 ence like the lady of Broadlane Hall, could have 
 failed to notice how particularly the two men 
 looked at the pretty nurse-maid in the following 
 days, Mr. Rumney following her in her walks and 
 begging her to sit for him, Mr. Thomas pinching 
 her cheek and asking her where she found her 
 roses. 
 
 Miss Thomas was pale and languished mod- 
 ishly. Mr. Thomas vowed that he liked to see a 
 girl buxom and as if her food nourished her. Emy's 
 roses deepened under his attentions, so he told her 
 again that she must be a good girl and come to 
 him if the boys plagued her ; which she promised 
 to do, thanking him for his kindness, but adding 
 in her childish way, that Will Masters never 
 plagued her, but was her old schoolfellow with 
 whom she had been sweethearting until Mrs. 
 Thomas told her mother it was unbecoming, and 
 that she had better be nurse- maid to the young 
 ladies. 
 
 ' And I'll warrant the schoolmaster gave a good 
 account of you to Mrs. Thomas.' 
 
 Emy had to confess roguishly that she feared 
 ' 'twas but indifferent good.' At which Mr. Thomas 
 expressed surprise, and would have continued his 
 inquiries, but that Mrs. Thomas came out at that 
 moment, reproving Emy for standing gossiping 
 
Nelson's Legacy 51 
 
 when she ought to be at work, and sending her 
 to her duties. 
 
 Mr. Thomas vowed she was hard upon the girl. 
 
 ' A httle beauty hke that won't long be nurse- 
 maid to a parcel of brats. Any man with half an 
 eye in his head can see she's fit for something 
 better. Why, Mr. Rumney, who has painted half 
 the fine ladies in the county, says her beauty is 
 most uncommon.' 
 
 ' 'Tis to be hoped her beauty won't bring her 
 into a worse situation,' his lady retorted tartly. 
 
 This incident, with other passages of a like 
 nature, determined Mrs. Thomas that Emy Lyon 
 could not be serving-girl in her establishment 
 much longer. Mr. Thomas blustered, but the 
 grey mare was the better horse, and 'twas only 
 in his cups he held his own. 
 
 ' A curse on women's jealousy,' the squire 
 said to Mr. Rumney. ' They can't deny beauty 
 when they see it, but they'd go to the gallows 
 sooner than acknowledge it. What a shape, man ! 
 What a shape ! She'd set London by the ears if 
 she appeared at Ranelagh.' 
 
 Mr. Rumney thought so too. He may even 
 have told Emy as much, and so set Heaven knows 
 what visions moving before the girl's lively mind. 
 Emy was quick to see a future in which ease and 
 gaiety might take the place of work and frowning 
 
52 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 reprimands from Mrs. Ogle and her like. She had 
 no opposition to make to any plan that should 
 set her in new scenes and give her new experiences. 
 The lightness of her nature rejoiced in any pros- 
 pect that promised change. Mary Kidd trembled 
 and feared, and the good grandmother was full of 
 misgivings, but no foreboding or presage of evil 
 entered the mind of the girl who was now to be 
 exposed to all the evils of the great metropolis. 
 She was still little more than a child. But Mrs. 
 Thomas thought that a child Will Masters could 
 not leave alone, to whom Mr. Thomas was com- 
 plaisant, and Mr. Rumney attentive, was better 
 away from Broadlane Hall. 
 
 And Mrs. Thomas was wise in her generation, 
 as the event proved. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 Emy misbehaves in Cliatham Place and follows it by indiscretion 
 at Mr. Linley's. She meets Mr, Harry Angelo. 
 
 IT was in the house of the learned Dr. Budd, a 
 surgeon of eminence living in Chatham Place, 
 near St. James's Market in the Blackfriars, that 
 Emy Lyon first found shelter in the great capital. 
 Dr. Budd was Mrs. Thomas's brother, and Mrs. 
 Thomas deemed that a young person even more 
 addicted to frivolity than Emy had yet shown 
 herself to be, might profit by the advantages offered 
 her in such a situation. To the ordinary solicitude 
 for the welfare of her servants felt by every con- 
 scientious mistress there would be added the 
 personal interest arising from the fact that Emy 
 came from the establishment at Broadlane Hall 
 where Dr. Budd had a worthy relative, and where 
 so often Mrs. Budd had been an honoured guest. 
 Without evincing partiality, which would have 
 been to do less than justice to her other servants, 
 Mrs. Budd was undoubtedly disposed to bestow 
 favour upon a girl sent to her with such credentials. 
 But as it chanced, unfortunately — although, per- 
 haps, there are persons who would rather use the 
 
 53 
 
54 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 word ' providentially,' for it so happened that all 
 Emy's misfortune led her upwards, and not down- 
 wards—there was at this time, also in the domestic 
 employment of Dr. Budd and his lady, a young 
 woman named Jane Powell. In addition to an 
 outward appearance very pleasing, and a refine- 
 ment of manner unusual in persons of her station 
 of life, Jane Powell was the possessor of histrionic 
 talents wholly exceptional, which in after years 
 carried her to eminence in the theatrical profession. 
 No generous heart can fail to sympathise with the 
 efforts of genius to rise from sordid circumstance, 
 or refuse applause to that perseverance which 
 enables it to triumph over obstacles. But sym- 
 pathy cannot be permitted to deflect justice, and 
 we are compelled to censure the impropriety of 
 conduct which is not infrequently indulged in by 
 persons of an artistic temperament who devote 
 to the gratification of their tastes, and the indul- 
 gence of their propensities, the time for which 
 they accept pecuniary reward to give to other 
 employments. Seen in proper perspective such 
 behaviour is dishonest, and deserving of repro- 
 bation. 
 
 It was precisely this fault which Jane Powell 
 frequently, wellnigh habitually, committed, and 
 with which all too soon she infected her new 
 fellow-servant. Tasks were performed perfunc- 
 
Nelson's Legacy 55 
 
 torily, and with unbecoming haste, in order that 
 these two young females might the sooner fall to 
 practising steps in the kitchen, hastily disordered 
 for that purpose, to dressing their heads in imita- 
 tion of actresses whom Jane had seen at Drury 
 Lane, to posturing and striking attitudes for the 
 admiration of vast audiences that as yet only 
 existed in their fecund imagination. Their talk 
 was ever of the glitter and excitement of the 
 theatre, their waking dreams were of the triumph 
 Jane at least was confident she would achieve. 
 
 Mrs. Budd, although perennially dissatisfied 
 with her maid-servants, disappointed with Emy's 
 levity, and disheartened by Jane's idleness, had 
 yet for a considerable time no conception to what 
 lengths these faults would carry them. She, no 
 less than her sister-in-law, was a conscientious 
 woman and good housewife. But if she had often 
 to reprove these young women for their negligence 
 of duty and looseness of behaviour, which seemed 
 ominous to her as indicative of bad habits in 
 formation, she had really little idea of the degree 
 which these faults had already attained. And her 
 indignation at her discovery was the greater for 
 the way it came about. 
 
 The doctor had engaged himself to dine with 
 friends occupying a considerable position in society, 
 and early in a certain evening he departed to their 
 
56 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 house, which was in another quarter of the town, 
 carrying his lady with him. Mrs. Budd left her 
 home with little misgiving. Jane Powell and Emy 
 Lyon were bidden to finish their not too onerous 
 duties and ordered to retire early, after snuffing 
 the candles, and seeing that all doors were barred 
 save the one on the latch, which would serve for 
 the entry of Dr. and Mrs. Budd. But the rare 
 opportunity of the absence of the mistress of the 
 house was one not to be lightly lost. Jane and 
 Emy projected a frolic the like of which they had 
 often contemplated. Mrs. Budd's wardrobe was 
 not kept locked ; they would dress up and give 
 an entertainment ! Their audience might consist 
 of the kitchen cat and the cockroaches that made 
 their sluggish disposition about the warm corners 
 of the hearth, but in imagination the scene was 
 a crowded theatre, and not Mr. Garrick himself 
 would evoke more tumultuous applause. 
 
 Jane, in Mrs. Budd's most cherished possession ; 
 the white satin wedding dress that had lain these 
 seven years past enwrapped in lavender; danced, 
 sang, and pirouetted. A touch of soot served for 
 patches. Her hair was piled high, flour served 
 her for powder, and material for a week's puddings 
 had gone to its elegant whiteness. The red for 
 her cheeks she had found in Mrs. Budd's bed- 
 chamber, although afterwards, to her husband. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 57 
 
 that lady expressed both surprise and wonderment 
 at its appearance. Emy had draped the auburn 
 abundance of her curls with a mantilla of valuable 
 lace ; she had disembarrassed herself of her frock 
 and modest kerchief, and candour compels the 
 admission of the fact that nothing but the mantilla 
 and her chemise hid the elegance of her form. 
 
 The room was brightly lighted with candles 
 abstracted from the stores cupboard, the key of 
 which Mrs. Budd had so trustfully left at home. 
 Their hilarity waxed with the occasion, soon they 
 forgot all but the exuberance of their spirits and 
 the exercise of the talents which assuredly were 
 the birthright of both of them. The kitchen 
 table, which had been set against the wall so as 
 to leave a greater area available for movement, 
 was discovered to be the ideal stage. Jane was 
 the first to jump upon it, and now with loud voice, 
 and the poker for baton, she sang and directed 
 the dance that Emy began to perform in her 
 character as a wood nymph ; she was a dryad 
 inviting unwilling faun, the very spirit of the 
 wood was in the intoxicating laughter of her eyes 
 and the wildness of her unbound locks. Hers 
 was really the poetry of motion, her wantonness 
 an irresistible appeal. 
 
 And thus it was the doctor and Mrs. Budd 
 found them when, startled by the sound of voices 
 
58 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 and laughter as they made their sober entrance, 
 they descended to the kitchen and burst upon 
 the scene that had so different an effect upon 
 each. Mrs. Budd, although she did not take in 
 all at once the tragedy of the wedding dress, 
 the lace mantilla, and all the desecration of her 
 wardrobe, was for the first moment overwhelmed 
 and speechless with indignation. Whilst Dr. Budd, 
 good man, warmed with port and the conviviality 
 in which he had taken part, lost sight of the hein- 
 ousness of the offence against decency and order 
 on which he was gazing, and could do naught but 
 wonder at the beauty revealed by Emy's inde- 
 corous toilette. Her arms were bare, her bosom 
 exposed, all the promise of her budding womanhood 
 revealed. Since she had been in London she had 
 become slender, and the slenderness, so white and 
 exquisite, had already a warm and sensuous appeal. 
 Emy's beauty was only in the bud ; but in thin 
 chemise, with her wild curls and dancing eyes, 
 'twas already a thing to wonder at. If Mrs. 
 Budd for the moment was speechless with anger, 
 that which kept the good doctor silent for the 
 same space had another name. For in truth the 
 make of the girl was beyond compare, and would 
 have inflamed any man's blood. 
 
 The girls had been too absorbed in their play- 
 acting to hear the entry of their master and 
 
Nelson's Legacy 59 
 
 mistress. The doctor had time to note those 
 slender white arms of Emy's, the dimplement in 
 the elbow, to watch the graceful movements making 
 play under the revealing chemise, and then . . . 
 Well, what befell needs the Homeric pen, and 
 Heaven forfend that ours should attempt it. 
 Mrs. Budd recognised all at once the genesis of 
 Jane Powell's masquerade, the treasures of her 
 wardrobe, and the wastefulness of the flaming 
 candles. It was upon Jane her first rage de- 
 scended. Jane was dragged in a trice from the 
 table, the dress was torn off her back, and her 
 reputation torn no less quickly. ' Thankless,' and 
 * brazen,' and ' abandoned ' were epithets that 
 descended like blows on the bare shoulders ; the 
 powdered hair was pulled down violently, the flour 
 descended on Mrs. Budd's second best silk dress, 
 but failed to cool her violent speech, or the red 
 that inflamed her cheeks. 
 
 Meanwhile Emy, startled and terrified, was 
 being upbraided by her master. But was it up- 
 braiding ? Mrs. Budd certainly did not think so 
 when, diverting her attention for a moment from 
 the dishevelled and panting Jane, she perceived 
 that her husband had his arms about the hussy, 
 and was admonishing her for exposing herself 
 with something that seemed to be warmer than 
 professional solicitude. ' Wanton ' was the word 
 
6o Nelson's Legacy 
 
 Mrs. Budd used on that occasion, and would have 
 said worse, no doubt, but that the doctor checked 
 her, and spoke of the girl's youth and, in mitiga- 
 tion of punishment, said it was only a frolic in 
 which they had been engaged, and harmless, but 
 that the night was chill and the draughts 
 dangerous. He kept his hand on Emy's bosom 
 with the object of feeling if her heart were sound. 
 And indeed it was palpitating ; but that may 
 have been from the dance. Dr. Budd suggested 
 she should come up to the consulting-room and 
 let him investigate with a stethoscope the con- 
 dition of her health. But Mrs. Budd was firm in 
 resisting the proposal. The turn affairs had taken 
 startled her into prompt measures. Both girls 
 were ordered immediately to their attic. In the 
 morning, she said, ominously, she would deal with 
 their offence, which now, however, seemed light in 
 comparison with the one of which she saw the 
 possibility dawning in her husband's eyes. Mrs. 
 Budd was not without experience of his com- 
 plaisance with his female patients. He adjured her 
 to compose herself, suggesting that if she stayed 
 to recover her finery, put out the candles, and 
 restore the kitchen to its wonted order, he would 
 himself see the culprits upstairs. But she flouted 
 his suggestion, and there were warm words between 
 them, during the passage of which she intercepted 
 
Nelson's Legacy 6i 
 
 a glance passing between Jane and Emy, in which 
 there was not penitence, but some amusement. 
 Then, indeed, her wrath grew beyond reason or 
 measure, and 'twere well to draw a veil over 
 what followed. But the mischief, no doubt, lay 
 in the doctor's interference, and if the result showed 
 that a modus Vivendi had been arrived at between 
 husband and wife, and perhaps a reconciliation 
 in the solitude of the bedchamber, it boded evil, 
 and not good, for the two girls, who, having been 
 caught in flagrante delicto^ could oppose no argu- 
 ment to the cold morning justice that was meted 
 out to them. 
 
 The doctor had departed to his duties at the 
 Hospital of St. Thomas what time their fate was 
 communicated to them and no appeal to him was 
 possible. Otherwise Jane Powell, who already 
 knew the world better than her young friend, had 
 determined to make it. They had been locked in 
 their attic all night. Emy had spent the time in 
 tears, Jane in preparation for the dismissal she 
 felt was inevitable. She tried to encourage Emy, 
 and raise her drooping spirits. She told her there 
 was no doubt Dr. Budd looked favourably upon 
 her misdemeanour, or upon her, and she drew a 
 most favourable augury from his attitude. 
 
 But, as has been seen, she reckoned without 
 Mrs. Budd's promptitude and the absence of her 
 
62 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 spouse. Mrs. Budd had recognised, even as Jane 
 had observed, the inchnation of the doctor to 
 befriend the young and beautiful girl who was in 
 his charge. And her measures were taken accord- 
 ingly. She dismissed both girls from her service, 
 laying credit to herself, in her severe admonition 
 of them before their departure, that she adven- 
 tured no stronger steps. She talked of Bridewell 
 and the stocks, of the whipping-post, and the way 
 the law had of dealing with untrustworthy servants. 
 But for herself she was satisfied to see the backs 
 of them. 
 
 Thus it came about that before ten o'clock 
 Emy Lyon found herself standing outside the 
 closed door of Dr. Budd's house, her few posses- 
 sions in a box in her hands, the only human 
 being whom she knew in the whole of the crowded 
 city standing beside her, outcast and friendless 
 like herself. 
 
 Her situation appeared desperate, bringing 
 tears of self-pity to her eyes. And truly it was 
 a situation full of grave peril to one so lovely and 
 ignorant of the world. Yet who can gainsay the 
 justice of her punishment ? 
 
 ' We'll go to Drury Lane and see Mr. Sheridan,' 
 Jane declared ; ' 'tis acting has brought about our 
 trouble, and maybe 'tis acting we are best fitted 
 for, and not service at all. My aunt has a place 
 
Nelson's Legacy 63 
 
 about the theatre, and will help to opportunity 
 of speech with him. Our looks must do the 
 rest,' she added flippantly, smiling to herself, 
 as one who knew her stock-in-trade was sale- 
 able. 
 
 She encouraged her companion with much 
 shrewd philosophy, and led her directly to the 
 great theatre in Drury Lane. Success is often to 
 the adventurous. The manager could not refuse 
 an interview prayed for so urgently and with 
 aspirants of whose looks he had heard so glowing 
 an account. He had the young women admitted, 
 and examined them straitly about their story 
 and their qualifications for the stage. When Jane 
 Powell put the facts before him he laughed, thus 
 inspiring hope again in Emy's doubting heart. 
 Jane had the glibber tongue, and was ready to 
 show her quality by immediately singing and 
 dancing. To Mr. Sheridan's great entertainment 
 she gave also a spirited imitation of the scene in 
 the Chatham Place kitchen that had led to their 
 present dilemma. But Emy's eyes were swollen 
 and disfigured with crying, and she had neither 
 the courage nor the spirit for exhibition. 
 
 Mr. Sheridan consented to give Jane Powell a 
 trial, but he would make no such promise to Emy. 
 
 ' What am I to do ? ' Emy pleaded. It was 
 the first, but not the last occasion, that the same 
 
64 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 cry rang from her lips when her own imprudence 
 brought her to a critical situation. 
 
 Mr. Sheridan looked at her, with the practised 
 eye of a man whose business it is to appraise female 
 appearances. He was struck by the wonderful 
 innocence of the great blue eyes, arrested by the 
 mute appeal of virginity still unsullied and in peril. 
 There was little of life that Mr. Sheridan did not 
 know, either at first hand from experience, or at 
 second hand as mirrored in the playhouse he con- 
 trolled. It seemed certain that evil would befall 
 the child if she were left to her own resources. 
 And he was ever a man of heart. 
 
 ' I will give you a letter to my father-in-law,' 
 he said, after a minute's reflection. ' He is in 
 need of assistance with an invalid son, and may 
 possibly give you a trial with my recommendation. 
 The boy is in a consumption.' 
 
 ' My father died of a consumption,' Emy 
 interposed eagerly. With hope of employment her 
 light spirits reacted quickly ; and now Mr. Sheridan 
 was struck by her animation. She was not yet 
 ripe for the stage, had shown no talent like that 
 of Jane Powell, but already he was loath to lose 
 sight of her. 
 
 Emy accepted the suggestion to take service 
 with Mr. Linley, uttering a thousand protestations 
 that she would never betray such generosity. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 65 
 
 Mr. Sheridan put an end to them with the air of 
 one who sets small store by words, and bade the 
 girl make it her business to please her new master. 
 He added carelessly 'twould do her no harm in 
 her spare time to study "a play or two, and 
 later he would hear if she made progress in 
 elocution. 
 
 Thus, by a stroke of good fortune which they 
 could not have expected, and by the benign inter- 
 position of a Providence which they had done so 
 much to offend, both girls were saved from the 
 worst consequences of their folly. Jane Powell 
 obtained, and kept, her engagement in the theatre, 
 of which she subsequently became a brilliant orna- 
 ment, and Emy Lyon found a refuge in the house 
 of respectable and worthy citizens. The lesson 
 was a sharp one, and its effect might well have 
 been permanent. 
 
 Nevertheless, it would seem that Emy had not 
 learned prudence. Certain it is that the issue 
 of this affair was not satisfactory to her rescuer, 
 nor entirely creditable to herself, although the 
 fault imputed to her on this next occasion was due 
 to excess of sensibility, and not lack of decorum. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Linley already mourned 
 the death of a son, cut off in the bloom of youth, 
 and now they were watching with dreadful appre- 
 hension the fell progress of a consumption which 
 
66 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 sapped the vitality of another, full of promise, 
 who carried the barque of their high hopes. 
 
 Mr. Sheridan's letter, and the proffer of Emy's 
 services, came in the nick of time. They made 
 no investigation into her antecedents. Mr. Sheri- 
 dan's letter was enough when, coupled with it, 
 was the fact that Mr. Linley was impatient of the 
 sick-room and Mrs. Linley worn out with her 
 services there. 
 
 It is a matter of common observation that 
 hope, and confidence of restoration to health, wax 
 higher in the bosom of consumptives the nearer 
 they approach their inevitable end. One might 
 imagine that Mother Nature spreads this fond 
 delusion before their eyes that the gloom of despair 
 might not be added to the melancholy perception 
 of failing forces. This was Lieutenant Linley's 
 condition ; the brilliancy of his eyes and the 
 colour in his cheeks, as he saw them reflected from 
 the mirror, seemed to promise complete recovery. 
 He spoke hopefully to his new nurse, and told 
 her stories of what he had done in the days of 
 his vigour, making clear what he would do again 
 when these should return. Emy listened to him 
 with increasing interest, and soon he felt that he 
 was deriving advantage from her abundant vitality, 
 from which there seemed to emanate a health as 
 contagious as is disease. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 67 
 
 The young man drew benefit from the pro- 
 pinquity of the beautiful young girl who waited 
 upon him, but it was an artificial rather than a 
 natural benefit, and presently the inevitable hap- 
 pened. Emy had a compassionate heart, to which 
 the weakness of her patient appealed. She soon 
 became to him something more than attendant 
 and he was not willing she should be a moment 
 out of his sight. He craved a love that she was 
 not ripe, nor ready, to give him, but a simulation 
 of which at first made him content. Pity was 
 what she had for him, but they both misnamed it. 
 In truth, he came in the end to repel, rather than 
 to attract her. For his illness made him fierce 
 in his desires, and her virginity shrank uncon- 
 sciously from a morbid condition that she could 
 neither understand nor escape. He prayed his 
 parents to consent to a marriage between them, 
 and they could refuse nothing to the dying lad. 
 But it may be imagined that they had no tender 
 feelings towards Emy ! They consented, but in- 
 sisted that the ceremony should be deferred for 
 his convalescence. They reprobated her for not 
 yielding to him more cheaply, blaming her for 
 that which indeed was culpable in neither of 
 them. They would have blamed her equally, or 
 more, had she given him that which as yet she 
 had hardly learnt to value. Her_^situation was full 
 
68 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 of difficulties. She wanted neither to marry Samuel 
 Linley nor to become his mistress. She was still 
 little more than a child, and the feelings she 
 evoked, and was doomed always to evoke, found 
 as yet no response in her own breast. Yet was 
 she no longer completely ignorant, for her circum- 
 stances in the sick-room, the physician in attend- 
 ance, and Mr. Linley himself, to say nothing of 
 Samuel's fevered pleading, combined to open 
 her eyes. But she was still innocent, and her 
 youth should have pleaded for her when the 
 event happened for which they had all been 
 waiting. 
 
 Samuel's excitement at the prospect of the 
 hurried wedding he craved brought on a violent 
 fit of coughing ; it was followed by high fever 
 and prostration. He never rallied, lingering too 
 short a time to make provision for the girl upon 
 whom his ill-starred attachment worked so dire 
 an ill. His death relieved his parents, or so they 
 deemed it, of any duty toward her. They had 
 been jealous of his attentions to her, and now 
 they were in anguish at his loss. That was their 
 excuse for their treatment of this young and 
 beautiful girl, but indeed 'twas a poor one. Imme- 
 diately his son was dead, Thomas Linley drove 
 Emy from his house, and once more the weeping 
 girl was without a home, alone in London. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 69 
 
 Beauty in distress is more quickly evocative 
 of pity than plainness in a like strait. This is 
 not merely the apothegm of the cynic ; it covers 
 matter for the reflection of a philosopher and a 
 religious, and for the pen of poet and historian. 
 Emy Lyon now provided another illustration of 
 its truth. 
 
 At sixteen years of age she was so beautiful 
 that all who passed by turned to gaze after her. 
 Clad in poor mourning, with her eyes brimming 
 with tears, and every mark of agitation upon her 
 countenance, she walked along Rathbone Place, 
 wondering whether she should turn her steps to- 
 wards Drury Lane and Jane Powell, or where else 
 she might find a refuge in her desolation. She 
 had given little love to Samuel Linley, yet was 
 she distressed at his death, and distracted by her 
 own situation. 
 
 In this disconsolate condition she was stayed by 
 a gentleman of fashionable appearance, who, with 
 every expression of sympathy and good breeding, 
 declared his regret for her manifest unhappiness 
 and his ardent desire to be of service to her. Pru- 
 dence dictates caution, but necessity refuses obedi- 
 ence to law. Emy raised her eyes to the stranger's 
 face, and, realising her immediate necessity, re- 
 sponded to the amiability written upon it. She 
 acquainted him with the recent events of her life, 
 
70 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 and wept anew when she spoke of Lieutenant 
 Linley's death. 
 
 ' Indeed I but did my duty to him, and fondled 
 him no more than he compelled me, sir,' she pro- 
 tested, ' and there was no truth in what his father 
 said, nor the harsh names he called me. Indeed I 
 am an innocent girl. Oh, sir, if you know any- 
 where where I can find a shelter, or can devise any 
 means whereby a virtuous girl can earn a decent 
 living, tell me, for I am indeed sore distressed, and 
 know not which way to turn.' 
 
 ' What is your name ? ' he asked, and when 
 she told him, added : ' Confidence for confidence ; 
 mine is Henry Angelo, and I am not without 
 acquaintance in the polite world. Even now I 
 am on my way to visit a lady of quality, and if 
 you will accompany me, I will present you to 
 her. Then you can repeat your story, and if you 
 receive no comfort there, I will try to devise some 
 other plan.' 
 
 Cheered by his easy kindness, and with confi- 
 dence somewhat restored by the gentleness of his 
 demeanour, Emy accompanied her new acquaint- 
 ance, not failing to perceive how frequently he 
 had occasion to acknowledge the salutations of 
 men no less fashionable in appearance than him- 
 self, and, bare-headed, how often he would bow, 
 with inimitable elegance, to the fair occupants of 
 
Nelson's Legacy 71 
 
 passing carriages. Such familiar acquaintance with 
 the great world on the part of her cicerone could 
 not fail to impress the humble girl, and her timidity 
 was lessened by the affable candour of his con- 
 versation. 
 
 She ventured an apology for walking with one 
 who was on terms of such easy familiarity with 
 people of the first fashion of both sexes. He 
 replied : 
 
 ' I will make no pretension to nobility, with 
 a view to deceiving a confiding girl. My father 
 is the first master of equitation, and is equally 
 famous as a professor of the art of defence. 
 Peerless as a swordsman in England, he has been 
 patronised by the highest in the land, and at his 
 table I have become acquainted with many great 
 and eminent people, some of whom, as you have 
 seen, have done me the honour of recognition 
 to-day.' 
 
 Engaged in such conversation as this, the 
 strangely met pair arrived at Arlington Street, in 
 the near neighbourhood of the Palace of St. James's, 
 and being instantly admitted, Mr. Angelo left 
 Emy temporarily alone whilst he was received by 
 his friend, whose name he informed Emy was 
 Kelly. It was not long before he reappeared, and 
 delighted her with the assurance that everything 
 had gone well. 
 
72 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 ' Mrs. Kelly will presently grant you an inter- 
 view,' he informed her, ' and I have every confi- 
 dence that my introduction will secure you an 
 engagement in some capacity suited to your quali- 
 fications. No, say no more ; I am delighted that 
 good fortune threw me in your way. Be as happy 
 as you are beautiful, and I shall be enchanted to 
 have done you a small service.' And with a most 
 elegant bow, he took his leave of her, as it proved, 
 for ever. 
 
 The imputation of motives is a delicate task, 
 involving a moral responsibility not lightly to be 
 undertaken. In the case just recorded in this 
 narrative it is charitable, as it is sufficient, to 
 suppose that in introducing Emy Lyon to the 
 house of this so-called lady of quality Mr. Angelo 
 was actuated only by a desire to find an unfortu- 
 nate fellow-creature, not far removed from his 
 own sphere of life, an immediate shelter from the 
 inhospitable streets. But in actual fact he could 
 hardly have introduced her to conditions more 
 favourable to the development of that side of her 
 character which most needed restraint, or pre- 
 senting greater or more obvious temptations to a 
 girl of such rare loveliness. 
 
 Mrs. Kelly's house was the favourite resort of 
 gentlemen of the fashionable world, the majority 
 of whom were dissipated and extravagant, without 
 
Nelson's Legacy 73 
 
 principle, and devoid of morality. As for the lady, 
 her sole object in life was to provide the means of 
 gratifying the love of pleasure of those who at 
 the same time ministered to her own. In such 
 an establishment anything like moral discipline 
 was out of the question. Night was prolonged far 
 into the day, devoted to riotous festivity, in 
 which sobriety and decorous behaviour had no 
 place. Regularity in the performance of their 
 duties was not incumbent upon the servants, who 
 gave sufficient satisfaction if their work was not 
 discovered to have been left undone. They were 
 permitted to employ the rest of their time as they 
 pleased, without reference to the propriety of their 
 amusements, or the company they kept. Modesty, 
 delicacy of sentiment, virtuous reflection, could 
 not endure in such an atmosphere as this. 
 Familiarity with every form of licentiousness bred 
 indifference to the result, custom furnished specious 
 justification for gratifying inclination. Mrs. Kelly, 
 at Harry Angelo's request, took Emy into her 
 service, but 'twas a doubtful charity. 
 
 Soon, all too soon, Emy became acclimatised to 
 her surroundings. Something of the country bloom 
 had been brushed from her at the Linleys'. At 
 Mrs. Kelly's that which, but a short time ago, 
 would have filled her with horror, now provided 
 her with ever-increasing interest. Her own beauty 
 
74 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 was conspicuous, and this was a more powerful 
 recommendation to her mistress than virtuous 
 character. The lovely girl, ostensibly occupied in 
 domestic work, became the object of ardent pur- 
 suit by the young bloods who frequented the gay 
 house, and in their pursuit they had the encour- 
 agement of their hostess. Emy's perfect shape, 
 her regular features, her graceful movement, her 
 indescribable sweetness of expression were capped, 
 crowned, and made peerless by an air of art- 
 less innocence. On many occasions was Emy com- 
 pelled to call all her spirit, and even her strength, 
 to the defence of her virtue. Nevertheless, it is 
 to her credit that for a time she defended it 
 successfully. 
 
 In houses such as that of Mrs. Kelly social 
 distinctions are but indifferently observed. Emy 
 Lyon rose insensibly from the kitchen to the with- 
 dra wing-room. Endowed by nature with a musical 
 voice, a fair ear, and a retentive memory, she 
 acquired the art of singing the songs in vogue at 
 the moment with considerable effect. Her natural 
 gift of mimicry was encouraged, and presently, 
 instead of the safety of domestic employment, she 
 was assisting to entertain Mrs. Kelly's guests by 
 the exercise of her newly found art. Mr. Sheridan 
 heard her again, but, perhaps prejudiced by his 
 father-in-law, he vowed he detected in her nothing 
 
Nelson's Legacy 75 
 
 of the genius of which he was told. He pointed 
 out also that her ear was fair only, and not good. 
 She frequently sang out of tune, was still the victim 
 of embarrassment and uncertain of her place. 
 Where none is virtuous, virtue is apt to become a 
 reproach. Emy was made to feel by Mrs. Kelly, 
 and other ladies of the same quality, that her 
 chastity betrayed her humble origin. They found 
 in her anxiety for its preservation a subject for 
 humour, and she had hardly sufficient strength of 
 principle to disregard entirely their quips and 
 jests at her expense. Her mind was ever in a 
 turmoil, sometimes her blood was inflamed by 
 what she saw or heard, sometimes her delicacy 
 was outraged. But no real temptation assailed 
 her, in the true sense of the word, in the young 
 bloods and old roues who were the patrons of 
 Mrs. Kelly's house of accommodation. There was 
 none to move her to the sentiment that is the first 
 temptation of young females. Emy's virtue was 
 to fall by dint of the generosity of her nature, not 
 by any weakness that might deprive her thus 
 early of the sympathy of our readers. 
 
 Among the visitors to the Arlington Street 
 house was Dr. Graham, the young and handsome 
 empiric, whose intelligence was already being proved 
 by the manner in which he was using his knowledge 
 not so much of medicine as of men. He it was 
 
76 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 alone of all that community of loose women and 
 debauched men who perceived the quality of Emy's 
 resistance to the surrounding atmosphere. And it 
 was only he to whom she listened with pleasure, 
 and who, had he chosen, could no doubt have 
 accomplished the downfall which he set himself 
 rather to avert. He encouraged her in her attempts 
 to raise herself from her lowly position. A very 
 pleasant friendship was soon established between 
 Dr. Graham and the young girl whose position was 
 so uncertain in the house, the girl who was now 
 scrubbing in the kitchen, and anon singing in the 
 drawing-room, but who, whether in one or the 
 other case, was conspicuous by something of per- 
 sonality. Truly Dr. Graham felt for her, and 
 promised her his countenance and protection. But 
 his own fortune was yet in the building. He could 
 exhibit his interest, promise his friendship, but 
 he could do little more for her at the moment. 
 Yet when peril was at hand, he was able to 
 mitigate the force of the blow, as will be seen by 
 those who have the courage to pursue the relation 
 of Emy's history. 
 
 Another of the young men of fashion whose 
 acquaintance Emy made in Mrs. Kelly's establish- 
 ment was Charles Willett Payne, a naval captain 
 employed in the regulating service. A gallant 
 officer, and a man of good feeling, notwithstanding 
 
Nelson's Legacy "j^] 
 
 some small taste for debauchery, he was one of 
 the few who had refrained from persecuting Emy 
 Lyon with his attentions. Her youth and in- 
 genuousness were her protection from his gallantry ; 
 he was not a seducer, only a man of pleasure. He 
 accepted Emy Lyon's presence in the gay house, 
 but in point of fact he had taken little notice of 
 her, for his light affections were otherwise engaged. 
 One evening, however, when the fun was waxing 
 furious in Arlington Street, a clamour and tumult 
 arose in the street outside. The noise excited no 
 attention in Mrs. Kelly's reception-rooms, where, 
 indeed, there was sufficient noise already. Emy 
 had been summoned from her place in the kitchen 
 to give an imitation of a singer now drawing the 
 town to the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and, 
 flushed and excited, she was receiving the applause 
 and encouragement of her audience. The group 
 was joined by a young Lishman, whose admiration 
 had already kept pace with his indiscretion. 
 
 ' Faith, Mistress Emy,' he began, ' and can't 
 ye be satisfied with filling the house, that ye must 
 be filling the street as well ? As I walked up to 
 Arlington Street from my club in St. James's, 'pon 
 my honour, I thought there was a riot.' 
 
 ' What d'ye mean ? ' she asked him nervously, 
 and indeed he was regarding her with intentness. 
 
 ' The folks are swarming round the door like 
 
78 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 bees round a queen in July. 'Tis no exaggeration 
 that I had to fight my way through. Your admirers 
 are being driven away by force, and necessary force, 
 I assure you. There's a lad amongst them that 
 calls himself Will Masters, who speaks of you by 
 name. Fists are going, cudgels swinging, cutlasses 
 flashing . . .' 
 
 * Will Masters ? ' she echoed. ' Will Masters 
 from Hawarden ! And cutlasses ! ' 
 
 ' Aye, cutlasses. The constables have much 
 ado to keep the mob in order. Before Gad ! I'm 
 telling you the truth.' Then seeing that her 
 colour changed, and her beautiful blue eyes were 
 suffused with tears, he added : ' And if it's the 
 fellow outside on whose account you've refused 
 every gentleman that frequents the house, you're 
 likely to remain a virgin. For the pressgang have 
 taken him ; there's work before the Navy for 
 many a year, and a great lack of men.' 
 
 Emy now burst out crying, and was quickly 
 surrounded by the curious, whose wit saw fresh 
 food for laughter in the transition of the merry 
 songstress into ' Niobe, all tears.' 
 
 Mr. Dennis O'Flanagan explained the jest. 
 
 ' There is a young gallant outside, fresh from 
 the country, but, by my troth, he looks more 
 bucolic than gallant, clay- caked, with something 
 of the ploughboy about him, who has tramped a 
 
Nelson's Legacy 79 
 
 hundred miles or more for the chaste embraces of 
 this lady.' He bowed to Emy mockingly, and 
 she averted her eyes, for indeed she could not 
 stomach his pleasantry. 'And now the pressgang 
 have him instead,' he continued mockingly. 
 
 But others in the company were more com- 
 passionate, and one, moved by the girl's real dis- 
 tress, suggested to her that if her friend were not 
 yet embarked, and if 'twere true, as she sobbed 
 out, that his mother was a widow, and he an 
 only son, Captain Willett Payne had it in his power 
 to effect an enlargement. 
 
 Emy's unhappy impulsiveness took fire at the 
 thought of saving her whilom playfellow from his 
 dreadful situation. She knew the gallant young 
 officer as one of the few who had not singled her 
 out for unwelcome attention. She would make 
 an appeal to him, an immediate, urgent appeal. 
 The task was not wholly an uncongenial one ; it 
 fell in with her restless humour and spirit of adven- 
 ture ; it satisfied her sense of loyalty ; and any 
 scruple she might have had on the score of prudence 
 was silenced by the memory of how little notice 
 Captain Willett Payne had taken of her or her 
 looks. Perhaps she had been piqued at his abstin- 
 ence, perhaps her taste for histrionic effect liked 
 the prospect of making the appeal of beauty in 
 distress to the handsome sailor who had regarded 
 
8o Nelson's Legacy 
 
 her so indifferently. Whatever the true genesis 
 of her action, Emy Lyon ventured forth that 
 night to seek the rooms of Captain Willett Payne, 
 a gallant, and a man ^ of fashion, with no other 
 armour than her beauty. Which is as much as 
 to say that she adventured an encounter with a 
 highwayman with no other weapon than her filled 
 purse. 
 
 She knew where he lived— only a few yards 
 away, in Piccadilly. Hurrying to her room, when 
 night had fallen and the house lay enwrapped in 
 its wicked silence, she pulled on a cloak and hooded 
 her head and face. Then, without staying to ask 
 for leave, or to reflect on any possible consequences 
 to herself, she ran through the streets, and soon 
 was hammering at the door of the captain's 
 lodgings. She was admitted by the captain's own 
 servant, who first stared with undisguised surprise 
 at her belated entry, but presently with no less 
 disguised admiration. For, under the hood, the 
 blue eyes were bright, and her eagerness for the 
 chance of pleading for Will broke through the 
 necessity for caution in showing her face. 
 
 ' 'Tis late for visitors,' said Captain Willett 
 Payne's servant, hesitatingly. The fair visitor 
 was unknown to him, and he knew not what to 
 do or say. ' Are you sure it's the captain you 
 want ? ' And he added, out of the grossness of 
 
LADY HAMILTOX AS ST. CECILIA 
 
 FROM THE PAINTING BY ROMNEY, IN THE POSSESSION 
 
 OF WATSON FOTHERGILL, ESQ. 
 
Nelson*s Legacy 8i 
 
 his nature, ' He's not the one to disappoint a lady, 
 and if he did, dammee, my pretty, I'll oblige ye 
 myself.' 
 
 She did not rebuke him, scarcely heard him 
 indeed, and in another moment found herself in 
 Willett Payne's sitting-room, where the captain 
 was already preparing to retire for the night. He 
 was standing near the fireless grate, in his shirt- 
 sleeves, breeches, and slippered stockings. A dress- 
 coat and laced vest were thrown over the back of 
 a chair, and through the opened folding door which 
 led into his bedchamber Emy saw lighted candles 
 before a great mirror, and all the toilet para- 
 phernalia of a man of fashion. He stifled an 
 oath of astonishment as she halted abruptly and 
 nervously. The man may have been drinking ; 
 the master was certainly far from sober. He took 
 a step forward : 
 
 ' Why, 'tis Emy, Emy from Mrs. Kelly's. Well 
 done ! ' he cried, ' I'm in the humour for adventure. 
 'Tis a miracle of happiness, or a message you're 
 bringing me ? ' He bethought himself suddenly 
 of the friend he had in Mrs. Kelly's house, and 
 that Emy might well be her delegate. 
 
 ' I'm no messenger, sir, but a poor suppliant,' 
 Emy cried, and threw herself quickly on her knees. 
 Her hood fell back, her hair escaped ; her histrionic 
 power had not failed her, truly she presented a 
 
82 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 picture to excite any man's kindness. The cap- 
 tain's gallantry was moved, the more, perhaps, that 
 his generous potations had loosened his tongue, 
 unsteadied his legs, and inflamed his eyes. 
 
 ' By Gad ! ' he cried, and drew a long breath. 
 * You are a suppliant, you say ! Then whatever 
 you ask is granted. But get you up from the 
 floor,' and he raised her as well as he was able, 
 seeing he was unsteady himself. Still holding her, 
 he subsided into a chair, dragging her down upon 
 his knee. Her struggle was faint, for she was 
 come to ask him a favour, and durst not offend 
 him. Besides, he was a personable man, and 
 once on his knee her heart beat too fast for 
 prudence to be heard. Falteringly she began her 
 tale : 
 
 ' By Mrs. Kelly's order to-night I was singing 
 to amuse the company . . .' 
 
 ' And 'twas a lucky company, by Gad ! ' 
 ' When there came an uproar in the street . . . ' 
 ' I can well believe it,' he said. ' The sound 
 of your beautiful voice might well turn the head 
 of. the whole mob,' he hiccoughed. Already, as 
 he held her on his knee, his blood was inflaming, 
 and colour came into his cheeks. She made 
 to get away from him, but he held her closer. 
 ' Be still, be still,' he said, ' go on with your 
 story. Tell me what you want of me. 'Fore 
 
Nelson's Legacy 83 
 
 God ! you little beauty, you shall have it.' She 
 was beginning to take alarm, and sat obediently 
 quiet. 
 
 ' Someone I knew had come to London to see 
 me. I don't know how he found out where I was 
 staying, but he did, and he tried to come in. 
 They turned him away, and he fought. And then 
 the pressgang came along, and oh ! your honour, 
 they stunned him and carried him away, and oh ! 
 I'm the unhappiest girl in all the world.' She 
 commenced to cry. 
 
 ' Then, by the Lord, who is a man of war, I've 
 a mind to make you the happiest. Dammee, 
 I'm no man if I can't dry those pretty eyes.' 
 
 There was no misunderstanding him now ; 
 Emy tried to struggle from the chair and 
 the arms that had her so fast, although not 
 roughly. 
 
 ' Don't struggle, my bird, you've flown into the 
 cage ; we'll find sugar for you there. Give me 
 your lips.' 
 
 ' No, no, no ! ' she cried, and almost got away 
 from him. ' I came to you because they told me 
 you could make the pressgang set Will free. Oh ! 
 sir, do not persecute a poor girl who is unhappy, 
 but set my William free.' 
 
 ' Your William,' he repeated stupidly ; ' what's 
 the odds about William ? — my name is Charles.' 
 
84 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 ' Will Masters from Ha warden. We were at 
 school together, and he sweethearted with me.' 
 
 ' And showed good taste. But I'm sweet- 
 hearting with you now, child. Have a care and 
 don't anger me.' He caught her closer to him, 
 and now indeed she knew fear. ' 'Tis a good 
 school you've been at with Mrs. Kelly, and no 
 doubt she's taught you to make terms. But terms 
 or no terms . . .' 
 
 It were impossible to dwell on the scene that 
 ensued. How Emy, terrified, fought for that 
 which was more precious to her than Will Masters' 
 freedom, and how yet she only secured the one 
 at the expense of the other. Captain Willett Payne 
 was not wholly to blame. It was past midnight, 
 and 'twas the fashion to drink deeply ; not that 
 he was past reason, but the girl was very beau- 
 tiful, and came to him out of a house of accommo- 
 dation. Only the finest honour is proof against 
 the temptations offered by certain situations, and 
 that honour is not fostered in the world of fashion 
 in which moved Captain Willett Payne. Our 
 poor Emy, landed by her own indiscretion in 
 such a situation, could not properly, nor long, 
 defend herself. And perhaps her virtue had been 
 weakened by the bad example that had been set 
 her. The man who entreated her and, when en- 
 treaty did not serve, showed her how much stronger 
 
Nelson's Legacy 85 
 
 he was than she, was a man of fashion, a man of 
 parts, in the vigour of health, handsome. Perhaps 
 she compared him with poor Will. It is likely, too, 
 she thought of him next to Samuel Linley. And 
 he spoke her fair, promised her his protection, 
 Will's release, a life of ease . . . 
 
 Emy fell, but it is difficult to apportion the 
 blame of her undoing. In truth, circumstance had 
 not been kind to her. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 Captain Willett Payne is unexpectedly recalled to his ship, and 
 poor Emma finds herself in difficulties and without means. 
 In her extremity she applies to Dr. Graham, who befriends 
 her, and then engages her for exhibition in his ' Temple 
 of Health.' She meets Sir Henry Featherstonehaugh. 
 
 Tj^MILY LYON'S first lapse from virtue had an 
 -'— ' immediate effect in altering her demeanour. 
 Her expressed intention, in visiting Captain Willett 
 Payne's lodgings alone at midnight, had been to 
 procure the release of Will Masters from the 
 clutches of the pressgang. She attained her object, 
 but having done so at a cost not calculated, and 
 only afterwards fully appreciated, she ceased to 
 display any desire to meet the early lover whom 
 she had liberated. He represented the days of her 
 innocency, which being ended, shut out the desire 
 for his companionship. Her fall was followed by a 
 half-childish, half-philosophic acceptance of the 
 position. She remained with Captain Willett Payne 
 at his rooms ; she considered herself under his 
 protection. When she was not ashamed of her 
 loss of her virtue, she was proud of the price it had 
 brought. Mind and body were as yet unformed ; 
 
 86 
 
Nelson^s Legacy Sy 
 
 nothing but the lightness of her disposition was 
 estabhshed. After she had become used to her 
 position — and that was an affair of days, one had 
 almost written of hours — she danced and sang for 
 Captain Willett Payne as she had danced and 
 sung at Mrs. Kelly's for the amusement of her 
 guests. She also looked after his wardrobe, and 
 began to manifest some of those housewifely 
 qualities, the acquisition of which she owed to 
 Mrs. Thomas. Although light, she was not a 
 wanton ; although consent was so quickly given to 
 what duress had first compelled, she could still 
 maintain a shifting self-respect. 
 
 Had the captain been willing to regulate her 
 position by marriage, or had he had the means 
 to make permanent provision for his mistress, 
 Emy could have been regarded as one whose fall 
 had a mitigating aspect. But the one idea had 
 never entered his head, and the other was not 
 possible for his purse. Ashore, however, and, for 
 the time being, off duty, with credit at his com- 
 mand, he entertained his new and delightful mis- 
 tress lavishly. Neither he nor she took thought 
 for the morrow. He was charmed with her bud- 
 ding beauty, delighted with her obedience and 
 what remained of her modesty, proud of having 
 been the first to possess her. He bade her hold 
 no communication with Mrs. Kelly, or the ' Abbess 
 
38 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 of Arlington Street,' as it was the fashion to 
 name her. He wished her to depend on him alone. 
 
 But though he loved pleasure and his Emy, 
 Captain Payne loved honour more. He had the 
 Englishman's native fondness for blue water, and 
 was ever eager to rise in his profession. No true 
 sailor would allow a wife to interfere with his 
 career in the service, and it is not to be imagined 
 that such a one would be more considerate of a 
 mistress. Thus it chanced that when Captain 
 Payne was ordered on active service, which came 
 about quickly and unexpectedly, he not only 
 omitted to make suitable provision for Emy, but 
 was without the moral courage to inform her of 
 more than a temporary departure from town. He 
 rejoined his ship, leaving her plunged in young 
 and easy tears, in light and thoughtless grief 
 which for the moment rendered her oblivious of 
 such mundane affairs as monetary arrangements, 
 and temporal provision. 
 
 He left her, indeed, all the guineas at his dis- 
 posal. To the girl who had had no experience of 
 the management and prudent expenditure of money, 
 the amount appeared to represent a guarantee 
 against penury for some time to come ; at the end 
 of which period she supposed that her King Charles 
 would return with further supplies. She faced 
 her future, after his departure, with the gaiety 
 
Nelson's Legacy 89 
 
 which belongs to the irresponsible nature of light 
 character. But not many weeks passed before 
 she discovered that the stout sailor had left with 
 her yet another pledge of his affection. 
 
 The operation of the maternal instinct is one 
 of the most amazing and varied phenomena of 
 nature. Emy contemplated the future, as it ap- 
 peared with this new complication, with alarm, 
 and without any other sentiment towards the child 
 she carried than aversion and resentment. She 
 was little but a child herself ; and now, the period 
 for which Captain Payne had paid in advance 
 for his rooms having expired, she had to find her- 
 self a fresh lodging. Already she knew that he 
 was on the high seas, and the time of his return 
 uncertain. One is fain to admire her spirit, for 
 her situation was desperate, and her courage rose 
 to it. She retired to the most modest lodgings, 
 and disposed of many of the presents she had 
 received from her lover, in order to check the 
 shrinkage of her little capital. As her position 
 grew daily more critical, she racked her brains to 
 discover some way of lessening the distress in 
 which her folly had involved her. She went, in 
 thought, over the names of all those whom she 
 had met since her arrival in London, and made 
 the mortifying discovery that among them all 
 there was not one upon whose virtuous charity she 
 
go Nelson's Legacy 
 
 might rely excepting Jane Powell. And to Jane 
 Powell she was ashamed to apply. The profligate 
 men who patronised Mrs. Kelly's withdrawing- 
 rooms would scatter guineas in the lap of any young 
 woman whom their sensuality made them anxious 
 to debauch, or whose attractions held when the 
 charm of their novelty had fled, but they had no 
 money to waste in unselfish relief of one already 
 spoiled. And the abandoned women who were 
 their companions in Arlington Street had nothing 
 but laughter for a sister in vice, who had given 
 what she should have sold, and thus reduced 
 herself to a disreputable distress. To them it 
 appeared that there was nothing but the 
 gutter for the unfortunate whose grossest error 
 lay in miscalculating the market value of her 
 charms. 
 
 And to the gutter Emy Lyon might have sunk, 
 had she not in the nick of time recalled the name 
 and personality of Dr. Graham. She remembered 
 the aloofness of his carriage, the kindness of his 
 demeanour, and, too late, the good advice he had 
 given her. She heard accidentally how high a 
 reputation he was building up as a disciple of 
 ^sculapius, and how all the world was now flocking 
 to the Temple where he practised the art and 
 mystery of healing. To him, therefore, Emy deter- 
 mined to repair in her present distress, to solicit 
 
Nelson's Legacy 91 
 
 his attendance in lier travail, and perhaps his 
 assistance in securing some means of supporting 
 the result. 
 
 To his house, accordingly, Emy betook herself, 
 shrinking a little from the approaching exposure 
 of her condition, but hoping for an amelioration 
 of her affairs with the sanguine light-heartedness 
 of the young and thoughtless. The house was one 
 of those that form the Adelphi Terrace, confront- 
 ing the fine panorama of the Thames. A single 
 step separated the narrow pavement from the hall, 
 and here, on each side of the door, stood a gigantic 
 porter, each near seven feet in height, to regulate 
 the traffic of the doctor's clientele. Attired in 
 gorgeous liveries, wearing cocked hats elaborately 
 laced, and holding long staves crowned with silver 
 heads exquisitely chased, these imposing servants 
 at once advertised the material prosperity of their 
 employer and kept in check the crowd of gaping 
 people who sought to discover the identity of the 
 domino-covered ladies who were his visitors. Among 
 these Emy now insinuated herself, and ere long 
 was admitted to an apartment, magnificently 
 furnished, where she was but one of many silent 
 females, carefully maintaining their incognita until 
 they should be compelled to discover themselves 
 sub rosa to the fashionable father confessor. 
 
 But Emy's incognita was a question of moments 
 
92 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 only. Dr. Graham recognised his visitor, and soon 
 was in possession of her trouble. Unlike the 
 majority of those charlatans who depend for their 
 living upon the exploitation of the weakness of 
 their fellow- men, Dr. Graham had a good heart 
 and a sound understanding. He was sorry for the 
 girl whose beauty had already engaged his admira- 
 tion, and he promised to assist her, only insisting 
 that she should be guided entirely by his advice 
 and should place herself unreservedly in his hands. 
 If he had an arriere pens^e, and thought, already, 
 that she could be of assistance to him in his busi- 
 ness, nevertheless it must be conceded to him 
 that he behaved with great kindness to one who 
 was sorely in need of it, and who, but for his 
 intervention, might have found herself in so much 
 worse a strait. 
 
 When Emy left him that morning it was only 
 to make the necessary arrangements for giving up 
 her present lodgings, prior to removing into Dr. 
 Graham's own house in the Adelphi. For this, 
 after reflection, was the plan which he proposed, 
 deeming it the most convenient place to attend 
 her during her lying-in, and one which, being the 
 residence of a medical man, would cause little or 
 no scandal if the fact of her presence became 
 publicly known. Here, accordingly, Emy removed, 
 assuming, at the doctor's instruction, the name of 
 
Nelson's Legacy 93 
 
 Emma Hart, and here, when her time was accom- 
 phshed, she gave birth to a girl child. 
 
 In narrating the adventures of one who had 
 so chequered and so variegated a career as the 
 Fates allotted to the heroine of this true chronicle, 
 the historian has many temptations to diverge into 
 the side issues presented by the lives of the 
 men and women with whom she was brought 
 into personal relation. Such a one is Dr. James 
 Graham, who is interesting as an example of the 
 empiric with a knowledge of the credulity of human 
 nature, and a contempt of the passions by which 
 it is swayed. He exploited the vices he had no 
 inclination to share. Beauty of form made to 
 him an appeal that was scientific, utilitarianism 
 was the keynote of the coldness of his regard. 
 Whereas our heroine, alack ! had an inflammable 
 disposition, and knew little more than the mean- 
 ing, and possibly not that, of the word utilitarian- 
 ism. 
 
 Dr. Graham occupied at this time a unique 
 position in the town, being denounced by many 
 as an impostor and a charlatan, whilst countenanced 
 by the great world, who were ready to declare 
 that his system had already benefited them. 
 Among his distinguished patronesses was Georgiana, 
 Duchess of Devonshire, whom he had recently 
 treated by means of his electrical apparatus ; and 
 
94 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 there were others, scarcely less highly placed, ready, 
 after experience, to testify to his ability, and who 
 by their patronage secured him in his position as 
 a fashionable practitioner. 
 
 But if Dr. Graham was not susceptible to the 
 passions of humanity which affect the relations of 
 the sexes, he was perfectly willing to play upon 
 them for his own pecuniary advantage, and, 
 measuring the credulity of his age to a nicety, he 
 founded the famous Temple of iEsculapius. It was 
 his public profession that he could teach the laws 
 of life and health, prolong lives that appeared to be 
 drawing to a close, arrest and repair the degenera- 
 tion of a decadent society, and cure sterility. In 
 his methods there was an admixture of imposture 
 and of truth. He had experimented largely in 
 the as yet little known properties of electricity, 
 and there is little doubt that the actual effects 
 of this new force were beneficial in many cases 
 where the vital powers had been exhausted by 
 immoderate indulgence. His treatment by baths 
 was also of great efficacy, and it is easily credible 
 that his system of dietetics was judicious and 
 curative. 
 
 Having, however, brought the world of fashion 
 to his doors. Dr. Graham could not refrain from 
 pandering to its follies. He proceeded to make 
 fresh pretensions, which the moralist must con- 
 
Nelson's Legacy 95 
 
 demn as vigorously as did the faculty. Three 
 galleried rooms, superably ornamented, and hung 
 with pictures, chiefly from the nude, were opened 
 to his patrons ; crystal pillars, manufactured 
 under his own superintendence, were supposed to 
 contain the electrical apparatus whereby he under- 
 took to restore vitality and energy. They also 
 served incidentally to focus and reflect the myriad 
 lights with which the apartments were refulgent. 
 In one of the chambers was his most notorious 
 institution, the ' Celestial Bed.' It was flanked 
 by a figure of Fecundity, and crowned by the in- 
 scription Dolorifica res est si quis homo dives nullwn 
 habet domi suae successorein. 
 
 The doctor attached high importance to appeals 
 to the em.otional side of his patients. His addresses 
 were mystical and religious in their tone, and he 
 relied much upon music and painting as influencing 
 the body through the mind. Solemn music 
 vibrated through the air of the inner chamber, 
 where the canopied bed stood in the dim light 
 afforded by the stained-glass window. Oratorios 
 and cantatas were employed to attune the senses 
 of the votaries of the Temple to the mysteries 
 about to be practised upon them ; classical re- 
 presentations brought them into sympathetic rela- 
 tion with this arch-priest of the art of healing. 
 
 And it was here that Dr. Graham saw that 
 
96 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 Emma might be of service to him. He had wit- 
 nessed performances by her in the house of the 
 ' Abbess of Arhngton Street,' which he frequented 
 in his early days in order to famiharise himself 
 with the follies and appetites of his future clients. 
 He quickly perceived, when the girl came to him 
 in her distress, that her unique face and form 
 would be a further attraction to his already 
 alluring Temple. 
 
 Emma, grateful for his timely benefaction, could 
 not but accede to his request for her assistance as 
 soon as it was formulated. It has not escaped 
 general observation, and certainly it was no secret 
 to Dr. Graham, that very young women acquire 
 a heightened and increased beauty from maternity 
 so soon as they have recovered from the imme- 
 diate exhaustion of child-bearing. A new tender- 
 ness is added to their expression, a more delicate 
 bloom to their complexion, a subtler curve to their 
 lines. Within three months from the birth of her 
 daughter, and after the child had been despatched, 
 under Dr. Graham's advice, to the care of her 
 grandmother at Hawardcn, Emma Hart became a 
 living demonstration of this truth. It was then 
 Dr. Graham reaped the reward of his long-sighted 
 philanthropy, and that Emma proved alike her 
 gratitude and her resource. Clad in long and 
 classic draperies, blue or white as the occasion 
 
Nelson's Legacy 97 
 
 demanded, and set in poses to compel the atten- 
 tion of even the most frivolous, she sang the 
 solemn recitatives and arias which Dr. Graham 
 wrote and composed, and lent the beauty of her 
 voice to the spell woven by the music of the hidden 
 orchestra. 
 
 The ritual of the Temple presided over by this 
 so-called ' Vestal Virgin ' quickly became the rage, 
 and for one season at least the offertories brought 
 a fortune to the high priest. 
 
 But Emma was no more secure from the attacks 
 of immoral men of fashion in the Adelphi than she 
 had been in Arlington Street. Captain Willett 
 Payne knew how to hold what he had acquired so 
 long as he chose to do so, and he had made no 
 secret of his conquest. Now that Emma's shape 
 and beauty were restored, and she had ceased to 
 be the exclusive possession of one lover, numerous 
 pretenders were forthcoming to make a bid for 
 the place vacated by the gallant sailor. One in 
 particular persecuted her with his attentions. This 
 was Sir Henry Featherstonehaugh, a baronet of 
 considerable fortune, with an estate in Sussex, and, 
 notwithstanding his visits to the Adelphi Temple, 
 an unimpaired constitution. He had adventured 
 there out of curiosity, as did so many of his 
 compeers ; for the place and its attractions its 
 cures and its distractions, were the talk of the 
 
98 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 town. The second, and all succeeding, times Sir 
 Henry went it was in pursuit of the lovely vision, 
 draped after the antique, who sang in the arias 
 and cantatas. 
 
 He wooed, and he pursued ; but for some time 
 both were without avail. The affectation of ritual, 
 and the solemnity of the proceedings in which 
 Emma was engaged under the supervision of Dr. 
 Graham, set an effectual barrier between her and 
 danger. 
 
 Towards the end of the season, however. Dr. 
 Graham found it necessary to effect a change in 
 his affairs. Nothing is more capricious than fashion, 
 and the very methods upon which Dr. Graham 
 had relied to establish his great venture contributed 
 ultimately to its ruin. He had spread broadcast 
 advertisements of his lectures and his methods of 
 treatment, and had been successful in making his 
 so-called ' cures ' very widely known. Now the 
 wits sharpened the blades of their intelligence and 
 commenced an organised attack. A play was pro- 
 duced, satirising the Temple and its priest under 
 the title of A Genius of Nonsense. The doctor 
 was sufficiently ill-advised to commence a criminal 
 prosecution against Mr. Colman, who presented 
 the piece. Witnesses were summoned on both 
 sides, and a more than common scandal promised, 
 when a high personage, who had been constant in 
 
Nelson's Legacy 99 
 
 his visits to the Temple of -<Esculapius, and whose 
 frequent use of the Celestial Bed was notorious, 
 used his influence to stop the proceedings, the 
 publicity of which threatened his own reputation. 
 The result was the temporary ruin of Dr. Graham, 
 and the deprivation to Emma of one who had 
 proved a true benefactor to her. 
 
 This was the moment Sir Henry Featherstone- 
 haugh used to press his suit. Emma had no in- 
 clination towards him, and had not the alternative 
 offered to the establishment he promised appeared 
 to her in a yet worse light, there is a possibility 
 that she would have waited, with what patience 
 she could muster, for the return of the father of 
 her child. Not that she had much expectation 
 from him, for no letter or word had come. In later 
 years, when the great Admiral Nelson was captain 
 of her heart, he found no difficulty in the despatch 
 of missives ! But Captain Willett Payne had not 
 taken his responsibilities seriously, and by the 
 time Dr. Graham was compelled to break up his 
 establishment and move to Schomberg House, 
 Emma had become convinced that his desertion 
 was for always. Her alternative to placing her- 
 self under the protection of Sir Henry Feather- 
 stonehaugh was as follows : 
 
 Schomberg House, Pall Mall, a portion of which 
 was occupied by Mr. Gainsborough, a painter of 
 
100 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 some repute, was taken by Dr. Graham when his 
 fortunes were at their lowest ebb. His character 
 and temper had suffered from the injustice with 
 which he had been treated, and the ingratitude 
 with which he had been met. His retort was to 
 reopen, in the eastern portion of the house, an 
 exaggerated form of that which had been so greatly 
 and ruinously ridiculed in the Adelphi. He estab- 
 lished there a new ritual, which, if his critics are 
 to be believed, was actually of a phallick nature. 
 And here he conceived the idea of presenting a 
 living figure, in its natural state, as an object- 
 lesson in the co-relation of beauty and health. 
 For this purpose he required a young female who 
 had a perfect form, and not modesty enough to 
 shrink from exhibiting it in puris naturalibus. 
 Emma Hart possessed the shape ; he believed it 
 possible she lacked the modesty. Nor was he 
 completely wrong. Whatever history may relate 
 — and there has been much controversy on this 
 point — we have the best reason for knowing that 
 Emma Hart did once appear as the illustration to 
 Dr. Graham's lecture on ' Human Perfection.' But 
 it was a solitary occasion. 
 
 And here it is not without interest to note the 
 reluctance with which a sense of modesty leaves 
 the female breast. Emma, who had remained in 
 a gay house, cognisant of the orgies that were 
 
Nelson's Legacy loi 
 
 carried on ; who, from vanity and love of praise, 
 had appeared before its frequenters, who, since 
 her own undoing, had posed for her benefactor 
 before a mixed audience in costumes remark- 
 able chiefly for their tenuity, shrank under this 
 last demand. It would have seemed that the 
 sacrifice made by her for the man who had given 
 her practical help in the hour of her trouble, and 
 had since provided her with both board and 
 lodging, need not have overwhelmed her with con- 
 fusion, since the exhibition of her person was not 
 required to be followed by concession of its enjoy- 
 ment. But to her credit it must be placed that 
 she did shrink from the task set her. In vain Dr. 
 Graham represented to her that undraped women 
 posed before artists, and that their pictures had 
 in many cases become the admiration of the whole 
 cultivated world. Once again argument and illus- 
 tration failed to obtain from reason that which 
 natural instinct, ever stronger than philosophy, 
 had successfully resisted. 
 
 Our unfortunate heroine may have indeed felt 
 that she stood between the devil and the deep sea. 
 But when her final choice was made it was found 
 she had fled to Up Park, in the company of the 
 aforesaid Sir Henry Featherstonehaugh. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 Emma, entering into the second stage of her career, is taken 
 from London by Sir Henry Featherstonehaugh and estab- 
 lished by him at Up Park. He treats her ill, and she is 
 solaced by Mr. Charles Greville, whose intervention has 
 immediate consequence. She is dismissed from Up Park, 
 but a correspondence she immediately establishes with Mr. 
 Greville indicates that she has found a new protector. 
 
 AT Up Park Emma entered into the first stage 
 - of that which is so inaccurately and mis- 
 leadingly styled a ' life of pleasure.' 
 
 In Arlington Street she had been only a spec- 
 tator of the racket and dissipation wherewith those 
 whose profession is the oldest in the world endeav- 
 our to banish remorse and its attendant fear. 
 
 She had, perchance, supposed, in her ignorance, 
 that women were happy whose laughter rang 
 lightly from their lips, who moved gaily in costly 
 gowns, under brilliant lights reflected from the 
 thousand points of the gems that gleamed on their 
 naked bosoms. She did not picture them in their 
 lonely hours, scanning their faces in the cold light 
 of day, in o'erwhelming anxiety lest they found 
 the first wrinkle that would mean their decline 
 from the favour of the profligates on whose ex- 
 
 102 
 
Nelson's Legacy 103 
 
 travagance they depended for existence. She had 
 no knowledge of the way in which they paid in the 
 sohtude of their own chambers for the variety and 
 excitement of the pubhc rooms. 
 
 Even after her seduction she did not plumb the 
 abyss. The passion of her lover burned and hurt 
 her, but it kindled something in herself which, 
 knowing as yet no better, she mistook for love 
 and deemed good compensation for all she had 
 lost. 
 
 At Up Park she was allowed no illusionment as 
 to her situation. Passion may enter into love 
 and be the hallowed sacrament of chaste affection 
 given and received in the permitted embraces of 
 holy marriage. Nevertheless, passion is different 
 from love, and not essential to it, since love can 
 endure long after the natural forces are abated, 
 and even persist beyond the grave. And passion 
 itself is not more different from love than is lust 
 from passion. 
 
 There was no time in her career when Emma 
 would not fain have respected where she loved. 
 Indeed Emma's respect and Emma's love went 
 ever hand in hand, and Sir Henry Featherstone- 
 haugh had not the parts to evoke either. A mere 
 fox-hunting squire, he treated a woman with less 
 respect than a horse, and thought as little of using 
 the whip to correct the one as to subdue the 
 
104 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 other. The girl was naturally high-spirited and 
 this was the first time she had been brought into 
 personal relations with a man who made allowance^ 
 neither for that nor for her sex. Her new pro- 
 tector frightened her by his violence and bewildered 
 her by his capriciousness. She strove nevertheless 
 to please him and at first succeeded only too well. 
 He was libidinous in his disposition as he was 
 uncertain in his humour, given over to the pleasures 
 of the table and apt to be quarrelsome in his cups. 
 Nor was this the sum of her woes. Sir Henry 
 was no lover desiring a solitude of two. He filled 
 the house with boon companions, with whom he 
 employed the days in coursing and the nights at 
 cards and dice. In his first flush of pride in 
 the beautiful young mistress he had added to his 
 establishment he desired her attendance at every 
 orgy. Decked out to please his eye and attract 
 the envy of his friends, she sat at the head of his 
 table, listening to bawdy conversation, pretending 
 an enjoyment she did not know, encouraging 
 admiration, for that gratified his vanity, and ward- 
 ing off its consequence with such skill as her youth 
 permitted. Sir Henry Featherstonehaugh was as 
 much enthralled by her as he was capable, and his 
 jealousy was given to break out upon little pro- 
 vocation. It was she who was the victim always, 
 for he deemed his men friends justified in en- 
 
Nelson's Legacy 105 
 
 deavouring to wrest his capture from him. Emma 
 learnt first to fear, and then to hate him, falHng 
 rapidly into that condition of recklessness which 
 is youth's only alternative to despair. 
 
 The unhappy girl, made wretched by her days 
 of humiliation and her nights of degradation, 
 gradually threw away the reins of decent conduct. 
 She would drink with Sir Henry's guests, dance for 
 their pleasure, and gamble when gambling was the 
 order of the evening. The one healthy pursuit in 
 which she found herself engaged at Up Park was 
 horsemanship, and in this she soon excelled, for 
 she valued her life no whit, and rashness was 
 the counterfeit that stood for courage. She won 
 the admiration of Sir Henry by her prowess in the 
 hunting-field, and came nearer obtaining respect 
 from him on this account than she could ever have 
 looked for by her conduct to him or to his friends. 
 Yet the very masculinity of the so-called sport 
 in which he encouraged her contributed to the 
 deterioration of her character, and whilst affording 
 an outlet for the unevenness of her spirits, it 
 temporarily despoiled her of something of that 
 womanliness which had been one of her most 
 engaging characteristics. Her temper altered, and 
 now, when excited by wine or fevered by riotous 
 excess, she would confront him with a bravado 
 not wholly assumed, would reply to warning or 
 
io6 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 admonition with laughter and defiance, and bring 
 down upon herself the rough usage which per- 
 haps no longer could be considered as entirely 
 undeserved. 
 
 Sir Henry Featherstonehaugh, a Nimrod in the 
 country, but a Macaroni in town, numbered with 
 his acquaintances some of the politest men of 
 fashion. Among these was Mr. Charles Greville, 
 a cadet of the noble house of Warwick, already 
 famous for his fastidious taste in virtu and the 
 philosophical system of his collection of speci- 
 mens of mineralogy. Being the younger son of 
 his father, and therefore unlikely, in the natural 
 order of events, to succeed to the title and estates 
 of the earldom of Warwick, Mr. Greville had 
 turned his eyes to a political career. It was the 
 only one promising to a man of such high con- 
 nections as he possessed the emoluments of office 
 commensurate to his needs. Endowed with a 
 somewhat precocious wisdom, he pursued his object 
 with methodical care, and was punctilious in con- 
 forming to all the customs prescribed by his social 
 order. He was a familiar figure in the shooting 
 parties gathered together in great country houses, 
 and although no form of sport provided him with 
 much personal entertainment, he was at pains to 
 acquit himself creditably as became a man of the 
 world. And thus, to come to the particular, it 
 
Nelson's Legacy 107 
 
 happened that he was one of Sir Henry Feather- 
 stonehaugh's invited guests the autumn that Emma 
 Hart was the nominal hostess at Up Park. 
 
 Mr. Charles Greville presented a strange con- 
 trast to the rakes in whose company he found 
 himself in the house of Sir Henry Featherstone- 
 haugh. Not only was he of handsome person, 
 but the easy grace of his demeanour, derived 
 from noble birth and perfected by association 
 with persons of the finest breeding, lent an addi- 
 tional charm to his appearance and an admir- 
 able dignity to his movements. He had an in- 
 dependence of mind which permitted him to in- 
 dulge in the most widely diverse occupations 
 and to mix in the most varied company without 
 exposing him to a suspicion of hypocrisy. 
 
 Ambition, or rather might it be called aspira- 
 tion, is one of the notes of a temperament such 
 as was possessed by Emma Hart. She was daily 
 subjected to the grossest admiration and the 
 most debasing and capricious treatment, yet was 
 ever conscious of virtue in her mind. Set 
 amongst sensual and boorish country squires, 
 whose only interests were the chase and the 
 bottle, she discovered in herself, soon after she 
 met Mr. Greville, a desire for the intellectual and 
 refined company of the wits, artists, and musi- 
 cians of whom he told her. Mr. Greville' s aloof- 
 
io8 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 ness first caught her attention, as Dr. Graham's 
 had done earher. The respectful consideration he 
 paid to her conversation, to whom every other 
 attention had been paid, and the courtly con- 
 descension of his manner, led her quickly to 
 idealise him. Neither flippancy nor coarseness 
 flourished in Mr. Greville's presence, soon his 
 critical eyes had the power to abash and silence 
 her. Anon she saw pity in them, when Sir Henry 
 abused or used her roughly. Within a week of 
 Mr. Greville coming to Up Park her manner had 
 become subdued, and she was watching for his 
 approval as a dog for a bone. If his eyes showed 
 pity, hers were soon alight with something warmer. 
 Mr. Greville could not have achieved his great 
 and merited reputation as a connoisseur of virtu 
 had he not been gifted with exceptional discern- 
 ment. His fastidious sense of decorum was out- 
 raged by the excesses at Up Park, by Emma's 
 position there, by the immoderate expression of 
 Sir Henry's capricious temper, by her loveliness, 
 ignorance, and all too obvious unhappiness. His 
 appreciation of the fitness of things was hurt by 
 her masculine prowess in the field and her pre- 
 sence at the battues in Sir Henry's coverts. His 
 admiration of her uncommon beauty was enlivened 
 by her situation as the youthful and defenceless 
 mistress of a coarse and unappreciative libertine. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 109 
 
 He knew that he himself could awaken in her 
 something that Sir Henry Featherstonehaugh was 
 as incapable of provoking as he would be of satis- 
 fying. He surprised her sensitiveness and dis- 
 covered her tenderness all in a few short oppor- 
 tunities of discourse. He perceived behind her 
 recklessness the despair of a captive without hope 
 of enlargement. 
 
 The interest of the virtuoso once awakened, he 
 resolved to prosecute his study of the fascinating 
 problem offered by a character so complex. His 
 visit having been timed to last a fortnight and 
 such study being far more congenial to his tastes 
 than field sports or games of chance, it was easy 
 for him to devise explanations of his desire to 
 withdraw from the company of the gentlemen ; 
 the plea of necessary correspondence was always 
 valid in the case of one who held a post in the 
 Board of Admiralty, and was known to be so 
 deeply concerned in political affairs. But, having 
 discharged these duties, which he was punctiliously 
 careful to do, Mr. Greville was wont to present 
 himself before his hostess; who had for the nonce 
 abandoned her habit of walking after the pheas- 
 ants; and to entreat her, of her good nature, to 
 tolerate his company for a little. 
 
 Alone with Greville, Emma was another being 
 from what she appeared with Sir Henry and his 
 
no Nelson's Legacy 
 
 boon companions. Gone was the gay outlaw, 
 with loose and ready laugh, and the carelessness 
 that challenged affront. In her place was an 
 unhappy girl needing comfort and help, and so 
 rarely lovely that Mr. Greville had neither the 
 heart nor the inclination to withhold either. 
 
 She told him her story, or perhaps it was he 
 who elicited it from her without her volition. 
 There was enough of heart in him, for all that he 
 was a man of the world and the organ was some- 
 what attenuated from lack of use, to be touched 
 by the relation of her first betrayal, and there 
 was enough of cultivated sensibility to revolt from 
 the plight to which it had brought her. Above, 
 and before all, was Mr. Greville's appreciation of 
 contours wholly Greek, combined with a com- 
 plexion such as England alone can show. He 
 likened it to milk and roses, comparing it also to 
 the bloom of peaches ; he culled comparisons from 
 the store of his knowledge of both ancient and 
 modern writers. In the end he was fain to admit, 
 with the courtly grace that so became him, that 
 he failed in all his attempts to find an analogy 
 for her physical charms, and that only one word 
 expressed them and that word was . . . incom- 
 parable. 
 
 The ' incomparable Emma ' was naturally 
 charmed with such discernment, and under its 
 
Nelson's Legacy in 
 
 delightful stimulus was brought to understand, 
 without offence, that however much Mr. Charles 
 Greville was disposed to admire her person, he 
 found her mind uncultivated, and her conduct 
 occasionally reprehensible. Emma's intelligence 
 was good, and now she desired nothing so strongly 
 as to merit Mr. Greville' s approbation. Her days 
 were spent in this endeavour and her nights in 
 dreaming she had accomplished it. She did not 
 perceive to what goal her thoughts were tending. 
 With all her experiences of false alleys and miraged 
 glades, love was an unknown country to her. Mr. 
 Greville' s superiority to any man she had ever 
 met was obvious ; and that ' one needs must love 
 the highest when one sees it,' was an adage tinily 
 inherent in her frailty. Mr. Greville began to 
 occupy Emma continually and Sir Henry Feather- 
 stonehaugh and the double claim he had upon her 
 escaped the volatility of her mind. 
 
 In the meantime, as the event proved, all un- 
 suspected by himself, the preceptor was falling a 
 victim to the attractions of the pupil. Homines, 
 diim docent, discunt, wrote Seneca long ago, and 
 in porches where love is the theme this is very 
 certainly true. Mr. Greville' s philosophical dis- 
 quisitions took ever a more personal turn, his 
 essays at consolation ever a tenderer note. Sir 
 Henry Featherstonehaugh, not by a long way the 
 
112 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 most observant of men, began to notice his friend's 
 abstraction when in only male company, and his 
 glibness in pleading pressure of business as an 
 excuse for withdrawing from it. But he was some 
 time in attributing it to the real cause. In truth, 
 his own infatuation for the beautiful Emma was 
 on the ebb. He had subdued her spirit and 
 brought her to a condition of obedience to his 
 wishes. Before Mr. Greville's coming her reck- 
 lessness and extravagance had begun to anger 
 him. Now her indifference to him, which she 
 was unable to conceal, her abandonment of the 
 chase and the battues, and the alteration in her 
 demeanour, completed what satiety had begun. 
 He was already seeking an excuse for ridding him- 
 self of that which was rapidly becoming an encum- 
 brance when Mr. Charles Greville, by a momentary 
 imprudence, put the weapon in his hand for which 
 he had been looking. The occasion was a hunt 
 dinner, over which Sir Henry had insisted on 
 Emma presiding. Then, having drunken more 
 than he could carry, he was first publicly fond, 
 and then publicly offensive. Emma, under Mr. 
 Greville's eye, had parried the one with embar- 
 rassment, whilst the other had reduced her to 
 tears, which she hurriedly withdrew to shed freely 
 in the seclusion of her private parlour. 
 
 Thither the solicitous Greville followed her, 
 
Nelson's Legacy 113 
 
 anxious to commend her conduct during the try- 
 ing scene through which she had passed. But the 
 tears that fell from her lovely eyes, and the storm 
 that heaved her snowy bosom, excited more than 
 his commendation. Tenderness was little part of 
 Charles Greville's nature, yet presently he found 
 himself soothing her distress most tenderly. In- 
 discretion was no feature of his disposition, yet 
 her loveliness or her distress provoked it on this 
 occasion. And soon she was crying in his arms 
 that she cared not for Sir Henry, his coarseness, 
 his cruelty, nor his affection ; it was only Greville, 
 her dear Greville, she cared to please. It was 
 after dinner, and Mr. Greville himself was no 
 abstainer from the bottle . . . 
 
 Emma's absence from the table provoked com- 
 ment, and Mr. Greville's almost simultaneous dis- 
 appearance could not long escape attention. 
 Sir Henry Featherstonehaugh was the last to 
 notice the coincidence. But as bottle succeeded 
 bottle, and ribald jest and laughter began to 
 exceed the bounds of legitimate hilarity, his 
 temper, or his suspicions, became excited, and 
 after an observation more witty than elegant from 
 Sir Gregory Parfitt he lurched to his feet, and 
 with a coarse expression swore he'd ' fetch the 
 jade back ' and prove them all mistaken. He 
 
114 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 had no doubt to find her crying in her own room, 
 or in his. As for Mr. Greville, ' plague on tlie 
 fellow,' he said ; ' no doubt 'twas their bawdy 
 talk had drove him away.' In truth, he was 
 somewhat proud of having Mr. Greville as a guest, 
 and would defend him. This was when he lurched 
 from the dining-room to fetch his mistress to be 
 again a butt for his boon companions, and to 
 exhibit his mastership over her. 
 
 In national crises a prophet waits for word to 
 be put into his mouth. In personal crises a pinch 
 of sincerity spices a whole vatful of speech. 
 Scratch the honour of a degenerate, and his 
 veins will be found still to hold blood. Between 
 each full point a truth is contained, and quod 
 semjjer, quod ubique, quod ah omnibus finds corro- 
 boration. All Sir Henry Featherstonehaugh's con- 
 sidered addresses fled from his mind when, on 
 opening the parlour door, Mr. Greville turned to 
 confront him ; the much-engaged politician had 
 to rise from his knees to do so, although his occu- 
 pation had not been prayer. Mr. Greville rose, 
 not only from his knees, but to the occasion. 
 
 ' I was venturing to entreat your good lady 
 not to deprive us any longer of the pleasure of 
 her society, to promise her a toast . . .' 
 
 But Sir Henry was in no humour to be struck 
 by the elegance of Mr. Greville' s address or the 
 
Nelson's Legacy 115 
 
 dexterity of his wit. He seized Emma somewhat 
 roughly by the shoulder, and what he said to her 
 boots no repetition. Mr. Greville interfered, but 
 was told Sir Henry needed no intercessor between 
 him and his . . . Mr. Greville again objected, 
 and this time more strongly. Sir Henry took his 
 hand from Emma's shoulder to lay it on his sword, 
 metaphorically, at least. And Emma slipped away 
 in the confusion, much concerned for her dear 
 Greville's safety, but not at all for that of Sir 
 Henry Featherstonehaugh, although it was he who 
 was like to fare the worse in any encounter, seeing 
 he could scarcely stand upon his unsteady legs, 
 nor bear himself worthily of his just anger. 
 
 Mr. Greville was master of the epee, but not 
 anxious to exhibit his prowess on this occasion. 
 It is possible his conscience was not as clear as 
 his wit when he tried argument to dam the torrent 
 of Sir Henry's rude speech. For first he com- 
 bated lightly the accusation brought against him, 
 and then he defended the conduct he denied. 
 His rapier was his tongue, and he plied it lightly 
 and ingeniously against the baronet's growing 
 sullenness. Mr. Greville had his reputation to 
 consider, he had no stomach for any other fight 
 in such a cause, nor for the gossip that might 
 follow the event. 
 
 ' Permit me to suggest that if your mistress 
 
ii6 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 were really the wanton you represent her to be, 
 you, as a man of the world need not draw your 
 sword in defence of an honour she does not possess,' 
 was the apothegm, as, ' perhaps you will permit 
 me to order my chariot,' was the argument of his 
 adroitness. 
 
 Sir Henry, whose wits were never of the nim- 
 blest, felt that he was being diverted to a side 
 issue, since it was his own honour that was in- 
 volved, if anyone's. But he was unable to over- 
 take the rapidity of Mr. Greville's dialectical 
 method, and had not lost all his respect for that 
 gentleman's Chesterfieldian manner. In short, he 
 permitted his guest to remove in a chariot instead 
 of in the funeral hearse he had stormily pronounced 
 the proper vehicle for his body. 
 
 Mr. Greville shortly made his adieux and set 
 forth on the journey to his house in Portman 
 Square. Not, however, without finding a method 
 to convey to our heroine a reassuring message, 
 and some franked and addressed papers that would 
 enable her to communicate with him, if occasion 
 should arise. 
 
 No good purpose would be served by a recon- 
 struction of the scene in which Emma and Sir 
 Henry Featherstonehaugh were next engaged. Re- 
 strained by no respect for her youth or her sex, 
 wearied of the association, and angered at the 
 
Nelson's Legacy 117 
 
 loss of his valuable friend, Sir Henry put no re- 
 straint upon his language, and little upon himself. 
 
 It was yet one more of the many degrading 
 experiences to which this unhappy girl had exposed 
 herself by the first surrender of her chastity. It 
 ended in her abrupt dismissal from the fictitious 
 splendour of her situation as mistress of the great 
 country house, and her restoration to her former 
 condition of dreadful uncertainty. 
 
 In the first moment of emancipation from these 
 gilded chains, which had often chafed her so 
 cruelly, Emma was conscious chiefly of relief. 
 Sir Henry had been intermittently generous, and 
 had it not been for her native improvidence, she 
 need not have been in any immediate alarm. As 
 it was, however, she was but ill provided with 
 money at this critical juncture. And she knew 
 that, for the second time, she was in a fair way 
 to become a mother. These considerations, as 
 may be believed, proved a heavy alloy in the 
 gold of her new freedom, and it was with a heart 
 full of foreboding that she turned away from 
 Up Park. 
 
 We next hear of her at Hawarden. And this 
 was probably Mr. Greville's counsel, which had 
 reprobated more strongly than any part of her 
 conduct her remissness in not acquainting her good 
 mother with her situation. He had promised to 
 
ii8 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 seek out Mrs. Cadogan in London, and relieve the 
 dreadful anxiety under which she had no doubt 
 laboured since, with Dr. Graham's assistance, the 
 child Emma had borne to her seducer, Captain 
 Willett Payne, had been confided, without any 
 history or excuse, to the care of her maternal 
 grandmother, Mrs. Kidd. 
 
 It must have been with mixed feelings, largely 
 dominated by shame, that Emma revisited the 
 home of her innocence. Some part of her un- 
 happy story was already known there, communi- 
 cated in its beginning by Mrs. Budd to Mrs. Thomas 
 of Broadlane Hall, and only too suggestively sup- 
 plemented by the subsequent arrival at Mrs. Kidd's 
 cottage of the unlawfully born infant. Old scan- 
 dals were now revived by her appearance, dressed 
 in materials which the busybodies knew that 
 honesty could not afford, and wrapped, moreover, 
 in a mantle of reserve, which the same charitable 
 persons declared was the pride which is destined 
 to fall. Emma did not betray her consciousness 
 of this shower of inuendoes. She had only her 
 grandmother to whom to make explanations. 
 
 Mrs. Kidd received Emma much as she had 
 received her mother in somewhat similar circum- 
 stance; she had been lonely without daughter or 
 granddaughter. Mrs. Kidd's love for her beautiful 
 grandchild had in no way diminished because 
 
Nelson's Legacy 119 
 
 Emma, like her mother, had erred. Rather had 
 it increased in absence, and now was intensified 
 by the instinct of pity and the necessity for 
 defence. She foresaw that the situation would 
 ere long become desperate, and it was she who 
 first persuaded Emma to make overtures to Sir 
 Henry Featherstonehaugh for a reconciliation. 
 Such reconciliation might not be permanent, and 
 if not that, could hardly be honourable, but it 
 was worldly wise and good advice in view of the 
 interesting event that was expected. 
 
 Emma wrote to her late protector, and then, 
 receiving no reply, wrote a second time. She 
 could not bring herself to believe that he would 
 repudiate her claim upon him for assistance during 
 her coming trouble, and she wrote yet a third 
 time, making a pathetic, more fervent appeal. 
 His silence remained unbroken, and now, indeed, 
 Emma's heart failed for fear. Seven separate 
 times did she speed her cry from Hawarden to 
 Up Park. But there came no word from the 
 distant Sussex Downs. At last when she knew 
 herself deserted and penniless, within a few weeks 
 of her travail, she brought her courage to the point 
 of a letter to Mr. Greville. Without a single hour's 
 avoidable delay, she had his answer, a little formal, 
 perhaps, but speaking a true interest, somewhat 
 solacing her bedraggled pride. It determined her 
 
120 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 to lay before Mr. Greville the true state of her 
 affairs, and to implore his advice and help. 
 
 ' Yesterday ' [she wrote], ' did I receive your kind 
 letter. It put me in some spirits for, believe me, I am 
 allmost distracktid. I have never hard from Sir H., I 
 have wrote 7 letters, and no anser. What shall I dow ? 
 
 how your letter affected me when you wished me happi- 
 ness. O G. that I was in your posesion what a happy 
 girl would I have been. Girl indeed ! What else am I 
 but a girl in distress — in reall distress ? For God's sake. 
 G. write the minet you get this, and only tell me what 
 
 1 am to dow. I am alhnos mad. O for God's sake tell 
 me what is to become of me. O dear Grevell, write to 
 me. Write to me. G. adue, and believe me yours for 
 ever Emly Hart. 
 
 ' Don't tel my mother what distress I am in, and dow 
 afford me some comfort . . .' 
 
 Could moralist desire, could any poet of the 
 emotions conceive, a more impressive picture of 
 the ' real distress ' into which a female may be 
 plunged who once lets go of virtue than is fur- 
 nished by this exact transcript from Emma's 
 letter ? Distraction and despair, destitution and 
 contumely, self-abandonment to any alternative, 
 entreaty, madness, and again despair — to these 
 had a ' life of pleasure ' already brought Emma 
 Hart. And seventeen summers have not yet 
 passed over her head ! If in the ears of any rest- 
 less girl, discontented with her humble surround- 
 
Nelson's Legacy 121 
 
 ings, sighing for delights which she imagines, but 
 has not known —if in her ears the call of the world 
 is ringing, it would be well that she should bear 
 in mind for one instant Emma's cry from the 
 heart, ' Good God, what shall I dow ? ' 
 
 Mr. Greville did not keep her in suspense. He 
 wrote at once, deliberately, and at length : 
 
 * I do not make apologies for Sir H.'s behaviour to 
 you, and I own I never expected better from him, already 
 I began to despair of your happiness. . . . After you 
 have told me that Sir H. gave you barely money to get 
 to your friends, and has never answered one letter since, 
 and neither provides for you nor takes any notice of you, 
 it might appear laughing at you to advise you to try to 
 make Sir H. more kind and attentive, for I have never 
 seen a woman clever enough to keep a man who was 
 tired of her. It would be a great deal more easy for me 
 to advise you never to see him again, and to write only 
 to inform him of your determination. You must, how- 
 ever, do either the one or the other. . . . You may 
 easily see, my dearest Emy, why it is absolutely necessary 
 for this point to be settled before I can move one step. 
 My advice then is to take a steady resolution ... I 
 shall then be free to dry the tears of my lovely Emy, 
 and give her comfort . . .' 
 
 The letter proceeded with other suggestions 
 and promises. But the burden of it was that she 
 must force an interview with Sir Henry Feather- 
 stonehaugh and explain her condition. And only 
 then, if Sir Henry repudiated his responsibility, 
 
122 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 would he, Greville, be prepared to replace him. 
 He sent her money, however, with prudent advice 
 on the subject of its expenditure, and he concluded 
 with an injunction to make her determination, 
 and to write him again of the result. 
 
 It was the letter of a man of the world, who 
 had an eye to his personal gratification, and yet 
 feared to become involved. Mr. Greville made 
 no pretensions to Christian morality. He regu- 
 lated his conduct by the unwritten, yet perfectly 
 understood, code of laws established and obeyed 
 by polite society. Thus he was sincere when he 
 protested his incapability of committing an abuse 
 of the hospitality of Sir Henry Featherstonehaugh 
 by seducing the allegiance of his mistress whilst 
 under his roof- tree. But he saw nothing irregular 
 in offering the same lady his protection if, and 
 when, the earlier association should be completely 
 broken off. Emma had indeed won all the warmth 
 of which Mr. Greville' s nature was capable. He 
 did not hesitate to acknowledge this, but with 
 equal candour he explained precisely how far his 
 affection could carry him. ' Remember, I never 
 will give up my peace,' was one of his sentences in 
 his letter. There spoke the cold sensualist, happy 
 to be within distance of accomplishing his desires, 
 but not a whit less precise in dictating terms. 
 
 To Emma, however, his letter came like a 
 
Nelson's Legacy 123 
 
 gospel of good tidings, his sympathy like gentle 
 rain upon parched soil, his pecuniary aid as manna 
 in the wilderness. She kissed the paper a thousand 
 times, and vowed eternal gratitude and devotion 
 to her preserver, her hero. Then, resolved to carry 
 out his instructions, she made preparations to 
 return to Up Park, and thus mend, or end, her 
 relations with Sir Henry. She did not disguise 
 from herself that it was termination of the con- 
 nection she desired, and not its renewal ; her 
 heart had turned from him completely. But there 
 was his child to be considered, and Mr. Greville's 
 injunctions. For the sake of these she was ready 
 to humiliate herself and offer to return to his 
 keeping. If he should repudiate her, she hoped 
 he would at least make some provision for the 
 babe. And she herself would be free to go to 
 her Greville. 
 
 But Emma had not gauged the measure of Sir 
 Henry's anger, nor reached the limit of his gross- 
 ness. When she presented herself at the doors of 
 Up Park, where she had reigned for a spell as 
 mistress, insolent servants scarcely disguised their 
 contempt and could hardly be prevailed upon to 
 acquaint their master of her arrival. 
 
 She eventually achieved an interview, although 
 perhaps it would have been better for her had it 
 been refused ; for Sir Henry was far gone in 
 
124 Nelson^s Legacy 
 
 liquor, and first would have shown her a kindness 
 from which she shrank, and then was made aware 
 of her condition, and the imminence of her accouche- 
 ment, at which he swore. It seemed he had never 
 opened her letters, and now accused her of infi- 
 delity, not only with Mr. Greville, but with other 
 of his boon companions, to whose unwelcome 
 attentions he had so frequently exposed her. 
 Emma's protestations of innocence fell upon drink- 
 dulled ears. He terrified her by his violence, and, 
 laying hands upon her, with what intent she 
 hardly knew, he threw her into such an agony of 
 mind and body as wellnigh cost her her life. She 
 got away from him with difficulty, and was helped 
 by a compassionate groom to the neighbouring 
 village. And there her travail came upon her in 
 every circumstance that could heighten her agony. 
 No effort was made to keep alight the spark of 
 life that glimmered feebly in the body of the 
 child of which she was delivered, and little to 
 preserve her own. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 Mr, Greville secures a mistress and a cook for one low rate of 
 payment. But desires a pupil more ardently than either. 
 Emma incurs his displeasure by her high spirits, but wins 
 his forgiveness by the humility of her demeanour. It is 
 arranged that her portrait should be painted by Mr. 
 Romney. 
 
 IN her first letter to Mr. Greville, Emma had 
 begged him not to tell her mother in what dis- 
 tress she was. But there are some situations 
 with which only mother-love is equal to cope, 
 and Mr. Greville rightly considered that Emma 
 was in such a situation now. He therefore sought 
 out Mrs. Lyon, and having discovered her in the 
 service of a friend whose cuisine he had often 
 admired, he contrived an interview, in which he 
 broke, as well as he was able, the news of her 
 daughter's illness, and its pitiable cause. 
 
 And here one must again admire Mr. Greville's 
 diplomacy. Mrs. Lyon, who had been distracted 
 with fear and anxiety, was so impressed with the 
 dignity of his manner and the kindness he ex- 
 hibited in speaking of her child, that she not only 
 agreed to proceed at once to Up Park, but became 
 
 from that day, and for all succeeding time, his 
 
 125 
 
126 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 very devoted servant. Matre pulehra jilia pid- 
 chrior was perhaps in his mind when he showed 
 such condescension and courtesy to his friend's 
 cook. But Mr. Greville was not wont to act with- 
 out dehberation, and it may well be that, seeing 
 an opportunity to gratify, in the early future, 
 two of his appetites at the expense of one, he 
 laid himself out to please the still comely 
 Mary Lyon. And that he succeeded the sequel 
 proved. 
 
 Before Mrs. Lyon proceeded on her journey 
 she was made aware that Mr. Greville's interest 
 in her daughter would take the practical form of 
 supplying her with everything she might require 
 until she was well enough to join him in London. 
 It was then he added the suggestion that she 
 should accompany Emma. Nobody but Mr. Charles 
 Greville could have thus persuaded a mother to 
 her daughter's dishonour. But he so ingeniously 
 worded the invitation that it seemed he was 
 merely taking mother and daughter into his ser- 
 vice from motives of benevolence, to which he 
 had been moved by the pathetic letter of which 
 he spoke. 
 
 Infinitely distressing was the first meeting be- 
 tween mother and daughter after their long sepa- 
 ration. The shock was almost too great for poor 
 Emma in her present weakness, and she wept 
 
Nelson's Legacy 127 
 
 uncontrollably. At once an answering wave of 
 pity flooded the mother's heart, and filled every 
 recess of it with love. Again she heard a dying 
 voice murmur, ' Let not her weakness, nor the weak- 
 ness she inherits from her unhappy father, deprive 
 her of yyiaternal love. Cherish her, I beseech you, 
 cherish her as you cherish my memory, and love 
 her whatever displeasure she may cause you."" The 
 parting injunction of an idolised husband had ever 
 haunted Mary's ears and soon she was blaming 
 herself for all Emma's misfortunes. It was she 
 who had permitted her to come to London, and 
 thus exposed so fair a flower to so bitter a blast. 
 Emma's silence, that in the distance had looked 
 so like ingratitude, was now easily explained as 
 shame. 
 
 There is no shame so great but that mother- 
 love can solace and console it. Mary first whis- 
 pered this to her daughter, and then proclaimed 
 it loudly. Emma took comfort from the thought, 
 comfort of which she was in sore need. She 
 pillowed her erring head on her mother's breast, 
 and learnt that her troubles were all past. Never 
 again should she be alone in the world, Mr. 
 Greville had decreed it. She and her mother were 
 not to be separated, his generous help and pro- 
 tection were to be extended to the two of them. 
 The good news was almost too good, and mother 
 
128 Nelson*s Legacy 
 
 and daughter vied in Mr. Greville's praises. If 
 Emma withheld something of her heart, that 
 flowed out, once and for always, like water to 
 him who succoured her, it was only because her 
 new susceptibility of feeling made her fearful lest 
 her mother should refuse to accept as service that 
 which Emma fondly hoped was meant in love. 
 It was beyond the simplicity of her mind to con- 
 ceive the great Mr. Greville, the adored and 
 admired Charles Greville, actuated by any but the 
 noblest of motives. Her mother and she were to 
 be together, and both of them under his protec- 
 tion. Her convalescence proceeded apace under 
 such an incentive ; the gaiety of her nature quickly 
 revived. Her past sorrows and present pensive- 
 ness riveted her afresh to her mother's heart. By 
 the time they were able to travel to London, they 
 were so loving and tender together that Mr. 
 Greville was charmed by the confirmation of 
 Emma's sensibility. 
 
 In all sensual men there is a duality of nature, 
 and in the case of Mr. Greville this was unusually 
 distinct. Not imgenerous where he would him- 
 self participate in the fruits of his generosity, and 
 even extravagant beyond the proper limits of his 
 purse in the purchase of objects of art and virtu, 
 he was at the same time parsimonious through 
 principle and miserly from necessity. Sensible of 
 
Nelson's Legacy 129 
 
 all carnal pleasures, and fastidious in his taste, 
 he appreciated the gratification to be derived 
 from a beautiful mistress, a delicate table, and a 
 well-ordered home. He was secretly transported 
 by the idea of obtaining all these and at the 
 same time effecting a saving in his domestic 
 economy. The idea had been rendered practicable 
 by the expedient of taking both Emma and her 
 mother into his protection and custody ; and it 
 gave the irregular alliance an air of respectability 
 that especially recommended itself to this precise 
 formalist. 
 
 He vacated his fine residence in Portman 
 Square, where, although it was not yet even com- 
 pleted, many personages of the first fashion re- 
 sided, and engaged an unpretentious residence in 
 the charming suburb of Edgeware Row. Hither 
 Emma travelled with her mother so soon as her 
 health was re-established, and there did Mr. 
 Greville receive them both with a kindness which 
 was doubled and redoubled as the charms of 
 Emma's beauty became accentuated in his eyes 
 by the skill and economy of her mother's manage- 
 ment of his small household. 
 
 Mr. Greville prided himself, and not without 
 reason, upon the perspicacity which had enabled 
 him, in the uncongenial atmosphere of Up Park, 
 to recognise the exotic properties of the flower 
 
130 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 that languished there in the indifferent care of Sir 
 Henry Featherstonehaugh. It was, nevertheless, 
 a cardinal point of his creed that no gentleman 
 makes a display of his emotions, amongst which 
 is to be included gratification. Thus, in his new 
 and modest establishment in Edgeware Row, he 
 did not parade the elation he really felt that his 
 intelligence had served him such an amazingly 
 good turn upon the present occasion, nor his grow- 
 ing delight in the hidden grace and rare domestic 
 virtues so rapidly developed and exhibited by the 
 lovely Emma. At Up Park he had argued, from 
 her restless dissatisfaction with the garish excite- 
 ments of her anomalous position, a possible con- 
 tentment with quieter pleasures. But now he 
 discovered in addition a surprising modesty, a 
 capacity for affection equal to unfailing sacrifice 
 of self, and a talent for domesticity that neglected 
 no detail of housewifely care which could minister 
 to his comfort. At Up Park he had seen talent, 
 even genius, for the alluring accomplishments of 
 music and the dance. In Edgeware Row he dis- 
 covered mental abilities of a high order, and an 
 entirely commendable application and persever- 
 ance. He found that when Emma had bewailed 
 her lack of education, it had not been merely to 
 move him to leniency toward errors in etiquette, 
 or account for her difficulty in taking an equal . 
 
Nelson's Legacy 131 
 
 part in polite conversation ; she had voiced a real 
 grievance. 
 
 Whatever Mr. Greville had intended when he 
 took Emma under his protection, she quickly be- 
 came so much to his taste that he set to work to 
 make her more so. His coldness needed a mis- 
 tress less than his vanity desired a pupil. Having 
 become enamoured, although perhaps uncon- 
 sciously, by the girl's simplicity and ignorant 
 spontaneity, he prepared to destroy both. Find- 
 ing unexpectedly in his possession a rare gem, 
 nothing would serve but that it should be cut 
 and polished to conventional pattern. The cut- 
 ting and polishing became a hobby with him. 
 Emma must have music and dancing masters, 
 and he himself gave her lessons in English and 
 spelling. These last were not very successful, 
 for even Mr. Greville found it difficult to main- 
 tain an attitude both critical and exacting when 
 Emma's curls brushed his cheek in her anxiety 
 to follow what he was writing for her benefit, 
 and her blue eyes pleading, or laughing, assured 
 him that she would rather sit on her Greville' s 
 knee than be lectured by him as to when to use 
 the big, and when the small, i. Emma applied 
 herself to all her other studies with assiduity 
 and application ; she truly had the ambition to 
 improve and make herself more worthy. But 
 
132 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 study with Mr. Greville she could not, because the 
 true love he had excited in her, the first and only 
 love of poor Emma's misspent life, hungered for 
 a larger expression of it than he was capable of 
 giving. She was for ever wooing him, wistfully 
 or gaily, as his somewhat perverse humour sug- 
 gested. She .obeyed his slightest wishes, strove 
 to reach to his demands on her understanding, 
 mistook his coldness for dignity, his lack of passion 
 for an aristocratic self-restraint, his vanity for 
 noble pride, his narrow jealousy for a fine exclusive- 
 ness. She lavished on this gentleman, who used 
 both her and her mother as servants to his appe- 
 tites, a generous wealth of childish adoration and 
 womanly warmth ; she would fawn on him for 
 the favour of a caress, her liveliness leaping to his 
 approval, her gaiety attuning itself to his mood. 
 She would dance for him, sing for him, dress for 
 him, live for him. And all of this because she 
 was instinctively a lover, the true feminine of the 
 word, humble and generous, uncalculating in her 
 gifts, grateful for the smallest favours and sedu- 
 lous to deserve them. 
 
 The man has never existed who is not sus- 
 ceptible to flattery, albeit there is nothing against 
 which every man more prides himself on being 
 proof. The flattery with which Emma cajoled 
 her Greville was of the most insidious kind, the 
 
Nelson's Legacy i33 
 
 adoring humility with which she sat at ^his feet 
 being her ingenuous testimony to his superlative 
 excellence. There was not a little of the peda- 
 gogue in Mr. Charles Greville, and it was very 
 agreeable to his vanity to instruct so lovely a 
 pupil in the fine art of polite living. He com- 
 mented, with approval, on the change she effected 
 in her general deportment. 
 
 ' She does not wish for much society,' he wrote 
 to a correspondent, ' but to retain two or three 
 creditable acquaintances in the neighbourhood ; 
 she has avoided every appearance of giddiness, 
 and prides herself on the neatness of her person 
 and the good order of her house ; these are habits 
 both comfortable and convenient to me. She has 
 vanity, and likes admiration ; but she connects it 
 so much with her desire of appearing prudent, 
 that she is more pleased with accidental admira- 
 tion than that of crowds that now distress her. 
 In short, this habit is not a caprice, but is easily 
 to be continued.' And again he wrote : ' She 
 has dropt every one she thought I could except 
 against, and those of her own choice have been 
 in a line of prudence and plainness which, though 
 I might have wished for, I could not have proposed 
 to confine her.' 
 
 Mr. Greville had reason, indeed, to congratulate 
 both his pupil and himself upon the transformation 
 
134 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 she was so diligently achieving. It might have 
 proved permanent, and this history never have 
 been written, had he continued his kindness to 
 her, been less captious, less critical, and in the 
 end, less suspicious. But Mr. Greville saw ever 
 himself in the foreground of his picture of life. 
 He accepted her fondness and deemed it amply 
 repaid by his acceptance. 
 
 It was only to be expected, however, that ' Frail 
 Emma Hart,' as she was called in Edge ware Row, 
 should have the defects of her qualities. Docile 
 and obedient for six days in the week, on the 
 seventh she would sometimes break out into an 
 outburst of petulance and capriciousness, a child- 
 like ebullition of emotionalism, which was the 
 very opposite of that steadiness of mind which 
 Greville inculcated both in theory and by 
 his own practice. She would repent quickly, 
 and plead or coax for pardon. But Charles 
 Greville pardoned with difficulty. His state 
 and dignity demanded there should be no occa- 
 sion. 
 
 The coldness of his temper, opposed to her own 
 excitability, jeopardised her position on one occa- 
 sion that is worth relating. 
 
 To reward her diligence, and also, perhaps, to 
 give himself the gratification of displaying his good 
 taste, Mr. Greville one evening carried Emma to 
 
Nelson's Legacy 135 
 
 Ranelagh, then at its zenith as a favourite resort 
 of the world of fashion. At first all went well. 
 Emma was the cynosure of admiring and envious 
 eyes and Mr. Greville enjoyed what was something 
 like a triumphal procession. They were followed 
 by the beaux and wits of the day. Mr. Greville 
 was importuned for information, introduction. 
 Who was his fair companion, where had he found 
 her, where did he conceal her ? These and 
 other questions were pressed upon him banter- 
 ingly, or earnestly. And he knew exactly how to 
 deal with his interlocutors. He could turn a quip, 
 parry a jest, word a paradox, invent an epigram, 
 as well as any man in town. With Emma on his 
 arm he was cool, witty, and most diplomatically 
 reticent as he made the tour of the gardens, 
 pursued and surrounded by his gayest acquaint- 
 ances. But he left Emma ten minutes un- 
 guarded, albeit in the shelter of a box he had 
 engaged for supper, whilst he busied himself 
 with the wine list. And in that ten minutes 
 the mischief was done that so nearly led to their 
 separation. 
 
 Emma's ardent nature was inflamed by the 
 brilliance and excitement of a scene so congenial 
 and her vanity was aroused by the attention of 
 which she knew she was the focusing point. Now, 
 not content with the admiration she had already 
 
136 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 received, she sat well forward in her box. It was 
 at that moment that Mr. Dennis O' Flanagan, who 
 had known her at Mrs. Kelly's, recognised that she 
 was not the stranger to London that she seemed. 
 He communicated his knowledge to the gentleman 
 nearest to him. Mr. Greville's fair incognita was 
 'Emy' from Mrs. Kelly's, 'The Goddess of 
 Hygeia ' from Dr. Graham's ! They called out to 
 her in greeting, in recognition, in welcome. It 
 would not have been Emma if she had not re- 
 sponded ; soon she was leaning out of the box 
 and chattering like a little bird. They had not 
 forgotten her dancing, nor her singing, nor her 
 imitations. Now they called upon her for both, 
 for all. She was excited and but a wild girl for 
 all Mr. Greville's tutoring. Her clear fine voice 
 broke into the most popular song of the day. The 
 gentlemen sang the chorus of it with her ; they 
 were enthusiastic, and more than one of them 
 was enterprising. Then it was that Mr. Greville 
 came back, not realising at once the meaning of 
 the augmenting crowd, nor what it was they were 
 so vociferously applauding. As the mob parted 
 for his coming, he caught a glimpse of Emma. 
 She was standing up, in the front of the box, 
 singing to those below, laughing to those nearest, 
 wimple thrown back, curls escaping, her eyes 
 shining, and her face flushed. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 137 
 
 Mr. Greville was mortified and angered almost 
 beyond measure. He hurried her from the scene 
 immediately, not concealing his displeasure, but 
 severely silent until they were in the solitude of 
 the hackney coach. Then, indeed, he rebuked 
 her with the utmost vehemence, denouncing her 
 inclination to please fools in preference to re- 
 specting his injunctions. His indignation was so 
 hot that Emma, cold with reaction and harried 
 with fear, suddenly realised the critical nature of 
 the position. She broke into a frenzy of self- 
 reproach, entreating again and again for his for- 
 giveness. But when he handed her out of the 
 carriage he was still unsoftened. It was then, on 
 an impulse at once natural and theatrical, that 
 she implored him, the tears streaming from her 
 eyes, crying, ' You must forgive me, you must, 
 you shall, you dear, dear Greville.' She flew to 
 her room, and hastily rousing her mother to her 
 assistance, she exchanged the elegant attire assumed 
 for the Ranelagh visit for her plainest and oldest 
 gown. Pursuing Mr. Greville to his study, she 
 threw herself on her knees before him. 
 
 ' See ! I am a poor girl again, Greville, the 
 girl you rescued, who is miserable at having dis- 
 pleased you. I was carried away by my high 
 spirits, the music, and the fine clothes. But I 
 have locked away the clothes, and the spirits is 
 
138 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 all gone.' Indeed her eyes were streaming. ' Take 
 your poor girl in your arms, tell her that you 
 will not cast her out. Greville, do not turn your 
 face away, do not look so coldly upon me. I am 
 more unhappy than when I was so distressed if 
 my Greville spurn me. . . .' 
 
 Her self-abasement salved his wounded pride. 
 But not all at once, not until the night was far 
 spent did he yield to her solicitations. For the 
 core of his heart was as hard as a stone, and she 
 might have flung herself against it in vain, but that 
 she added to his consequence. Mr. Greville valued 
 his reputation for taste, and it had been stamped 
 and hall-marked at Ranelagh to-night ; he knew 
 he would be the talk of the town to-morrow, and 
 ' Frail Emma ' the toast. 
 
 Therefore he condescended to accord to the 
 pleading culprit some slight reassurance, and to 
 accept the familiarities with which she signalised 
 her return to favour. She was permitted to fondle 
 his hands and called him her dear, dear Greville, 
 and to be extravagantly and exuberantly grateful 
 in her own way. Accepting rebuke and warning 
 in so humble and contrite a spirit, she was pre- 
 sently raised from the ground to the throne of 
 his knee, from which altitude she listened to a 
 fresh exposition of the heinousness of the offence 
 of having drawn public attention to herself. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 139 
 
 and thus possibly compromised him at White- 
 hall. 
 
 What Mr. Greville feared, or hoped, came to 
 pass, and Emma was the toast of the town. But 
 only for a short time, for a fresh escapade of the 
 * first gentleman in Europe,' George Prince of 
 Wales, was brought to light that week and filled 
 the public ear to the exclusion of the light amours 
 of meaner people. 
 
 The affair influenced Mr. Greville, nevertheless, 
 to a project he had long had in mind. This was 
 no other than to have Emma's portrait painted. 
 It was Emma herself who begged that the com- 
 mission should be given to Mr. Romney. Emma 
 had ever an affectionate and grateful heart, and 
 Mr. Romney had won his place in it already at 
 Broadlane Hall, where, notwithstanding that she 
 was only a nurse-girl, and in disgrace most of the 
 time, he had spoken to her with kindness, and 
 noticed her with particularity. Mr. Greville had 
 been all for engaging Mr. Gavin Hamilton, who 
 was among the few visitors to the little house in 
 Edgeware Row and had already expressed his 
 willingness, even his anxiety, to limn those lovely 
 features and that without fee or reward. The 
 guests Greville welcomed, and to whom he intro- 
 duced Emma, were those whom genius distinguished 
 and art engrossed, or whose sober habit and dis- 
 
140 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 creet age were their chief recommendation. He 
 knew enough of physics not to expose tinder to 
 flame. 
 
 Yet ^perhaps his judgment failed him when he 
 included Mr. George Romney amongst those who 
 were not inflammable. For he did assent finally 
 to Emma's wish that Mr. Romney should have the 
 commission, and it was he himself who first con- 
 veyed her to Cavendish Square. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Emma is taken by Charles Greville to Mr. Romney's studio in 
 Cavendish Square, and there sits for him in many attitudes, 
 and also in the nude. To this Mr. Greville takes objection, 
 and much accrues from the circumstance. She makes the 
 acquaintance of Sir William Hamilton, who at once ex- 
 presses his admiration of her, and endorses his nephew's 
 taste. 
 
 MR. GREVILLE, as has been already observed, 
 was an authority on all matters pertaining 
 to the fine arts, and the possessor already of a 
 cabinet of pictures of no mean value. 
 
 A great volume of water had flowed under 
 London Bridge since, as a journeyman artist, 
 George Rumney, as he then spelled his name, had 
 painted his way to London. He now enjoyed 
 considerable repute, and by many his work was 
 preferred to that of Mr. Gainsborough. In any 
 case there was sufficient in his favour to make 
 it easy for Mr. Greville to yield to Emma's wish 
 that he, and not Mr. Gavin Hamilton, should be 
 chosen to paint her picture. 
 
 Mr. Romney's studio was in Cavendish Square 
 and thither Emma repaired, accompanied by Mr. 
 Greville, one fine morning in April, a few days 
 
 subsequent to the Ranelagh escapade. She was 
 
 141 
 
142 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 in her best attire, not without some trepidation 
 at the prospect before her. She wondered if Mr. 
 Romney would recognise in the great Mr. Greville's 
 companion, in ' Frail Emma of Edge ware Row,' 
 the little nurse-girl whose head he had almost 
 turned by his attention in those far-away days 
 at Hawarden, 
 
 By this time Emma was well aware of her 
 beauty, and accustomed to the outspoken interest 
 it excited. She was doubly prepared in this 
 instance, since the purpose of her reception by 
 Mr. Romney was that he might study her looks 
 with a view to perpetuating them on canvas. Yet 
 the event was a great one in her history, and 
 worthy of the emotion with which she approached 
 it. In the future it was to become commonplace 
 to her ; dozens of artists here and in Italy were 
 to paint her for their own, her protector's, and the 
 public gratification. But, with the exception of the 
 amateur drawing by Miss Thomas in crayon, this 
 visit to Mr. Romney's studio on April 17th, 1782, 
 was the first occasion of a serious attempt being 
 made to put upon canvas the charms of this 
 eighteenth-century Aspasia. 
 
 Emma was entertained by the expression of 
 half-puzzled recognition on the artist's face when, 
 after his reception of Mr. Greville, who explained 
 the object of their visit, he started to pose and 
 
Nelson's Legacy 143 
 
 consider his new sitter. It was followed presently 
 by an equally apparent effort to recall any previous 
 meeting. Much had happened to them both in 
 the long interval and Mr. Romney's mind did not 
 easily revert to Broadlane Hall. 
 
 ' I rarely forget a face,' he said whilst he was 
 engaged with his easel, stepping backward, and 
 then forward, in a manner he had, his head a little 
 on one side, and his eyes screwed up. ' I rarely 
 forget a face, and that of your fair lady would 
 certainly not be an exception to my rule.' He 
 contemplated his subject with an interest in which 
 admiration predominated. Mr. Romney was no 
 courtier, he was not even given to courteous 
 speech, bearing ever traces of his plebeian birth 
 and the poverty of his early circumstances ; but 
 from the first Emma moved him strangely. He 
 was plainly questioning his defective memory. 
 ' For the life of me, I cannot help thinking I 
 have seen you before.' Now he addressed himself 
 directly to Emma, whose roguish smile was tanta- 
 lisingly reminiscent. ' I even have it in my mind 
 that I have studied or painted that hair. . . .' 
 
 Emma shook out her curls and smiled yet 
 more. 
 
 ' Shall I remind you ? ' she asked, and in a 
 trice stood up and played as with her apron, 
 dropping a little curtsey demurely. ' If you please. 
 
144 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 honoured sir,' she began, in the manner taught 
 her by the excellent Mrs. Thomas. 
 
 ' By Heaven ! 'Tis the little nursemaid from 
 Hawarden, the beautiful little nursemaid,' he ex- 
 claimed. And soon everything was made clear. 
 Emma was proud of her rise in circumstance. 
 For to live under the protection of Mr. Greville 
 still seemed to her a position to which that ex- 
 pression could be justly applied. 
 
 Mr. Romney had a good reputation, and Mr. 
 Greville had no reason for doubting the propi'iety 
 of his conduct when, as frequently happened after 
 this, he left Emma alone at the studio in Cavendish 
 Square. 
 
 On this occasion, after exclamation had been 
 followed by recognition, and recognition by con- 
 gratulation, Mr. Greville withdrew for a short time, 
 promising to call for Emma when he had left a 
 card upon his uncle, who had but this day returned 
 from Naples. Mr. Greville was greatly attached 
 to his uncle, whose heir he was, and who was an 
 ambassador at the Court of Naples. He may have 
 wished to impress the painter by making his 
 announcement, but in truth Mr. Romney was all 
 impatience for Mr. Greville's departure, eager to 
 be alone with his sitter and to employ his brush 
 on the most alluring subject that had ever offered 
 itself to his genius. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 145 
 
 Watching intently the delightful play of ex- 
 pression on Emma's animated face he led her 
 to talk of her experiences, of which it must be 
 admitted she gave him but a modified version, 
 whilst he prepared his canvas. Presently he 
 came to a pause in his attempt to rough in a 
 satisfactory indication of her features, and going 
 to a cabinet in which was a number of note- 
 books, he selected one, and coming over to the 
 dais whereon he had placed her, he gave it into 
 her hand. Mr. Grevillc found her with it on his 
 return to the studio. Mr. Romney was now paint- 
 ing rapidly, and Emma was absorbed in the book, 
 having fallen into a perfectly natural pose which 
 greatly assisted the artist. The book was full of 
 Hawarden sketches and reminiscences. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Thomas and their daughter figured there, and 
 so did the smaller children. Emma herself was 
 delineated several times ; in mob cap and apron ; 
 without a cap at all ; her curls disordered. There 
 was Emma laughing, and Emma crying, and, what 
 delighted her more than anything else, the sketch 
 of a struggling group, full of movement, in which 
 figured a woman belabouring a kicking boy, whilst 
 another bigger boy looked on grinning and in a 
 corner a frightened child in a mob cap cried with 
 fear. 
 
 'It's Mrs. Ogle,' Emma cried, 'and Will 
 
 K 
 
14^ Nelson's Legacy 
 
 Masters, and that's Joe Codgers. And I am the 
 Httle girl. Oh, Greville, do look ! Am I like 
 that now, but I am surely prettier ? ' 
 
 If he rebuked her for her vanity — for never 
 did Mr. Greville forget his role — he did not omit 
 to congratulate Mr. Romney on the spirited nature 
 of the work, and he offered to purchase the book 
 from him, to please the girl who was so enrap- 
 tured with it. Which offer, however, Mr. Romney 
 refused, afterwards, nevertheless, presenting it to 
 her, but not until their friendship and intimacy 
 had become fully established. 
 
 Now Mr. Romney carried on a long consultation 
 with Mr. Greville as to the character and pose the 
 painted figure of Emma should assume. Mr. 
 Greville was pleased also to affect a considerable 
 interest in the canvases that were lying about, or 
 standing against the wall, and he promised Mr. 
 Romney his continued patronage in the event of 
 being satisfied with Emma's portrait, for which 
 the agreed terms were fifteen guineas for a full 
 length, or ten for a bust. 
 
 The sittings Mr. Romney required for his por- 
 trait of Emma were many and various. Some- 
 times Mr. Greville accompanied her to the studio, 
 and sometimes her mother. There soon grew 
 up between artist and sitter a strange friendship. 
 In the secret heart of both of them there was 
 
Nelson's Legacy 147 
 
 what one may fittingly call a tendency to vagabond- 
 age, a lack of reverence for conventionality, an 
 inclination towards freedom of thought and action. 
 Emma was linked with a man to whom conven- 
 tionality was as the breath of life, Mr. Romney 
 was making a strong effort to live in conformity 
 with the dictates of his friends and patrons. But 
 to both Emma and George Romney their condi- 
 tions were unnatural, and in each other they 
 found a true sympathy and understanding. 
 
 Frequent visits to Mr. Romney's studio soon 
 became Emma's chief pleasure. Her household 
 duties accomplished, and her music master gone, 
 she would trip singing to the gate of the little 
 garden in Edgeware Row, and presently, taking 
 coach, would drive to Cavendish Square, there to 
 pass long hours posing, draped in classical robes, 
 for a Circe, a Calypso, or a Pythian priestess ; or, 
 with floating tresses and flying draperies, as a 
 Bacchante or a Woodland Nymph. Each character 
 she wore, she became. And Mr. Romney found 
 her ever a new inspiration, not only to his brush, 
 but to his imagination. He began to live in, and 
 for, these hours of companionship and eager work. 
 Hundreds of meetings followed the first sitting 
 arranged by Mr. Greville. Mr. Greville was pleased 
 that Emma had so sober a friend. Mr. Romney's 
 repute as an artist grew with amazing rapidity at 
 
148 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 this period, and it added to Mr. Greville's prestige 
 as an art critic and connoisseur that he should 
 have been a few weeks in advance of the town in 
 discovering that ' the man in Cavendish Square,' 
 as Mr. Joshua Reynolds called him, somewhat dis- 
 paragingly, or perhaps enviously, was in a fair 
 way to rival Mr. Reynolds himself in public favour. 
 It redounded to Mr. Greville's credit that his mis- 
 tress had been painted not once, but many times 
 by Mr. Romney, and that the painter said that 
 her beauty was a constant inspiration to his art. 
 Mr. Greville was never fonder of his Emma than 
 at this period. Mr. Romney painted her at the 
 spinning wheel, and this picture of domesticity 
 exemplified all Mr. Greville most esteemed. That 
 she was so desirable, and yet so completely his, 
 moved him to something as near conjugal love 
 as his coldness could attain. By a thousand evi- 
 dences she had convinced him of her devotion to 
 himself, and in spite of occasional outbreaks, he 
 was satisfied of her increasing self-command and 
 her general prudence. In Mr. Romney' s studio, 
 she met no libertines, but many men of eminence 
 in literature and the arts, who spurred her own 
 intelligence into emulation, and further equipped 
 her to be an intelligent companion of Mr. Greville's 
 solitude. He had no fear that these gentlemen 
 could seduce Emma from her allegiance. He 
 
THE SPINSTRESS 
 
 FROM THE ENGRAVING BV T. CHEESEMAN, AFTER 
 
 THE PAINTING BY ROMNEV 
 
Nelson's Legacy 149 
 
 encouraged her absences from Edgeware Row, 
 which left him free to classify and catalogue his 
 collection of minerals and otherwise indulge in 
 the favourite employments of the virtuoso. Mr. 
 Greville was not a man to whom the constant 
 companionship of woman is necessary, even if that 
 woman be an Emma Hart. Therefore, notwith- 
 standing that Mr. Romney was a married man, 
 who was as good as not married, since, even now 
 that success was overwhelming him, he had not 
 fetched his wife and children from the remote 
 country home where he had left them long before, 
 and in spite of the fact that Emma's ever-increasing 
 beauty made her peerless among women, a delight 
 to the eye, and a desire of the heart — in spite of 
 these facts, and of his knowledge of human nature, 
 Mr. Greville, for a long while, was oblivious of the 
 possibility that the artist's interest in the lovely 
 model might prove aught but professional. His 
 vanity precluded jealousy. 
 
 An artist's professional interest in female beauty 
 can, however, induce him to conduct his examina- 
 tion of it with a minuteness of detail to which the 
 modesty of any lady and the jealousy of any 
 protector might well object. Prudence in Emma's 
 case was a substitute for modesty, rather than its 
 synonym, and her adventurous career had deprived 
 her of squeamishness. She had a frankly pagan 
 
150 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 delight in her own loveliness, which, if it had cost 
 her much suffering, had also won her happiness 
 in her Greville's love. For still she read as love 
 that which might have been more truly named 
 self-gratification. 
 
 When the time came that Mr. Romney was 
 emboldened to ask, and she not averse to concede, 
 although with some pretence of demurring, a fuller 
 view of her loveliness, she had it in her mind 
 that she thereby confirmed her Greville's taste, 
 and that the exhibition was in his honour. That, 
 at least, was what she said when she had to excuse 
 herself to him. 
 
 Qualified by every gift of nature to serve as a 
 model for Venus, 'twas a matter of small moment 
 to her whether 'twas Venus Anadyomene or Venus 
 Rising from the Sea whom she was invited to 
 represent. An ell or two of transparent lawn, she 
 had reason to know, was a poor protection for a 
 maiden's honour. Her own feeling for Mr. Greville, 
 and Mr. Romney's absorption in his work, was the 
 armour on which she relied. And so it came to 
 pass that on more than one occasion she posed 
 for Mr. Romney clad in no more clothing than she 
 wore on her first entrance into the world. And it 
 is at any rate conceivable that her lavish concession 
 was not abused. 
 
 Emma had forgot to tell Mr. Greville of these 
 
Nelson's Legacy 151 
 
 sittings and it was therefore unfortunate that he 
 chanced to pay a visit to Cavendish Square on 
 one of the occasions when she was dehghting the 
 artist without the draperies that might obscure 
 his vision. It was a flawless model of Beauty 
 Unadorned that she represented, and it was a 
 pity that on this occasion Mr. Greville did not 
 appreciate a picture that had so often before won 
 his complete suffrance. For first the hot blood of 
 a quite commonplace jealousy dyed his thin ascetic 
 face and he moved forward quickly as if to take 
 some definite and unguarded action. Then, his 
 vanity coming to his rescue, he became pale and 
 cold, a model of politeness, that struck a chill in 
 Emma's heart. 
 
 ' I am not aware that I commissioned Mr. 
 Romney to paint a picture of Mrs. Hart in the 
 nude,' he began. ' Are you not perhaps exceed- 
 ing the limits of your instructions, sir, and of my 
 forbearance ? ' 
 
 ' 'Tis a study of Venus for a Judgment of Paris 
 that Mr. Romney is making,' Emma broke in, 
 coming forward in her eagerness from the model's 
 throne. ' 'Twas this way I posed for Dr. Graham's 
 lectures.' 
 
 Mr. Greville bowed and answered ironically, 
 ' I am delighted you have so vivid a remembrance 
 of your former condition. I should deeply regret 
 
152 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 to deprive the world too long of the enjoyment of 
 charms I have perhaps been selfish in attempt- 
 ing to preserve for myself,' he added. And now 
 his words were biting, and his voice matched them. 
 ' Mr. Romney will, perhaps, relieve me of the 
 necessity of saying more.' 
 
 ' Oh, Greville, dear Greville, what is it you are 
 thinking ? I am but a model to Mr. Romney ; 
 he calls me his inspiration, but it is you, you 
 only. . . .' She was frightened at his voice and 
 manner, terrified almost beyond pleading, as she 
 poured out incoherent words. 
 
 Mr. Romney had to recall himself from his 
 dreams of rivalling Rubens, and making Raphael 
 look to his laurels, to consider the scene before him. 
 Neither Rubens nor Raphael had enjoyed such 
 a model. Mr. Romney had all and more than the 
 artist's irritability of temperament and was ever 
 intolerant of interruption when at work. At the 
 present moment it was doubly unwelcome for he 
 knew that a masterpiece was growing under his 
 hands. His resentment was hot and spontaneous, 
 and whilst, at first, it astounded Mr. Greville, who 
 felt himself the injured party, it had the effect of 
 mollifying his manner, and restoring some measure 
 of reassurance to his mind. For Mr. Romney's 
 anger was not that of guilt, nor of one who has 
 stolen privileges that belong to another. It was 
 
Nelson's Legacy 153 
 
 the indignation of an artist and not of a man 
 that Mr. Romney betrayed. 
 
 ' Sir, by what right do you make rude entrance 
 into my studio ? ' 
 
 ' I sought the lady whom I have had for some 
 time the honour to protect,' Mr. Greville answered, 
 with moderation. 
 
 ' The privilege ..." 
 
 ' As you will, sir. Privilege may be the better 
 word.' 
 
 ' Neither honour nor privilege entitles you to 
 break into my private apartment.' 
 
 ' Your public studio.' 
 
 ' And interrupt me in my immortal work.' 
 
 ' Would it not be better if Mrs. Hart with- 
 drew ? ' Mr. Greville said, growing ever cooler as 
 the other waxed warm. ' Now that she is no 
 longer enjoying the favour of your rapt regard, 
 she might care to find some other covering.' 
 
 ' Oh, Greville, dear Greville,' Emma sobbed, 
 ' you are angered with me. How can I bear your 
 displeasure ? What is it that I have done that 
 is so bad, Greville ? ' 
 
 ' Madam, the reiteration of my name is no 
 longer agreeable to me on your lips.' 
 
 Mr. Romney had much ado to restrain his 
 opinion of this reply as he saw that Emma's con- 
 dition of pitiable fear and her frenzied desire that 
 
154 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 Mr. Greville should hear her explanations, were 
 momentarily increasing. Mr. Greville was cool, 
 very cool, between the two of them, but for more 
 reasons than one he wished Emma would robe 
 herself. 
 
 Left with Mr. Romney, Mr. Greville was in- 
 credulous, imperturbable, but always elegant in 
 his demeanour. He listened courteously to Mr. 
 Romney's repudiation of the interpretation placed 
 upon Emma's generosity to him. 
 
 ' Beauty like that of Mistress Hart benefits and 
 enriches all mankind, accentuating appreciation of 
 its Creator. I tell you, sir, that figure,' he pointed 
 to the glowing canvas, ' is above and beyond your 
 poor jealousy. A representation of the sublime 
 and perfect woman God gave to Adam in the 
 Garden of Eden, it is Divine, not human, in its 
 contours. Such beauty, such perfection of form, 
 is for mankind, not for man. I am an artist, 
 and it belongs to me, by right of my inten- 
 tion, if I can immortalise what you can only 
 enjoy.' 
 
 Mr. Greville made answer : 
 
 * I do not propose to debate the ethics of art 
 with you, Mr. Romney. Mrs. Hart is, however, 
 under my protection, and if I obiect to her ex- 
 hibition . . ,' 
 
 Then he caught sight of the picture on the 
 
Nelson's Legacy 155 
 
 easel. A little colour came into his pale cheeks, 
 and his breath was caught in his throat. 
 
 The duality of nature that I have before 
 observed as a characteristic of Mr. Greville made 
 him recognise instantly, even in the midst of his 
 jealousy and just anger, that it was indeed a 
 masterpiece upon which he was gazing. And from 
 that moment, although the interview was prolonged 
 nearly half an hour, the which time it took Emma 
 to recapture her courage as well as her clothes, he 
 said not one word more of bitterness or reproach 
 to Mr. Romney, but accepted, if not with humility, 
 at least with silence, the rebuke the other poured 
 upon him for his suspicions. 
 
 ' She is the most loyal, as she is the most 
 lovely of her sex. You are unworthy of her if 
 you doubt it. In all my intercourse with her I 
 have treated her with the utmost respect, to which 
 her demeanour has fully entitled her.' 
 
 * Before Heaven, that is true, my Greville,' 
 Emma interposed. She had been listening to the 
 colloquy whilst making her toilet behind the 
 screen. ' Oh, believe him, dear Greville ; indeed 
 you must and shall believe him. He has been 
 good and kind to me, no more ; I swear it ; and 
 he is a great, great genius, everybody knows it 
 now, and is leaving Mr. Reynolds to come to him. 
 And he says it is all because of me he is being so 
 
i5^ Nelson's Legacy 
 
 successful, and I am his Divine Lady. Oh, Gre- 
 ville, do listen ! What does it matter if Mr. 
 Romney has seen me in my figure. It is only as 
 as artist he has looked. . . .' Yet she blushed. 
 
 Mr. Greville answered her in a low voice, in his 
 own inimitable way, ' You have been well taught, 
 madam. I observe you have acquired Mr. Rom- 
 ney's phraseology.' 
 
 ' I have acquired nothing from him but what 
 is good ' — now she fell to weeping again — ' and 
 for your dear interest, Greville. Believe me, in 
 all the world it is only you I love, although I 
 wanted to do what Mr. Romney asked, and help 
 him in his great work. Take me home, Greville. 
 I am tired, and frightened that I have angered 
 you. And indeed, indeed you may trust me.' 
 
 Mr. Romney was much more easily moved by 
 beauty in distress than was Mr. Greville. He per- 
 ceived the manifest anxiety written on Emma's 
 face and realised what it might mean to dis- 
 turb Emma's present relations with one to whom 
 she owed much. Mr. Romney had no wish to pre- 
 cipitate a crisis between them. Assuming an atti- 
 tude more conciliatory than heretofore, he at- 
 tempted to soothe Mr. Greville's dignity without 
 forfeiting his own. 
 
 ' I do owe you, and I tender you an apology, 
 sir, for persuading Mistress Hart to oblige me. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 157 
 
 My passion for my art is my only excuse. As I 
 have already remarked, in the whole history of 
 the world, never had artist more perfect model. 
 I beg you to believe that I have no thought towards 
 this lady, but a most lively and intense admiration. 
 I know where her heart is fixed, and that Mr, 
 Greville can have no rival there.' 
 
 Emma shot him a grateful look, and Mr. 
 Greville had not choice but to accept an assurance 
 given with such an air of candour, and confirmed 
 by Emma's pleading eyes. He took his lovely 
 charge away with him, displaying that dignity and 
 ease on quitting a difficult situation of which only 
 men of the very highest breeding are capable. 
 Nor did he revert to the matter when alone with 
 Emma. But his manner to her was colder than 
 before, and he was more punctilious in his address, 
 more academic in his dissertations on les con- 
 venances. Emma wooed him back warmly, and 
 eventually he condescended to be coldly won. She 
 could not suppose that aught of rancour against 
 her lingered in his mind. 
 
 Mr. Greville knew himself to be fortunately 
 situated in so far as his domestic affairs were 
 concerned. The common experience of men of 
 fashion who set up irregular establishments is that 
 they have planted round the columnar tree of 
 their lives a parasite that will cling close and 
 
158 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 ever closer, until it kills the support by exhausting 
 its subsistence. The price a loose woman exacts 
 from the man to whom she sells her beauty is 
 leave to waste his fortune. It is not unusual 
 either, when this is accomplished, for her to admit 
 that she has no further use for him, and to drop 
 off with another, financially stronger. 
 
 Very different was Mr. Greville's experience 
 with Emma Hart. So far from adding to his 
 expenses, she was the direct means of reducing 
 them. Her allowance for pin money was no more 
 than fifty pounds a year, and the entire expenses 
 of the establishment in Edgeware Row were never 
 above three times that sum. And whilst thus 
 maintaining his household with the prudence and 
 frugality of the careful wife, she made it her first 
 object to study the personal comfort and tastes 
 of her Greville, whilst keeping her fascination over 
 his senses, as a mistress is more particular in doing 
 than a wife, since that commonly constitutes her 
 sole hold upon the man's sense of responsibility. 
 All this was highly agreeable to Mr. Greville, and 
 the more so because his own position was by no 
 means secure. The claims upon his purse as 
 member of Parliament for his family borough were 
 considerable, and although a minor promotion 
 secured him a small increase of emolument, his 
 tenure of office was precarious. As time went 
 
Nelson's Legacy 159 
 
 on he became seriously concerned as to the means 
 whereby he could discharge all his obligations 
 punctually and yet continue to gratify his tastes. 
 
 Therefore, although he was perfectly sensible 
 of Emma's housewifely qualities and was still 
 enamoured of her personal charms, even before the 
 incident in Mr. Romney's studio, he had not 
 omitted to debate in his own mind possible alterna- 
 tives to his present situation. Such alternatives 
 included a regular alliance with some lady of for- 
 tune and influence. Mr. Greville pretended to 
 forgive Emma her exposure to Mr. Romney, but 
 his temperament, and presently his prospects, 
 forbade it. 
 
 It was now that he received a visit in Edge- 
 ware Row from his most particular friend, whose 
 temporary return from Naples has already been 
 announced, and with whom he had maintained a 
 frequent and intimate correspondence. This friend 
 was no other than his maternal uncle, Sir William 
 Hamilton, a man by many years Greville' s senior, 
 but bound to him in almost fraternal ties by 
 identity of tastes and equal zest as virtuoso and 
 connoisseur. For close upon a quarter of a century 
 Sir William Hamilton had enjoyed his appointment 
 at Naples, serving at the Court of the Two Sicilies 
 as Ambassador to His Britannic Majesty, whose 
 foster-brother he was, and of whose signal favour 
 
i6o Nelson's Legacy 
 
 he had received many testimonies, including the 
 ribbon of the Bath. Sir WiHiam's reputation as 
 an archaeologist and man of science was world- 
 wide and deserved, but it did not preclude him 
 from enjoying an equal esteem as a man of wit 
 and of fashion in a Court where frivolous amuse- 
 ment was the first order of the day. 
 
 Sir William Hamilton had recently been left 
 a widower. His fortune, already considerable, was 
 enhanced by his now coming into the sole enjoy- 
 ment of property at Milford, in the county of 
 Pembrokeshire, formerly in the possession of his 
 wife. IVIr. Greville had always acted as the 
 manager of his uncle's affairs, and Sir William now 
 designed to develop Milford. It was for that pur- 
 pose he had obtained leave of absence from Naples, 
 and his first visit to Edgeware Row was with the 
 object of interesting his nephew in his scheme. 
 
 To Emma the name of Sir William Hamilton 
 was perfectly familiar. It was constantly on Mr. 
 Greville's lips and she had been taught to regard 
 Sir William Hamilton reverently, as a relation who 
 reflected credit on Mr. Charles Greville. His 
 arrival at this particular juncture of affairs, when 
 Mr. Greville was cool with her, and she ever bent 
 on regaining his favour, caused her heart to flutter 
 with anxiety to please one of whom her protector 
 entertained so high an opinion, and she resolved 
 
Nelson's Legacy i6i 
 
 to leave nothing undone for the entertainment of 
 him whom her king dehghted to honour. 
 
 For his part, Sir WiUiam Hamilton had never 
 heard of Mrs. Hart, and he was vastly amused to 
 discover that his nephew was so correctly incor- 
 rect. He rallied him upon it, yet took the occa- 
 sion to belaud his taste and good fortune. ' I 
 congratulate you, my dear nephew, on such a 
 priceless acquisition. You say the connection is 
 two years old. How is it I have had never a word 
 about the gem of your whole collection ? Did you 
 think I should complain because you were no 
 Stoic ? I am a man of the world, Charles, a man 
 of the world ! I respect your judgment, I extol 
 your taste. The combined genius of Phidias and 
 Apelles, Michael Angelo and Cellini, could not have 
 conceived a more perfect specimen of womanhood 
 than you have here in the flesh.' 
 
 To Emma from the beginning he was vastly 
 civil, treating her with great consideration, as if 
 she had been his nephew's wife, or in any case his 
 equal in birth and station. 
 
 Emma was pleased and flattered by Sir William 
 Hamilton's manners and attention. If at first she 
 was too awed and surprised by what she had heard 
 of his exalted circumstance to do full justice to the 
 liveliness of her disposition when in his presence, 
 this was but a transient feeling. He took an ever- 
 
i62 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 growing pleasure in her society, and she expanded 
 under his appreciation, beginning to exhibit her 
 parts, singing and dancing for his benefit, and 
 giving Httle performances. Her imitation of the 
 stiff mihtary manner of Colonel Fulke-Greville, for 
 instance, her Greville's brother Robert, evoked his 
 hearty laughter. Encouraged by her new uncle's 
 applause, and noting that Mr. Greville raised no 
 objection to her high spirits, she went on to mimic 
 Mr. Willoughby and other frequenters of the house. 
 
 Whatever his engagements, Sir William Hamil- 
 ton contrived they should not interfere with his 
 daily appearance at the table of the ' fair tea- 
 maker of Edge ware Row,' as he soon came to 
 call Emma. 
 
 She certainly laid herself out to please him. 
 But there was neither hypocrisy nor looseness in 
 her overtures. She knew that Sir William Hamil- 
 ton's goodwill was of importance to her Greville; 
 this, and this only, it was that actuated her in 
 her endeavour to make his visits to the house 
 ever more agreeable. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 Sir William Hamilton becomes more and more enamoured with 
 his nephew's mistress. Mr. Greville sees great advantage 
 in an arrangement which will secure his succession to his 
 uncle's estate, whilst leaving him free to contract an alliance 
 in accordance with his fortune. 
 
 WHETHER, as Mr. Greville suspected, Emma's 
 exposure in Mr. Romney's studio conduced to 
 the disorder, or whether it was due to some other 
 cause, about this time she contracted a cold of such 
 severity that both Mrs. Cadogan and the physician 
 recommended by Sir William Hamilton, feared 
 lest she should fall into a consumpton. Sea-bath- 
 ing was ordered, and much as Mr. Greville regretted 
 the expense, he had no choice but to arrange for 
 the order to be carried into execution. He did 
 not demur more at the expense than Emma at 
 the separation. But the moment was opportune, 
 for Sir William's affairs necessitated his own 
 absence from town, and he wished to carry his 
 nephew with him. 
 
 Emma's weakness, and Emma's tears, made 
 further impression upon the ambassador, and he 
 
 persuaded Charles, who had put him in possession 
 
 163 
 
164 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 of his mistress's earlier history, to offer her the 
 company of her Httle daughter, still domiciled with 
 Mrs. Kidd at Hawarden, as a solatium for his own. 
 The proposal changed the tears of reluctance to 
 those of gratitude. It seemed to Emma yet another 
 proof of the incomparable goodness of her Greville's 
 heart, and of his affectionate solicitude for her 
 happiness. She never dreamed that it was to 
 his uncle the suggestion was due. She accepted 
 it with joy, and even thought that this reunion 
 with her child might perhaps become a lasting one. 
 If little Emma were good, and had become beau- 
 tiful, it was not beyond the limits of possibility 
 that her generous Greville would allow her to bring 
 the babe home to Edgeware Row. Then indeed 
 would her cup of happiness be full. To live in 
 one house together with her mother and child, 
 all of them under the protection of the incom- 
 parable Greville, what woman could wish for 
 more ? Certainly not Emma Hart. 
 
 Whilst preparations were being made for her 
 journey to the sea she said no word about the 
 plan thus forming in her mind, but excelled her- 
 self in testifying her grateful love to Greville by 
 the tenderest attentions to himself and to his 
 guest. Sir William noted everything, daily be- 
 coming more enamoured. He was not without 
 experience of eraCpai, but he had seen none like 
 
Nelson's Legacy 165 
 
 this ; she was eKXeKToraTcov eKkmrorepa — pulcherHma 
 Dido — peerless among women. He treated her 
 with courtly gallantry, which grew gradually into 
 the playful affectionateness so often subsisting 
 between old and young relatives. He constituted 
 himself her guardian and counsellor what time 
 she displeased Charles by her liveliness or levity. 
 He dubbed his nephew * Pliny the Younger.' It was 
 Pliny the Elder who was ever at hand with service 
 and succour if the other were unduly severe. 
 
 There was no doubt Mr. Greville knew the way 
 affairs were tending. There was little that escaped 
 him when his own interests were involved. His 
 uncle's anxiety when Emma fell into ill-health was 
 far greater than his own, and the offer to bear 
 the expense if her child were permitted to accom- 
 pany her came unsolicited from Sir William Hamil- 
 ton. Sir William wished the proposal to appear to 
 emanate from his nephew, and not from himself, 
 for he had a great regard for Mistress Hart's 
 delicacy, and would not for the world that she 
 became aware of his knowledge of her unlawful 
 motherhood. He treated her throughout with a 
 consideration and respect that betrayed his grow- 
 ing feeling. Already a plan was forming itself 
 in Mr. Greville's mind. It was not his nature to 
 act precipitately, or he might have forbidden the 
 visits to the studio, which still continued up to 
 
i66 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 the very day of her departure from Edgeware 
 Row. Mr. Greville's jealousy was coldly dis- 
 criminating, and without expression. He did not 
 resent his uncle's growing infatuation and had no 
 anxiety lest it be returned. But his imagination 
 followed Emma to the dais where Mr. Romney 
 enthroned and gazed upon the loveliness that un- 
 draped itself freely for his benefit. And ever grew 
 the resentment that had so strange a climax. 
 
 No one who occupies a position on which the 
 light of publicity is thrown can hope to escape 
 the malice of detractors. Calumny had not passed 
 by Sir William Hamilton, who was now in his 
 fifty-fifth year. It protested that he had taken 
 advantage of his ofBce to make bargains in the 
 antiquities discovered at Herculaneum and Pompeii, 
 afterwards selling them to his own country at an 
 exorbitant figure. It further suggested that he 
 had added to the functions of an ambassador that 
 of cavaliere servente to the Queen of Naples. Truth 
 may have lurked in both these accusations. ' I 
 am more a ministre de famille at this court,' he 
 wrote, ' than ever were the ministers of France, 
 Spain, and Vienna.' Yet his wife, between whom 
 and himself there existed a mutual affection and 
 esteem, has left it on record that he had been 
 ever ' faithful and affectionate ' to her ; and she 
 proved her confidence by leaving him her entire 
 
Nelson's Legacy 167 
 
 estate. There is no doubt, nevertheless, that Sh- 
 WiUiam Hamilton possessed the qualities essential 
 to diplomacy and he made full use of them during 
 the tour which he made now with his nephew. 
 He had become enamoured of the ' Fair tea-maker 
 of Edge ware Row,' but a transfer to himself of 
 his nephew's mistress was a difficult matter, and 
 needed the most elaborate negotiation. He was 
 much longer in perceiving the trend of Mr. Greville's 
 mind than Mr. Greville had been in realising his. 
 And when they were both aware of the transaction 
 each was contemplating, there was sufficient of 
 decency left in them to desire to cloak its nature. 
 For what it amounted to was that Mr. Greville 
 possessed a work of art which his uncle coveted. 
 The elder man was in a position to compel the 
 sale, and the younger only concerned as to the 
 price. It was for this reason that Mr. Greville 
 concealed the Romney incident and the inter- 
 pretation he put upon it. It was not his pro- 
 vince to point out a flaw in the objet d'art of 
 which he was disposing ; rather would he extol 
 it as flawless, and exact the last shilling. 
 
 Mr. Greville's financial position was not the 
 most comfortable. He was still encumbered with 
 his fine house in Portman Square. Under the 
 testament of the late Lord Warwick he had en- 
 gagements requiring two thousand pounds, of 
 
i68 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 which he had not more than one moiety at hand ; 
 and, apart from the expenses of his present estab- 
 lishment, he was harassed by those entailed in 
 connection with the representation of his family 
 borough, which necessitated an annual tour in 
 Warwickshire, to say nothing of disbursements to 
 a corrupt electorate. The prospect was gloomy, 
 seeming to offer no alternative to comparative 
 poverty but a manage de convenance. 
 
 Sir William listened sympathetically when Mr. 
 Greville discoursed upon his troubles, professing 
 willingness to extend any assistance in his power. 
 He regretted that he had very little money lying 
 idle, certainly not one, far less the required sum 
 of two, thousand guineas. But his credit was 
 good, and he had no doubt that his bankers, 
 Messrs. Ross and Ogilvie, would find the amount 
 to discharge his nephew's Humberston engage- 
 ments, accepting his security for Mr. Greville' s 
 bond. 
 
 As for the future, and the manage de convenance 
 at which his nephew hinted, what was that he 
 had heard about Lord Middleton's youngest 
 daughter ? Mr. Greville was doubtful. He feared 
 she was beyond the mark for a younger son, being 
 not only admirable in beauty and disposition, but 
 possessed of a fortune of twenty thousand pounds. 
 Of course, an assurance that he was to be his 
 
Nelson's Legacy 169 
 
 uncle's heir might influence the decision of her 
 guardians. Sir WilHam acknowledged it had always 
 been his intention to make Charles his residuary 
 legatee, and the admission was at the disposal of 
 his lawyers. But if pourparlers were exchanged 
 with Lord Middleton, ' what of the fair tea- maker ? ' 
 
 This was the manner of their discourse, but it 
 is proper to remark that the discussion was not 
 carried on within the limits of one day. Sir 
 William was too clever a diplomatist, and Mr. 
 Greville too cautious an antagonist, for the matter 
 to be brought to so plain an issue. They pursued 
 their tour in the utmost harmony, each taking the 
 highest pleasure in the cultivated companionship 
 of the other, everything that concerned poor Emma 
 and her future well understood between them long 
 before anything definite had been said. 
 
 Meanwhile Emma, happy in ignorance of what 
 was impending, devoted herself to the care of 
 little Emma, employing her spare time in pouring 
 out her heart in long letters to Greville. After 
 several removals in search of a lodging that should 
 not be too fashionable nor too dear, she had found 
 suitable accommodation in Parkgate, at the mouth 
 of the River Dee, over which her own father was 
 wont to gaze so longingly in his last days at Great 
 Nesse. Here, in the house of a lady whose hus- 
 band was at sea, she procured board and lodging 
 
170 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 at a price which she deemed high, but was cer- 
 tainly not ruinous. She punctually and faithfully 
 reported all her movements and expenses, request- 
 ing Greville's free and unrestrained opinion upon 
 them. "^ 
 
 ' I bathe and find the water very soiilt ' [she wrote]. 
 * Here is a good many laidys batheing, but I have no 
 society with them, as it is best not. So pray, my dearest 
 Greville, write soon, and tell me what to do, as I will 
 do just what you think proper ; and tell me what to do 
 with the child. For she is a great romp, and I can hardly 
 master her. She is tall, good eys and brows, and as to 
 lashes, she will be passible ; but she has overgrown all 
 her cloaths. I am makeing and mending all as I can 
 for her. Pray, my dear Greville, do lett me come home 
 as soon as you can ; for I am all most broken-hearted 
 being from you. ... I say nothing abbout this guidy, 
 wild girl of mine. What shall we do with her, Greville ? 
 Wou'd you believe, on Satterday we had a little quarrel 
 and I did slap her on her hands, and when she came to 
 kiss me and make it up, I took her on my lap and cried. 
 Pray, do you blame me or not ? Pray tell me. Oh, 
 Greville, you don't know how I love her. Endead I do. 
 When she comes and looks in my face and calls me 
 " mother," endead I then truly am a mother, for all 
 the mother's feelings rise at once, and tels me I am or 
 ought to be a mother, for she has a wright to my pro- 
 tection ; and she shall have it as long as I can, and I will 
 do all in my power to prevent her falling into the error 
 her poor miserable mother fell into. But why do I say 
 miserable ? Am I not happy abbove any of my sex, at 
 
Nelson's Legacy 171 
 
 least in my situation ? Does not Greville love me, or at 
 least like me ? Does not he protect me ? Does not he 
 provide for me ? Is not he a father to my child ? Why 
 do I call myself miserable ? No, it was a mistake, and I 
 will be happy, cheerful, and kind, and do all my poor 
 ability will lett me, to return the fatherly goodness and 
 protection he has shewn. Again, my dear Greville, the 
 recollection of past scenes brings tears to my eyes. But 
 they are tears of happiness. To think of your goodness 
 is too much. But once for all, Greville, I will be grateful, 
 adue. It is near bathing time, and I must lay down my 
 pen, and I won't finish till I see when the post comes, 
 whether there is a letter. He comes in about one o'clock. 
 I hope I have a letter to-day. Emma is crying because 
 I won't come and bathe. So, Greville, adue till after I 
 have dipt. May God bless you, my dearest Greville, 
 and believe me faithfully, affectionately, and truly yours 
 only.' 
 
 Permission to take her child back to Edgeware 
 Row v^^as what Emma was seeking chiefly at this 
 time, and in all her letters she sought to create a 
 favourable impression of her daughter in her 
 Greville' s mind. But he, planning already how to 
 reduce his present encumbrances, had no intention 
 of adding to their number. He replied diplomatic- 
 ally, advising that the little Emma should be sent 
 to some good school, and thus trained under better 
 influences than can obtain in any irregularly 
 established home. Emma was grateful for so much 
 concession, and, it may be, agreed with the opinion 
 
172 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 that withheld more ; for the child that later proved 
 of a bad disposition had already taxed her feeble 
 maternal instinct beyond its strength. 
 
 ' You don't know, my dearest Greville ' [she answered], 
 ' what a pleasure I have to think my poor Emma will be 
 comfortable and happy, and if she does but turn out well, 
 what a happyness it will be. I hope she will for your 
 sake. I will teach her to pray for you as long as she 
 lives ; and if she is not grateful and good it wont be 
 my fault. But what you say is very true ; a bad dis- 
 position may be made good by good example, and Greville 
 would not put her anywhere to have a bad one. I come 
 into your whay of athinking ; hollidays spoils children. 
 It takes there attention from there scool, and gives them 
 a bad habit. When they have been a month, and goes 
 back it does not pleas them, and that is not wright, and 
 the do nothing but thingk when the shall go back again. 
 Now Emma will never expect what she never had. But 
 I wont think. All my happiness is Greville, and to think 
 that he loves me. I have said all I have to say abbout 
 Emma, yet she only gives her duty. ... I have no 
 society with anybody but the mistress of the house, and 
 her mother and sister. The latter is a very genteel young 
 lady, good-nattured, and does everything to pleas me. 
 But still I woud rather be at home, if you was there. 
 I follow the old saying, home is home though 'tis ever so 
 homely. ... I bathe Emma, and she is very well and 
 grows. Her hair will grow very well on her forehead, 
 and I don't think her nose will be very snub. Her eys 
 is blue and pretty. She dont speak through her nose, 
 but she speaks countryfied, but she will forget it. We 
 squabble sometimes ; still she is fond of me, and endead 
 
Nelson's Legacy 173 
 
 I love her. For she is sensible. So much for Beauty. 
 Adue, I long to see you.' 
 
 Emma's health having been at length com- 
 pletely restored by the sea-bathing, she returned 
 to Edge ware Row, where she was soon joined by 
 Mr. Greville and his uncle. Sir William had now 
 to prepare for the resumption of his duties at the 
 Court of Naples. He had come to an amiable 
 arrangement with his nephew by which he assisted 
 the latter in his pecuniary embarrassments. The 
 transference of Emma was an unwritten clause in 
 the contract between them. Sir William had his 
 vanity, the vanity of a man to whom women's 
 favour had been easy ; he wished to woo and 
 win her for himself. Mr. Greville thought secretly 
 the task would prove to be beyond his matured 
 powers, and that it was he who would have to 
 arrange matters so that there should be no scene 
 such as he knew Emma was capable of making. 
 Mr. Greville was now quite decided to give up 
 Emma. Her extravagant fondness over their re- 
 union made no difference in his sentiments. Had 
 she not owned that she visited Mr. Romney the 
 very day of her return, and that he said she had 
 * improved in colour, and was growing buxom ' ? 
 
 But when Sir William had left England and 
 was once more settled in his Neapolitan home, 
 Mr. Greville set about to bring the matter to an 
 
174 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 issue without doing too great violence to Emma's 
 sensibility. The acute student of human char- 
 acter will have no difficulty in following the opera- 
 tions of his mind, and will be prepared to admit 
 that in the case of so pedagogic a nature there was 
 more of the grammarian than of the hypocrite in 
 his recognition of the difference between <f)atvofiai 
 
 eivai and <f)aivofjbal (ot, 
 
 Mr. Greville's plan, which he had communicated 
 to his uncle, and with which that gentleman was 
 completely satisfied, was to dislodge Emma from 
 Edgeware Row and separate her from himself 
 under the pretext that such dislodgment and 
 separation were only temporary, and for Mr. 
 Greville's interest. A bantering suggestion from 
 Sir William had been so ill received as to persuade 
 him that for the moment at least her fondness 
 for Mr. Greville was sufficiently great that she 
 recoiled from the idea of having traffic with any 
 other man. Mr. Greville had prevised this result ; 
 for although she had exposed herself to Mr. Romney, 
 and thus lost her value in his eyes, he did her the 
 justice to admit that she had no desire to transfer 
 that which she was never averse from exhibiting. 
 
 It was incumbent upon him, therefore, as the 
 first step toward his plan, to tell her of his neces- 
 sity now to fulfil engagements where she could not 
 conveniently accompany him. Later, he intended 
 
Nelson's Legacy 175 
 
 to plead financial distress as an excuse for closing 
 the house in Edgeware Row. The question of her 
 accommodation in the interval would then arise, 
 and in dealing with this Mr. Greville proposed to 
 avail himself of Emma's often-expressed desire for 
 self-improvement. Italy offered advantages of edu- 
 cation in music and languages beyond those of 
 any other country. In Naples Sir William Hamil- 
 ton, Pliny the Elder, his own jidus Achates, and her 
 true friend, would assist her in obtaining masters 
 and all facilities for studying. So much of the 
 problem having been thus set forth, the old pro- 
 cess of solvitur amhulando might be relied upon to 
 bring the parties to a point when quod erat facien- 
 dum could be written at the end of the proposition. 
 Such was Mr. Greville's considered scheme. 
 
 It is tremendous to reflect upon the power to 
 blind the conscience which is inherent in immoral 
 desire. Satan, the cleverest of fallen angels, has 
 the key to every locked heart. In tempting clever 
 men he instils the most specious arguments into 
 their minds, knowing how the subtlety of logic 
 will titillate their intellects until they delude them- 
 selves into a belief that it is reason alone that 
 moves them. As he considered and developed his 
 plan for accomplishing his design, Greville entirely 
 lost sight of the nature of the transaction in 
 which he was engaged. Neither Mr. Romney nor 
 
176 Nelson*s Legacy 
 
 his own pecuniary advantage loomed large, and 
 he could even regard himself as a man sacri- 
 ficing his own happiness for the happiness and 
 welfare of others. He sincerely wished to gratify 
 his uncle, who had ever been his very good friend, 
 and he knew that Emma and her mother would 
 enjoy a greater consequence in a larger establish- 
 ment. All this and more he showed in letters 
 written to Sir William, and at last put the pro- 
 posal in its simplest terms. 
 
 ' If you could form a plan ' [he wrote], ' by which 
 you could have a trial, and could invite her and tell her 
 I ought not to leave England, and that I cannot afford to 
 go on, and state it as a kindness to me if she would accept 
 your invitation, she would go with pleasure. When you 
 write an answer to this, inclose a letter to her, and I will 
 manage to persuade her to it ; and either by land, by 
 coach to Geneva, and from thence by Veturine forward 
 her, or else by sea. I must add that I could not man- 
 age it so well later. After a month and absent from me, 
 she would consider the whole more calmly. If there was 
 in the world a person she loved so well as yourself, after 
 me, I could not arrange with so much sang-froid ; and 
 I am sure I would not let her go to you if there were 
 any risque of the usual coquetry of the sex being likely 
 to give uneasiness.' 
 
 Stripped of all external decoration of verbiage 
 Mr. Greville's action appears extremely sordid, 
 even if a harsher word may not be more aptly 
 applied to it. He may well have hesitated to 
 
Nelson's Legacy 177 
 
 throw himself so open even to the uncle whose 
 good opinion he valued. But having brought him- 
 self to do so, he awaited the result with philosophic 
 calm, employing the interval in making more per- 
 fect the yet not quite satisfactory arrangement of 
 his collection of minerals. 
 
 When Sir William's invitation arrived, Mr. 
 Greville feigned surprise, but after pretending a 
 little consideration, he told Emma that he wished 
 her to accept it. He explained that if he was 
 to have enough to live upon, and to pay the interest 
 of his debts without parting with his collection, 
 he must reduce every expense, and as he would 
 be obliged to absent himself for some months in 
 Scotland, he would have no objection to her going 
 to Naples for six or eight months ; that she need 
 not fear being troublesome, as he was sure she 
 would be perfectly satisfied with the degree of 
 attention Sir William would from choice give her, 
 while she would be very happy in learning music 
 and Italian. 
 
 Thus suddenly confronted with a scheme of 
 which every detail seemed to be fixed already, 
 Emma found herself without effective defence. She 
 could only urge, with tears, that six months was 
 an eternity, that she would be so miserable apart 
 from her Greville she could not profit from studies 
 to be substituted for conversation with him ; and 
 
 M 
 
178 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 that she did not want to go. She met his reasons 
 with a woman's lack of reason, and essayed to 
 defeat his logic with her emotion. She said she 
 did not mind going again to the sea, to Weymouth 
 or to Exeter, whilst he was absent in Scotland. 
 But she vowed she could not, would not, separate 
 herself from him by such a distance as he pro- 
 posed. At first it seemed nothing would move 
 her from this determination. It was then Mr. 
 Greville used the last weapon in his armoury. 
 
 ' Emma, you must listen to what I have to 
 say.' For she was crying and asseverating that 
 she would not be parted from him. ' I am 
 leaving London, and can no longer afford to sup- 
 port you and your mother here. Be reasonable ; 
 I have suggested a method which would relieve 
 me until such time as I have paid off my liabilities, 
 and can look forward to my prospects as my 
 uncle's heir. In Italy, in Naples, you would be 
 perfecting your voice, learning French and Italian, 
 fitting yourself for my altered position.' 
 
 He paused ; he meant her to understand the 
 implication that it was because he wanted her to 
 be more to him, and not less, that he was sending 
 her away. A sudden flush of colour and imme- 
 diate cessation of her tears told him she accepted 
 the inference. She was to fit herself to be a 
 better companion to her Greville, perhaps more 
 
Nelson's Legacy 179 
 
 than a companion ! Hope told its ever flatter- 
 ing tale. 
 
 ' But how can I live all these months without 
 seeing you ? ' she exclaimed. ' No, no, let me 
 stay ; I will be more diligent, dear, dear Greville, 
 and will apply myself better. I will indeed. You 
 shall have no more cause to complain of my idle- 
 ness. Your dear presence . . .' 
 
 ' Is it mine, Emma ? Is it my company that 
 you fear to miss ? I have told you that I am 
 leaving London, that you cannot accompany me. 
 Yet you urge me to let you remain in town. Can 
 it be that it is not me, but Mr. Romney, from 
 whom you dread to part ? . . . ' 
 
 ' Oh, Greville ! ' 
 
 Yet she hung her head. For the hours in the 
 studio, where Mr. Romney was never tired of tell- 
 ing of her beauty and dilating upon its variety 
 and perfection, were very dear to her. She had 
 forgotten that Mr. Greville honoured, or dis- 
 honoured her by jealousy and she wished to be 
 quite candid with him. 
 
 * I see I have hit upon the truth,' Mr. Greville 
 went on, astounded nevertheless at the effect of 
 his words. His suspicions were reinforced by her 
 attitude. ' It is then Mr. Romney, and not I,' 
 he repeated, ' who binds you to England ? ' 
 
 A spasm of genuine anger interrupted his speech, 
 
i8o Nelson's Legacy 
 
 and momentarily crossed his intention, for none 
 of his interests would be served if she took him at 
 his word. * It is then to Mr. Romney and his 
 studio you would wish to transfer yourself when 
 I leave town ? ' 
 
 She burst again into tears. 
 
 ' Oh, Greville, how unkind ! You cannot say, 
 or think, such a thing. I only live to please you ; 
 indeed I have no other thought. I should be 
 sorry to leave Mr. Romney because he paints so 
 beautifully. I am so proud to be of use to him, 
 and he has finished so few of the pictures. But 
 only my Greville holds me. . . .' 
 
 ' Then obey your Greville,' he put in quickly. 
 
 She could not combat his casuistry, nor his 
 peremptoriness. Under his direction she presently 
 wrote a letter accepting Sir William Hamilton's 
 invitation. She wrote that Mr. Greville was going 
 to places where she could not with propriety attend 
 him, and she had too great a regard for his inter- 
 ests to hinder him from pursuing those plans 
 which it was right to follow. She desired to be a 
 little more improved, and since Greville out of his 
 kindness had given his permission, she would be 
 flattered if Sir William would assist her in this 
 project. She would start the following 1st of 
 March, when Greville went to Scotland, and she 
 would remain at Naples until Greville came to 
 
Nelson's Legacy i8i 
 
 fetch her back in October or November. She 
 looked to find the pleasure of Sir William Hamilton's 
 company and conversation the most agreeable 
 thing in Italy. ' I shall be perfectly happy,' she 
 assured him, ' in any arrangements you will make, 
 as I have full confidence in your kindness and 
 attention to me.' 
 
 So she signed the docket to her own disposal 
 by Greville, and although not yet with open eyes, 
 took the first steps towards the embraces of 
 another man. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 Emma, neglected and abandoned by Greville, solicited by the 
 King of Italy, and pursued by the gentlemen of his Court, 
 yields at length to Sir William Hamilton. 
 
 SIR WILLIAM HAMILTON'S satisfaction was 
 unbounded when Emma's missive, enclosed in 
 one from his nephew, assured him that the first part 
 of this dehcate transaction was accompUshed. He 
 had not so small an opinion of his power to please 
 the fair sex as to believe that he would fail eventu- 
 ally in winning Emma's compliance to his wishes, 
 when she should have grown accustomed to the 
 loss of her Greville. He had but to follow the 
 recommendation of Suetonius, and make haste 
 slowly, to accomplish his design on what remained 
 of Emma's virtue. He had no vision of how far 
 his infatuation for her would lead, and what would 
 be the end of their connection. He did not see 
 himself at all in the role of mari to his nephew's 
 mistress, far less in that of mari complaisant. Mr. 
 Greville's sight was no clearer. No sooner had 
 Sir William promised to make him his heir than 
 the possibility of a second marriage had occurred 
 to him. Since such an event might easily be the 
 
Nelson's Legacy 183 
 
 antecedent of his own disinheritance, it was plainly 
 to his interest to avert it if he could. And, re- 
 volving the matter, he perceived quickly that the 
 same obstacle that stood between himself and 
 matrimony, to wit, a mistress, might well be set 
 between Sir William Hamilton and the holy estate. 
 It was this that settled him in parting with Emma. 
 
 ' To sup with the devil, one needs a long spoon.' 
 The devil was in Emma's charm, and soon began 
 to urge her forward. Her story may seem to pro- 
 ceed slowly, but it never really halts, nor time 
 stand still. 
 
 Mr. Gavin Hamilton, the painter, escorted 
 Emma and her mother to Italy. After a journey 
 occupying two months in time, they reached their 
 destination, as chance would have it, on Emma's 
 twenty-first birthday. Very soon after her arrival, 
 and before Sir William Hamilton had exhibited 
 himself in any other light than that of one who 
 wished to make her stay agreeable, she began to 
 pour out her heart to Greville. 
 
 ' It was my birthday ' [she said in one of her earliest 
 letters], ' and I was very low-spirited. Oh God ! that 
 day you used to smile on me and stay at home, and be 
 kind to me — that that day I should be at such a distance 
 from you ! But my comfort is that I rely upon your 
 promise, and September or October, I shall see you ! ' 
 
 She told him that she was sure to cry the 
 
184 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 moment she thought of him, and dreaded sitting 
 down to write, as she wanted to show a cheerful 
 face to Sir WiUiam. Although ruin depend on it, 
 she vowed she must and would see him at the 
 summer's end. After protestations of devotion 
 that should have caused some uneasiness to him 
 who was actually engaged in trafficking her, she 
 concluded her letter in a manner which showed 
 how simple and unsophisticated she was, despite 
 her varied experience of the other sex : 
 
 ' You have a true friend in Sir William, and he will 
 be happy to see you, and do all he can to make you happy ; 
 and for me I will be everything you can wish for. I find 
 it is not either a fine house or a fine coach, or a pack 
 of servants, or plays or operas, can make happy. It is 
 you that as in your power either to make me very happy 
 or very miserable. I respect Sir William, I have a great 
 regard for him, as the uncle and friend of you, and he 
 loves me, Greville. But he can never be anything nearer 
 to me than your uncle and my sincere friend, he never 
 can be my lover.' 
 
 The ambassador certainly would not have sub- 
 scribed his name to any such forecast of the future. 
 He was exerting the whole of his very consider- 
 able powers to distract the fair creature's thoughts 
 from his nephew, and to reconcile her to his own 
 advances. At Up Park Mr. Greville had not been 
 lacking in perception of Emma's capabilities, but 
 he had not gauged them nearly so fully as did 
 
Nelson's Legacy 1S5 
 
 Sir William Hamilton in Naples. He saw that she 
 would rise to every occasion, it was but a matter 
 of giving her larger opportunities. The wider 
 horizon, the brilliant colours, the warm climate 
 of this subtropical region quickly expanded and 
 matured her talents. She was pouring out her 
 soul in love and longing to Greville, but she was 
 growing all the time in beauty and realisation of 
 power and was possibly neither so unhappy, nor 
 so lost without him, as she expressed herself. 
 Italy quickly cast its glamour over her, and vivified 
 her into the extraordinary fascination to which 
 her intelligence conduced. 
 
 At first Sir William essayed to dazzle her with 
 the power and the luxury he could put at her 
 disposal. He had taken for her a suite of rooms 
 furnished in the English taste, and commanding 
 a view of the beautiful Bay of Naples. In the 
 distance Capri gleamed like a gem in the sea, 
 Novo, and Nuovo, and San Elmo, seeming to 
 sleep in the sunshine, were ready to burst into 
 thunder of guns in defence of the beauty entrusted 
 to them. The splendour of the sun, reflected in 
 the sea, gave light so intense that it deadened the 
 otherwise too brilliant colouring of flowers and 
 trees— the garish tints, orange, madder, and car- 
 mine, that sprang from the fertile soil. Vesuvius 
 dominated all. By day the long smoke stream 
 
i86 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 was drawn menacingly against the blue sky ; at 
 night the moon sank palely behind its glowing 
 lava. Emma could turn her eyes from these 
 magical and natural beauties to look upon the 
 crowded streets, all brilliant animation and moving 
 kaleidoscopic sights. Gaudy handkerchiefs and 
 ribbons, fluttering flags and gay plumes of feathers 
 decorated the hats of the men ; scarlet bodices 
 and petticoats, banded with gold and silver, 
 adorned the women's figures ; artificial flowers, 
 scarlet fringes and tassels, and gold tinsel bedecked 
 the horses that drew caleches striped with bright 
 red, and rich with gilt carving. Each detail in 
 the ever-changing scene was a new point of 
 interest to hold Emma's attention, and keep it 
 from the one figure that Sir William desired her 
 to forget. 
 
 To the distractions thus presented by her 
 environment Sir William added all the others that 
 his invention could devise, or his resources provide. 
 He was lavishly extravagant in his expenditure 
 of money on any object that pleased him, although 
 he resembled his nephew in parsimony where other 
 matters were concerned. Emma pleased him vastly, 
 and he set no limits to his generosity towards her, 
 trusting her consequent gratification would incline 
 her quickly to his wishes. He showered presents 
 upon her, quaint trifles purchased in the public 
 
Nelson's Legacy 187 
 
 market, costly trinkets chosen in the shops of 
 fashionable jewellers. He bought her a camel 
 shawl to take the place of some she had left in 
 London, until Greville should forward these. He 
 escorted her on expeditions to Pompeii and Hercu- 
 laneum, and fascinated her with stories he told 
 of the life of the anonymous owners of these dis- 
 interred treasures, which had been the first object 
 of his studies for so many years. He introduced 
 her to his intimates, Sir Thomas Rumbold, the 
 plutocrat from the East Indies, Prince Dietrich- 
 stein from Vienna, Mr. Acton, his successor in the 
 Queen of Naples' affections, and to half the fashion- 
 able world, from the Duke of Gloucester downwards. 
 Princes and nobles, ambassadors and ministers, the 
 entire brilliant company that thronged the court 
 of Ferdinand and Maria Carolina, all consented in 
 paying court to the English girl, this ' modern 
 antique,' that the well-known connoisseur in female 
 loveliness was exhibiting to them ; this ' counter- 
 part and acme of Art and Nature,' with the apple- 
 blossom complexion, and fine figure, so cunningly 
 hinted at beneath the loose muslin gown, lace 
 trimmed, blue ribanded. Sir William saw that she 
 had not a moment's solitude in which to waft one 
 thought to his nephew, Mr. Charles Greville, who 
 was supposed to be economising in North Britain, 
 trying to satisfy his love of the classical and 
 
i88 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 antique with the prospect of Modern Athens seen 
 from King Arthur's seat. 
 
 Her time was no less occupied within doors 
 than without. She was given lessons in singing 
 by Galiuci, and in French and Italian, history and 
 drawing by other masters of the first repute. She 
 cultivated her own natural gift for dancing, and 
 shared Sir William's studies in botany. To all 
 these pursuits she applied herself with a zeal and 
 concentration that were not more remarkable than 
 her success. Until her first association with 
 Greville an almost entirely uneducated and ignor- 
 ant girl, she now amazed every one by the quick- 
 ness of her natural understanding and the variety 
 of the accomplishments she so easily acquired. 
 
 Emma permitted nothing to interfere with her 
 studies which it was within her power to control. 
 But she soon became aware of one source of inter- 
 ruption which she was unable either to dam or 
 to divert. Quis custodiet ipsosxustodes ? is a ques- 
 tion, like Pilate's ' What is truth ? ' to which no 
 answer has been put on record. Emma needed 
 guarding from her guardian. Soon the purpose of 
 his attentions became unmistakable. The warmth 
 of the embraces with which he regarded it as his 
 avuncular privilege to salute her would have 
 warned any young female of peril, even if she had 
 not been, like Emma, haud ignara mali. She 
 
Nelson's Legacy 189 
 
 wrote and wrote again to Greville. She explained 
 to him the predicament in which she was placed, 
 the attentions to which she was exposed, his uncle's 
 growing fondness. She implored a word of love, 
 of counsel, she vowed her fidelitj^ There came 
 no answer. She urged her youth, her loneliness, 
 the temptations around her. . . . Silence, always 
 silence, was Greville's persistent diplomacy, by 
 which, in time, he hoped to succeed in gaining his 
 freedom, and with it the price for which he had 
 bartered what some men would have held dearer. 
 Now it was high summer. Emma's vitality 
 and courage, waning under Greville's cruel neglect 
 to answer her wild appeals, were further sapped 
 by the damp Neapolitan heat. She was dis- 
 spirited also by her mother's doubts of Greville's 
 intentions, confirming her own increasing uneasi- 
 ness. She wrote again to beg for a letter, if only 
 of farewell. Surely she deserved this for the sake 
 of the love he once bore her. 
 
 ' I have been from you going of six months, and you 
 have wrote one letter to me, instead of which I have sent 
 fourteen to you. So pray let me beg of you, my much- 
 loved Greville, only one line from your dear, dear hands. 
 You don't know how thankful I shall be for it. . . . If I 
 dont hear from you and that you are coming according 
 to promise, I shall be in England at Cristmass at farthest. 
 Don't be unhappy at that, I will see you once more for 
 the last time. I find life is insupportable without you. 
 
igo Nelson's Legacy 
 
 . . . I tel you give me one guiney a week for everything, 
 and live with me, and I will be contented. . . .' 
 
 But whilst waiting for the reply that tarried so 
 long in its coming, she plunged for distraction into 
 the amusements and entertainments provided for 
 her by Sir William. 
 
 Prosperity, it has often been pointed out, is a 
 severer test of character than adversity. History 
 has many instances to furnish of men who have 
 risen from low origin to high place, making their 
 way with steady perseverance to the predeter- 
 mined goal, without dallying by the roadside to 
 pluck the pleasant fruits, or to snatch an hour 
 of the indolent ease offered by the grassy banks 
 lining the dusty track. Yet when they have 
 arrived at their journey's end, when success has 
 crowned their unremitting effort, and they have 
 attained a position where the virtuous qualities 
 developed by long self-denial might have the great- 
 est moral influence over their fellows, too often 
 have they forsaken the principles, adherence to 
 which brought them where they are, and rushing 
 to a violent extreme, abused their position to 
 secure self-gratification, betrayed their trust, dis- 
 appointed their well-wishers, and, it may be, 
 damned their souls. The historian, contemplating 
 the melancholy spectacle, must condemn, but his 
 heart need not be steeled against pity. He may 
 
Nelson's Legacy 191 
 
 consider all the circumstances, and though naught 
 extenuating, naught set down in malice, leaving 
 hope that mercy may co-operate with justice. 
 
 And if this is permissible in the case of men 
 who have hewed their own way through obstacles 
 and over mountain barriers, it is an incumbent 
 duty in the case of a girl who, with no contribu- 
 tory effort on her part, was lifted from a mud 
 cabin to dwell in intimacy with a queen, and 
 occupy a palace in the most frivolous capital in 
 the world. This was the destiny of Emma Hamil- 
 ton — to call her by the name which soon became 
 hers, and by which she will be long remembered. 
 
 Born in a smithy, reared in a three-roomed 
 cottage, and at thirteen years of age the little 
 nursemaid to a country squire, she was now, only 
 eight years later, the cynosure of every eye in a 
 corrupt and brilliant court. 
 
 Sir William Hamilton knew his milieu per- 
 fectly, knew to a fraction how far he could go 
 beyond the limits of propriety without imperilling 
 his position as representative of his sovereign. 
 He also knew the temptations that would assail 
 the lovely creature in his charge, how to meet 
 them, and how to turn them to his own advantage. 
 He knew, moreover, exactly what he wanted, a 
 precise knowledge, lacking which many a man 
 fails to get anything at all, and took the straightest 
 
192 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 way towards it. He conveyed Emma everywhere 
 with him, taking care to make it generally known 
 that her kind favour was already pre-empted. 
 Amongst the first, he showed her to the King and 
 Queen, sauntering in the royal gardens in the cool 
 of the evening. Prince Dietrichstein escorted her, 
 and by the Queen's command led her nearer that 
 Her Majesty might see the vaunted beauty more 
 clearly. The Queen gazed at her, but not so 
 ardently as did the King. 
 
 ' The King as eyes,' was Emma's report, ' he 
 as a heart and I have made an impression on it. 
 I told the Prince, Hamilton is my friend, but 
 I belong to his nephew, and all our friends 
 know it.' 
 
 But what was Hamilton's nephew to Ferdinand, 
 or he to Hamilton's nephew ? The King did not 
 give a fico for Hamilton's nephew. Hamilton's 
 friend was a very different matter, and Ferdinand 
 desired to know her more intimately. He shortly 
 made his intentions obvious. The ambassador was 
 entertaining a diplomatic party in his Casino at 
 Posilippo, with Emma playing the role of hostess. 
 At the conclusion of the entertainment, when she 
 and her escort entered their felucca, they found 
 the royal boat moored beside it. As they were 
 being rowed away. His Majesty, in a loud voice, 
 bade his band of French horns ' serenade the 
 
LADY HAJIILTOX IN A WHITE HOOD 
 
 FROM THE PAINTING BV ROMNEY, IN THK POSSKSSION 
 OF LORD GLEXCONNER 
 
Nelson's Legacy 193 
 
 English beauty.' Sir William as in duty bound, 
 stopped the boatmen. The King doffed his hat 
 and bowed, he spoke to Sir William and looked 
 at Emma. He asked Sir William to convey to 
 her his regret that he could not speak English. 
 She replied, herself, in her newly-acquired broken 
 Italian, thus charming him afresh. After that 
 the King's music serenaded and accompanied her 
 frequently and His Majesty sought her company 
 as often as was possible. It was in the royal 
 gardens that the last interview between them 
 took place. By this time he was completely 
 enamoured and pressing his suit with Southern 
 ardour. He was not accustomed to be rebuffed, 
 but to Emma he was less a king than a boor, in 
 comparison with whom she was able to appreciate 
 Sir William's more courtly and agreeable wooing. 
 Emma said ' No ' to King Ferdinand and ' No ' 
 again. He made to take what she refused to give. 
 She forgot his prerogatives and the sacredness of 
 his person, and . . . boxed his ears. She was 
 immediately abashed and terrified at her temerity, 
 but King Ferdinand roared out laughing, and 
 vowed she ought to have been the queen, for 
 oftentimes she too had treated him so. The 
 scene was ended for the moment by the appearance 
 of the courtiers. But Ferdinand renewed his suit 
 on every public and private occasion. There was 
 
 N 
 
194 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 no doubt Emma's presence provoked him, although 
 when he did not see her she escaped his memory, 
 for he was devoted to the pleasures of the chase, 
 and had the mind of a child, unstable and forgetful. 
 
 Emma told Sir William of the attacks to which 
 she was subjected, and it was he who devised the 
 way not only to end them, but to turn them to 
 her advantage. 
 
 Emma was advised to ask the King what he 
 would give her for her compliance. Once in- 
 structed in her role she played it to perfection, 
 teasing and inflaming him, until he would have 
 promised her half his kingdom. She was satisfied 
 with a little less, but must have it from him in 
 writing, given under ' his hand and seal.' With 
 the laughing eyes and tempting lips so near. King 
 Ferdinand could refuse nothing. She dictated, and 
 he wrote — laboriously, for he was no scholar, and 
 the art of spelling was one that neither of them 
 had mastered. But the purport of his writing 
 was clear. Emma was to have Capri and a patent 
 of nobility. 
 
 Once the King had signed, however, turning 
 to her with a great guffaw as he flung down the 
 pen and opened his arms for the reward, she 
 seized the paper, and again eluded him as she 
 ran off, laughing. ' Wait, wait, wait,' he heard 
 her say as she danced away, curls floating, and 
 
Nelson's Legacy 195 
 
 eyes alight with pleasure at the trick she was 
 playing. ' She'll be wanting my crown next,' he 
 grumbled. But secretly he was not displeased at 
 her lightness ; it was in so great contrast to Maria 
 Carolina's methods. He thought she would have 
 come back, but it was to his wife she danced, to 
 Maria Carolina herself! Sir William had found a 
 means to introduce her to the palace. 
 
 Emma was a picture of Modesty Outraged, 
 Innocence in Distress, when she obtained her 
 audience. Sir William had had his in advance. 
 What was between him and the Queen before he 
 was ousted by Acton made her anxious to oblige 
 him, even if she had not had her own interests 
 with Ferdinand to protect. 
 
 With every sign of genuine distress written 
 upon her lovely countenance, Emma besought Her 
 Majesty's protection. She produced her paper, 
 and now it appeared it was unexpected and un- 
 solicited. What should she do ? She was but a 
 ' pore girl ' : always Emma's plea. She was in 
 Italy to learn singing and dancing, but if the King 
 gave her no peace. . . . 
 
 It was a coup de theatre, admirably executed. 
 The Queen was moved, impressed, greatly touched. 
 She embraced Emma, promised her protection and 
 countenance, and that she should have uninter- 
 rupted leisure for her studies. As for the King, 
 
196 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 she undertook he should pursue her no more. 
 Maria Carolina knew how to deal with her spouse, 
 how, and when, to influence him. The paper was 
 torn up, Emma heard no more of it. And the 
 King went boar-hunting. The whole incident re- 
 dounded to the credit of our heroine, and the 
 Queen was not slow in so regarding it. A more 
 remarkable effort of Sir William's diplomacy is not 
 on record. Recognition by the Queen was of the 
 first importance if Emma was to be accepted in 
 society. Whereas the King's mortification was 
 evanescent, and the manner of it could not con- 
 tribute to Sir William's nor Emma's disadvantage. 
 Where the King lead the way, however, it 
 was the fashion to follow, and Emma had 
 many admirers. Sir William Hamilton saw how 
 things stood and redoubled his gifts, wooing her 
 with the practised persuasiveness of his amorous 
 experiences. The Queen, although she loved Acton, 
 trusted Sir William Hamilton and was ever 
 anxious to stand well with the only power that 
 she saw between her and French aggression. Now 
 she showed as much favour as was possible to his 
 fair countrywoman whom he was understood to be 
 educating for the stage. Any further pressure 
 that was needed came in the shape of tardy letters 
 from Greville. Of these two are extant, the one 
 a chill epistle to Emma recommending her to 
 
Nelson's Legacy 197 
 
 oblige Sir William— a Delphic utterance capable of 
 interpretation to suit any event ; the other a 
 candid expression to his uncle of the little value 
 he set on Emma's protestations of fidelity. With 
 this he enclosed all her fond letters written to 
 himself, a heartless exposure of a woman's loving 
 weakness, attaching to them a comment marking 
 his cynic philosophy : ' Uoublie de Vinclus est 
 volant, jixez-le ; si on admet le ton de la vertu sans 
 la verite, on est la dupe, et je place naturellement tout 
 sur le pied vrai, come fai toujours fait, et je constate 
 Vetat actuel sans me reporter d vous.^ 
 
 Whilst Sir William Hamilton was reading her 
 letters to Greville, Emma, torn by emotions, was 
 writing him yet another : 
 
 ' Nothing shall ever do for me but going home to you. 
 If that is not to be, I will accept of nothing. I will go 
 to London, their go into every excess of vice till I dye, 
 a miserable, broken-hearted wretch, and leave my fate as 
 a warning to young whomen never to be two good ; for 
 now you have made me love you, you have abbandoned 
 me ; and some violent end shall finish our connexion, if 
 it is to finish. ... I always knew, I had a foreboding 
 since first I began to love you, that I was not destined to 
 be happy ; for their is not a King or Prince on hearth 
 that cou'd make me happy without you.' 
 
 Thus did Emma subscribe her testimony to the 
 case urged by every moralist, that happiness is 
 only for the virtuous. Immoral relations between 
 
igS Nelson's Legacy 
 
 the sexes have the seeds of decay in them. Illicit 
 love born of passion, nurtured in artificiality, ends 
 with violence. ' If I was with you I wou'd murder 
 you and myself boath.' In that threat did her 
 indignation find expression and her association 
 with Charles Greville come to an end. 
 
 When at length Emma could no longer conceal 
 from herself or from her mother the knowledge 
 that the separation from Greville was to be per- 
 manent, the greater part of the conspiracy against 
 her had been successful. That which she had 
 given to Captain Willett Payne out of ignorance, 
 and to Sir Henry Featherstonehaugh in her ex- 
 tremity, but which Greville alone had received 
 in love, she was persuaded at last to surrender to 
 Sir William Hamilton from motives of self-interest, 
 and these alone. In accepting his embraces neither 
 ignorantly, in desperation, nor affection, our excuses 
 for her must come to an end. She gave herself 
 voluntarily to this elderly voluptuary in exchange 
 for the benefits he could bestow. She had become 
 the courtesan, selling her wares in the best market. 
 And even yet she had not realised to where that 
 sale would lead. She was satisfied to be Sir 
 William Hamilton's mistress, not yet aspiring to 
 become his wife. 
 
 She had her own suite of rooms at the Embassy, 
 where Mrs. Cadogan was also installed in state. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 199 
 
 The servants called her Eccellenza, little guessing 
 how recently she had been but a servant herself. 
 And now her head began to rule her mistreated 
 and cooling heart. She developed ambition, and 
 studied passionately in order to be the equal, if not 
 the superior, of the dissolute ladies that the habits 
 of the Court made prominent in Neapolitan society. 
 She was not long at the Embassy before the entire 
 polite world sought the entree to her receptions, 
 the ' receptions,' save the mark, of ' Frail Emma 
 of Edgeware Row ' ! She sang. Sir William accom- 
 panying her on the viola, revealing miraculous 
 powers of expression, at least so her admirers told 
 her, and those who had favours to expect from 
 the British Ambassador. From others there were 
 comments about the correctness of her ear. But 
 prosperity inevitably brings envy, and Emma's 
 detractors were few at this period, which preceded 
 her zenith by some months. She danced the 
 tarantella with a lightness almost incredible, 
 and exhibited her ' Attitudes,' a form of tableau 
 vivant devised by herself and quite unique at 
 that time. Clad in flowing draperies, she took 
 up her position before a pair of screens, where, 
 illumined by torches, she showed by change 
 of posture, by gesture and expression, every 
 mood and emotion known to human nature. She 
 was in turn the incarnation of Dignity, Suppli- 
 
200 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 cation, Indolence, Gravity, Distress, Playfulness, 
 Pleasing Torment, Abandonment, Remorse, Temp- 
 tation, Doom, Agony. She held her audience 
 spell-bound, and they justly called her ' inimitable,' 
 and ' incomparable.' 
 
 Nor was her success confined within the limits 
 where propriety might well have held her. As the 
 mistress, not the wife, of the English Ambassador, 
 Emma could not be received openly at Court. 
 But the Queen was already on terms of private 
 friendship with her, and held up her domestic 
 behaviour as an example to the Neapolitan 
 ladies. It was, however, Her Grace of Argyll, 
 famous as *the beautiful Miss Gunning,' who turned 
 Emma's head entirely. The daughter of a poor 
 Irish gentleman, of no estate or consequence, the 
 Duchess of Argyll saw no reason why Emma should 
 not aspire to equal rank with her own. She was 
 a generous and emotional creature, sweet-natured 
 and impulsive, but lacking education, and of an 
 almost abnormal stupidity. It was she who had 
 lisped gushingly to King George, already appre- 
 hensive about his health, how she and her sister 
 ' longed to witness a coronation.' Many another 
 hetise about them was rife in society. Neither pru- 
 dence nor fitness dictated to her why Sir William 
 should hesitate to regulate Emma's position by 
 marriage, and she not only encouraged Emma to 
 
Nelson's Legacy 201 
 
 this ambition, but employed her own high social 
 influence to further the same object. 
 
 Emma had not mixed with the beauties 
 admitted into the cosmopolitan society of Naples 
 without learning something of the pressure that 
 can be exercised upon an elderly lover by a young, 
 lovely, and accomplished woman. The idea for 
 which the Duchess of Argyll was primarily respon- 
 sible began to germinate. Sir William commenced 
 by laughing at it. He knew the rigid principles 
 of his Sovereign, and that his consort was in- 
 tolerant of the least impropriety. Such a marriage, 
 instead of minimizing the evil of a guilty liaison^ 
 might give offence in high places, and perhaps 
 ruin and terminate his own career. The suggestion 
 nevertheless had its allurement, marriage would 
 bind to him for ever this much-sought-after, young, 
 and beautiful creature. But at first he laughed, 
 and turned it away lightly, telling her he could 
 not love her better, nor she have more conse- 
 quence. It is not all at once that such affairs 
 are settled. Emma was happy, proud of her salon, 
 her large circle of friends, and Sir William's 
 patent devotion. She might have abandoned her 
 ill-advised attempt to rise any higher, notwith- 
 standing the duchess, had not an incident occurred 
 that drove her position home to her, and made 
 her resolute. 
 
202 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 An old acquaintance, Mr. Heneage Legge, 
 whom Greville had admitted to the house in Edge- 
 ware Row when that estabhshment was first set 
 up, arrived in Naples with his wife, who was 
 momentarily awaiting her first confinement. Sir 
 William waited upon him, and, willing to endorse 
 and supplement such friendliness, Emma offered 
 her company and services to the lady in her inter- 
 esting situation. She was deeply mortified by the 
 prompt and unhesitating refusal of her proffered 
 attention. Mr. Legge, on the part of his wife, 
 acknowledged the kindness of the intention, but 
 said Mrs. Legge was in no need of company. Such 
 company was the implication ; but he had no 
 wish to offend the ambassador, of whose conduct 
 in the whole matter, however, he wrote home in 
 no measured terms. 
 
 Emma was furious. The temper that ' nearly 
 burst her girdle,' to use her own vivid expression, 
 the tears of anger, tears of shame, passion of in- 
 vective, passion of pleading, certainly moved Sir 
 William. Gifts and caresses provided no remedy. 
 There was but one way to save her from such 
 humiliation, and to that point Sir William was 
 all the time being led, or driven. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 Sir William Hamilton brings Emma to London to ask the con- 
 sent of the King to his marriage. But in an interview with 
 Greville she offers to give up all her prospects if he will 
 restore her to her old place in his heart. Mr. Greville 
 rejects the proposal and accuses her of having been unfaith- 
 ful to him with Mr. Romney. She seeks Mr. Romney, 
 whose mind is already clouded, and who dreams that she 
 has been his mistress, and not only his inspiration. She 
 marries Sir William Hamilton. 
 
 TT is a frequent experience in human life that, 
 -*• contrary to its first seeming, a check in an upward 
 progress is in reahty an advantage to the climber, 
 since it provokes an access of energy on his part 
 which carries him to the summit with a speed 
 which otherwise he might not have attained. This 
 was Emma's experience in her present march to 
 the goal of matrimony. 
 
 She had come to acquiesce in her existing situa- 
 tion as Sir WiUiam's mistress, different as it was 
 from the situation of other men's mistresses, in 
 that she was smiled upon by a queen, and admitted 
 into the society of such irreproachable great ladies 
 as the Duchess of Argyll. Emma's salon at the 
 
 Embassy was thronged nightly by English and 
 
 203 
 
204 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 Neapolitans of the highest rank, and, had she 
 wished to change her position, or vary it, the oppor- 
 tunity would have been afforded her. But Emma, 
 although frail, was temperate, that is to say she was 
 instinctively a monogamist. Her present protector 
 sufficed for the moment both her ambitions and 
 her emotions. She professed, perhaps she felt, a 
 great affection for him. Her footing, such as it 
 was, in Italian society was secure. Marriage could 
 give her little she did not already possess, and her 
 native common sense and knowledge of the world 
 did not allow her to ignore, when it was put before 
 her, that such a marriage might entail consequences 
 upon Sir William Hamilton for which she, too, 
 would have to suffer. 
 
 All these considerations, however, were swept 
 away by the torrent of mortification and anger 
 let loose in her mind by the affront offered to her 
 by the wife of the Honourable Heneage Legge. 
 Marriage was the only possible way to avert its 
 repetition. Now she began to importune Sir 
 William ; anon she hastened to Her Grace of 
 Argyll and besought her to bring all her great 
 influence upon the ambassador to this effect. 
 The duchess was perfectly willing, and enlisted as 
 an ally Lord Bristol, with whom Sir William had 
 been on terms of peculiar intimacy since boyhood. 
 Lord Bristol, after a few interviews with Emma, 
 
Nelson's Legacy 205 
 
 proved himself a single-hearted partisan. He was 
 ever a man of eccentric conduct and insisted 
 upon privacy for these interviews. As the Lord 
 Bishop of Derry he might have adduced spiritual 
 and ecclesiastical reasons for urging his old friend 
 to renounce the life in sin which he was leading 
 and causing Emma to lead. But, knowing his 
 man and, it may be, attaching little importance 
 to the rigid morality required of its sons by the 
 Church, he preferred to make a different appeal. 
 What inducement Emma offered Lord Bristol for 
 his argument may be easily conceived. Certainly 
 the correspondence between them, that came to 
 light later, gives reason to suppose that Sir William 
 Hamilton was not to be blamed for inconsistency 
 when he accepted the advice and discarded the 
 friendship that proffered it. 
 
 Thus reinforced, Emma pressed the siege closer, 
 and had the satisfaction of seeing Sir William's 
 resistance growing daily weaker. There were, in- 
 deed, only two persons whose disapproval he 
 actually feared — his foster-brother and master, the 
 King of England, and his nephew, Mr. Charles 
 Greville. It was indeed necessary to obtain the 
 consent of the former, and he made this clear to 
 Emma when at length he gave her the conditional 
 promise which so exalted her. 
 
 With regard to Mr. Greville, he stipulated for 
 
2o6 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 secrecy until the King's consent should have been 
 obtained. And Emma was glad to oblige him in 
 this matter. In spite of the terms on which she 
 was living with Sir William, and all her distractions, 
 she could not deceive herself into believing that 
 she had forgotten Greville. She was not a little 
 apprehensive of the manner and the temper in 
 which he might receive the surprising intelligence 
 of her approaching marriage to Sir William. But 
 that she should see him once again, and soon, 
 threw into the background even the new state 
 that was to be hers. 
 
 The idea that in advancing age and amorous- 
 ness his uncle might be persuaded to a marriage 
 with Emma had presented itself to Mr. Greville's 
 mind only to be discarded. But Mr. Greville did 
 not know the new Emma. His knowledge was 
 of a wild, emotional girl whose every action he 
 could direct. He took no account of what effect 
 his own conduct might have had upon her 
 character, the conduct of the man she loved 
 and believed in, and who had trafficked with 
 and tricked her. For by now she knew the 
 nature of the agreement between him and his 
 uncle. 
 
 Mr. Legge wrote again to Mr. Greville at some 
 length, recording his impressions of the establish- 
 ment at the Embassy, of which, indeed, he had 
 
Nelson's Legacy 207 
 
 not hesitated to express an opinion to the 
 ambassador himself. 
 
 ' Her influence over him ' [he told Greville], ' exceeds 
 all belief. . . . The language of both parties, who always 
 spoke in the plural number — we, us, and ours — staggered 
 me at first, but soon made me determined to speak only 
 to him on the subject, when he assured me, what I con- 
 fess I was most happy to hear, that he was not married ; 
 but flung out some hints of doing justice to her good 
 behaviour, if his public situation did not forbid him to 
 consider himself an independent man. She gives every 
 one to understand that he is going to England to solicit 
 the King's consent to marry her. ... I am confident she 
 will gain her point, against which it is the duty of every 
 friend to strengthen his mind as much as possible. And 
 she will be satisfied with no argument but the King's 
 absolute refusal of his approbation. ... I have all 
 along told her that she could never change her situation, 
 and that she was a happier woman as Mrs. H. than she 
 would be as Lady H., when more reserved behaviour being 
 necessary, she would be deprived of half her amusements.' 
 
 Mr. Greville was very ready to believe that 
 Emma was not the woman to disagree with Mr. 
 Legge's opinion of the advantages of mistress over 
 wife, notwithstanding that she might do her 
 utmost to persuade everybody that Sir William 
 meant to make an honest woman of her. But as 
 he did not believe that his alter ego would depart 
 so far from the usages of the polite world, and 
 that even if he wanted to, the royal consent would 
 
2o8 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 not be forthcoming to so scandal-provoking an 
 alliance, he was not mightily disturbed by Mr. 
 Legge's communique. He deemed that his uncle, 
 no less than himself, was incapable of violating 
 the unwritten laws of good society, although he 
 might conceivably disregard the Decalogue on the 
 ground of its being vieux jeu. 
 
 Nevertheless, the impossible was now in pro- 
 cess of being accomplished. Bracing himself to 
 meet the ordeal of his Sovereign's cold disapproval, 
 or perhaps his warm displeasure, Sir William 
 Hamilton took leave for a while of their Sicilian 
 Majesties, and after a journey broken by short 
 stays at Florence, at Venice and other centres of 
 European fashion, brought Emma back to London 
 after an absence of more than five years. 
 
 Had it been possible for her when she so 
 reluctantly left her Greville to foresee the manner 
 and the purpose of her return, she might not have 
 been so despairing and broken-hearted as we have 
 seen her. Then exile might have been welcomed 
 in its true colour as a necessary and salutary 
 break to all old associations. For the discarded 
 mistress returned to London as an expectant 
 bride ; the modest ' Tea-maker ' as the Ambassa- 
 dress-elect. 
 
 Once installed in that mansion in Piccadilly 
 where Sir WiUiam set up an establishment only a 
 
Nelson's Legacy 209 
 
 degree less splendid than that he maintained in 
 Naples, the great and the wealthy — His Grace of 
 Queensberry, my Lord Abercorn, Mr. Beckford of 
 Fonthill, and many others — were quick to pay 
 their devoirs to the beauty, poseuse^ and song- 
 stress whose fame had travelled from Naples more 
 quickly than herself; to whom were attributed 
 all the talents, not only in the profession from 
 which she was to emerge through the doors of 
 Marylebone Church, but those that would have 
 fitted her to shine upon the stage. Emma was 
 feted in London little less than she had been in 
 Naples. 
 
 But the heart is a homing bird, and her thoughts 
 dwelt ever upon the delayed interview with 
 Greville. It was his welcome for which she longed, 
 his praise on her improvement which she coveted, 
 his good wishes she needed for the occasion. 
 Mr. Greville was in Scotland when his uncle and 
 former pupil arrived in London. She had to 
 conceal her impatience whilst he tarried there. 
 She did not yet know how he would receive the 
 news of the approaching marriage, nor what differ- 
 ence he might deem it would make to his own 
 prospects. She feared, she hoped, but above all 
 she longed, to see his face, to hear his voice, 
 knowing that was the goal to which all her hard 
 work and desire for self-improvement had tended, 
 
210 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 that it was indeed he who had coloured her dreams 
 and impelled her actions. 
 
 By this time she had excused his treatment 
 of her, in the way loving women have, and was 
 willing to believe he had had only her benefit at 
 heart, sometimes going so far as to think that 
 even this marriage had been in his contemplation. 
 Having so greatly benefited by her sojourn in 
 Italy, she deemed it not unreasonable to suppose 
 he had foreseen it. 
 
 When at length she was advised of Mr. Greville's 
 return to town, and Sir William announced to her 
 that his nephew proposed to pay his respects that 
 very afternoon, Emma flew to her mirror. Every- 
 thing else faded from her mercurial mind — the 
 importance of the interview with the King that 
 was even now on the point of being accomplished, 
 the dukes and marquises who had sought her 
 favours, even Sir William Hamilton himself. 
 Greville, her dear, dear Greville, was coming this 
 afternoon, and he would see the difference five 
 years had made in her. No one had touched her 
 heart since he had won it. The connection with 
 Sir William had been forced upon her. If she had 
 but recently been too complaisant with my Lord 
 Bristol, 'twas but an incident that made little 
 impression on one to whom sin ever presented 
 itself under euphemistic name. She had bought 
 
Nelson's Legacy 211 
 
 Lord Bristol's advocacy of her claims to the 
 married state by proving to him her accessibility 
 as his friend's mistress. But Greville was a 
 different matter. 
 
 Her heart beat high at the expectation of 
 meeting him ; she was all in a flutter, bewildered 
 by her feelings, one moment thinking it possible 
 he might ask her to give up his uncle and return to 
 his embraces, another fearing lest he should find 
 her altered but not improved. She had grown a 
 little stouter, and Greville admired slender women. 
 It was a radiant vision, nevertheless, that pre- 
 sented itself to him, a little paler than of old, the 
 blue eyes soft and the exquisite mouth tremulous. 
 When he bowed over her hand he could note her 
 emotion. His own voice was quite under control 
 and his eyes only critical. 
 
 * Would you have recognised her ? ' Sir William 
 asked Charles ; he was proud of the transformation 
 that had been achieved. ' She has an air of 
 fashion, eh ? ' 
 
 ' Sir William ever over-praises me,' Emma 
 said blushingly. 
 
 ' Would it be possible, madam, to over-praise 
 where Perfection itself appears to confirm the 
 charge ? ' answered Greville, surveying her with 
 interest. But still her eyes were downcast, and 
 presently her modish clothes could not disguise 
 
212 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 from him that beneath the frills upon her bodice 
 her heart was beating tumultuously, and that the 
 tumult was for him. He was secretly amused and 
 completely reassured. 
 
 ' I am enchanted by the sight of such beauty,' 
 he ejaculated. 
 
 ' Oh, Greville, do not, I pray you, make fun of 
 me,' she murmured. 
 
 Sir William intervened before she had time to 
 say more. 
 
 * You will excuse me if I withdraw ; I stayed 
 but to receive you, and hear what you might say 
 of our fair one. Now the audience with the King 
 awaits me. Wait, Charles, wait my return ; Emma 
 will have much to tell you. I am asking the 
 King's permission to our marriage. If he grant it, 
 yours, I am sure, will not be lacking. Au revoir, 
 Charles ; Emma, I charge you with his entertain- 
 ment.' 
 
 If Charles Greville was taken aback by the 
 intelligence that Sir William Hamilton really con- 
 templated marriage with his mistress, that he was 
 even now on his way to ask the King's permission, 
 he made no immediate demonstration of his 
 chagrin or astonishment. Emma's beauty had 
 indeed increased, so apparently had her ambitions. 
 He waited to be alone with her to discover them 
 and decide upon his action. If she was to be his 
 
Nelson's Legacy 213 
 
 aunt, if he had blundered in his intentions, he did 
 not intend to make another false step. But first 
 he must know her mind. 
 
 Sir William Hamilton was satisfied with Mr. 
 Greville's attitude. Charles's imperturbability was 
 rarely ruffled, and if he were less eloquent than 
 usual on this occasion. Sir William attributed it 
 to Emma's appearance. His fine connoisseur- 
 ship had used him to the admiration his specimens 
 ever excited. An honourable gentleman himself, 
 and accustomed to look upon his nephew as his 
 counterpart, he had no fear lest he should seek to 
 rob him. He was, on the other hand, pleased that 
 Charles should see what lustre the treasure they 
 had exchanged had acquired in his keeping. Sir 
 William Hamilton knew the coldness of Charles 
 Greville's temperament, whilst Emma in the old 
 days, notwithstanding how frequently she had flung 
 herself against its limitations, had never truly 
 realised them. 
 
 Emma, after the departure of Sir William, was 
 at first all in a tumult finding herself alone with 
 Greville, and found words difficult. Greville's 
 manner was perhaps less respectful after his uncle 
 left the room. He continued to pay her com- 
 pliments, but there was a touch of cynicism in 
 them. Although she parried them with more wit 
 than he had known she had at her command, yet 
 
214 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 was she less at ease with him than she had been 
 with any man these last five years. Perceiving her 
 embarrassment, but not quite understanding its 
 genesis, he asked : 
 
 ' So gossip spoke truly when it said you 
 are contemplating marriage with my esteemed 
 uncle ? ' 
 
 ' It is for that he even now waits upon His 
 Majesty ; to secure permission and his confirma- 
 tion in the Embassy.' 
 
 ' And then Emma will have achieved the height 
 of her ambition.' 
 
 ' No, Greville, no ' ; her voice was low. 
 
 ' You are not in earnest, then, in pressing this 
 marriage ? ' 
 
 ' I have the countenance of the Duchess of 
 Argyll.' 
 
 ' And of His Grace of Bristol.' For there was 
 little concerning his uncle of which Mr. Greville 
 failed to hear. 
 
 Emma coloured violently. ' Lord Bristol has 
 great influence with Sir William,' she answered 
 quickly, but with some embarrassment. 
 
 Mr. Greville laughed, observing her closely, 
 and thinking his shot had gone home. He rallied 
 her lightly upon her conquest of the eccentric 
 roue, for, in truth, the term applied to Lord Bristol. 
 Emma became confused, and her wit left her. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 215 
 
 Every minute she was in the company of Mr. 
 Greville her feehng for him revived. She scarce 
 heeded his word, so taken up was she with his 
 voice and handsome person. No other man re- 
 garded her so coldly, yet for none other her heart 
 could beat so fast. They talked a little longer, 
 then her rising Hush betrayed a new impulse, and 
 quite abruptly she said, 
 
 ' Greville, Greville, have you forgot every- 
 thing? How you comforted me at Up Park, 
 and taught me in Edgeware Row ? Greville, 
 have you forgot how I sat on your knee to 
 learn my writing ? ' 
 
 She was desperate for a word of kindness from 
 him, to know he had not forgotten. This, this was 
 her man ; not the elderly Sir William, nor the brutal 
 Lord Bristol, nor any of the fiery Neapolitans who 
 had begged her favours. It was only Greville who 
 could reach her depths. 
 
 She had come near to him, and if her beauty 
 tempted him— as indeed it might, being of such 
 rare calibre— the knowledge that he had parted 
 with it, and his honour now stood pledged, made 
 him not fond, but cruel. He looked at her, and 
 before his look her own fell, the lovely colour 
 flushing, and her eyes filling with tears. She made 
 as if she would find shelter in his arms against the 
 blushes that burned her and satisfaction there 
 
2i6 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 for the hunger that consumed her. Once he had 
 loved her, and seeing now she was more worthy 
 of him, she pleaded again : 
 
 ' Greville, you have not forgotten ? ' 
 
 ' No, no, I have forgotten nothing.' 
 
 ' You love me still ? ' 
 
 At that he laughed— Mr. Greville's low, well- 
 bred laugh. ' The old Emma,' he exclaimed, ' the 
 unchanged, unchangeable Emma ! ' 
 
 ' She for whom her Greville once cared.' 
 
 ' And misunderstood.' 
 
 ' Never, Greville, never ; you alone have known 
 me.' 
 
 Perhaps she stirred his tepid blood unpleasantly, 
 perhaps he was only angered by the knowledge 
 how far she had succeeded with Sir William Hamil- 
 ton. It is difficult to know what possessed him. 
 He stood there in his knee breeches and lace ruffles, 
 hat in hand, the most handsome and elegant of 
 figures, opposite one whom everyone acknowledged 
 to be the loveliest of her sex. And all that was 
 in his logical mind was how he could hurt her. 
 All that was in hers was how much she loved him 
 still, this dear, dear Greville, his cold blue eyes, 
 which she had seen half-closed, but with a gleam 
 in them, his thin lips, on which she had felt warmth 
 and seeking, his clear, fair skin, which she had 
 seen flush. . . . 
 
Nelson's Legacy 217 
 
 ' Greville,' she burst forth again, ' you don't 
 know how I have longed for this hour.' 
 
 ' The hour in which you would announce to me 
 your approaching marriage to my uncle ? ' he 
 asked calmly. 
 
 ' The hour in which I would tell you riches 
 was nothing, nor honour, nor greatness, if my 
 Greville loves me still,' she got out, the warm colour 
 flushing in her cheeks and her eyes shining. At 
 that moment she would have given up every- 
 thing. ' Love is the greatest of all,' Emma cried. 
 And again Greville laughed. The laugh misled 
 her, and now she was babbling to him of how she 
 had thought and dreamed of him for weeks and 
 months after she had left him, and even after he 
 had ceased to write ; and of how other men had 
 wooed her, but none had effaced his dear image. 
 When he answered her lightly, but with a question, 
 she admitted she had yielded to his uncle, but only 
 in his interests. She swore it was only in his 
 interests. Mr. Greville listened, watching the glow 
 of her beautiful eyes, the rise and fall of her bosom, 
 noting every curve and line. He was not un- 
 moved, but, mysteriously enough, he was moved 
 to anger. Perhaps the knowledge of how impos- 
 sible it was to take what she offered him, to put 
 back the hands of the clock, was what impelled 
 him. For she was enough to tempt any man to 
 
2i8 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 his own dishonour, but Mr. Greville's must remain 
 immaculate before the world, justified before him- 
 self. 
 
 ' Greville ' — she was very near to him, and her 
 eyes pleaded—' will you take me back ? ' 
 
 ' Always my impulsive Emma,' his pale lips 
 murmured. 
 
 *But you will, Greville, you will . . .' 
 
 ' Maintain a model for Mr. Romney ? ' Greville 
 completed the sentence. ' No, my dear Emma, 
 no. I will leave that for my uncle. If indeed he 
 choose it, when I advise him of my real reason for 
 parting with one so fair and so frail.' He was still 
 facing her with that smile. 
 
 It was as if he struck her ; the colour that 
 flushed painfully in her cheeks had that aspect, 
 and so had her filled eyes. She shrank back from 
 him all at once ; then said, in a low voice : 
 
 ' You don't mean that, Greville ; you never 
 really thought I deceived you with Mr. Romney ? ' 
 
 He had hurt her through and through, though 
 as yet she could hardly feel the pain for the shock. 
 A moment before her heart had been warm and 
 quick for him, and leaped at his regard ; now it 
 felt cold and heavy, as if it would stop beating 
 altogether. 
 
 ' You cannot mean it,' she repeated. ' You 
 said 'twas for my improvement. . . . ' Her beau- 
 
Nelson's Legacy 219 
 
 tiful eyes were full of tears, and it was all the best 
 and finest of her they flooded. ' It was not be- 
 cause you believed I trafficked with Mr. Romney 
 you sent me to Italy ? Say it is not true. You 
 don't think that Mr. Romney . . .' 
 
 ' Although an artist, was nevertheless a man ? ' 
 he finished her hesitant speech quite coolly. He 
 never forgot his courtliness of manner. * I did, 
 I do. You must forgive me, my dear Emma, for 
 my knowledge of human nature. I believe that 
 as soon as I shared one of my privileges with Mr. 
 Romney, I shared them all. I had forgiven you 
 Captain Willet Payne, and perhaps Dr. Graham, 
 Sir Henry Featherstonehaugh. . . .' Mr. Gre- 
 ville's snuff-box had been made in Paris, it was 
 jewelled, and decorated with a miniature of Marie 
 Antoinette. He helped himself from it delicately, 
 and continued : * But Mr. Romney ! A mere 
 countryman, of little breeding and less manners. 
 And after I had flattered myself that I had at least 
 succeeded in refining your tastes. . . . ' He gave 
 a little shudder. ' From Charles Greville to George 
 Romney ! Oh ! Emma, you disappointed me 
 there.' A further recourse to his snuff-box showed 
 his indifference; he was still smiling. 
 
 She burst forth : 
 
 ' Say no more, Greville, say no more ; you have 
 said too much already. You affected then belief 
 
220 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 in my innocence . . .' Her anger was beginning 
 to rise. 
 
 ' You will do me the justice to believe that I 
 acted upon that affected belief, guarding your best 
 interest in transferring you to my uncle.' 
 
 ' And wronged me all these years, wronged 
 me, Greville.' 
 
 He shrugged his shoulders : 
 
 ' Constancy, my dear Emma, constancy is the 
 prerogative of the incurious ; and you were ever 
 of an adventurous disposition.' 
 
 ' You are trying to anger me. You are going 
 to tell this wicked story to Sir William.' 
 
 ' A gentleman should be fully informed about 
 the lady he intends to make his wife.' 
 
 ' I had no intercourse with Mr. Romney ; you 
 know it. You want to stop my marriage with 
 your uncle. But you shan't. I will marry him 
 whatever you say. Sir William loves me 
 truly. . . .' 
 
 The smile never left his countenance : 
 
 ' And knows you so little. Think, Emma, 
 think ! Will this marriage be for your happiness 
 any more than for his ? Will you be true to 
 him ? You know you will not. Do not think I 
 am reproaching you for this ; you will ever act 
 in accordance with your charming and impulsive 
 temperament, one which I have had the oppor- 
 
Nelson's Legacy 221 
 
 tunity of studying, and which I have no hesitation 
 in describing as characteristic of the true daughter 
 of pleasure. What have you offered me this 
 moment, whilst my uncle is even now in quest of 
 the wedding ring ? Once you found enjoyment in 
 my embraces, and you would essay the gratifica- 
 tion again. Mr. Romney tempted you with the 
 thought of posterity, and Lord Bristol with his 
 advocacy. So will you yield again, and yet again, 
 to him who most cleverly flatters your vanity or 
 appeals to what I now perceive to be a most 
 excellent understanding.' 
 
 Again he had recourse to the snuff-box. 
 
 ' You will not place me in the unpleasant posi- 
 tion of having to tell my uncle how you posed to 
 Mr. Romney, and that only recently he has boasted 
 of your goodness to him. You will abandon the 
 idea of this marriage ... it is absurd, inade- 
 quate, there are no heights to which you cannot 
 aspire. The young Prince ... he has but to 
 see you. Be reasonable, Emma ; you jeopardise 
 not only my interests but your own if you go 
 on with this mad scheme. You force me to the 
 truth ; my uncle will listen to me. . . . ' 
 
 In the days gone by Emma had listened to 
 many orations proceeding from the lips of her 
 idolized protector, orations lengthier perhaps, but 
 little less polished in form or less suavely delivered. 
 
222 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 Never had she listened to one that so powerfully 
 affected her as did this declaration of the light 
 in which she had so long been regarded by the 
 man with the belief in whose love she had deluded 
 herself. She realised now to the full that those 
 whom the gods would destroy they first make 
 blind. Her love for Greville was disinterested and 
 sincere, and it was he who wounded her. 
 
 She gazed on him with wide eyes and parted 
 lips, and the heaving of her bosom betrayed the 
 distress her pride urged her to conceal. She knew 
 that it was Greville alone for whom she had ever 
 cared, Greville alone whom she loved, or ever 
 could love. In every cold syllable that fell from 
 his lips she heard the metallic ring of scorn, and 
 at last she knew that what he felt for her was not 
 love but derision. The self-respect which he had 
 once been so careful to instil into her, so attentive 
 in nurturing, quivered and died. All her dreams 
 turned nightmares. She might not fail in con- 
 fronting the world with a proud mien, yet the 
 memory of this moment, and the knowledge of 
 Greville' s contempt, and that he had never believed 
 in the innocence of her friendship with Mr. Romney, 
 was to remain with her, proving the incentive to 
 all it forf ended. 
 
 Man's vision is purged with euphrasy and rue, 
 a sour herb, albeit a herb of grace. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 223 
 
 Emma at last saw Mr. Greville as he was ; a 
 man without a heart, one who could be deluded 
 by his own sophistrj^ into misapprehending mean- 
 ness for magnanimity. Was he not threatening 
 her now with a revelation of what she had offered 
 to him because she loved him ? Was he even 
 honest in his accusation of her with Mr. Romney ? 
 Was this her hero ? She fell with his fall, for the 
 only pedestal on which she had ever aspired to 
 stand was his esteem. 
 
 ' It is not to your interest, Greville, to dis- 
 oblige me,' she began, when she had in a measure 
 collected herself. ' You do not know what power 
 I have. If I marry Sir William Hamilton, not- 
 withstanding what you may tell him, will it not 
 prove I can do as I will with him ? Then what of 
 your affairs ? He has told me you are still in debt.' 
 
 Greville was not easy, but affected to dismiss 
 the suggestion with indifference. 
 
 ' I shall accept your ladyship's ruling,' he 
 answered. The title on his lips was a sneer, and 
 his bow was ironical. Yet when she spoke thus 
 of reprisal, he could not but admire an ingenuity 
 so kin to his own spirit. 
 
 ' You shall put your wit against my wit, and 
 the encounter prove us.' He took her hand, he 
 kissed it. At the touch of his lips on her hand 
 her courage failed again. 
 
224 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 ' But why does Emma speak of revenge in the 
 same breath with you ? Was not you good to 
 my child, and was not you the cause of making 
 me what I am ? ' She was hurried in her speech 
 and a little incoherent. Perhaps he had not 
 meant to repulse and threaten her. ' Greville, can 
 we not be friends ? ' She was looking pleadingly 
 into his eyes, and he was reconsidering his posi- 
 tion, when the door opened to admit Sir William 
 Hamilton. Not behind his nephew in correctness 
 of behaviour, he evidenced no annoyance at the 
 familiarity revealed by their attitude. 
 
 ' Congratulate me, my dear nephew ; con- 
 gratulate me, Emma ; the King consents. My 
 love, we can be married at your convenience.' 
 
 Mr. Greville drew himself up and said all that 
 the occasion required. Emma expressed herself 
 as transported. She gave a side glance from her 
 eyes to Mr. Greville when she exclaimed that she 
 would like Mr. Romney to be the first to hear the 
 news. She had recovered herself so quickly that 
 Mr. Greville might well have believed the whole 
 interview a dream, her tears and appeals to him 
 for reinstatement in Edgeware Row but a farce 
 she had played for his benefit. 
 
 * You know Mr. Romney and I was always such 
 friends,' she went on to Sir William. 
 
 ' Impudent ' was perhaps the word Mr. Greville 
 
Nelson's Legacy 225 
 
 would have used to describe her manner. He 
 could not, however, withhold his tribute to her 
 cleverness. 
 
 ' Mr. Romney must paint me as The Ambassa- 
 dress.' Then, quite roguishly, she added, ' Will 
 Mr. Greville attend his future aunt to Cavendish 
 Square ? ' 
 
 Mr. Greville might have consented, and taken 
 the opportunity to make his peace with her. But 
 Sir William, a little pompous, although secure in 
 the knowledge of all he was giving, interposed with, 
 * My love, it is I who will escort you to Mr. Romney's 
 studio. The coach is even now at the door. You 
 wish to surprise him, and you shall. But do not 
 forget that the Duke of Queensberry entertains us 
 to-night ; I hear the Prince of Wales is to be 
 there. Your old friend shall not be neglected ; 
 you show your good heart by the desire to acquaint 
 him early with the change in your prospects. But 
 our time is limited.' 
 
 Touched by Sir William's chivalry, for she saw 
 he was wishful Mr. Greville should know how, and 
 by whom, she was being received, Emma's eyes 
 filled again. Taking leave of Mr. Greville with 
 an easy grace, she followed her elderly cavalier 
 downstairs, and allowed him to hand her into the 
 carriage. She would get from Mr. Romney's own 
 lips a refutation of the scandal Mr. Greville had 
 
226 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 started. He himself should tell Sir William how 
 she had posed for him and why. Sir William 
 would understand. He had often said there had 
 been no figure like hers since the Greek. 
 
 In the carriage, en route for Cavendish Square, 
 Sir William used the occasion to say a warning 
 word about Greville. Emma avowed that all her 
 affections were given to her future husband. If 
 her heart was heavy, her vanity suffering from 
 its first severe wound and her self-respect a torn 
 and ragged garment that could never again cover 
 her, her coquetry at least never failed. She so 
 cajoled him that he believed her regard for Mr. 
 Greville to be dead, and for him permanent. He 
 left her at Mr. Romney's door, promising to return 
 when he had visited his tailor and arrange how 
 she was to be painted. Sir William knew that 
 Mr. Romney was a great artist. There was a sob 
 in her throat as she mounted the stairs. How 
 could Greville have said that Romney boasted of 
 her favours ! He would himself tell Sir William 
 he was only her friend. It was wicked to have 
 slandered him. 
 
 Throwing open the door of the studio in her 
 own dramatic manner, she stood before Mr. 
 Romney, an unexpected apparition of beauty, 
 ravishingly set off by her white embroidered 
 organdie and straw bonnet with the blue ribbons. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 227 
 
 The artist was lying back in a great arm-chair, an 
 expression of settled melancholy on his features, 
 which were sunk and attenuated by long ill- 
 health. At sight of her he first stared incredulous, 
 then sprang to his feet with the liveliest joy re- 
 animating his face and figure. 
 
 ' Emma ! Emma ! ' he cried. ' Heaven, I 
 thank thee ! Incarnation of beauty, source of all 
 inspiration, dearest object of my affections, do I 
 indeed behold thee again, or is this apparition but 
 the figment of a brain weakened by sickness ? 
 Speak to me, speak ; and let thy voice confirm 
 what my eyes scarce dare believe.' 
 
 It took long for Emma to realise what had 
 already become patent to Mr. Hayley and the 
 other intimates of the painter. For if Mr. Rom- 
 ney's mind had become disordered the only imme- 
 diate manifestation was an exaggerated pleasure 
 in this unexpected visit, and an almost incoherent 
 excitement that, whilst it touched her heart, gave 
 her at first little clue to his condition. 
 
 She told him of her approaching marriage with 
 Sir William Hamilton, and was satisfied with the 
 transports her words evoked. No father could 
 have shown greater joy in the brilliant marriage 
 of a favourite daughter than Mr. Romney ex- 
 hibited now. The gratification of the soothsayer 
 who sees his prophecies fulfilled was his, for he 
 
228 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 had formed the highest opinion of Emma's capa- 
 bihties at the very beginning of his acquaintance 
 with her, and had never ceased to predict that 
 she would rise some day to a secure and exalted 
 position. 
 
 ' How will you paint me now, Romney ? ' 
 Emma asked artlessly, ' as The Ambassadress, as 
 Campania smiling on Vesuvius to drive the clouds 
 from his brow ? ' 
 
 Mr. Romney's enthusiasm was unbounded. He 
 walked from easel to easel, placing new canvases 
 here and there, and even making rough sketches 
 in charcoal. 
 
 ' I will paint you now, as you are, in that white 
 dress and bonnet. I will paint you as Mirth, as you 
 also are now. And then you must be my model 
 for Joan of Arc ; that is one idea I brought back 
 with me from France. And as Cassandra. There 
 is Constance, too. I am to paint a picture of 
 Constance for the Shakespeare Gallery. But Joan 
 of Arc first. Emma, you will be Joan of 
 Arc?' 
 
 ' And rout all my enemies ? Yes, yes, indeed.' 
 And she threw herself into a spirited attitude. 
 ' But Joan of Arc was put to death. See, Romney, 
 see ! ' She changed the pose ; now she was the 
 very spirit of humility. ' I am betrayed, I suffer 
 meekly.' 
 
Nelson's Legacy 229 
 
 ' Wonderful, wonderful ! ' he cried. ' Do not 
 move, I pray you ; do not move. You are the 
 Maid, the saintly Maid herself. . . .' 
 
 Again she flung up her head, and her eyes 
 flashed courage. ' Look, I am borne in fire to 
 Heaven, and my memory remains to encourage 
 every maid to rise superior to her lowly origin. 
 Paint me holding a kingdom in the hoflow of my 
 hand. For, Romney, I mean to hold Naples so. 
 I am in the Queen's confidence.' She wanted to 
 tell him all that happened to her. 
 
 A sudden despondency seized Romney the 
 instant she had left off posing, and he sank 
 back again into his chair with a groan. ' But 
 you are going away again ; you will leave 
 me.' 
 
 ' Not yet, not for a long time. And I 
 will come to you every day I am in Eng- 
 land.' 
 
 ' This marriage will estrange us. Never, never 
 again will you be my Emma, mine.' His head 
 sank on his breast, he began to mutter to him- 
 self. 
 
 She stood perplexed, bewildered ; then went 
 over to him, and knelt by his chair. 
 
 ' I am not altered, I shall not alter, Romney,' 
 she cried. ' I will always be your inspiration, 
 your " Divine Lady." Look up and tell me what 
 
230 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 I am to be. See ! I have so many new atti- 
 tudes.' She was still far from understanding what 
 ailed him. 
 
 He went on talking to himself, and then, in- 
 deed, doubt and apprehension touched her. For 
 what was it he was saying ? 
 
 ' Never again my Emma, mine ; the goddess 
 who gave herself to me, Venus, with the golden 
 apple, to whose temptation I succumbed ; Andro- 
 meda to my Perseus, or Helen. . . .' The next 
 sentence that came from him must remain un- 
 chronicled. 
 
 Her heart went cold as she listened to him. 
 Was he not voicing Mr. Greville's accusation ? 
 She rose from her knees and stood spellbound, 
 her pallor increasing, and nothing but dismay in 
 her heart or head. He went on as one who talks 
 in dream : 
 
 ' I see you still ; your red gold hair falling 
 almost to your feet. I feel your ivory shoulders, 
 see the blue vein beneath your upraised arm as you 
 throw back a curl that seeks to hide the invita- 
 tion in your eyes, your sweet eyes. I feel your 
 miracle of a mouth, that clung again and again 
 to mine. You gave me love, and I conferred 
 Immortality upon you. Immortal Emma ! you 
 are going from me. My arms will be empty and 
 your figure refuse to come when I invoke it. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 231 
 
 Shadows to haunt me instead, clouds to gather, 
 dark, and ever darker. . . .' 
 
 His mutterings grew louder and more inco- 
 herent. And now at last Emma understood 
 with a chill that touched her spine and curdled 
 her blood, that he knew not she was there before 
 him in the flesh, the exquisite flesh. He was 
 dreaming of that which she had never been, could 
 never have been to him. She brushed her hands 
 before her eyes. What was it he was saying ? 
 What had Mr. Greville said ? She was more than 
 unhappy, she was terrified ! Could it have been 
 true, had she forgotten ? Had Mr. Romney gone 
 mad, or was she mad ? She turned and fled, never 
 heeding her appointment with Sir William, nor 
 what complexion would be put upon her flight. 
 She fled from the unknown, from this destroyed 
 genius who accused her, from herself, and all the 
 memories of the studio. . . . 
 
 Fortunately, it was into Sir William's arms 
 that she precipitated herself. He was already 
 awaiting her at the foot of the stairs. ' My 
 dear Emma, you have been alarmed, you are 
 uneasy. Collect yourself. Let me convey you 
 to the carriage. You will not forget, I am 
 sure, that His Grace of Queensberry awaits 
 us.' 
 
 Emma began to pour out an incoherent account 
 
232 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 of Mr. Greville's accusations, Mr. Romney's mad- 
 ness, her own fears. Sir William Hamilton found 
 little difficulty in tracing the source of her emotion 
 to the great news, the approaching assembly, to 
 her affection for him, and the excitement the day 
 had brought forth. He set himself to soothing 
 her, and with success. She soon recovered her 
 composure as she realised the strength of her 
 position with him. Greville could not harm her, 
 she was too deeply entrenched in this strong heart 
 for any shots to reach her. // ^^a^^a^o e morto. 
 The past was all behind her, and the future radiant 
 with promise. 
 
 At the Duke of Queensberry's reception her 
 glowing and lovely face eclipsed all the ladies of 
 fashion. Her Grace of Devonshire looked old and 
 faded in comparison. The duke told her so him- 
 self, and the smile with which she regarded the 
 compliment was like sunshine in the room. It 
 was impossible she had ever been ' Emma of Mrs. 
 Kelly's,' or ' Frail Emma of Edgeware Row.' She 
 was at this brilliant reception in her proper person, 
 the affianced wife of the King's brother, the future 
 Ambassadress ! Everything else had been a dream, 
 a nightmare ; only now she was awake, to find the 
 world at her feet and Greville's threats negligible 
 and absurd. A beautiful woman is an irresistible 
 power. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 233 
 
 On September 6th, anno domini 1790, cetatis suce 
 XXV., Emma Hart was married at Marylebone 
 Church, by the Reverend Doctor Edward Barry, to 
 Sir William Hamilton, K.C.B., in the presence of 
 Lord Abercorn and Mr. Dutens. 
 
 The first volume of Emma's life-story is 
 completed. The next is concerned with Lady 
 Hamilton. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 Explains the political position at the Court of Naples when Emma 
 returns as the wife of the British Ambassador. The Queen 
 uses Emma as one of the pawns in the game she is playing 
 with the Powers. Emma imagines herself the Bishop, the 
 Castle, and all the larger pieces. 
 
 HISTORY has its fictions, no less than the law, 
 and amongst these is one that the world's 
 affairs are shaped by men. In the King's Council 
 reverend seigniors wag wise heads ere promulgating 
 his decrees ; grave elders codify his laws and ad- 
 minister his justice ; brave captains wage his battles 
 by land or sea. Women, these declare, lack judg- 
 ment to decide matters of statecraft, as they lack 
 strength to enforce decision by arms. For their part, 
 women are not greatly concerned to argue the 
 thesis. They have not failed to perceive that the 
 influence exerted without ostentation commonly 
 escapes opposition by eluding observation, and 
 that the most effective forces, like those of nature, 
 ever operate silently. They are content to leave 
 action to men born of them, while they themselves, 
 behind their silken curtains, breed the ideas from 
 which alone action springs. Through long ages 
 
 234 
 
Nelson's Legacy 235 
 
 the story of men's deeds, which have made 
 history, is in its essence but the epitome of 
 women's thoughts. Her pride, her vanity, her 
 lust, her ambition— it is to gratify one or all of 
 these that man has intrigued, fought, and died 
 ever since the sons of God saw the daughters of 
 men that they were fair. 
 
 One of the innumerable examples of the truth 
 of this proposition is furnished by the illustrious 
 lady into the closest personal relations with whom 
 Emma was brought on her return to Naples as 
 Lady Hamilton. Calumny has been ever busy 
 with Maria Carolina, Queen of the Two Sicilies, 
 but fairness must admit that, whatever her pri- 
 vate pleasures or predispositions, it was she who 
 shaped the affairs of the country of which her 
 royal consort was the nominal ruler. 
 
 The eldest daughter of Maria Theresa, that 
 woman of heroic parts, she inherited from her 
 mother pride of race, a tenacious attachment to 
 the Roman Catholic Church, and an unalterable 
 belief in her own intellectual capacity. Bred in 
 an atmosphere of cosmopolitan politics, and imbib- 
 ing statecraft with her mother's milk, Maria Caro- 
 lina grew up to watch with an observant eye the 
 trend of the world's thoughts. Soon after her 
 marriage she perceived how, throughout the con- 
 tinent of Europe, this was in the direction of 
 
236 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 freedom. Too intelligent to suppose that the 
 advancing spirit of the age could be withstood by 
 government — whether invested in a corporation 
 aggregate or a corporation sole — she considered 
 only how she could so guide its direction among 
 the populace of her own country as to pre- 
 serve her monarchy by the introduction of 
 reforms, and thus avert the ruder shock of revo- 
 lution. 
 
 Had she been mated to a consort the equal of 
 herself in political sagacity, in ambition, and in 
 application to the due discharge of a prince's high 
 responsibilities, Maria Carolina might have had the 
 happiness of seeing her country ranked among 
 the European Powers. For it is not by the number 
 of its population nor the extent of its superficies 
 that the greatness of a country is computed ; else 
 Greece had not broken the pride of Persia, nor 
 Alva hammered in vain upon the iron courage of 
 the Netherlands. 
 
 But King Ferdinand had no inclinations to- 
 wards the graver duties of the royal state. Content 
 to reign, he did not choose to rule, accepting the 
 privileges of the throne, whilst ignoring its re- 
 sponsibilities. Easy pleasures, sport, wine, and 
 woman sufficed him ; he was only serious about 
 the chase ; everything else he took lightly. If he 
 resented, whilst he admired, his spouse's strength 
 
Nelson's Legacy 237 
 
 of character, he was yet fitfully willing to leave the 
 government of his kingdom in her more able, and 
 far more ambitious, hands. His was the life that 
 commended itself to the most part of his subjects, 
 a thoughtless, reckless, superstitious crew, hot- 
 blooded, and indolent under the Southern sun. 
 With the lazzaroni he was popular and his rough 
 despotism safe. He concerned himself but little 
 with the feudal lords, grimly tenacious of their 
 ancient rights, or for those others to whom the 
 spirit of the new age was making its resistless 
 appeal, and who clamoured they hardly knew for 
 what. He preferred to leave them and their 
 affairs to his Queen and Ministers. Whilst she 
 perfected and experimented with her schemes, 
 some visionary, few practicable, all of them well- 
 intentioned, not all of them well-approved, he 
 interested himself more particularly with the size 
 of his bags. 
 
 Until the storm of revolution, thundering appall- 
 ingly in France, rolled in lowering clouds towards 
 Italy, Maria Carolina, too, found time for enter- 
 tainment. A woman of intellect, she gathered 
 around her men and women eminent in literature 
 and science. But she was lacking in neither 
 vivacity nor feeling and she permitted herself 
 certain indulgences which gossip exaggerated into 
 the most scandalous excesses. 
 
238 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 Into this lighter side of her Hfe the whole world 
 could not have produced a better companion than 
 the one ready to her hand in Lady Hamilton. 
 When the famous beauty returned to Naples, white- 
 washed and made respectable by marriage, the 
 Queen was more than ready to receive her into 
 favour. Sir William had brought her back to 
 Naples by way of Paris, where they had had 
 audience of the Queen of Naples' sister, the ill- 
 fated Marie Antoinette, already standing under the 
 shadow of the scaffold. That poor lady, entrust- 
 ing the Ambassadress with a letter to her sister, 
 gave a passport which Maria Carolina was not the 
 one to challenge. 
 
 ' I have been received with open arms by all the 
 Neapolitans of both sexes ' [Lady Hamilton wrote to 
 Romney a few weeks after her arrival], ' by all the for- 
 eigners of every distinction. I have been presented to 
 the Queen of Naples by her own desire, she as shown me 
 all sort of kind and affectionate attentions ; in short, I 
 am the happiest woman in the world. Sir William is 
 fonder of me every day, and I hope I will have no cause 
 to repent of what he as done, for I feel so grateful to him 
 that I think I shall never be able to make amends for 
 his goodness to me.' 
 
 Sir William, too, had the gratification of being 
 able to write that Emma had succeeded wonder- 
 fully, and by having no pretensions had gained 
 the appreciation of all the Enghsh ladies, besides 
 
Nelson's Legacy 239 
 
 being received by the Queen, who treated her hke 
 any other traveUing lady of distinction. 
 
 The metamorphosis was indeed complete ; and 
 Mr. Greville was fain to admit that Emma had 
 more than made good her assurance that he did 
 not know what power she had in Naples even 
 before her threatened marriage to his uncle had 
 become an accomplished fact. That power was 
 doubly reinforced now, and nobody was so unwise 
 as not to make a point of being civil to Charles 
 Greville's discarded mistress. 
 
 The Queen made her home at Caserta during 
 the summer solstice, and thither Sir William Hamil- 
 ton moved his establishment for political reasons. 
 
 ' Our house has been like an inn ' [Emma wrote]. 
 ' We had the Duchess of Ancaster several days. It is 
 but three days since the Devonshire family has left ; and 
 we had fifty in our family for four days at Caserta. 'Tis 
 true we dined every day at court, or at some casino of 
 the King ; for you cannot imagine how good our King 
 and Queen as been to the principal English who have 
 been here — particularly to Lord and Lady Palmerston, 
 Cholmondeley, Devonshire, Lady Spencer, Lady Bess- 
 borough, Lady Plymouth, Sir George and Lady Webster. 
 And I have carried the ladies to the Queen very often, as 
 she as permitted me to go very often in private, which 
 I do. ... In the evenings I go to her and we fire tete-a- 
 tete 2 or 3 hours. Sometimes we sing. Yesterday the 
 King and me sang duetts 3 hours. It was but bad. . . . 
 To-day the Princess Royal of Sweden comes to court to 
 
240 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 take leave of Their Majesties. Sir William and me are 
 invited to dinner with her. She is an amiable Princess 
 and as lived very much with us. The other ministers' 
 wives have not shown her the least attention because 
 she did not pay them the first visit, as she travels under 
 the name of the Countess of Wasa. . . . Her Majesty 
 told me I had done very well in waiting on her Royal 
 Highness the moment she arrived. However, the minis- 
 ters' wives are very fond of me, as they see I have no 
 pretensions nor do I abuse Her Majesty's goodness, 
 and she observed the other night at court at Naples we 
 had a drawing-room in honner of the Empress having 
 brought a son. I had been with the Queen the night 
 before alone, en famille, laughing and singing, etc., etc., 
 but at the drawing-room I kept my distance and payd 
 the Queen as much respect as tho' I had never seen her 
 before, which pleased her very much. But she showed 
 me great distinction that night, and told me several 
 times how she admired my good conduct. . . . You 
 may imagine how happy my dear, dear Sir William is. 
 We live more like lovers than husband and wife, as hus- 
 bands and wives go nowadays. Lord deliver me ! and 
 the English are as bad as the Italians some few excepted. 
 ... I study very hard, and I have had all my songs 
 set for the viola, so that Sir William may accompany me, 
 which as pleased him very much so that we study to- 
 gether. The English garden is going on verj^ fast. The 
 King and Queen go there every day. Sir William and 
 me are there every morning at seven o'clock, sometimes 
 dine there, and all ways drink tea there. . . .' 
 
 A like tale of familiarity with the greatness of 
 the world, and even of conscious superiority to 
 
LADY HAMILTON AS CASSAXDRA 
 
 FROM THE PAINTING BY ROMNEY, IN THE POSSESSION 
 
 OF TANKERVILLE CHAMBERLAYNE, ESQ. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 241 
 
 it, is told in the letters which her husband wrote 
 
 to Emma on his occasional absences from her side, 
 
 when he accompanied the royal sportsman on his 
 
 expeditions. 
 
 ' You did admirably, my dear Em., in not inviting Lady 
 A. H. to dine with the Prince, and still better in telling her 
 honestly the reason. I have always found that going 
 straight is the best method, though not the way of the 
 world. You also did very well in asking Madame Ska- 
 mouski, and not taking upon you to present her without 
 leave. ... As the Prince asked you, you did right to 
 send for a song of Douglas's, but in general you will do 
 right only to sing at home.' 
 
 That Emma's new prudery was shocked by 
 
 the behaviour of some of the friends of royalty, 
 
 and found it more fitted for the stables or kitchen 
 
 than her own gilded drawing-rooms, is suggested 
 
 by her husband's light rejoinder to some criticism 
 
 she passed : 
 
 'Let them all roll on the carpet, provided you are 
 not of the party. My trust is in you alone.' 
 
 Calumny, we have said, has been busy with the 
 name of Maria Carolina, not hesitating to describe 
 her as a modern Cytherea, who lent herself to 
 orgies of extravagance and riotous pleasure, in- 
 dulging in vices of which one cannot even write the 
 names. The truth can certainly never be known 
 by any mortal until that final awful day when the 
 
 secrets of all hearts shall be laid bare. But it is 
 Q 
 
242 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 more charitable, and probably it is far nearer to 
 the truth, to say that much of her conduct at this 
 critical juncture in her country's history was 
 actuated solely by reasons of high policy. 
 
 She gave the extravagant entertainments which 
 were the talk of the fashionable world because 
 they were congenial to her courtiers, and, by 
 amusing, kept them from playing at politics, and 
 dabbling in revolutionary intrigues. They were 
 also agreeable to her husband, and checked any 
 possible inclination on his part to interfere with 
 her exercise of power ; and they drew to the capital 
 a throng of fashionable and influential visitors 
 from the centres of civilisation, among whom it 
 was possible to disseminate ideas that might lead 
 to action beneficial to the cause of royalty when 
 those lowering thunder-clouds of revolution should 
 envelop Italy, too, in storm. 
 
 The Queen was far-sighted in her statecraft. 
 From the beginning of the happenings in France 
 she foresaw that a day might arise when the active 
 sympathy and offensive and defensive alliance of 
 Great Britain would be necessary to save her own 
 kingdom of the Two Sicilies from rapine, and her 
 throne from extinction. 
 
 In bestowing unlimited favour on Lady Hamil- 
 ton, and in encouraging her consort's familiarity 
 with Sir William, already for twenty years a 
 
Nelson's Legacy 243 
 
 personal friend, the Queen truly believed she was 
 diplomatically securing the influence of the British 
 Ambassador for her own political schemes, and 
 thus laying the foundation for an Anglo-Sicilian 
 alliance. Whatever pleasures for herself she may 
 have gathered by the way — and for our part we 
 have no belief that her intimacy with Emma was 
 other than the natural inclination of one woman 
 of temperament with another — there is no doubt 
 that in her negotiations with Sir William Hamilton, 
 and through him with his Government, Maria 
 Carolina wrought better and more surely than 
 many a man whose name has been inscribed 
 upon the roll of the great statesmen of the 
 world. 
 
 Diplomacy is the science, or art, of conducting 
 negotiations between nations, and differs essenti- 
 ally from politics, which treats of the distribu- 
 tion of power in a country. An undeniable talent 
 for diplomacy rendered the Queen of Naples 
 competent to deal ably and successfully with 
 foreign affairs. But in the domestic equivalent she 
 was less successful. Dictatorial by native temper, 
 she scorned conciliation as unbeseeming to her 
 dignity, and, whilst undoubtedly inspired by a 
 sincere desire to inaugurate wise reforms, she 
 alienated the loyalty of one class of her subjects, 
 without freeing the other from a feudal system 
 
244 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 long odious to it. In her anxiety to detect the 
 earhest germination in her dominions of the seeds 
 of anarchy, she irritated to a dangerous point the 
 easy lazzaroni by estabhshing a kind of secret 
 inquisition particularly hateful to their Bohemian 
 temper. 
 
 This is not the history of Maria Carolina, except 
 in so far as it impinges upon that of our heroine. 
 It is enough to say that she loved licence, but 
 feared anarchy, and was late in learning that 
 in Italy, and in these times, the one presaged 
 the other. England was the land of free- 
 dom, and upon England she concentrated her 
 strength. 
 
 Lady Hamilton was the recipient of her com- 
 plicated and halting confidences. Seeing how her 
 countrymen were regarded, and how she herself 
 stood facile princeps in the Queen's regard amongst 
 the distinguished English colony then in Naples, 
 it is not, perhaps, surprising that Emma, Lady 
 Hamilton, came in time to imagine she had been 
 the pivot upon which all history revolved. It was 
 she who was the medium of communication between 
 the Queen and the British Ambassador, and be- 
 tween the Queen and the unofficial, but no less 
 powerful, representatives of the British people. 
 Those of the Neapolitans whose sympathies were 
 French would have been wiser had they contemned 
 
Nelson's Legacy 245 
 
 her less as a parvenue, so frivolous as to be 
 negligible as a factor in political affairs. 
 
 Both Sir William Hamilton and Acton had a 
 more accurate perception of her real utility. It 
 was of the first importance that they should obtain 
 and transmit to their Government the earliest 
 intelligence of the intentions of the other Powers, 
 and this they were enabled to do by the confidence 
 placed by the Queen in the Ambassadress. The 
 Queen's fear and bitter hatred of France, both 
 raised to the ultimate extremity by the execution 
 of Louis and the even more horrible assassination 
 of Marie Antoinette, led her to condescend to every 
 device by which she might pave the way to ven- 
 geance on her sister's murderers, and combat the 
 Jacobinism which had produced such bloody spawn. 
 
 With Spain wavering in her opposition to the 
 National Convention, and the Austrian Bourbons 
 paralysed by the increasing power of the Corsican, 
 Napoleon Buonaparte, she was more than ever set 
 upon a definite English alliance. She transmitted, 
 through Emma, every scrap of information that 
 she thought might be useful to the English Ambas- 
 sador in persuading the Ministry in London to 
 save Naples from the encroaching flood. 
 
 A signal instance occurred when a courier 
 brought Ferdinand, whose inclinations were Span- 
 ish, a private letter from the King of Spain announc- 
 
246 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 ing his intention to withdraw from the CoaHtion 
 and join the French against England. The Queen 
 took it from the King's pocket unseen, and allowed 
 Emma to make a copy of it. As it happened that 
 Sir William lay dangerously ill at that moment. 
 Lady Hamilton herself, acting under the Queen's 
 instructions, dispatched a messenger with the letter 
 to Lord Grenville in London, taking all necessary 
 precautions for the safe arrival of this most impor- 
 tant despatch, and spending near four hundred 
 pounds out of her privy purse on this delicate 
 affair. But there is reason to believe Maria 
 Carolina gave her the requisite money ! Emma 
 was still reckless and extravagant and had no 
 means of her own. Emma enjoyed playing at 
 statecraft, but chiefly because it was a mark of 
 the Queen's confidence, and enabled her to report 
 to Greville, with whom, strangely enough, she was 
 again on corresponding terms. 
 
 ' They ought to be gratfull to Sir William, and myself, 
 in particular ' [she wrote of the Government] ; ' my 
 situation in this court is very extraordinary, and what 
 no person has yet arrived at.' 
 
 But it was many years before that situation, 
 to which she alluded, attained an important 
 political aspect in her eyes or warranted her claim- 
 ing that what she did was in the nature of dis- 
 tinguished service to her country, deserving of 
 
Nelson's Legacy 247 
 
 large pecuniary recognition. She was satisfied 
 now, and for a long time afterwards, to rely upon 
 her voice and her figure, her complexion and the 
 gaiety of her entertainments to maintain her 
 position. Those entertainments waxed ever in 
 importance and splendour. Emma danced, sang, 
 and attitudinised herself into prominence, aided 
 by the senile fondness of her husband, and the 
 countenance and good graces of the Queen, who 
 used her services, and confided in her . . . that 
 which she wished her to know. 
 
 The letter which had been extracted from Fer- 
 dinand's pocket, and which Emma had despatched 
 to London, bore the serious news that, under irre- 
 sistible pressure, Spain had left the Coalition. 
 Events marched henceforward with inconceivable 
 rapidity ; Buonaparte's progress acquired an ever- 
 increasing momentum. Treaty after treaty bore 
 signed and sealed testimony to his amazing 
 triumphs. It seemed hopeless for the Neapolitan 
 kingdom to hold out against the spirit of democracy 
 of which his armed host was the incarnation. But 
 Maria Carolina's spirit was unyielding ; and even 
 when she signed what was now urgently put 
 before her, following the humiliating example of 
 the other Powers, and seeking an armistice, she 
 was secretly intriguing for the recovery of the 
 position she had pretended to abandon. 
 
248 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 What had Emma to do with these negotiations ? 
 She went to and fro, from the Palace to the house 
 of the Ambassador, carrying letters of which she 
 scarcely understood the significance, revelling in 
 the importance she enjoyed, but knowing little 
 what it portended. And had she realised it, and 
 seen into the future as we know it to-day, it is 
 doubtful but that she would have considered the 
 discovery to Sir William Hamilton of Napoleon's 
 designs on the Mediterranean second in importance 
 to the advent of the English naval captain to 
 which that news indirectly led. For, as Mr. 
 Greville so truly said, Emma was always Emma, 
 and already her elderly husband was becoming 
 insufficient for her exuberance. 
 
 Hi ^ H: Hi 4: He 
 
 It was the Mediterranean upon which Buona- 
 parte had set his eyes, the Mediterranean he meant 
 to have. The English fleet was there. It would 
 have to be removed or destroyed. So the Queen 
 wrote to Sir William, and Emma carried the news. 
 England must look to its navy ; it was the English 
 navy that was now threatened, she wrote. As a 
 preliminary preparation, Buonaparte was closing 
 as many ports against it as his arms, or his diplo- 
 macy, permitted. The clause in the treaty with 
 the Neapolitan Court that no more than four 
 English men of war should be provisioned in any 
 
Nelson's Legacy 249 
 
 Neapolitan or Sicilian port at one and the same 
 time, was the one that alarmed Maria Carolina. 
 Unless saved by England, Naples, the Two Sicilies, 
 v/ould follow the rest of Italy into subjection to 
 France, and she herself would be but the negligible 
 wife of yet one more roi 'pretendant. 
 
 This was the reveillon that called Nelson to his 
 fate, the fate that cost him more than the loss of 
 an arm, or the obscuration of an eye, that was 
 to outbalance his honour, and send him down to 
 history, not the single-hearted patriot and hero 
 that should have been his only title to fame, but 
 as the victim to the wiles of a woman who had 
 graduated in the school of vice whilst he was 
 employing all his energies and powers in working 
 for his country. 
 
 We have followed Emma's progress from inno- 
 cence to misfortune, and from misfortune to pros- 
 perity. The retrogression of her character has 
 been steady. Greville's hand precipitated the fall 
 and the ultimate tragedy is in sight. Once the 
 victim, we shall see her become the temptress. 
 To her eternal shame, and his confusion, all the 
 fascination of the education she had acquired, of 
 the position to which Sir William Hamilton's weak- 
 ness had raised her, of her beauty, now at its prime, 
 and her natural talent, now at its meridian, was 
 put forth for the seduction of the simple-minded 
 
250 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 sailor, Captain Horatio Nelson, whose victories at 
 the Nile, and triumphs at Trafalgar, have been 
 overshadowed for all time by the publicity of the 
 intrigue in which he engaged with the wife of 
 the English Ambassador at Naples. 
 
 But this is for the next and following chapters. 
 
 Meanwhile the Court comedy was being played 
 on. The old barons might sulk in their castles, 
 the lazzaroni gabble about revolution over their 
 macaroni and lacrime Christi, but still the King 
 must hunt, and still the Queen must be amused. 
 The English Ambassador was the King's constant 
 companion in his big battues. Sir William wrote 
 his wife, ' The King has killed eighty-one animals 
 of one sort or other to-day and amongst them a 
 wolf and some stags. He fell asleep in the coach, 
 and awaking told me he had been dreaming of 
 shooting. One would have thought he would have 
 shed blood enough.' 
 
 There was blood enough to be shed, and tears. 
 Nelson was on his way to Emma, but he had left 
 a wife behind, a wife to whom up to now he had 
 been loving and faithful, in whom he saw no fault, 
 and of whom he imagined no unkindness. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Chronicles the appearance of Nelson on the scene. The des- 
 truction of the French Navy is followed by the surrender 
 of the Hero of the Nile to the wife of the British Ambassador. 
 He outwits Villeneuve, to be himself outwitted by Frail 
 Emma of Edgeware Row. 
 
 THE splendid sinner never lacks apologists and 
 not much reflection is needed to suggest an 
 explanation. The sin that does not appeal to us is 
 the one we deem unpardonable ; we can find for- 
 giveness for faults when we understand the ante- 
 cedent temptation. It is commonly through ex- 
 cess of love, or of ambition, that the heroic and 
 romantic figure errs, and those, in due degree, are 
 generous and ennobling passions, to whose vitalising 
 energy no soul is so dense as to be quite impervious. 
 Nevertheless, we must not lose sight of proportions. 
 ' Love and ambition draw the devil's coach,' said 
 the poet wisely, and the house to whose courtyard 
 they travel is the home of the devil — hell. 
 
 The reminder is not untimely at the point now 
 reached in the narrative of our heroine's adventures. 
 Her present situation as the central figure of a 
 
 brilliant court is so dazzling, her influence in the 
 
 251 
 
252 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 impending collision of armed nations so amazing, 
 her reputation as the virtuous wife of an old man 
 so unblemished, that one on the level plain of life, 
 turning wondering eyes from the pit whence she 
 sprang to the peak she has won, has an inclination 
 to disregard the weaknesses, the extravagances, 
 the immoralities of her earlier years, and even to 
 harbour for a moment the envious, dangerously 
 wicked, thought that such success may be justi- 
 fication of any fall from virtue, however frequent, 
 however far. But wait, and count no man happy 
 until he be dead. ' / myself have seen the ungodly 
 in great power ; and flourishing like a green hay 
 tree. I went by, and lo, he was gone : I sought him, 
 hut his place could nowhere he found. ^ When we 
 shall write finis to this book, these are the words 
 that will ring dominant in our ears. 
 
 Beyond doubt this was the moment of our 
 Emma's zenith, and it presaged her great fall. 
 Nelson was coming. Presently it was to seem that 
 all her experience and all her powers were given 
 her for this end : the subjugation of one who else- 
 where proved himself unconquerable. To explain 
 the situation we must, however, glance aside from 
 Emma for the space of a paragraph. 
 
 Resenting the tyranny of the new Republican 
 Government of France, the inhabitants of Toulon 
 had recently made overtures to Lord Hood to take 
 
Nelson's Legacy 253 
 
 them under his protection, and, assisted perhaps 
 by treachery on the part of Admiral Trogoff, the 
 English admiral took possession of that place in 
 the name of King Louis XVII. A military force 
 being immediately necessary. Lord Hood resolved 
 to apply to the Neapolitan Government. He 
 despatched Captain Horatio Nelson of the Aga- 
 memnon on a special mission to Sir William Hamil- 
 ton, asking him to use his influence to procure ten 
 thousand troops upon the instant. 
 
 The reception of Captain Nelson by King 
 Ferdinand was gracious in the extreme, His Majesty 
 sailing out to meet him, and inviting him almost 
 daily during his stay in the capital. At a banquet 
 he was placed at the King's right hand, before the 
 English Ambassador and all the nobles present ; 
 a gala was given at San Carlo in honour of his 
 squadron and provisions were generously lavished 
 on his crew, who for near nineteen weeks had not 
 had a morsel of fresh meat or vegetables. 
 
 With such a preamble it is hardly necessary to 
 add that Captain Nelson succeeded perfectly in 
 his mission, and six thousand troops were des- 
 patched to Toulon. Whilst the purport of his 
 visit was being achieved, he was free to enjoy all 
 the hospitality that might be offered him. He 
 was lodged in the Embassy, in the room prepared 
 for Prince Augustus, and both there, and at the 
 
254 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 Court of Caserta, he had daily opportunities of 
 consulting with the Ministers and informing him- 
 self of the state of affairs in that part of the Mediter- 
 ranean. 
 
 But what is more especially relevant in this 
 narrative, he was brought into relations of the 
 closest personal intimacy with Sir William Hamil- 
 ton, and incidentally his lady. 
 
 At the time of their first meeting, Nelson's 
 genius had still to be proved to the world. What 
 fired Emma was not his genius, but his denseness 
 to what was required of him as a guest at the 
 Embassy. The world was at Emma's feet, victim 
 to her charms, either ravished with her singing, 
 enraptured with her ' Attitudes,' or lost in admir- 
 ation of her understanding. So they all told her, 
 and she believed them all. That the fleshpots of 
 Egypt— in other words, the boundless hospitality 
 of the Embassy — had any share in the enthusiasm 
 she excited was past her credence. Her head was 
 completely turned with her position, the Queen's 
 confidences, and Sir William's foolish fondness. 
 It seemed inevitable that the much-sought-after 
 English officer would folloAV in the wake of his 
 betters, and declare his passion. But Nelson was 
 in Naples on business, and had no eyes for any- 
 thing but his ten thousand troops. With him in 
 his suite was his stepson, one Josiah Nisbet. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 255 
 
 Josiah would lounge willingly in Emma's boudoir 
 whilst his captain was out on affairs of State, and 
 it was to him that Emma must perforce exhibit 
 her attractions. 
 
 * Lady Hamilton has been wonderfully kind and 
 good to Josiah,' Nelson reported to his wife, to 
 whom he wrote regularly. ' She is a young woman 
 of amiable manners, and who does honour to the 
 station to which she is raised.' 
 
 He had no presentiment of what this ' young 
 woman of amiable manners ' would become to him 
 in the future. Amorous adventure was not for 
 him ; he was a faithful husband, and, young as 
 he was made a good and careful stepfather. 
 Josiah had been spoiled by his mother, as is the 
 way of widows with only sons, and was something 
 of a lout, with a greater taste for the bottle than 
 for work. Nelson thought Lady Hamilton was 
 having a good influence upon Josiah, and that 
 those lounging hours in her boudoir would prove 
 beneficial to his character. He told her so one 
 day, quite simply and candidly. It was at a 
 banquet he found the opportunity. 
 
 ' I wanted to thank you for your kindness to 
 my stepson, but occasion has not served me until 
 now,' he began, almost as soon as they were 
 seated. 
 
 ' He is a dear boy,' she answered ; ' a little 
 
256 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 wanting in manner, perhaps, and his education 
 has halted, but I am learning him a little French.' 
 She turned her lustrous eyes upon Nelson. 
 
 ' The Queen desired the English officers should 
 have every attention, but Captain Nelson is all 
 taken up with business,' she went on, artlessly. 
 
 ' Or he had given himself the pleasure of hear- 
 ing Lady Hamilton sing. But I have found time 
 to envy Josiah,' he added gallantly. She was 
 quick to reply that she would sing for him pre- 
 sently, that very evening. She wanted him to 
 talk about her amazing talents, but he spoke 
 instead of his wife's anxiety for her son, and a 
 little of politics. Then they both grew enthusiastic 
 about the Queen : Emma, because next to herself, 
 her royal friend was her favourite topic of con- 
 versation ; Nelson, because to champion the Queen 
 and her cause seemed to bring him nearer to the 
 one object of his ambition. He wanted to engage 
 with the French fleet, and to destroy it. Beyond 
 the beautiful face of his hostess he saw the ships, 
 his and theirs, and heard the sound of guns. Emma 
 assumed a great knowledge of the Queen's views, 
 and Nelson believed every word she said. That 
 her vanity was piqued because he paid her so little 
 attention is undoubted. After dinner it was for 
 him she sang her songs and posed, but to no pur- 
 pose. Nelson gave her a perfunctory attention ; 
 
Nelson's Legacy 257 
 
 his best was given to Sir William, to whom he 
 talked strategy, and of Napoleon's schemes. 
 
 When Sir William came into her bed-chamber 
 that night he said, ' My love, that is a very remark- 
 able young man.' 
 
 ' Did he say anything to you about my 
 " Sappho " or my " Eurydice " ? ' she asked 
 eagerly. 
 
 ' He had a complete plan of the ports, and a 
 scheme to intercept the French ships. . . .' 
 
 But Emma was impatient. ' And my singing ; 
 did he think my voice was as good as Nella's ? 
 Count Pavlo says it is much stronger, and would 
 have a greater success at the Opera House. . . .' 
 
 Sir William agreed with Count Pavlo, and said 
 all and more than could be expected of the fondest 
 and most uxorious husband, but he could not tell 
 her that Captain Nelson had agreed or disagreed 
 with him, he had talked only of the ships. 
 
 Emma's vanity was outraged. Again and again 
 in the week that followed she essayed to provoke 
 the little English captain, who had captured all 
 hearts by his earnestness, into betraying some 
 more personal interest in her, or her multiform 
 accomplishments and charms. It was all in vain. 
 War clouds were ever more lowering, and Nelson 
 enwrapt in them. He was a patriot before he 
 became a lover, and after. The wife of the 
 
258 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 English Ambassador was very beautiful and very 
 winning, but his own heart was with the 
 Agamemnon. 
 
 For twelve days Nelson remained in Naples, 
 engaged with Sir William or the Queen, learning all 
 they could tell him. The Queen openly admitted 
 that she had ' fell in love with him.' Maria Carolina 
 knew, and Sir William Hamilton knew, long before 
 Emma or the world realised, that there was a 
 great spirit enshrined in that little feeble body. 
 It shone through his blue eyes, lingered round his 
 sensitive mouth. 
 
 * The age has found its man,' Sir William told 
 Emma. Emma pouted, and renewed her coquetries 
 with the great little man's stepson. Before he 
 sailed. Nelson spoke to her about it again. 
 
 ' You have been the saving of him,' he told 
 her, looking his gratitude. Then, because he found 
 it in his, he kissed her hand. 
 
 * 'Twas only your stepson has cared for my 
 company,' she answered in her softest and most 
 cooing of voices. 
 
 ' There is one who could not have had enough 
 of it, if Duty had not called him elsewhere,' Nelson 
 replied. For he was a sailor, and, although no 
 squire of dames, alive to their charms. 
 
 ' Would that / had been Duty,' sighed Emma. 
 
 ' Then Nelson would never have been absent 
 
Nelson's Legacy 259 
 
 from his post,' he exclaimed, regarding her more 
 attentively than ever before. He was bewildered 
 by her sigh and pensive air, flattered ; caught at 
 the last moment, though he knew it not, in the 
 toils that were to bind him. 
 
 ' You and me would have been friends if you 
 had not been over-occupied ? ' Emma asked, wist- 
 fully. It was then he seemed to see her for the 
 first time. She was in a brocaded dress, her fine 
 kerchief not whiter than the bosom it only half 
 concealed. A long ringlet had escaped and fell 
 over her shoulder. Her eyes were glistening and 
 spelled forlornness at his going ; her beautiful 
 mouth trembled. 
 
 ' I have wanted to be friends with you, but you 
 have shut yourself up with the Queen and Sir 
 William.' He was quite overcome that she 
 should have wanted his friendship, and he not 
 known it. 
 
 ' I thought you were wrapt up in Lieutenant 
 Nisbet,' he stammered. 
 
 ' When Nelson was in the Embassy ? ' she 
 exclaimed. 
 
 ' If ever I come to Naples again . . . ' 
 
 ' Ah ! then you will come to Naples again ! ' 
 
 Her smile was exquisite. And now it was she 
 who took his hand and held it, exclaiming in her 
 extravagant way : 
 
26o Nelson^s Legacy 
 
 ' I know it, I feel it, this hand will save the 
 Queen, and save the country. Then Emma will 
 hold it, kiss it ' — she suited the action to the 
 word — ' and call out that every one may hear : 
 This is the hand of Horatio Nelson, the Saviour 
 of Italy.' 
 
 She added more, so much more that he blushed 
 to hear it. Her own eloquence had ever the power 
 to rouse her to greater. She had caught the 
 universal belief in him, and now she poured it 
 forth. No man is insensible to flattery from a 
 beautiful woman, and this one was peerless. Her 
 speech inflamed him, their eyes met ; hers were the 
 colour of the Mediterranean ; he was caught by 
 their blue depths, held. She had her art, and let 
 him see that as it was with him, so it was with 
 her ; there arose between them on the instant, 
 impalpable, but unmistakable, that for which there 
 is but one name. He turned a little pale ; she 
 grew a little red. There were steps outside, and 
 the sound of voices ; they had come to fetch him, 
 the boats were waiting. She stepped toward him 
 impulsively, crying again : ' You will come back 
 to Naples ? ' She laid her hand upon his arm. 
 Nelson was never a laggard. 
 
 ' But I have been blind, blind,' he cried. ' How 
 beautiful you are ! ' 
 
 ' Oh, Nelson ! ' she fluttered in his arms. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 261 
 
 That was all, then, for they were no longer 
 alone. But she knew she had won, and need not 
 be jealous of the Queen, nor of the ships. When 
 her ringlets escaped, and she let the kerchief on 
 her bosom slip, when her eyes were bright and her 
 voice soft, 'twas no man could resist her. And if 
 Nelson was, as Sir William said, ' the man for the 
 hour,' it was not to the Queen he looked any 
 longer for encouragement. 
 
 The British squadron weighed anchor and 
 Emma followed its captain in her thoughts. As 
 indeed did many another, although from different 
 reasons. 
 
 The Queen, desponding because of the growing 
 unrest of the populace and the serious encroach- 
 ments of Buonaparte, heard from her confidante 
 there was no doubt that Captain Nelson would 
 keep the enemy engaged until Naples was safe. 
 Emma could be more enthusiastic for a man than 
 for a cause. Nelson would secure the command 
 of the Mediterranean, Emma had never a doubt of 
 it. The kiss he had left upon her lips had sealed 
 the promise of his return, for who that had sipped 
 could refrain from drinking ? She talked of policy 
 but dreamed of love. She was young and Captain 
 Nelson was young ; Sir William was growing 
 old. She animated her royal mistress with 
 her optimism. They all believed in Captain 
 
262 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 Nelson. Emma had no doubt of his prowess ; 
 Captain Nelson' had no misgivings as to his 
 fleet. 
 
 But at first, and for quite a long time, there 
 was difficulty in persuading the Ministers in London 
 to the same view. Many months were wasted, 
 months of turbulence among the people and of 
 ever-growing anxiety in the Court of Naples, ere 
 Nelson was commissioned for that expedition 
 which set the seal upon his glory. 
 
 Acton heard of Buonaparte's oath to set more 
 kings apacking, and make the Sicilies republics 
 also. Sedition had been sown broadcast over the 
 Peninsula and the harvest was nearly ripe for the 
 sickle. Naples might be at peace with France, 
 but the latest communication from the Republic 
 to the Kingdom was couched in precisely the lan- 
 guage of a highwayman, ' Deliver up your money, 
 or I will blow out your brains.' Only on payment 
 of an exorbitant sum would the Directory guar- 
 antee immunity. Acton begged Sir William Hamil- 
 ton to lay these facts before Lord St. Vincent, and 
 plead for succour without an instant's delay. With 
 the help of an English expedition the Kingdom 
 could be saved ; without it the Two Sicilies would 
 follow the rest of Italy into French hands. Surely 
 England could not contemplate that with in- 
 difference ? But it was only after long delay 
 
Nelson's Legacy 263 
 
 Grenville and his fellow-ministers agreed that 
 England could not. 
 
 Nelson eventually received his commission. 
 Horatio Nelson, Saviour of Great Britain and the 
 Continent, as he was soon to be acclaimed, was 
 appointed Admiral of the Fleet and launched at 
 length on that great adventure of which the fame 
 will never die. 
 
 He arrived with fourteen sail on June 16th, 
 and, himself proceeding in the Vanguard to Capri, 
 sent Captain Troubridge of the Mutine to make 
 certain requisitions from the British Ambassador 
 at Naples. The situation was sufficiently deli- 
 cate. Nelson had been provisioned for little more 
 than three months. He had instructions to take 
 in stores and water in any Mediterranean port, 
 compelling acquiescence by arms if necessary. His 
 Government had likewise instructed Sir William 
 Hamilton to ask the free and unlimited admission 
 of their ships into Sicilian ports and the provisions 
 and supplies usually afforded by an ally. 
 
 The Neapolitan Government was thus placed 
 on the horns of a dilemma. For the clause in their 
 treaty with France still obtained, precluding the 
 admission into any Sicilian harbour of more than 
 four British men-of-war at one and the same time. 
 Violation of this term of the compact, specifically 
 provided by Buonaparte's astuteness, in anti- 
 
264 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 cipation of the very event that liad now come to 
 pass, might be justifiably regarded as an act of 
 war against France, entaihng not only war with 
 that power, but final rupture of the tentative 
 negotiations for an alliance now proceeding with 
 the Austrian Government. On the other hand, 
 to withhold this first necessary service would be 
 to stultify their own action in bringing the British 
 squadron to Neapolitan waters. 
 
 Then it was there happened one of those in- 
 cidents upon which, although they are never 
 officially known, and are never recorded in des- 
 patches, the history of a great campaign has turned 
 more than once in the annals of war. Nelson 
 sent Captain Troubridge to Naples to make 
 the necessary requisition. The Ministers met 
 and met again, debated, procrastinated, doubted. 
 Captain Troubridge grew impatient. ' If there is 
 any difficulty, urge Sir William Hamilton to use 
 his influence,' had been Nelson's instructions. Sir 
 William was laid up with another attack of malarial 
 fever. But it was an open secret that his beau- 
 tiful wife had the ear of the Queen. Emma's 
 inflammable heart had been full of Nelson ever 
 since his departure ; she was eager to do him a 
 service and placed herself entirely at Captain 
 Troubridge's disposal. 
 
 She sought her husband on his sick-bed and 
 
Nelson's Legacy 265 
 
 he approved and dictated her action. He himself 
 wrote to Nelson, Emma supporting him whilst he 
 held the pen, and she gave the missive afterwards 
 to Troubridge. ' You will receive from Emma 
 herself what will do the business and procure all 
 you want.' 
 
 Then, hurrying to the Queen, to whose apart- 
 ment she had access, Emma explained the needs 
 of the British fleet, imploring her to use her own 
 authority and write an autograph permit for Nel- 
 son's use. Her Majesty needed no urging, although 
 Sir John Acton might. Now the women laid their 
 heads together and found means to move him. 
 The way of a man with a maid is not more secret 
 nor more certain than the way of a Queen with 
 her Minister. 
 
 Once things began to move. Captain Troubridge 
 and Emma between them conducted matters with 
 a quarter-deck directness of manner that ignored 
 all diplomatic usage. With the Queen's secret 
 authorisation, and God knows what of other 
 consideration, they secured from Sir John Acton 
 a General Order, written in that Minister's own 
 hand, but in the name of His Sicilian Majesty, 
 directed to the governors of every port in Sicily, 
 to supply the English ships with all sorts of pro- 
 visions, and, in case of an action, to permit the 
 British seamen, sick or wounded, to be landed and 
 
266 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 taken proper care of in their ports. On the face 
 of it, this was an order difficult of being explained 
 away in the event of unpleasant complications. 
 Acton was full of misgivings. He could consult 
 no one, for Sir William Hamilton was hors de com- 
 bat, and from everyone else the whole transaction 
 was to be kept a profound secret. 
 
 Elated and happy, and deeming herself the 
 prime mover in the intrigue, and certainly she 
 was the medium for its furtherance, Emma wrote 
 to Nelson : 
 
 * Dear Sir, — I send you a letter I have received this 
 moment from the Queen. Kiss it, and send it back by 
 Bowen, as I am bound not to give any of her letters. 
 Ever your Emma.' 
 
 This was the first time she had written him, 
 and the signature must be taken to represent the 
 potential rather than the actual state of affairs 
 between them. She was excited and emotional, 
 and ever impulsive. Nelson's permission to land 
 and procure what he would for the fleet meant 
 that she would see him again, and she was all 
 agog for new experience, more particularly since 
 Sir William was becoming enfeebled by his repeated 
 illnesses. 
 
 * I only wish to get sight of Buonaparte and his 
 army, for by God we shall lick them,' Troubridge 
 
Nelson's Legacy 267 
 
 boasted. And Nelson said no less of the French 
 navy. 
 
 Nelson lost no time in replying to Emma's 
 letter. He wrote : 
 
 ' My dear Lady Hamilton, — I have kissed the Queen's 
 letter ; pray say I hope for the honour of kissing her hand 
 when no fears will intervene, assure her Majesty that no 
 person has her felicity more at heart than myself, and 
 that the sufferings of her family will be a Tower of Strength 
 on the day of Battle. Fear not the event, God is with 
 us, God bless you and Sir William, pray say I cannot 
 stay to answer his letter. Ever yours faithfully, 
 
 Horatio Nelson.' 
 
 An hour later the squadron weighed anchor 
 for Syracuse. 
 
 At that historic spot everything had ever been 
 conducted hitherto in accordance with the most 
 rigid rules of precedent. But by the very circum- 
 stances of his arrival Nelson gave the Governor 
 convincing evidence that he and precedent had 
 nothing in common. For, in spite of the fact that 
 for centuries no large ships had attempted the 
 passage into the great port, owing to the channel 
 having become silted up, Nelson determined to 
 make the venture. Leading the way himself, and 
 taking constant soundings as he moved, he brought 
 his entire squadron to excellent anchorage abreast 
 of the Marina, which would afford inimitable 
 
268 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 facilities for the later carrying of stores aboard. 
 This achievement in navigation filled all who be- 
 held it with amazement, and the bewilderment of 
 the authorities was little less when the Admiral 
 took no notice of the officials sent to remind him 
 that the number of his ships exceeded that which 
 they were permitted to entertain. 
 
 He waited until he was in comfortable posses- 
 sion of the place before consenting even to discuss his 
 right of entry. Then, however, to the Governor's 
 great astonishment and some fear, he produced Sir 
 John Acton's general instructions, over-riding all 
 treaties, and authorising him to assist the British 
 ships in every possible way. 
 
 Nelson was perhaps not surprised to find the 
 order questioned and the Governor vacillating. 
 Acton had endeavoured to save himself in the case 
 of eventualities. The Governor declared a sen- 
 tence in the despatch proved that admission was 
 not intended to be thrown open to the entire 
 squadron ; and Nelson might yet have been com- 
 pelled to go empty away had it not been for the 
 * private instructions ' from the Queen which Lady 
 Hamilton had forwarded to him. This letter, 
 when produced, as it now was, had the full virtue 
 of an ' open sesame,' and although the Governor 
 of Syracuse made some protestations of having 
 been overruled by show of force, and carried his 
 
Nelson's Legacy 269 
 
 protest so far as to decline to return the official 
 visit on board ship, he made it plain that these 
 protestations were merely formal and for the 
 purpose of being reported to King Ferdinand, who 
 was in entire ignorance of his royal consort's action 
 in the matter. Privately he assured the English 
 captains that he was delighted to see them. He 
 made good his words by fulfilling Nelson's orders 
 to the last orange, and by offering the whole fleet 
 the warmest and most generous hospitality that 
 his not unhmited resources permitted. 
 
 Two days later, with his wants amply supplied, 
 and gratified by the attentions paid to him by 
 everybody. Nelson set out to find the French fleet, 
 having first written a confident and grateful note 
 to the ambassador and his lady : 
 
 ' My dear Friends, — Thanks to your exertions, we 
 have victualled and watered; and surely watering at 
 the fountains of Arethusa we must have victory. We 
 shall sail with the first breeze, and be assured I shall 
 return either crowned with laurel, or covered with cypress.' 
 
 Another week, and Nelson found the French 
 fleet— sixteen sail of the line and four frigates, 
 besides a larger number of gunboats — lying 
 anchored in Aboukir Bay, sheltered by the cape, 
 and so strongly secured on the outside that the 
 guns on the inner side were neither manned nor 
 ready. Not expecting the English, the French 
 
270 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 ships were not cleared for action, and even when 
 they saw their enemy's squadron, they looked to 
 have until the following day to prepare. It was 
 already late in the evening when Nelson caught 
 sight of them, and they knew he could scarcely 
 lay alongside before sundown, when, because of 
 the latitude, darkness would fall instantly. But 
 Nelson's way was swift as Nelson's touch was 
 firm. He had discussed every possible position 
 with his captains daily during the voyage, and 
 only the signal to attack the van and centre was 
 necessary. At once the English fleet stood in ; 
 five of the ships engaged the French on the 
 inside, and five, including Nelson's ship, the 
 Vanguard, on the outside, where the fire would 
 be hottest. 
 
 Taken by surprise, the Frenchmen lost their 
 opportunity of pounding the Englishmen while 
 navigating for position, and by the time they 
 really got to work the battle was half won. In 
 the first ten minutes three French men-of-war were 
 dismasted, and in less than a couple of hours five 
 were taken. At ten o'clock the huge French flag- 
 ship U Orient, 120 guns, blew up, the magazines 
 being reached by the fire that had been burning 
 for some time, illuminating the whole awful scene, 
 but which her crew had been prevented from 
 extinguishing by Captains Hallewell and Ball of 
 
Nelson's Legacy 271 
 
 the Swiftsure and Alexander^ who, coming late 
 into action — having been some miles ahead of 
 the others when the Zealous signalled the 
 enemy —trained their upper guns on the burning 
 poop. 
 
 Awed by the tremendous explosion, both sides 
 ceased firing, and strenuous efforts were made by 
 Nelson's sailors to save some of the hundreds of 
 Frenchmen who leaped into the sea from the 
 blazing vessel. But the battle was resumed again, 
 and continued until after three in the morning. 
 By five o'clock only two French men-of-war were 
 flying their colours, and at the close of that second 
 day, twenty-four hours after the engagement began, 
 the French fleet was wiped out. 
 
 ' Almighty God having blessed His Majesty's 
 arms with victory, the Admiral intends returning 
 public thanksgiving at two o'clock this day ; and 
 he recommends every ship doing the same as soon 
 as convenient.' 
 
 Such was the memorandum issued by Nelson 
 to all his captains. He was a God-fearing man, 
 like most sailors, and the more so by reason of his 
 parentage and training. He issued this order whilst 
 in the busiest press of repairing the damage sus- 
 tained by his ships in the late battle. Although 
 wounded he took his place on the quarter-deck 
 whilst the Rev. Mr. Comyn conducted the service, 
 
272 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 not a little to the surprise, and something to the 
 admiration, of the prisoners of war. 
 
 It was not until after prayers were over that 
 he prepared his despatches, not forgetting one to 
 Sir William Hamilton, simply announcing that the 
 French fleet had been destroyed. To sink as many 
 of the French ships as were past salving and 
 secure the rest as prizes was his next step. After 
 which he set sail for Naples, quietly ti'iumphant, a 
 little expectant, anxious above all things to see 
 how Lady Hamilton would take the news that he 
 had justified her faith in him. 
 
 Emma's letters — one bearing the wishes of her 
 heart and soul that victory might be his, the other 
 sending the Queen's authorisation for supplies — 
 had been the last to reach Nelson ere he left 
 Aboukir Bay. Her letter of gratulation on his 
 triumph was the first to reach him on his return. 
 
 * My dear, dear Sir, — How shall I begin, what shall 
 I say to you. 'Tis impossible I can write for since last 
 Monday I am delerious with joy, and assure you I have 
 a fevour caused by agitation and pleasure. God ! what 
 a victory ! Never, never has there been anything half 
 so glorious, so compleat. I fainted when I heard the 
 joyfull news, and fell on my side and am hurt but am 
 now well of that. I shou'd feil it a glory to die in such 
 a cause. No, I wou'd not like to die till I see and embrace 
 the Victor of the Nile ! How shall I describe to you the 
 transports of Maria Carolina, 'tis not possible. She fainted 
 
Nelson's Legacy 273 
 
 and kissed her husband, her children, walked about the 
 room, cried kissed and embraced every person near her, 
 exclaiming, Oh brave Nelson oh God bless and protect 
 our brave deliverer, oh, Nelson Nelson what do we not 
 owe to you, oh Victor Saviour of Italy, oh, that my swoln 
 heart cou'd now tell him personally what we owe to him ! 
 You may judge, my dear Sir, of the rest, but my head 
 will not permit me to tell you half of the rejoicing. The 
 Neapolitans are mad with joy, and if you wos here now 
 you wou'd be killed with kindness. Sonets on sonets, 
 illuminations, rejoicings ; not a French dog dare show 
 his face. How I glory in the honner of my Country 
 and my Countryman ! I walk and tread in the air with 
 pride, felling I was born in the same land with the victor 
 Nelson and his gallant band. I send you two letters 
 from my adorable queen. One was written to me the day 
 we received the glorious news, the other yesterday. Keep 
 them, as they are in her own handwriting. I have kept 
 copies only, but I fell that you ought to have them. If 
 you had seen our meeting after the battle, but I will 
 keep it all for your arrival. I cou'd not do justice to her 
 felling nor to my own with writing it ; and we are pre- 
 paring your apartment against you come. I hope it will 
 not be long for Sir William and I are so impatient to 
 embrace you. I wish you cou'd have seen our house the 
 3 nights of illumination. 'Tis, 'twas covered with your 
 glorious name. Their were three thousand lamps, and 
 their should have been 3 millions if we had had time. 
 All the English vie with each other in celebrating this 
 most gallant and ever memorable victory. Sir William 
 is ten years younger since the happy news, and he now 
 only wishes to see his friend to be completely happy. 
 How he glories in you when your name is mentioned. 
 s 
 
274 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 He cannot contain his joy. For God's sake come to 
 Naples soon. We receive so many sonets and letters of 
 congratulation. I send you some of them to show you 
 how your success is felt here. How I felt for poor Trou- 
 bridge. He must have been so angry on the sandbank, 
 so brave an officer ! In short, I pity those who were not 
 in the battle. I wou'd have been rather an English 
 powder monkey, or a swab in that great victory, than 
 an Emperor out of it, but you will be so tired of all this. 
 Write or come soon to Naples, and rejoice your ever 
 sincere and oblidged friend Emma Hamilton. 
 
 ' The Queen at this moment sent a Dymond Ring to 
 Captain Hoste, six buts of wine, 2 casks, for the offices, 
 and every man on board a guinea each. Her letter is in 
 English and comes as from an unknown person, but a 
 well-wisher to our country and an admirer of our gallant 
 Nelson. As war is not yet declared with France, she 
 cou'd not show herself so openly as she wished, but she 
 as done so much and rejoiced so very publickly, that all 
 the world sees it. She bids me to say that she longs more 
 to see you than any woman with child can long for any- 
 thing she takes a fancy to, and she shall be for ever un- 
 happy if you do not come. God bless you my dear, dear 
 friend. 
 
 ' My dress from head to foot is all Nelson ; even my 
 shawl is in Blue with gold anchors all over. My ear 
 rings are Nelson's anchors ; in short, we are be-Nelsoned 
 all over. I send you some sonets but I must have taken 
 a ship on purpose to send you all written on you. Once 
 more, God bless you. My mother desires her love to 
 you. I am so sorry to write in such a hurry. I am 
 afraid you will not be able to read this scrawl.' 
 
Nelson's Legacy 275 
 
 In such torrent of broken and illiterate sen- 
 tences did Emma give vent to the emotions that 
 possessed her and warn Nelson of the nature of 
 the public reception that awaited him. 
 
 Nelson, shaken by his wound and ensuing fever, 
 simple and sincere in his affections, treasured the 
 letter without seeing what its self-revelation por- 
 tended. 
 
 It was indeed a royal reception he received in 
 Naples. The royal barge, commanded, as ironical 
 fate would have it, by that Caracciolo who, later, 
 was to meet the Admiral in such very different 
 circumstances, put out from the Bay, carrying the 
 King and Princess Clementina, the Court, and Sir 
 William and Lady Hamilton, and followed by a 
 vast flotilla of small boats, joyous with music, gay 
 with flags and flowers. But already it was neither 
 King, nor Queen, nor people that counted first 
 with him. 
 
 ' Alongside came my honoured friends,' Nelson re- 
 ported to his wife ; * the scene in the boat was terribly 
 affecting : up flew her Ladyship, and exclaiming, " O 
 God, is it possible ! " she fell into my arms more dead 
 than alive. Tears, however, soon set matters to rights, 
 and then came the King. The scene was, in its way, 
 as interesting : he took me by the hand, calling me his 
 deliverer and his preserver, with every other expression 
 of kindness. In short, all Naples calls me Nosiro Libera- 
 tore. My greeting from the lower classes was truly affect- 
 
276 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 ing. I hope some day to have the pleasure of introducing 
 you to Lady Hamilton, she is one of the very best women 
 in the world, she is an honour to her sex. Her kindness, 
 with Sir William's to me, is more than I can express. 
 I am in their house ; and I may now tell you, it required 
 all the kindness of my friends to set me up. . . . ' 
 
 He was, indeed, in a state of health to occasion 
 alarm. He had been struck in the head by a 
 heavy splinter during the recent battle and had 
 not only lost a great quantity of blood but suffered 
 a slight concussion of the brain. 
 
 From the landing-stage near the Castel 
 Nuovo he proceeded in a state coach to the 
 Embassy at the lower end of the Strada S. 
 Caterina, and there, supported by the arm of 
 the British Ambassadress, he painfully ascended 
 the great staircase, and was conducted to a suite 
 of apartments commanding a magnificent prospect 
 of the Bay. 
 
 He deemed it a very kindly thought of Lady 
 Hamilton's, revealing more clearly than a more 
 important matter might have done the wonderful 
 knowledge she had of the workings of his mind 
 that the bed was so placed that whilst lying in 
 it he had the whole fleet under his eye, and thus 
 was relieved of that nervous anxiety about his 
 responsibilities which distresses so many invalids 
 even though they know it without basis in reason. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 277 
 
 With his mind at rest about his fleet, Nelson's 
 body could rest. 
 
 This was Emma's opportunity and one of which 
 she had no scruple to avail herself. The great hero 
 was entirely in her hands. He had been at first 
 unconscious of her charms, unimpregnable to her 
 arts, entrenched and safe in his devotion to duty. 
 Now in his weakness she brought all her armoury 
 to bear upon him, and he had no available defence. 
 Constant headaches lowered his mentality, the 
 fever played such havoc with his digestive organs 
 that asses' milk was the only nourishment he 
 was permitted to take for some days. But the 
 magnetic current that passed through Emma's 
 hand as she smoothed his long hair or cooled his 
 hot forehead, worked a miracle of healing. In 
 seven days from his landing he was sufficiently 
 restored to be present at the superb entertain- 
 ment given at the Embassy in honour of his 
 birthday. 
 
 It was an entertainment which might have 
 satisfied the vanity and extravagance of Helioga- 
 balus himself. Covers were laid for eighty at the 
 dinner with which the Ambassador's hospitality 
 began and which was attended by the whole of 
 the Royal Family. A ball followed, thronged by 
 some eighteen hundred of the rank and fashion 
 of Naples. A supper, almost as magnificent as 
 
278 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 the dinner, was set for the same number of persons. 
 The most brilliant toilettes and jewels of the ladies, 
 in conjunction with the naval, military, and diplo- 
 matic uniforms of the men, provided a spectacle 
 of incomparable splendour. A rostral column dis- 
 played the names of all the hero's victories ; an 
 ode in his honour was delivered and a special 
 verse, celebrating him by name, was added to the 
 National Anthem. Every ribbon, every button 
 bore the magic word ' Nelson ' ; the whole service 
 was marked ' H. N.' 
 
 ' Well might such a compliment fill me with 
 vanity,' the Admiral wrote to his wife. 
 
 But that was all he wrote of what was to prove 
 the most momentous incident in his life. Never 
 again was Nelson to write with candour and sim- 
 plicity to her who bore his name, to whom he 
 owed fidelity and allegiance. Emma's armoury 
 had been brought into requisition and the first 
 breach that it made was in his candour. He 
 related nothing to his wife of a scene in which her 
 son figured but ill. Yet the scene itself was re- 
 markable and what it presaged has become 
 historical. 
 
 It will be remembered that Josiah Nisbet, a 
 youth not ill-favoured, but wanting every quality 
 that could commend him to the company among 
 whom his stepfather's position brought him, had 
 
Nelson's Legacy 279 
 
 been used by Emma as a means of attracting 
 Captain Nelson to her side. She had played 
 with him the part most familiar to her, the part 
 of ' The Enchantress,' and, unhappily, she had 
 played it only too well. When Nelson's illness 
 gave him the invalid's privileges and Lady 
 Hamilton sat long in his bed-chamber in order 
 to superintend the nursing, Josiah, at first was 
 only impatient ; then he grew sullen ; at length, 
 before the week was over, he had become sus- 
 picious. Suspicion breeds quickly in a mind like 
 Josiah's. 
 
 Naples was not jealous of female reputation, 
 yet although there was common knowledge of 
 Lady Hamilton's past, none of the unhappy story, 
 as unfolded in these pages, had then reached 
 Lieutenant Nisbet's ears. The night of the ball he 
 heard the matter spoken of openly, and coupled with 
 that old story was light jest and prophecy of what 
 would come of Emma's attentions to the Hero of 
 the Nile. Josiah was already sullen and suspicious, 
 to-night he became inflamed with jealousy. He 
 drank more than was good for him at the banquet, 
 and with lowering brows and gathering anger, 
 watched how, whilst Royalty was almost unheeded, 
 and the Italian noblemen openly flouted or ignored, 
 Emma talked to Nelson, laughed with Nelson, sat 
 so close beside him that her bare shoulders touched 
 
28o Nelson's Legacy 
 
 his epaulettes, made a show of nursing him, that 
 she might direct his food and taste from his glass 
 to see if his grog was mixed to his liking. The 
 wrong done to him, Josiah Nisbet, by such conduct 
 festered in him. Nelson was his mother's husband, 
 and . . . just so had Lady Hamilton smiled on 
 him. Now she seemed not to know he was there. 
 The consciousness of her indifference embittered 
 his remembrance of the past and made the present 
 unbearable. 
 
 All through the evening Emma was solicitous 
 of Nelson's health. He was the recipient of com- 
 pliments and speeches, stood for some time before 
 the King, and then the Queen gave him a long 
 interview. Ferdinand and Carolina combined in 
 praises of Emma, many allusions were made to her 
 devotion to him and her emotion when she heard 
 of the great victory. Nelson had hardly recovered 
 from his wound ; he was moved almost to tears 
 by hearing of how the lovely Emma had been 
 affected. 
 
 When the Royalties left, although the revelry 
 was at its height, Emma persuaded Nelson to her 
 ante-chamber, there to rest and recuperate for the 
 further exertion of speech-making and hand- 
 shaking that would be required of him when the 
 company departed. 
 
 She had hardly settled him on the sofa, herself 
 
Nelson's Legacy 281 
 
 placing the cushion under his wounded head, bend- 
 ing over him to adjust it the better, when Josiah 
 burst in. Emma was leaning solicitously over the 
 invalid ; her wonderful shoulders, so cool and 
 white, were near to his fevered lips. 
 
 Josiah was the worse for drink, rude and un- 
 mannerly at the best. 
 
 ' Let him alone,' he cried ; ' let him be, I tell 
 you. I guessed what was going on. You're 
 nothing more nor less than a . . . and he's my 
 mother's husband.' 
 
 He advanced upon her threateningly. Emma 
 shrank back startled, taken at disadvantage. 
 Nelson himself was dumbfounded for the moment 
 by the apparition, then he struggled to his feet. 
 Josiah was pouring forth coarse invective and 
 abuse, accusing them both of commerce and what 
 not. Nelson seized his stepson by the scruff of 
 the neck, but the hero was enfeebled by illness 
 and rage whilst Josiah had the strength of French 
 brandy in him. There was no saying how the 
 scuffle might have gone ; Emma had both hands 
 to her ears, but was alternate scarlet and pale at 
 hearing herself characterised in such terms. And 
 to her credit be it said, she was really alarmed 
 for Nelson's safety ; his wound was like to burst 
 out again, and in his anger he might be seized 
 by an apoplexy. 
 
282 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 Happily Captain Troubridge was aware of 
 Josiah Nisbet's condition, and now, hearing a 
 noise, broke in upon them even less ceremoniously 
 than Josiah himself had done, although to a better 
 end. Before Emma had time to be ashamed lest 
 he, too, should hear what the drunken oaf was 
 calling out about her, and whilst she was as yet 
 only conscious of gladness at the interruption, 
 Captain Troubridge seized hold of the graceless 
 lieutenant and was carrying him from the 
 room : 
 
 ' You'll go back to your ship this very night ; 
 you're not fit to be ashore,' she heard the captain 
 say, with much more not to be repeated, charac- 
 terising Josiah's conduct and himself in language 
 that savoured more of the forecastle than of the 
 poop. 
 
 No sooner were they alone than Emma fell 
 a-crying, and on her knees by the sofa. ' What 
 must Nelson think of me, think of his Emma ? ' 
 she said, and hid her face. He was touched by 
 her tears and inflamed by her nearness to him. 
 He vowed in a husky voice that he thought she 
 was an angel. 
 
 She became even more angelic in his eyes when 
 she pleaded for Josiah, who. Nelson swore, should 
 be strung up and flogged, dismissed his ship, or 
 court-martialled. Nelson, who had been beside 
 
Nelson's Legacy 283 
 
 himself with rage, was soon beside himself with 
 something else. Emma was so distraught by what 
 had occurred, and the accusations that had been 
 brought against her, that she would have made 
 any man compassionate. When he had cursed 
 himself for having occasioned the scene, and she 
 had cried out, between her sobs, that if all the 
 world was to calumniate her because she had been 
 in his room, she would still have nursed him, the 
 end was in sight. She went on to say wildly, 
 what did she care for her reputation compared to 
 his health, but perhaps he feared what the world 
 might think, and would rather be alone when in 
 fever. . . . ? Nelson answered hastily, without 
 stopping to reflect, that neither ill nor well did he 
 care to be alone. . . . And then they both 
 reddened, and surprised each other's eyes. 
 
 The two inflammables were in contact, the one 
 on fire with chivalry, the other tinder to his touch. 
 How long could it be before the conflagration 
 should occur that would burn out everything 
 between them save that which made them one ? 
 History deponeth it was that very night, the night 
 long remembered for the grand ball at the Embassy, 
 that Emma, going into Nelson's room to inquire 
 after his wound, or to show how little she heeded 
 Josiah, and the world's opinion, stayed first to be 
 reassured, and afterward, at Nelson's request, 
 
284 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 because he was sleepless ; that then they con- 
 versed, and she learnt his wife was older than 
 himself and unsympathetic to him, and much 
 more that led to intimacy. 
 
 In any case, from that night dates the change 
 in their correspondence and the alteration in their 
 manner to each other that set the tongues a- wagging 
 that were never afterwards to be silenced. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Revolution spreads from France to Italy, and Nelson becomes 
 anxious for the personal safety of the King and Queen. 
 Emma assists him in persuading them to flight. They set 
 sail for Palermo in the midst of a great storm, during which 
 one of the royal children expires in Emma's arms. Her 
 courage and capacity arouse Nelson to enthusiasm and rivet 
 his chains for ever. 
 
 DURING the three following weeks in which the 
 hero of the Nile continued to enjoy the hospit- 
 ality of the British Embassy and the attentions of 
 his hostess, he had every opportunity of ascertain- 
 ing the precise nature of the malady from which 
 the body politic of Naples was suffering. To the 
 Englishman's hereditary hostility to the French- 
 man, there was superadded the religious man's 
 detestation of the revolutionary doctrines and 
 pernicious Jacobinism of the new Government in 
 Paris, which he believed to be antagonistic to the 
 spirit of Christianity. Nelson refused to cry peace 
 where there could be no peace. At this very time, 
 recognising how little valuable to him was the 
 assistance offered by the Neapolitan navy, and 
 indeed by all our other allies in the Mediterranean, 
 
 he wrote a declaration to the French commander 
 
 285 
 
286 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 at Malta characteristically candid, and untainted 
 by malignity. 
 
 ' In addressing to you this letter ' [he wrote], ' con- 
 taining my determination respecting the French now in 
 Malta, I feel confident that you will not attribute it either 
 to insolence, or impertinent curiosity, but to a wish of 
 having my sentiments clearly understood. The present 
 situation of Malta I am told is this, the inhabitants are 
 in possession of all the Island except the town which is 
 in your hands, and that the port is blocked by a squadron 
 belonging to His Britannick Majesty. My objects are to 
 assist the people of Malta in forcing you to abandon the 
 Island that it may be delivered into the hands of its 
 lawful Sovereign, and to get possession of the Gme. Tell, 
 Diana and Justice. To accomplish these objects as 
 speedily as possible I offer that on the delivery of the 
 French ships to me, that all troops and seamen now in 
 Malta shall be landed in France without the condition of 
 their being prisoners of war. If my offers are rejected, 
 or the French ships make their escape, notwithstanding 
 my vigilance, I declare I will not enter or join in any 
 capitulation which the General may hereafter be forced 
 to enter into with the inhabitants of Malta, nor will I 
 ever permit any which may be like the present, much 
 less will I intercede for the lives or forgiveness of 
 those who have betrayed their country. I beg leave 
 to assure you that this is the determination of a British 
 Admiral.' 
 
 Reinforced by memories of what had happened 
 so lately at Aboukir Bay — to which with native 
 modesty this British Admiral made not the least 
 
Nelson's Legacy 287 
 
 allusion — ^these quiet words carried the menace 
 of heavy guns and could not fail to awaken in 
 any brave bosom a desire for retaliation and 
 revenge. Maria Carolina might try to conceal the 
 fact, but she had aided and abetted Nelson in the 
 revictualling of his fleet and thereby precipitated 
 the annihilation of the French one, over which 
 event she and her husband were now publicly 
 rejoicing so loudly that the echo thundered in the 
 ears of Garat, scowling behind the windows in the 
 French ministry at Naples. He reported every- 
 thing to the Directory, and Buonaparte took a 
 rod from pickle wherewith to scourge the arro- 
 gant Bourbon. He decreed that war should be 
 carried to the heel of Italy, and all Italy brought 
 to the heel of France. And until that actually 
 occurred every excitation was to be applied] to 
 the smouldering sedition of the Neapolitan people 
 in order that King Ferdinand might be further 
 embarrassed by all the troubles and perils of civil 
 disturbance. Napoleon intended that the Kingdom 
 of the Two Sicilies should be absorbed in the 
 Ligurian Republic, and that Ferdinand should 
 lose his throne by revolution if not by defeat 
 in war. 
 
 All this was clear to Nelson even before the 
 event. He was now fully recovered of his fever 
 and of his wounds, but not of the greatest that he 
 
288 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 had sustained. Emma was gloriously happy, and 
 completely enamoured of her new lover. She gave 
 herself magnificently to Nelson, and now he held 
 her miraculous. Already she had persuaded him 
 he owed his Syracusan supplies and the Queen's 
 countenance entirely to her influence. 
 
 One may ask where was Sir William Hamilton 
 while all this was going on ? Emma was clever 
 enough to hoodwink her husband into the belief 
 that it was the politics, and not the person of 
 Nelson, that enraptured her. Sir William was 
 easily persuaded ; he had never been vexed by 
 jealousy, but only proud when his treasure was 
 admired. And he, too, was absorbed in affairs of 
 State, and in no humour for domestic altercation. 
 If it pleased Emma to make herself conspicuous on 
 all and every occasion with the English Admiral, 
 it suited him, and the Court to which he was 
 attached, to secure Nelson's allegiance to the 
 Italian cause at any cost. 
 
 ' Nelson, you must never forsake the Queen ; 
 I love the Queen,' Emma said solemnly. 
 
 And Nelson believed her, not knowing it was 
 Emma's own consequence she loved above every- 
 thing, and thought to secure by her loyalty. In 
 the first few weeks of such an intrigue as this 
 upon which he was engaged with Lady Hamilton 
 a man is scarcely in possession of all his faculties. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 289 
 
 Of course he promised all she asked, and that 
 he would safeguard Her Majesty's interests with 
 his life. 
 
 But he pointed out the difficulty of helping 
 those who will not help themselves, and urged her 
 to bring pressure upon the King and his ministers 
 to stir them from their lethargy. This was counsel 
 very congenial to her temper, and it was given 
 greater effect by the inclination manifested just 
 now in Vienna to take advantage of the discom- 
 posure into which the defeat of their fleet had 
 thrown the Directory. Austria made overtures to 
 King Ferdinand to co-operate in a new war. With 
 Emma influencing the Queen, and the Queen 
 exerting all the pressure of which she was capable, 
 the King, for once, displayed something approach- 
 ing energy. He announced that he would put 
 himself at the head of an army if one were pro- 
 vided for him. Forty thousand young men, the 
 flower of the country, volunteered immediately ; 
 the poorest cities in Italy offered to contribute 
 to the expenses of the campaign. With the stand- 
 ing army, and these volunteers, a force of near 
 seventy thousand men formed camp under the 
 command of General Mack, who came from Vienna 
 for that purpose. 
 
 The hopes of Maria Carolina rose high ; these 
 were measures in consonance with her proud 
 
290 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 spirit. But her elation was short-lived. Mack 
 was out-generalled, and further crippled by the 
 inexperience of the volunteers. In the long 
 desuetude from war of the regular troops the 
 officers had become venal, and many of the men 
 were cowards. The army entered Rome indeed, 
 but not to hold it. The city was retaken and 
 Ferdinand driven back to his own territories with 
 the undignified rapidity of a rout. 
 
 Nelson's valuation of the fighting qualities of 
 the Neapolitans was low, although that had not 
 prevented him from recommending the Neapolitan 
 King to put them to the test. He said bluntly 
 that His Majesty had his choice. Either to advance, 
 trusting to God for His blessing on a just cause and 
 be prepared to die, sword in hand, or to be kicked 
 out of his kingdom ; for that one or the other of 
 those things must happen. Ferdinand had tried 
 the first alternative, but had neither conquered 
 nor died. The moment was come now to con- 
 template the second. The routed army, the dis- 
 affected populace, Buonaparte's overpowering and 
 continuous victories were enough to excite appre- 
 hension in the stoutest heart. 
 
 That strange trio. Sir William Hamilton, Nelson, 
 and Emma, discussed the situation from every 
 aspect. At the colloquy Sir William was dis- 
 cursive and irresolute : 
 
Nelson's Legacy 291 
 
 * I am waiting despatches from England. There 
 had better be nothing attempted until I receive 
 them,' was the speech that represented his atti- 
 tude. But Nelson was keen that the Royal Family 
 should be persuaded to flight before the fate that 
 befell Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette was upon 
 them. Emma was inflamed at the prospect of 
 taking part in an historic adventure so marvel- 
 lously dramatic. 
 
 ' Nelson is right,' she exclaimed enthusiastically. 
 For had he not always proved his prescience ? 
 The Royal Family must be persuaded away, 
 forced away. Who so fitted for the task as 
 Emma, with Nelson to help in the high enter- 
 prise ? Sir William's feeble objections were over- 
 ruled. And as for waiting for despatches from 
 England, there was danger in every hour of delay. 
 Emma was all on fire to seize an opportunity, 
 incredible so short a time before, of playing a 
 prominent part in royal drama. 
 
 ' Together we will save the Queen, Nelson,' she 
 cried. She saw herself the centre of the stage on 
 which the limelight of the world was turned. 
 Nelson would take the part of hero in the drama, 
 and the world should applaud them together. If, 
 in her eagerness and sparkling eyes, her deference 
 to his opinions and adoring humility, might be 
 found a clue to the state of her feelings, Sir William 
 
292 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 Hamilton at least gave no hint he observed any- 
 thing unusual. Neither now, when the enterprise 
 for conveying the Royal Family into safety was 
 being discussed, nor for a long time afterwards. 
 He had something of his nephew's reticence, 
 although with a far greater generosity. 
 
 The Queen herself seemed likely to provide 
 the first obstacle in the way of the projected 
 flight. Emma knew every working of that proud 
 spirit, and believed she would be immovable by 
 entreaty from herself alone : 
 
 ' Nelson, you must write a letter, and I will 
 myself take it to the Queen ; she believes in your 
 opinion ; she will do anything you advise her,' 
 was her final decision. When Nelson said he 
 thought 'twas to the King he should address him- 
 self, she was quick to agree with him, but said he 
 must send it by some other messenger. She 
 blushed, and put on a pretty air, allowing 
 Nelson to divine why a private interview with the 
 King was an adventure she would rather not under- 
 take. It was stale news to Sir William, but new 
 to Nelson, who, far from exhibiting a husband's 
 calm, had now, and always, a great inclination to 
 jealousy. Emma was aware of it, and shrouded 
 her past. She had no fear for the future, for one 
 lover at a time had always sufficed her and Nelson's 
 greatness was Nelson's safeguard. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 293 
 
 But what she hinted, or what he read in her 
 downcast eyes and blushing cheek when the King's 
 name was mentioned, made him write with less 
 sympathy than he might otherwise have done, 
 albeit with no less frankness. The King had been 
 unable to decide on action, once his army was 
 defeated and himself stranded, and his ministers 
 were in no better case. They had opened nego- 
 tiations with this and the other Power, procras- 
 tinated, shuffled, and planned impossibilities. 
 Nelson now saw nothing for it but flight : 
 
 ' Should unfortunately this miserable Ruinous system 
 of procrastination be persisted in I would recommend 
 that all your property and persons are ready to embark 
 at a very short notice. It will be my duty to look and 
 provide for your safety, and with it (I am sorry to think 
 it will be necessary) that of the amiable Queen of these 
 kingdoms and her family. I have read with admiration 
 her dignified and incomparable letter of September 1796. 
 May the councils of this kingdom ever be guided by such 
 sentiments of dignity, honour and justice. And may the 
 words of the great Mr. Pitt be instilled into the ministry of 
 this country — " The boldest measures are the safest" is 
 the sincere wish of your etc. . . .' 
 
 The letter was sent to the King, but it was 
 the Queen who had to decide how its recommenda- 
 tion should be treated. At first she was passion- 
 ate in her opposition. To leave Naples was an 
 admission of fear and failure, galling and intoler- 
 
294 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 able to her high spirit. The rout of General Mack's 
 army and the King's return to Naples, defeated 
 and disconcerted, roi faineant and futile, left the 
 Queen the man's part to play. So she told 
 Emma ; and that she would play it where she 
 was. 
 
 ' The French is knocking at the gates of the 
 Palace,' Emma urged. She had been well coached ; 
 and having conquered the Hero of the Nile, was 
 prepared to do battle with such meaner foes as 
 the beaten Bourbons. In truth, Revolution had 
 raised its hydra head, and could not now be viewed 
 without terror; it vomited blood and fire, belch- 
 ing fury and spreading dismay. No crowned 
 head was safe within the monster's reach. Maria 
 Carolina had more than a woman's courage, but 
 Emma had the art to sap it. What of the Dauphin 
 of France, and the Dauphiness ? She had not her- 
 self to consider, but her children, was Emma's 
 argument. This took the Queen from her balance ; 
 for whatever else may have been said of her and 
 her morality, none has denied she was a good 
 mother, and devoted to the interests of her off- 
 spring. Therefore, although she still believed that 
 flight would be regarded, and justly regarded, by 
 the people and the lazzaroni as desertion in the 
 face of the enemy, and would alienate their loyalty 
 to the King whilst increasing their hatred of herself, 
 
Nelson's Legacy 295 
 
 the Queen was brought at last to Hsten to Nelson's 
 advice. 
 
 And once she was brought to listen, it was not 
 long before Nelson completed his plan, and Emma 
 was helping to its execution. No time must be 
 lost, for a rumour being circulated in Naples that 
 the British Ambassador had formed the project 
 of driving the King away from his people, the fury 
 of the Neapolitans rose to such a height that not 
 only the Queen's party, but the Queen's person, 
 was in direst peril. Then was established the value 
 of Emma's bad reputation. Her intimacy with 
 the Queen was known, and Lady Hamilton went 
 backwards and forwards between the Palace and 
 the Embassy without exciting attention or suspicion. 
 She used her opportunities to collect jewels and trea- 
 sure, conveying them first to the Embassy, and then, 
 for safety, to the British ships. Everything had 
 to be thought of, and all contingencies provided 
 against. The courtesan turned conspirator proved 
 her quality and rose to the occasion. Nelson would 
 convey the King and Queen, their family and suite, 
 to Palermo, and of course Emma would accompany 
 them. Clothing and provisions must go, and as 
 much else as could be carried. The Queen was 
 obstinate in her refusal to depart, leaving the 
 treasures of the palace as booty for the advanc- 
 ing French. Then, too, there were the King's 
 
296 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 vacillations to be reckoned with and combated. 
 He clung to the hope that even so late the 
 disturbances in Naples might die down, and 
 Providence intervene on his behalf. 
 
 The delay was unfortunate, for it brought them 
 into bad weather. Had Nelson been permitted 
 to weigh anchor earlier, the fatal incident we must 
 soon chronicle might perhaps have been averted. 
 The wind that was then blowing fresh from the 
 north-east would have carried the refugees safe 
 to Palermo before the storm broke over the fleet. 
 But the King was irresolute to the last, even when 
 his consort's scruples had all been overcome. 
 Emma was actively engaged in conveying and 
 superintending the secret removal of money and 
 goods to the extraordinary value of two and a half 
 million pounds sterling. Meantime the excitement 
 of the mob was waxing higher and more fierce, 
 and their Majesties were compelled to make fre- 
 quent appearances on the balcony of the royal 
 palace in order to satisfy the people that they had 
 not deserted their capital. 
 
 On December 18th, however, General Mack 
 writing that he had no prospect of stopping the 
 progress of the French, and adding his entreaties 
 to the others that the Royal Family should retire 
 from Naples as expeditiously as possible, the King 
 at length signified his approval of the arrange- 
 
Nelson's Legacy 297 
 
 ments concerted by Nelson and Lady Hamilton 
 for the embarkation. A secret passage led from 
 the royal apartments to the little quay, and here 
 it was agreed that the refugees should be met by 
 the Admiral, and conveyed to the Vanguard, 
 which lay at about the distance of an hour's hard 
 rowing. 
 
 The Kilien Effendi, who had been sent by 
 the Grand Seignior to Naples to present Nelson 
 with the Plume of Triumph, was holding a re- 
 ception that night, and, in order to raise no sus- 
 picion, the British Ambassador attended the enter- 
 tainment. Emma, too, was there, the loveliest 
 and most animated figure of them all. The great 
 enterprise before her only served to make her 
 spirits more ebullient. She and Nelson exchanged 
 glances and were conscious of the double secret 
 they were sharing. They had grown quickly into 
 intimacy and every hour made it clearer to them 
 that there was nothing they could not adventure 
 together. To carry off the King and Queen, their 
 entire family and the treasures of the Crown was 
 only the beginning. All was arranged, and well 
 arranged. The embassy carriage was standing 
 before Kilien Effendi' s front door when the British 
 Ambassador walked away unobserved from the 
 back. Emma had stepped hurriedly out of her 
 fine clothes and into those more suitable to the 
 
298 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 voyage before her. When the time appointed for 
 the rendezvous arrived, Emma met the Queen at 
 the secret entrance to the palace, supporting her 
 through the darkness of the tortuous passage to 
 the hardly hghter quay. She then committed 
 her to Nelson's safe custody, and, rejoining her 
 husband and mother in Sir William Hamilton's 
 private boat, followed the royal party to the 
 ship. 
 
 The night was horribly dark, with a strong wind 
 blowing off the shore, raising a heavy ocean swell 
 that made the voyage extremely hazardous. The 
 Vanguard stood out to sea under a sky whose 
 threatening aspect was borne out the next morn- 
 ing by a storm more terrible than any Nelson had 
 experienced in the whole of the thirty years he had 
 known the sea. All the sails were blown to tatters, 
 and sailors stood by with axes ready to cut away 
 the masts. The terrific violence of the tempest 
 shattered the nerves of many of the refugees, already 
 strung to the point of snapping by the excitements 
 and anxieties of the past weeks. They crowded 
 into the captain's cabin as if Neptune would 
 not dare to strike them there, and their prayers 
 and cries of fear rose louder with each deeper roll 
 of the labouring vessel. It was now that Emma for 
 the first time really merits our reader's admiration 
 and showed the qualities that not only palliate her 
 
Nelson's Legacy 299 
 
 shortcomings, but might well prove our excuse for 
 having selected such a heroine for our memoir. 
 She forgot all her consequence remembering only 
 that she was a better sailor than the rest. She 
 gave up her cabin to the Queen and devoted her- 
 self to the care of the royal children, who were in 
 the last extremity of fear, and suffering terribly 
 from sea-sickness. All the mother-love she had 
 in her, cheated by circumstance, rose in full 
 flood, and spent itself upon these frightened little 
 ones. 
 
 To one of them, Prince Albert, now but six 
 years old, she was especially attached, and it was 
 he whom death reft from her protecting arms. 
 For, after being tortured by the most violent sea- 
 sickness, making a brave effort to take food, his 
 stomach rebelled against his will, and, falling into 
 a succession of convulsive fits, he died in the late 
 afternoon of Christmas Day, adding by his un- 
 timely death the last drop to the brimming cup 
 of the Queen's distress. Nelson was present at 
 the prince's demise, and, watching Lady Hamilton 
 as she held the dying child — for all the women in 
 attendance on the Queen were incapable of assist- 
 ance, and there was not another soul to be of 
 service — his admiration of her womanliness and 
 sweetness overcharged his heart. His own long- 
 ing for fatherhood swelled to the point of pain, 
 
300 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 and was distilled in the tears he hurried away 
 to hide. When he left the pitiful scene, the image 
 of Emma with the child in her arms was the one 
 he carried with him. He would it were a child of 
 his she cradled there ; the wish haunted him for 
 many days. 
 
 It was not until two of the clock the morning 
 following the death of the prince that the Vanguard 
 was enabled to anchor in the harbour of Palermo. 
 For close upon twelve hours, ever since three in 
 the afternoon of Christmas Day, she had been 
 detained outside, with the Royal Standard flying 
 in full view of the capital. For once the Queen's 
 spirit was not equal to the burden imposed upon 
 it. She left Naples still full of Bourbon pride, 
 although bowing to the force of circumstances. 
 She reached Palermo a despoiled mother, a woman 
 with an unbearable pain in her heart, craving only 
 solitude and obscurity in which to hide her grief 
 from the world. But queens may not weep for 
 their children like common folk. Sicily was wait- 
 ing to acclaim Ferdinand and his consort with 
 passionate shouts of loyalty and unalterable devo- 
 tion. She could not, however, bear to go on shore 
 in a public manner. At five o'clock in the morn- 
 ing Nelson himself escorted her thither with the 
 royal princesses, returning to the Vanguard after- 
 wards to attend the disembarkation of the King, 
 
Nelson's Legacy 301 
 
 for the satisfaction of the shouting SiciHans, in 
 all the ceremony of State. 
 
 In the swing of the pendulum are pictured all 
 the natural operations. Night follows day, ebb, 
 flow, reaction succeeds to action. Emma had had 
 her hour, had worked like a man, wept like a 
 woman, won Nelson's heart truly and completely 
 as she never could have won it through all the 
 splendid gift to him of her beauty, or the love 
 she laid so lavishly at his feet. It was the Emma 
 of the Vanguard to whom he made complete sur- 
 render ; she who met stress and storm with smile 
 and succour, who had been lovely in helpfulness, 
 undaunted in danger. She had met his conception 
 of all womanhood ; his spirit leaped to hers, and 
 called her mate. This was no creature for dalliance, 
 she was wife and mother, palpitating and alive to 
 all demands. ' Incomparable,' she had been called, 
 ' Peerless ' and ' Divine.' But Nelson saw her 
 human, and the beauty of her soul held him more 
 securely than would ever the beauty of her body. 
 To him her great heart was visible in those twelve 
 awful days. Whomever else it had held, it held 
 Nelson now, and as far as he was concerned it 
 was for all time. For twelve days and twelve 
 nights she had toiled incessantly, had faced every 
 danger fearlessly, and hardships without a murmur. 
 After the landing at Palermo the Queen fell ill. 
 
302 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 At the same time Sir William Hamilton developed 
 a bilious fever. Both of them leaned on Emma's 
 vitality and wearied for her company. Nelson 
 was lost in admiration of the strength that held 
 through such fatigues and the spirit that survived 
 them. His admiration and tenderness were the 
 food on which Emma flourished, and the knowledge 
 that she was a heroine. She and Nelson were 
 thrown daily and hourly together, for Sir William 
 kept his room, complaining of this and the other, 
 querulous, and beginning to show the weakness of 
 his years. He was for ever urging Emma to look 
 after Nelson, to devote herself to his entertain- 
 ment ; he had in his illness a weak and unreason- 
 able fear lest Nelson and his ships should depart, 
 leaving them stranded. 
 
 Nelson made his quarters in their house, and 
 there, among an alien populace, alone save for 
 the invalid husband, in the lax hours that follow 
 great exertion, we see him taking for his own that 
 which had heretofore been only borrowed. Sir 
 William was nearing three score years and ten, 
 Emma was less than half his age, and in the full 
 perfection of her beauty. The ambassador's powers 
 were failing, but he had ever been a man of experi- 
 ence with woman ; he knew now that if he were 
 to hold the choicest of his collection, it must be 
 by an appeal to her compassion, or perhaps to 
 
Nelson's Legacy 303 
 
 her self-interest, not by a claim which he was in- 
 capable of enforcing and to which she had lately 
 been indifferent. 
 
 ' As I wax old,' he said, ' it has been hard upon 
 me having had both bilious and rheumatic com- 
 plaints.' This is not to excuse his conduct, but 
 only to explain it. He wanted Nelson's friend- 
 ship and the enjoyment of his society ; he had to 
 keep Emma by his side, even if only as a nurse. 
 There was a decent veil thrown over the position. 
 The word friendship served well for what we must 
 henceforward call the * triple alliance.' Nelson 
 would have shared Emma with no one after 
 that voyage in the Vanguard : Quod habeo teneo 
 was his motto. But what Sir William Hamilton 
 wanted from the woman to whom he had given 
 his name, and some estate, years of kindness and 
 protection, was what no man could grudge him. 
 Here in this veracious , history shall be no attempt 
 at judgment on the case of Horatio Nelson and 
 Emma Hamilton, or Sir William Hamilton's part 
 in it, here is only to be found a plain statement 
 of the facts. Let a verdict be arrived at by a 
 jury of their peers — if such exist. 
 
 What is to be chronicled is how, notwithstand- 
 ing Emma, Nelson soon found himself fretting at 
 his inactivity in Palermo. The news was all of 
 the French irruption in Naples, and of the growth 
 
304 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 of Jacobinism. He itched to mow it all down with 
 the sword, and as for the men who sowed it, to 
 scare them with the thunder of his guns beyond 
 the farthest barriers of the Alps. He ached to deal 
 another hammer blow at the French, for whom his 
 hatred was always growing. Aboukir Bay had 
 been good, but it seemed a long time ago. He 
 must soon find vent for his inexhaustible energy ; 
 waiting was the hardest form of service. He was 
 shut up in Palermo, whilst a hundred things might 
 be happening, things of vital consequence. Duty 
 tied him here in Sicily to cover the blockade of 
 Naples, and preserve Sicily in case of an attack. 
 If only he could see the King safe again on his 
 throne in Naples with every rascally Jacobin hanged 
 as high as Haman, with what joy would he leave 
 the Mediterranean for good and all ! But would 
 he ? Was it really only duty tied him there ? A 
 sigh that was almost a groan escaped him, audible 
 in the stillness of the night. 
 
 ' What is it. Nelson ? ' 
 
 The dear voice reached him, deep, and soft, 
 and musical, soothing his fretted nerves, and bring- 
 ing a sense of exquisite peace. He had not ex- 
 pected her to-night, for it was very late ; but it 
 seemed right that she should come to him just 
 then, and he turned his tired, grave face to 
 her, not smiling, but welcoming her by the 
 
LADY HAMILTON; THE NUN 
 
 FROM THE rAINTTING BY ROMNEY, IN THE POSSESSION 
 
 OF MONSIF.UR M. SEDELMEYER 
 
Nelson's Legacy 305 
 
 very quietness with which he accepted her pre- 
 sence. 
 
 ' Sir WiUiam has been worse than ever to-night,' 
 she said, coming in and joining him by the window, 
 ' fevered and restless, in some pain. I don't think 
 he has had one day of real health since we came to 
 this miserable house. He has only just fallen 
 asleep.' 
 
 ' Cannot you do the same ? ' he asked. 
 
 ' I ? No, I'm too tired to sleep.' There were 
 tears in her voice. 
 
 ' My poor Emma,' he said, and drew her into 
 the shelter of his arms, ' would that I could take 
 all your burdens from you.' 
 
 ' I heard you sigh when I was at the door ; 
 Nelson has his troubles too.' 
 
 ' Not when Emma is in his armg)' he whispered. 
 She had the power to make him forget all beside 
 herself. 
 
 * 4: * « H: He 
 
 ' It grows late, and you are ever more fatigued,' 
 he said presently. ' I am but selfish in my desire 
 to keep you with me.' 
 
 She shook her head and the movement freed 
 her loosened hair which shone like a red gold 
 sun-mist and made an aureole for her beautiful 
 face. 
 
 ' I want you most when I am most tired,' she 
 
3o6 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 told him. ' No one but you has ever rested me. 
 It has always seemed I must give and give, and 
 be what they want, but you think of me.' She 
 found it difficult to explain herself. 
 
 ' What do I do for you ? ' he asked tenderly. 
 ' Whatever it is, I would that I could do 
 more.' 
 
 ' You make me know you care for me as if 
 . . . as if we was real husband and real wife.' 
 He drew her closer to him, and she went on. 
 ' Sir William has been good to me, and wanted me 
 to dress handsome and look well. Other men 
 have told me I'm beautiful, but you. Nelson, you 
 tell me something different. I feel it, and it 
 makes me so happy, so proud. I have never had 
 a lover but you. . . .' 
 
 Emma meant the phrase metaphorically, Nelson 
 in his simplicity accepted it as fact. Ever his love 
 for her grew, and it is no doubt she was a great 
 mitigation to the tedium of the days at Palermo. 
 But Nelson was essentially a man of action, and 
 although his heart was anchored, his mind was 
 restless. 
 
 History was made quickly in these closing years 
 of the eighteenth century. In Naples it was being 
 written at double speed. Deserted by their King 
 and army, the lazzaroni had been left to defend 
 their homes and institutions against the French 
 
Nelson*s Legacy 307 
 
 invasion. They fought irregularly, but with a 
 desperate courage ; they were eventually borne 
 down by the weight of the French arms, rein- 
 forced by the Revolutionists among their own 
 fellow - citizens. A Republic was declared, the 
 French occupied the fortress of St. Elmo, the 
 Neapolitan Revolutionists garrisoned the castle of 
 Uovo and Nuovo; the capital lay at the mercy 
 of the enemy. In addition to this a powerful 
 French fleet was cruising somewhere in the Medi- 
 terranean. It was knowledge of this last fact that 
 held Nelson at Palermo. 
 
 King Ferdinand, before he fled from Naples, 
 had given his royal commission to Cardinal Ruffo 
 to rouse the Calabrese, and His Eminence was so 
 successful in stimulating the martial spirit of this 
 proud and patriotic people that in a short time 
 the invaders and the Revolutionists were in a 
 mood to discuss terms. News of this now reached 
 Palermo and some uneasiness was felt by the 
 King as to the lengths to which the Cardinal's 
 unfettered action might carry him. Nelson, in 
 particular, was ill content to leave His Eminence 
 in the full power of a plenipotentiary ; the ardent 
 desire of his whole career had been to crush and 
 stamp out this damnable Jacobinism, not to make 
 terms with it. 
 
 Even Emma's arms could not hold Nelson 
 
3o8 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 when rumour after rumour reached Palermo of 
 what was occurring. 
 
 ' Don't leave me, Nelson,' Emma pleaded. 
 
 ' Don't hold me, Emma. I am ill to hold when 
 duty calls. Help me rather.' 
 
 ' How can I help you ? ' 
 
 ' Seek the King. I have wearied him and now 
 he will no longer grant me audience, but pleads 
 illness, and vexes me with delays. I ought to be 
 in Naples ; it is working in me His Eminence has 
 been won over.' 
 
 ' But how am I to live here without you ? 
 And, Nelson . . .' Then her colour heightened, 
 and she whispered in his ear what she thought, 
 or feared. He flushed too. The breach of his 
 marriage vows had been followed by no perceptible 
 moral deterioration. Since he had felt it was not 
 the flesh, but the spirit, speaking when it told him 
 this was his true mate and wife that should have 
 been, and might be yet, he had been quite deliber- 
 ate in his assumption that their union, although 
 irregular, was for all time. What she whispered 
 to him as a possibility was something for which he 
 had ever longed. His wife had borne him no child ; 
 it was Emma who should give him that pride and 
 fulfilment of manhood. He told her now that her 
 news filled him with joy, if with some apprehension 
 for her. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 309 
 
 ' And now you won't leave me, you won't 
 want to go.' 
 
 But he could not be made to see that the cir- 
 cumstance should alter his plans ; and all Emma's 
 pleadings left his view unaltered. All that it 
 effected was to hasten his movements. For sud- 
 denly Emma said : 
 
 ' Why not carry me and Sir William with you 
 to Naples ? You will want an intermediary between 
 you and the Cardinal. . . .' 
 
 It was an inspiration. Nelson was transported 
 at the idea that she would accompany him, and 
 nothing remained but to secure the King's permis- 
 sion. With Emma at work, this was only an affair 
 of hours. 
 
 Before it seemed possible they were on board 
 the Foudroyant, sail set, flags flying, and the popu- 
 lace cheering them to the water's edge. 
 
 ' My love, it was good of you to persuade 
 Nelson to let us embark with him. I am sure 
 I shall recover quickly once I am out of this un- 
 congenial town,' Sir William said, from the couch 
 that had been rigged out for him on deck. 
 
 ' Oh, Emma ! how quickly you got the King's 
 permission ; what a diplomatist you would have 
 made ! And now we have the voyage before 
 us, and the wind in our favour. Dear one, 
 but we will make the journey memorable,' was 
 
310 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 Nelson's comment ere he hurried to the quarter- 
 deck. 
 
 Arrived at Naples, Nelson for once found 
 rumour had not exaggerated. The Cardinal had 
 agreed to a truce ; he had promised security of 
 their persons and property to the Revolutionists, 
 and to the French garrison permission to march 
 out of the fortress with all the honours of war, 
 prior to being conveyed to their own land at King 
 Ferdinand's expense ! And to this astonishingly 
 liberal proposal the representatives of the other 
 Powers had already affixed their signatures. 
 
 Nelson made short work of the convention. 
 He annulled the amnesty, declaring that whoever 
 had served the Republic was a traitor, and that 
 kings do not capitulate with rebels. Ruffo's pro- 
 testations were overruled, and himself dismissed 
 into obscurity. The army was quickly reorganised, 
 St. Elmo retaken, and the rebels forced to submit 
 to what clemency the King might show. Sharp 
 diseases call for sharp remedies, and the knife was 
 not spared now in cutting this gangrene of revolu- 
 tion out of the heart of the country. Disloyalty 
 had spread like the plague, the most signal instance 
 of all being supplied by that same Caracciolo, who 
 so few months before had brought the King in 
 his barge to meet Nelson when returning victorious 
 from the Nile. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 311 
 
 It was only a few weeks ago that Caracciolo 
 had left the King at Palermo, to all appearance a 
 faithful loyalist. Yet he had no sooner reached 
 Naples than he joined the rebels, and even com- 
 manded their fleet. In Nelson's eye the case was 
 simple as it was black. He held his King's com- 
 mission, and he had fired on his King's flag. That 
 spelt death. Caracciolo must hang. Emma pleaded 
 for him, but it was of no avail. About five of the 
 clock on a glorious June afternoon all Naples 
 turned its eyes to the yardarm of the Minerva, the 
 frigate that had been the target for Caracciolo's 
 rebel guns. There swayed and swung the lifeless 
 form of Prince Francesco Caracciolo, Admiral of 
 the Neapolitan Navy, a warning to all traitors. 
 At sunset the rope was cut, and the heavy-shotted 
 corpse dropped into the sea. 
 
 Emma played no part in the reprisals ; she 
 was wholly occupied in making herself in- 
 dispensable to her lover, whilst not neglecting 
 her duties to Sir William, whose rapid recovery 
 enabled him to take up again the reins of his 
 authority. Acting for one and both of them, and 
 with the full concurrence of the Ministers, it was 
 Lady Hamilton who received the Royalists on 
 behalf of the Queen, supplied the lazzaroni with 
 new arms, and so conducted matters with the feudal 
 lords and others whose affection Her Majesty had 
 
312 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 alienated, that her praises were heard on all sides. 
 Nelson was transported by her tact and intelli- 
 gence. It seemed to him that she bore prosperity 
 and adversity equally well. For instance, a bomb 
 burst in Sir William's new apartment, an echo 
 of the storming of St. Elmo ; the damage done was 
 estimated at thirty thousand pounds. Emma said 
 stoutly it was well lost if it ended the Revolution. 
 Nelson heard her ; Sir William fortunately was 
 out of earshot. 
 
 ' You care nothing for money,' he exclaimed. 
 ' Peerless and incomparable woman. It is enough 
 for you that the revolution is ended, that the Queen 
 will be restored. A restoration to which you have 
 contributed so much.' 
 
 ' Not so much as my Nelson.' 
 
 ' Nelson and Emma are one,' he answered 
 soberly. ' I have done no more for Italy than 
 you.' 
 
 And she came to believe him, which is perhaps 
 the strangest thing in her strange history. The 
 English Ministry later on had much ado in dis- 
 illusioning her, and Grenville and others have been 
 blamed for their action. But after the publication 
 of these memoirs the whole matter will be better 
 understood. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 The Hamiltons, with Nelson in their train, make a triumphant 
 progress through the capitals of Europe, but on arriving in 
 England are cold-shouldered by the Court. Lady Nelson 
 becomes a factor in the situation and further estranges her 
 husband by her conduct to Emma. The pressing attentions 
 of the Prince of Wales excite the jealousy of the Admiral, 
 but the birth of Horatia is a signal for the renewal of his 
 ardour. The purchase of a country house is decided upon, 
 and a selection made of Merton in Surrey. 
 
 WITH the restoration of King Ferdinand to his 
 NeapoUtan throne, the repression of the forces 
 of Jacobinism in the southern regions of the Italian 
 peninsula, and the raising of the blockade of Malta, 
 Nelson's work in Italy was practically accomplished. 
 As ever in times of inactivity his physical health 
 suffered and in the phantasmagoria of fevered 
 nights he saw life out of proportion ; facts and 
 fancies became interwoven and indistinguishable. 
 Now he was possessed of the idea that he was held 
 in disfavour by the Admiralty, and this in despite 
 of the magnitude of his services to England and 
 Europe. Emma tried in vain to rouse him from 
 the depression into which he fell ; indeed she 
 became part of it. 
 
 ' They have done nothing for you,' he com- 
 
 313 
 
3^4 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 plained, ' though you were the cause of all my 
 victories. They send no answer to my letters.' 
 
 ' They will be glad enough of your services when 
 Napoleon is again active. Don't fret, Nelson ; they 
 know there is no one but you if ever they should 
 need a commander. And meanwhile we are to- 
 gether, and as happy as the day is long.' 
 
 ' You are a sweet comforter, but it is hard to 
 be neglected and passed over. . . .' 
 
 Nelson was neither neglected nor passed over, 
 but he was fain to believe himself ill-used, and, 
 in a condition that in one less great would be 
 called bad temper, he asked for and obtained leave. 
 Thus it came about that he struck flag and set 
 out for home at the same time as Sir William 
 Hamilton put into execution what had long been 
 in his mind, and sent in his resignation. 
 
 Emma assuredly believed that in leaving Italy 
 for England she was but altering the scene of her 
 triumphs, and that St. James's Palace would be 
 as accessible to her as had been the Court of 
 Ferdinand and Maria Carolina. She had some 
 excuse for her blindness or folly, for she had really 
 forgotten or found excuses for all that had hap- 
 pened to her before she became the wife of Sir 
 William Hamilton. And if such a past as hers 
 could be effaced, the present, that gave a husband's 
 countenance to her intimacy with Nelson, might 
 
Nelson's Legacy 3^5 
 
 easily appear to her as nothing to debar her from 
 enjoying the consideration and the company of 
 virtuous women. 
 
 She had quite come to beheve that Nelson owed 
 his victories, and Italy its freedom, to her exer- 
 tions, and confidently expected the plaudits of the 
 world. It was an elate and confident Emma who 
 bade farewell to Italy, and, with her complaisant 
 husband, accompanied Nelson on his almost royal 
 progress across Europe. Maria Carolina went with 
 them as far as Vienna, travelling by Leghorn, 
 Florence, and Trieste, each of which towns sought 
 to eclipse the other in the magnificence and honour 
 of its welcome to the distinguished party. In 
 Vienna the noble houses of Esterhazy and Bathyani 
 spread their most splendid hospitality before the 
 Queen and her favourite, and fireworks, balls, 
 hunting parties, concerts were the order of the 
 day. Prague, Dresden, and Hamburg were only 
 more places where Emma's pride and vanity were 
 fed. It is surely no matter for wonder that a 
 woman before whom a whole continent bowed 
 down should have looked for a cordial reception 
 in her native land. 
 
 That which she had omitted to reckon with 
 was the virtue which is inherent in the English 
 character. Although in every age and under 
 every king a class may emerge, profligate, 
 
3i6 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 extravagant, heedless of the pubhc weal so long 
 as it may indulge every selfish wish and satisfy 
 every carnal appetite, yet the people as a whole 
 do inherently believe that their national greatness 
 is built upon the purity of home life. 
 
 The English Court epitomised the English 
 people. A narrow and pietistic dogmatism charac- 
 terised the Queen and was incidentally responsible 
 for the breaking away of the young princes. 
 George III. in his intervals of comparative 
 sanity subscribed to the doctrines held by his 
 consort. 
 
 The trouble began with the arrival of Sir William 
 Hamilton and his party at Yarmouth. Nelson 
 was greeted, as it seemed, by all England ex- 
 cepting only his wife. Her son Josiah had sup- 
 plied her with sufficient information to poison 
 her mind, and the accounts of the receptions at 
 the various foreign Courts inflamed it further. She 
 had had no part in Nelson's triumphs, no share 
 in his glory ; that lot being reserved for Lady 
 Hamilton. Even if her affection for her second 
 husband had been greater than there is reason 
 to suppose was the case, her forbearance would 
 have been strained beyond the point of endurance 
 at the publicity of the affront now put upon her 
 by his conduct towards another woman. For his 
 infatuation was patent to all the world. It was 
 
Nelson's Legacy 317 
 
 Lady Hamilton who shared his triumphant entry 
 into England as she had been one with his 
 triumphant progress through Europe. The car- 
 riage that drove him from the quay held also Lady 
 Hamilton, Sir William following almost unobserved. 
 The people acclaimed and shouted ; to them Nelson 
 was ' the Hero of the Nile,' the one figure to scare 
 away the bogey Buonaparte. But to his wife, 
 remaining in London, silent and solitary, he was 
 a husband who insulted her dignity, no more and 
 no less. 
 
 Satirists up in London were quickly busy with 
 pen and graving tool. The scandal was well dis- 
 seminated before the Hamiltons arrived in the 
 house in Piccadilly, facing the Green Park, 
 which had been prepared in anticipation of their 
 coming. 
 
 Because of the lampoons, prints, and all the 
 gossip set afloat by Josiah, it seemed an audacity 
 truly amazing on Emma's part, and a compliance 
 and lack of tact hardly less astonishing on that 
 of Sir William, that the Hamiltons not only elected 
 to accompany Nelson on his journey from Yar- 
 mouth to the capital, but actually persuaded him 
 to take up his residence in their house. It was 
 as if they had all three blindfolded themselves, 
 and now imagined no one else could see. 
 
 They were astonished by the news quickly 
 
3i8 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 conveyed to them, that whilst the King would 
 give Sir William audience, the Queen refused 
 to receive Lady Hamilton! Nelson stormed and 
 swore the Court should not see him either ; Sir 
 William nursed his gout ; Emma sent for Greville. 
 ' She has heard something against me, some 
 rival must have spoken or wrote ill of me. Women 
 is all such jealous creatures ! ' was what Emma 
 said to Greville. She was quite naive and uncon- 
 scious of offence. ' You must get it to the Queen's 
 ears that I am all discretion now. I am no longer 
 giddy and frivolous like I used to be. I have been 
 in high affairs. . . . ' She appealed to Sir William, 
 and he confirmed her warmly. He was weary of 
 ambition, strife, and politics, vexed that the ques- 
 tion of Emma's standing should be questioned, and 
 anxious she should be satisfied. It was a long time 
 before she was brought to realise the true state of 
 affairs and the share Nelson's wife had in bringing 
 it about. She had expected to be courted, and 
 behold she was practically, if not entirely, ostra- 
 cised — a parlous state of affairs for one who, in 
 her own opinion, had made Nelson, released Italy, 
 and proved the closest friend and confidante of 
 the proudest of the Bourbons. We could regard 
 her amazement and disappointment with less 
 wonder if it were not that she was already six 
 months gone with child. 
 
Nelson*s Legacy 3^9 
 
 If this was not known, it was at least more 
 than suspected, and the effrontery of the whole 
 affair appeared always more incredible. If Emma 
 had actually been as much the nation's benefactress 
 as she imagined herself, her public merit would 
 not have weighed in English eyes against her 
 private indiscretions. In such a matter England 
 differed completely from Italy. 
 
 The private arrangement, if one existed, was 
 the affair of nobody but the three persons con- 
 cerned. Sir William Hamilton was not the first, 
 and would not be the last elderly husband of a 
 beautiful young woman to accept a pair of horns. 
 That he should wear them openly and as an orna- 
 ment was the offence, and one that rankled. And 
 even if there had been no Nelson, and no Lady 
 Nelson, with her cold aloofness and bitter tongue, 
 it is doubtful whether the royal attitude towards 
 Sir William Hamilton's wife would have been very 
 different. In truth, Emma was too exotic, too 
 ebullient, too self-conscious and flamboyant to be 
 to the taste of Queen Caroline and the ladies of 
 the Court. The gayer her manner, the brighter 
 her smiles, the sweeter her singing, and the more 
 captivating her Attitudes, the less was the likeli- 
 hood she should be accepted as one of themselves 
 by those who could not compete, and would not 
 admire. 
 
320 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 The Queen definitely ignored Emma's existence, 
 and society followed the example she set them. In- 
 vitations to the big house in Piccadilly were either 
 left unanswered or met by curt refusal. Emma 
 was first incredulous, then indignant, but finally, 
 when the Duke of Queensberry and others of his 
 kidney came around her, as they began to do 
 very soon, she became indifferent. Her sensibilities 
 were so blunted that she could not see that the world 
 had a grievance against her. And that grievance 
 became accentuated by her blindness to it. Never, 
 perhaps, did Emma display so clearly the wanton- 
 ness from which her character had not altered as in 
 the first few weeks of her return to England. Nelson 
 and Sir William Hamilton were perhaps as much 
 responsible as she for the state of her mind. The 
 sense of guilt, which a man naturally so religious 
 as Nelson should have felt in his adulterous con- 
 nection, was all obliterated by Lady Nelson's 
 attitude towards his ' sweet Emma.' Coldly con- 
 temptuous she was, and self-righteous, lacking in 
 sympathy and understanding of the indignant and 
 warm-hearted sailor. She insulted and ignored 
 Lady Hamilton, and wanted to make Nelson's 
 breaking off his intimacy with her a prelude to 
 their own better agreement. She stood out for 
 her rights and privileges, confronting him with 
 lawyers, whom he hated next to Popery and the 
 
Nelson's Legacy 321 
 
 French, when he would have approached her with 
 kindness. She really drove him back to Emma, 
 who had experience in men's ways, and knew how 
 to soothe him. Then there was the sense of joy 
 in his approaching fatherhood and his gratitude to 
 her who promised it him. Everything combined 
 in Emma's favour to excite Nelson's chivalry and 
 deepen his attachment. He was a religious man, 
 and because his wife was Josiah Nisbet's mother, 
 and to him inflexible and rigid, whilst Emma was 
 about to bear him a child and was ever warm and 
 loving, yet never forgetting his greatness and 
 superiority, he was confirmed in his decision 
 that it was indeed she who was his ' wife before 
 God.' 
 
 We must in his extenuation remember that he 
 was unaware of all her history, so familiar now to 
 us. He had heard, for thus far Emma's ingenuous 
 confession admitted, that in an unsheltered youth 
 her innocence had been betrayed. But that was all. 
 Of Sir William, all that can be said is that he was 
 in ill-health and valued Emma's nursing, and having 
 set so high a value on Nelson, he had no stomach 
 to refuse him that which he no longer required for 
 his own gratification. Sir William Hamilton was 
 of so autocratic a temper he thought he could 
 carry any situation. Had not Greville been in the 
 way, there is little doubt he would have fathered 
 
322 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 the coming child. As it was, some httle circum- 
 spection was necessary ; the more so, perhaps, as 
 the matter of his pension was not yet settled, and 
 difficulties about it were already being raised. 
 Secrecy as to Emma's condition was further ren- 
 dered advisable by the attitude of the Prince of 
 Wales. It is well known that not only did the 
 Prince fail in subscribing to his parents' doctrines, 
 but was on ill terms with them on account of the 
 licentiousness of his own conduct and the de- 
 bauchery of his days. To him, nevertheless, 
 Sir William began to look to repair his broken 
 fortunes. The King's health was already a matter 
 of concern to his loyal subjects, but there were 
 those of the Prince's set who built hopes upon it. 
 When no influence that he could himself bring to 
 bear moved the inflexibility of the Court towards 
 Emma, it was not perhaps unnatural that Sir 
 William's thoughts should turn to the heir to the 
 throne. Already the Prince had honoured Emma 
 with his regard, had been particular in his atten- 
 tions when he met her at the Duke of Queens- 
 berry's house, where he conversed with her for a 
 long time. But that Nelson was there also, 
 always inclined to jealousy, fiery, and capable of 
 making a scene, Emma's encouragement might 
 have been more marked. She was aware of Sir 
 William's mind, and would not have thwarted him 
 
Nelson's Legacy 323 
 
 in an enterprise so suitable to her talents. At 
 His Grace's ball the Prince handed her through a 
 quadrille ; when he was sober and willed it, his 
 manners had an elegance that caused him some- 
 times to be named as ' the First Gentleman in 
 Europe.' Emma has put it on record that he had 
 a pretty leg and looked at her ' approvingly.' 
 That she looked back again may be gathered from 
 Nelson's letters to her, letters written after he 
 was recalled to his ship. 
 
 The summons came all too soon. Nelson left 
 his Emma in the midst of temptations, from which 
 it seemed that only her condition protected her. 
 And about that condition it was finally agreed the 
 utmost discretion must be observed. Greville was 
 at the back of all the arrangements ; to him alone 
 Emma was completely open. Their interests were 
 again opposed, and again it was Mr. Greville who 
 carried the day. The charge of pregnancy must 
 be denied at all hazards, Emma must be seen 
 everywhere, the Prince's attentions must be en- 
 couraged. These were Mr. Greville's instructions ; 
 all his prospects would be jeopardised if a child 
 were openly born in wedlock. This was not the 
 argument he used to Emma. He urged that the 
 most distinguished career can be injured and 
 checked in England by open scandal, and that 
 whatever Nelson had done in the past he was 
 
324 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 capable of greater things in the future if he were 
 not hampered. Generous-hearted Emma was 
 moved by this argument. He went on to point 
 out Lady Nelson might elect to sue for a divorce, 
 although, on the other hand, her temper was such 
 that it might incline her to punish her husband's 
 infidelity by refraining from taking action, and 
 so, even in the event of Sir William's death, pre- 
 vent him from making her whom he called his 
 ' wife before God ' also his wife before man. 
 
 Sir William was brought to declare publicly that 
 the friendship between his wife and Nelson was 
 platonic. An acknowledged accoucheynent would 
 confute him, or force him to a claim his state of 
 health made untenable. Mr. Greville had been 
 shocked by the want of reticence and tact already 
 exhibited. Now, in view of the Prince of Wales's 
 attentions, and all to which it might lead, he 
 exerted himself to the adjustment of the position. 
 Emma was ever clay in Mr. Greville' s hands and 
 plastic to his moulding. She was proud when 
 Greville said the Prince was attracted by her, and 
 listened with avidity when he told her that she 
 had been the toast of the evening at Mr. Fox's. 
 Her vanity was all agog, and Mr. Greville's know- 
 ledge how she was appreciated was the healing 
 salve for the wound which Queen Caroline inflicted. 
 
 Nelson was recalled to his ship, and Emma 
 
Nelson's Legacy 325 
 
 took leave of him with many tears and protesta- 
 tions. 
 
 * How can I leave you to bear your pains and 
 apprehensions alone ? ' 
 
 ' How can I part with my hero ? ' was the 
 burden of their talk in that interview so over- 
 laden with emotion. 
 
 ' You will never let me be without news ? ' 
 he begged. 
 
 ' I will write by every opportunity,' she as- 
 severated. ' What pleasure shall I have in life 
 save writing to him who makes my entire happi- 
 ness ? ' 
 
 ' And keep all men at a distance until your 
 Nelson returns to guard you.' 
 
 ' You do not doubt me, Nelson, you do not 
 doubt your Emma ? ' she asked tenderly. 
 
 ' 'Tis your innocence I fear, and the damnable 
 rascality of the Prince and his crew,' he answered 
 gloomily. 
 
 Emma promised all and more than Nelson asked. 
 Since it made him uneasy, she said she would not 
 speak to the Prince, nor accept the banquet he 
 had already offered her ; she would not let him 
 come at all to Piccadilly. 
 
 But for themselves they must keep all they 
 were to each other a secret, an inviolable, absolute 
 secret, else Lady Nelson would make trouble, and 
 
326 Nelson'vS Legacy 
 
 his enemies, always on the alert, would have a 
 lever to move the Admiralty against him. Emma's 
 tongue spoke Greville's words. She proceeded to 
 tell Nelson she had thought out a plan for their 
 correspondence, in case it should be intercepted 
 or come into unfriendly hands. The plan was 
 Greville's invention, but it became Emma's in 
 the telling. Nelson was slow to subscribe to it, 
 but could refuse his Emma nothing in taking leave 
 of her at such a time. 
 
 Greville's plan was that they were to pretend 
 the existence of a Mr. and Mrs. Thomson, of whom 
 the former was supposed to be serving under 
 Nelson and on his ship, while the latter, hourly 
 expecting her confinement, was committed to the 
 kind-hearted care of Lady Hamilton. Under pre- 
 text of committing news of the mother and child 
 to the anxious naval officer, Lady Hamilton was 
 to address all letters bearing upon this interesting 
 subject to Mr. Thomson ' by favour of the Admiral,' 
 who in return would address his replies to Mrs. 
 Thomson ' under the care of Lady Hamilton.' 
 These letters, should they happen to be perused 
 by any other party, would thus be capable of an 
 explanation which would make up in plausibility 
 what it lacked in truth, and meanwhile the guilty 
 lovers could carry on their habitual correspond- 
 ence under their proper names. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 327 
 
 Nelson agreed with difficulty. He hated sub- 
 terfuge, and, had not his hand been forced by- 
 cajolery and argument, would have been bold in 
 acknowledging the true state of affairs. The price 
 of his complaisance was Emma's promise that she 
 would not see or speak to the ' first gentleman in 
 Europe,' Prince George of Wales. We shall see 
 how she kept her promise. 
 
 After Admiral Nelson left London to sail 
 once more against the French, Emma retired to 
 her room and gave herself up to tears. She was 
 disconsolate at the departure of one whose cham- 
 pionship was her greatest claim to consideration. 
 She was also dismayed at what lay before her, 
 although it was so much less strange or new to 
 her than Nelson supposed. Nevertheless, that very 
 evening, to revive her spirits, she went to the 
 Opera to hear Banti. Before many hours had 
 elapsed, whilst still her vows to Nelson were hot 
 on her lips, sealed there by his kisses, she not only 
 gave audience to the Prince but met his atten- 
 tions in so engaging a manner, that nothing 
 would serve him but that the meeting should be 
 quickly repeated. She excused herself easily for 
 her misfeasance : 
 
 ' Sir William's pension depends on it,' she 
 told Mr. Greville ; ' he is himself writing to Nelson 
 that we have no choice.' And Sir William actually 
 
328 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 did write of the ' absolute necessity ' of giving a 
 dinner to the Prince of Wales ! It appeared that 
 he had expressed a desire to hear Emma sing 
 a duet with the famous cantatrice, and afterwards 
 witness some of her incomparable Attitudes. Sir 
 William was pressing his application for additional 
 pension, and he dared not offend the Prince. 
 
 Before the admiral's furious answer arrived, 
 events had moved rapidly. The Prince was no 
 laggard in love-making, if every other offence could 
 be brought to his charge. He was of catholic 
 tastes in that regard and there is no doubt Nelson 
 had reason for his vehemence. The Prince was 
 quite untrammelled by those conscientious scruples 
 which distinguished his august parents. He had 
 been for some time enamoured of Emma's beauty, 
 of which he had acquired several counterfeit pre- 
 sentments, notably Mr. Romney's pictures of her 
 as ' Joan of Arc ' and ' The Magdalene.' He 
 knew more about her history than Nelson him- 
 self, and there is little doubt he now proposed to 
 enjoy charms which by the proved consent of so 
 many polite people were of quite superlative ex- 
 cellence. He accordingly honoured Sir William 
 by inviting himself to his house. Up to this 
 moment Emma had been flattered, and by no 
 means unwilling to listen to the Prince's compli- 
 ments. Now she found herself embarrassed. 
 
Nelson's Legacy 329 
 
 Again Greville was consulted ; we see his hand 
 in the entertainment that was so quickly arranged. 
 Emma must sing, laugh, talk, and lead the Prince 
 on. He, Mr. Greville, would charge himself with 
 the rest. It was but a matter of postponement, 
 of a ' promise to pay,' that could be cancelled or 
 contrived against after the matter of the pension 
 had been concluded. 
 
 Nelson got wind of the affair, and was wrought 
 to the highest pitch of nervous excitement by the 
 prospect of his adored one, who was so soon to be 
 the mother of his child, being placed in circum- 
 stances in which she might be compelled to yield 
 to a royal seducer. 
 
 ' You are too beautiful not to have enemies,' he wrote 
 to Emma, ' and even one visit will stamp you. He is 
 without one spark of honour in these matters, and would 
 leave you to bewail your folly. But I know you too well 
 not to be convinced that you cannot be seduced by any 
 Prince in Europe.' 
 
 The conviction did not allay his anxiety when 
 he heard that the entertainment could not be 
 avoided. 
 
 ' I am so agitated that I can write nothing. I knew 
 it would be so and you can't help it. Do not sit long at 
 table. Good God ! he will be next you, and telling you 
 soft things. If he does, tell it out at table, and turn him 
 out of the house. Oh God ! that I was dead ! But I 
 
330 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 do not, my dearest Emma, blame you, nor do I fear 
 your constancy. I am gone almost mad, but you can- 
 not help it. If I was in town nothing should make me 
 dine with you that damned day. I have read your reso- 
 lution never to go where the fellow is, but you must have 
 him at home. Oh God ! but you cannot, I suppose, 
 help it, you cannot turn him out of your own house. If 
 you cannot get rid of this, I hope you will tell Sir William 
 never to bring the fellow again.' 
 
 Again, and in still greater heat of passion, he 
 wrote : 
 
 ' I cannot help saying a few words on that fellow's 
 dining with you, for you do not believe it to be out of 
 love for Sir William. I knew that he would visit you, 
 and that you could not help coming downstairs when 
 the Prince was there. His words are so charming that, 
 I am told, no person can withstand them. If I had been 
 worth ten millions I would have betted every farthing 
 that you would not have stayed in the house knowing 
 that he was there, and if you did, which I would not have 
 believed, that you would have sent him a proper message 
 by Sir William, and sent him to hell. And knowing your 
 determined courage when you had got down, I would 
 have laid my head upon the block with the axe uplifted, 
 and said " strike " if Emma does not say to Sir William 
 before the fellow " my character cannot, shall not 
 suffer by permitting him to visit." . . . You cannot 
 now help the villain's dining with you. Get rid of it 
 as well as you can. Do not let him come down- 
 stairs with you, or hand you up. If you do, tell me, 
 and then . . .' 
 
Nelson's Legacy 331 
 
 All this heat and anxiety might have been 
 avoided. The Prince of Wales did dine with Sir 
 William, but fate intervened to prevent the con- 
 tamination Nelson dreaded for his lady. To enter- 
 tain royalty necessitates a certain amount of pre- 
 paration and delay. It was January before Banti 
 could be secured. La Banti was at the banquet, 
 and the Prince, but the hostess was on a bed of 
 sickness ! Her excuses had to be made ; they were 
 accepted with ill-humour, a show of incivility, and 
 want of credence. But Mr. Greville was again at 
 hand to smooth down matters. He had seen to it 
 that all the guests were to the Prince's mind, his 
 own boon companions, there were ladies present 
 almost as fair as Emma, certainly as frail ; there 
 was wine and song, Mr. Fox and Lord Barrymore. 
 After the first hour the fun waxed fast and furious 
 and the absence of its prime incentive hardly con- 
 sidered. 
 
 Meanwhile Emma, in the solitude of her own 
 apartments, attended only by her ever faithful 
 mother, went through her tribulation with the 
 courage we are unable to deny her. Sir William 
 sent the report to Nelson at sea. Emma was not 
 well, she was troubled with ' convulsive complaints 
 in the stomach, and vomitings, which required 
 some confinement, and required her to take a little 
 tartar emetic' 
 
332 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 Shortly afterwards he was able to announce 
 that she was ' certainly much better, but not quite 
 free froin bile.' Those two communications con- 
 tain the sum of Sir William's acknowledgment of 
 the event that now occurred in his house. But by 
 means of the Thomson device Nelson was kept 
 better informed. He poured out in return all the 
 emotions that rent his bosom, although not failing 
 to couch his letters in a form that was consistent 
 with the fiction of his anxious subordinate. 
 
 ' I delivered poor Mrs. Thomson's note ; her friend is 
 truly thankful for her kindness and your goodness. Who 
 does not admire your benevolent heart ? Poor man, he 
 is very anxious, and begs you will, if she is not able, write 
 a line just to comfort him. He appears to feel very much 
 her situation. He is so agitated, and will be so for 2 or 
 3 days, that he says he cannot write, and that I must 
 send his kind love and affectionate regards.' 
 
 ' Pray tell Mrs. Thomson,' he wrote again, ' her 
 kind friend is very uneasy about her, and prays most 
 fervently for her safety — and he says he can only depend 
 on your goodness.' 
 
 These letters antedated the birth for which 
 they were all waiting. When at last that happy 
 news reached him, the enthusiasm of his letter 
 was too ardent to appear truly vicarious. 
 
 ' I believe dear Mrs. Thomson's friend will go mad 
 with joy. He cries, prays, and performs all tricks, yet 
 
Nelson's Legacy 333 
 
 dares not show all or any of his feelings, but he has only 
 me to consult with. He swears he will drink your health 
 this day in a bumper, and damn me if I don't join him 
 in spite of all the doctors in Europe, for none regard you 
 with truer affection than myself. You are a dear good 
 creature, and your kindness and attention to poor Mrs. 
 T. stamps you higher than ever in my mind. I cannot 
 write, I am so agitated by this young man at my elbow. 
 I believe he is foolish, he does nothing but rave about 
 you and her. I own I participate in his joy and cannot 
 write anything.' 
 
 And yet once more he wrote to say how good 
 a soul and how full of feeling was that friend of 
 dear Mrs. Thomson, how much he wished to see 
 her and her little one. That 
 
 ' good and dear friend does not think it proper at present 
 to write with his own hand, but hopes the day may not be 
 far distant when he may be united for ever to the object 
 of his wishes, his only, only love. He swears before 
 Heaven that he will marry her as soon as possible, which 
 he fervently prays may be soon.' 
 
 By many other spontaneous ebullitions of joy 
 Nelson's contribution to the correspondence be- 
 tween imaginary persons was spoiled of verisimili- 
 tude. He certainly did not share Emma's aptitude 
 for dissimulation. He sent Emma an order on 
 his agents for a hundred pounds to be distributed 
 among those who had been useful on the recent 
 occasion, and he told Emma how dear she was 
 
334 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 to him, how she was to kiss and bless for him 
 his dear httle girl, which he wished to be called 
 Emma, ' out of gratitude to dear, good Lady- 
 Hamilton.* 
 
 On the other hand, the resolution with which 
 Emma carried through this matter may well have 
 astonished even those who have witnessed her 
 courage on less notable occasions. To within a 
 few days of her confinement, she never omitted 
 to write to the father of the expected child, nor 
 spared any precaution to prevent a mischance 
 that might have acquainted her household with 
 the nature of her condition, or even have aroused 
 suspicion. _ 
 
 In the last days of January her child was born, 
 in a period of storm such as marked more than 
 one of its father's great adventures — the voyage 
 from Naples to Palermo with the royal fugitives, 
 for example, and his first arrival at Yarmouth 
 after the victory of the Nile. Once more did 
 Emma's magnificent health stand her in good 
 stead. Her recovery was extraordinarily rapid, 
 so much so indeed, that in less than a week from 
 the date of the birth she was able to rise and make 
 her appearance in public, thus confirming the story, 
 assiduously circulated by Greville, that it was but 
 a bilious fever had prevented her meeting the 
 Prince. 
 
 
 '^1 
 
Nelson's Legacy 335 
 
 Emma's first objective was to get rid of the 
 living evidence of her recent illness. Concealing 
 the infant in a large muff, and taking with her 
 Mr. Oliver, whom she had provided with his pre- 
 sent situation as confidential agent to Lord Nelson, 
 she drove in her own carriage to a house in Little 
 Titchfield Street, where she committed the babe 
 to the custody of Mrs. Gilson, with whom she had 
 previously concluded arrangements to this end. 
 What her feelings were in thus being compelled 
 to part with her offspring it is idle to surmise. 
 Although this was the third time she had brought 
 into the world one of those unhappy innocents 
 who, until the coming of the merciful new dispensa- 
 tion, were debarred from entering the congregation 
 of the Lord, we have nowhere evidence of repent- 
 ance, nor even of acknowledgment, other than 
 pecuniary, of the awful responsibility she incurred. 
 
 Her next anxiety was to meet the Prince again. 
 Sir William had not failed to keep her informed 
 of how ill his own affairs progressed. He had 
 thought, in the event of his request for an increased 
 pension being refused or referred, he would have 
 been allowed to retract his resignation and return 
 to Naples. But Paget had already been sent out and 
 his application was practically ignored. Sir William, 
 like Emma, deemed his services had been great, 
 and but ill rewarded. He had spent lavishly and 
 
33^ Nelson's Legacy 
 
 was now in debt. Emma had been extravagant 
 also. He was querulous, which is not to be won- 
 dered at in his situation. But Emma met him 
 with unfailing good-humour and good spirits, and 
 bade him be not anxious, for now that her health 
 was restored she had little doubt she could work 
 upon the Prince of Wales. She was in ignorance 
 of the fact that she had missed her opportunity 
 for ever. The Prince was engrossed with the young 
 widow, Mrs. Fitzherbert, and his desire for the 
 wife of the whilom ambassador died a natural death. 
 Emma was not one to grieve long over the 
 Prince's defection. Nelson still held all of her 
 large heart that was not filled by vanity or Greville, 
 and Nelson wrote her differently from what she 
 anticipated about the child. Emma could abandon 
 an infant as lightly as she could discard a lover. But 
 to Nelson the event was of overmastering import- 
 ance ; and it was fame and honour he would give 
 up rather than the little Horatia should want a 
 father. He wrote that he was ready to resign his 
 command, leave England and his post, and return 
 with Emma to Bronte, to the Sicilian estate granted 
 him by the grateful Ferdinand. There, with her 
 and the child, he could build up a new life, even 
 without the divorce for which he now saw his wife 
 would never apply. He called Emma his ' own 
 dear wife.' 
 
Nelson's Legacy 337 
 
 ' I never did love any one else. I never had a dear 
 pledge of love till you gave me one, and you, thank my 
 God, never gave one to anybody else.' 
 
 Emma had no mind to leave England at this 
 juncture. She pleaded that Sir William Hamilton 
 was ' old and feeble,' ' needing her company and 
 ministration,' and owned that she ' dreaded the 
 outcry ' such a proceeding on Nelson's part would 
 provoke. But when, as has been seen, the Prince 
 disappointed her, and she became aware that he 
 had abandoned the pursuit, it needed all Greville's 
 wit to save her from changing her determina- 
 tion. 
 
 Nelson offered to abandon everything for her 
 sake. She might have said ' yes ' to his request, and 
 the course of the world's history been changed. The 
 Prince's defection had been followed by a slacken- 
 ing of the attentions of the Duke of Queensberry. 
 The birth of this third child, and the want of pro- 
 fessional tendance vy^ith which the event had been 
 met, had destroyed her figure, and the duke was 
 ever gourmet rather than gourmand. Everything 
 combined to make London insupportable to her. 
 She might have left Sir William Hamilton, and 
 thus forced a scandal even greater than that she 
 had already evoked, had not Greville decreed 
 otherwise. At all hazards Charles Greville had to 
 
 prevent her acknowledging that she had given 
 
 w 
 
33^ Nelson's Legacy 
 
 birth to a child, for that child, of whatever paternity, 
 had been born in wedlock, and therefore, in law, to 
 Sir William Hamilton. 
 
 Mr. Greville was conscious Emma's character 
 had retrograded, although always oblivious of his 
 own share in its despoilment. He had no illusion 
 about her, he could even see that her beauty was 
 becoming somewhat overblown and her com- 
 plexion thickened. It was time she settled down, 
 not at Bronte with Nelson, in open defiance of 
 society, but in the country, somewhere near town, 
 where he could keep in touch with her, and charge 
 himself with the comparative decorousness of her 
 conduct. 
 
 This was Greville's decision ; he wanted to get 
 Emma out of London, where already her presence 
 had brought him inconvenience, and was likely to 
 bring him more. That Nelson should have had 
 the same idea at the same time was not wonder- 
 ful. War, long protracted, had depreciated the 
 value of every form of property. This was a good 
 time to buy land. Nelson wrote again that, if 
 Emma had no mind to join him at Bronte, what 
 did she say to joining him in a home in England ? 
 Sir William could live with them, she could man- 
 age it in her own way. She was to write him 
 openly, fully. He had ' nothing but her welfare 
 in his mind.' But when he came back and the 
 
Nelson's Legacy 339 
 
 war was over, they must ' be all together, you and 
 I, and Mrs. Thomson's little one.' 
 
 Greville seized the occasion of the letter and 
 turned it to his own advantage. Before Emma 
 had time to wonder if she could abandon the 
 delights of London and give herself up to country 
 pursuits, a pleasant residential estate had been found 
 at Merton in Surrey. Negotiations were entered 
 into hurriedly and Nelson was soon transported 
 by the news that, if he wished it, Merton could be 
 his on easy terms. A description followed. Nelson 
 wrote that if his Emma was satisfied he was, he 
 had no doubt Merton was all she described. She 
 was to buy and furnish it for him. It was Sir 
 William who wrote in answer to that ; he was 
 still the figure-head, although Greville pulled the 
 strings : 
 
 * I have lived with our dear Emma several years, I 
 know her merit, I have a great opinion of the head and 
 heart God Almighty has been pleased to give her, but a 
 seaman alone could have given a fine woman full powers 
 to choose and fit up a residence for him without seeing it 
 for himself. You are in luck, for on my conscience I 
 verily believe that a place so suitable to your views could 
 not have been found and at so cheap a rate. And if 
 you stay away three days longer I do not think you can 
 have any wish but you will find it completed here. . . . 
 I never saw so many conveniences united in so small a 
 compass. You have nothing but to come and enjoy 
 immediately.' 
 
340 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 Once the house had been secured Emma be- 
 came enthusiastic at the idea of being its mistress. 
 She began to find happiness in seeing herself as 
 chatelaine, with Nelson by her side. Sir William 
 had ceased to interest and his talks with Greville 
 about pictures and virtu frankly bored her. She 
 needed a fresh entourage. From London's neglect 
 and the Prince's she turned to Nelson's warm and 
 passionate love-letters and the future he was always 
 picturing when he might spend his life in worship- 
 ping her. She wanted to be worshipped. Her 
 youth was on the wane, although that she would 
 not confess even to herself. Nelson was right ; 
 it was a home she needed ; and Merton could be 
 made into a very paradise. 
 
 Now she threw herself into the furnishing and 
 embellishing of the house and grounds with all 
 and more than her old impetuosity, and the greater 
 zest because Nelson declared his intention to be- 
 queath the estate to her at his death, and mean- 
 while to regard her as its sole mistress. Nelson 
 was becoming more desirable ; fresh glory was 
 already his. Copenhagen had been added to his 
 laurels and his fame was ever increasing. He 
 wrote he thought he saw the beginning of the end 
 of the long war in which he had rendered such 
 signal service. He yearned for ' home, Wife, and 
 child.' By now he had forgotten he ever had any 
 
Nelson's Legacy 341 
 
 wife but Emma ! God alone knows for what Emma 
 yearned, perhaps she persuaded herself it was 
 Nelson. In any case she occupied herself in 
 making the new house worthy of him, and of 
 them both. 
 
 Nelson, when at lengtn ne was free to take a 
 short leave, found her already installed at Merton. 
 Of all forms and manners of life, that of the English 
 country gentleman is the gentlest and most agree- 
 able, and here, at Merton Place, Nelson enjoyed it 
 for a brief period. He made friends with his 
 neighbours, who, less sophisticated than the people 
 in London, accepted the position that the frequent 
 presence of Sir William Hamilton at Merton made 
 reasonable. He went regularly to church, and 
 gave liberally to all the charities of the neighbour- 
 hood. He made a pretence of farming, and took 
 interest in his dairy. ' Mrs. Thomson's baby,' the 
 infant Horatia, was brought there, and on her 
 was lavished all the love Nelson could spare from 
 Emma. 
 
 The house, the small farmery and projected 
 improvements, Emma and Horatia, his wide char- 
 ities and quick friendships, filled his days. He 
 belonged to his country, but all this belonged to 
 him. So he conceived, his blind eye turned 
 towards Lady Nelson and her claims, and the 
 other bright with short-sighted happiness. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 Clouds gather and the sky is overcast. The death of Sir William 
 Hamilton is followed by Arnodeo Gibilmanna's successful 
 attempts to blackmail his widow. He has obtained posses- 
 sion of Lord Bristol's letters, and threatens to show them 
 to Nelson. Emma impoverishes herself to meet his de- 
 mands, and then enjoys a brief period of respite with Nelson 
 at Merton. But the battle of Trafalgar ends her happi- 
 ness, and henceforth all is gloom. Gibilmanna returns to 
 the attack, and when Emma can no longer satisfy his 
 cupidity, sells her correspondence to Lovewell, a publisher 
 of the Barbican. Emma cannot face the gossip that ensues, 
 and retires to Calais, where her troubles end. 
 
 DEATH has many henchmen but none more 
 trusty than Care. Physicians and chirurgeons. 
 Health's bodyguard of gentlemen-at-arms, lack art 
 and weapons to repel that insidious foe. The whole 
 pharmacopoeia contains no antidote for Care's slow 
 poison ; the pathology of anxiety is as yet un- 
 printed. That man's days are numbered whom 
 Care effectively besets. 
 
 Sir William Hamilton was thus attacked. 
 Serenity of temper, moderation in his habits, agree- 
 able occupation, plenitude of intelligent interests 
 had kept him younger than his years, but the end 
 
 was in sight. He was harassed by the constant 
 
 342 
 
Nelson's Legacy 343 
 
 drain upon his resources, due to his wife's impru- 
 dence and his own. He had entertained lavishly, 
 beheving that money expended in hospitality to 
 high and influential persons would prove to have 
 been invested judiciously, and he had also ex- 
 pended large sums of money from his private 
 purse in forwarding his country's public interests 
 in the Mediterranean. Now he saw no hope of 
 reimbursement from a ministry who disregarded 
 all his claims. The purchase of Merton by Nelson, 
 and the removal there of a greater part of his 
 household, mitigated his embarrassments for a 
 time, but creditors, no less than age, will not tarry 
 for ever. At this time, too, he began to discover 
 that he had no longer the strength to hold even his 
 undignified position in the triple alliance, and had 
 sunk below his wife's consideration. He had 
 looked to enjoy seclusion and peace at Merton, 
 and perhaps economy. But Emma willed other- 
 wise. As Greville truly said, she was ' ever the 
 same Emma.' No sooner was Nelson at sea than 
 her extravagances were renewed. She kept open 
 house in Piccadilly and filled Merton with guests, 
 employing the intervals in visits to which she 
 dragged Sir William with or against his will. The 
 waning of her charms, and another cause to be 
 explained later, made her restless, and she sought 
 admiration where erstwhile she would have dis- 
 
344 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 dained it. Sir William understood Nelson's temper 
 better than she did and trembled lest her escapades 
 should come to his ears. Peace was what Sir 
 William Hamilton longed for in his old age. But 
 where Emma was, there was no peace. Save 
 when Nelson was by her side, enveloping her 
 with such adoring love and single-hearted belief 
 in her virtue that for lack of opportunity she 
 deserved it. 
 
 Sir William Hamilton did not waver in his 
 chivalrous loyalty to his wife, and there is indis- 
 putably something pathetic in the figure he pre- 
 sented in his endeavours to persuade Emma from 
 the consequences of her new imprudences. Whilst 
 Sir William Hamilton lived Nelson knew no 
 anxiety about Emma, and by the time he was 
 removed from caring for her, Nelson himself was 
 within sight of his glorious end. 
 
 Greville viewed with no less alarm than his 
 uncle the failure of the Merton plan as a means 
 of economy. Greville never forgot that he was 
 his uncle's expectant heir, and he contemplated 
 the lavish expenditure with a good deal of con- 
 cern as being sure to depreciate largely that residuary 
 property of which he was the legatee. Remon- 
 strance to Emma was useless. She twitted him 
 with his parsimony and boasted that Nelson 
 grudged her nothing. She said he would return 
 
Nelson's Legacy 345 
 
 laden with prize-money, and pour it all in her 
 lap. Greville's criticisms, his coldness and ill- 
 concealed contempt, his polished wit, and calm 
 superiority, provoked her ever into fresh excesses. 
 It was through him she had lost her self-respect, 
 and it was but justice if his fortune should suffer 
 from her lack of it. He turned his attention to 
 his uncle and presently brought forward proofs 
 that it was not only extravagance Emma was 
 committing, but that already she was exciting 
 comment on her conduct with a Neapolitan 
 lawyer, one Arnodeo Gibilmanna, by whom she 
 was attended whenever Nelson was absent from 
 home and Sir William otherwise engaged. There was 
 exaggeration in his allegations, but when did Greville 
 wait for truth when subterfuge better answered 
 his purpose ? He succeeded in raising altercation 
 between Emma and Sir William, and even led the 
 septuagenarian to reconsider for a time his whole 
 mode of life. His mind was preceding his body 
 in the inevitable decay. The letter that he wrote 
 to Emma is full of inconsistencies, and plaints 
 that led to nowhere, yet exhibiting the result 
 of Greville's handiwork. 
 
 ' I am arrived at the age when some repose is really 
 necessary. I promised myself a quiet home at Merton, 
 and although I was sensible, and I said so when I married, 
 that I should be superannuated when my wife would be 
 
34^ Nelson's Legacy 
 
 in her full beauty and vigour of youth, I think you should 
 show me some consideration. . . . There is no time for 
 nonsense and trifling, I know and admire your talents 
 and many qualities, but I am not blind to your defects, 
 and confess having many myself; therefore let us bear 
 and forbear, for God's sake.' 
 
 He had no longer the power to express him- 
 self, but what he was pleading for was that she 
 should cease to squander Nelson's fortune and his 
 own, that she should not show herself in public 
 attended by Signor Arnodeo Gibilmanna, and should 
 have some regard for her good name. In any case 
 that she should let him have repose. He could 
 not rest whilst he felt that Emma was betray- 
 ing Nelson and all their lives hanging over a 
 volcano. Emma could only have deceived Nelson 
 once ; he knew it, and she no less well. But what 
 Sir William Hamilton did not know was that the 
 man against whom he warned her was also aware 
 of Nelson's idiosyncrasy and was using his know- 
 ledge in a way that accounted for much of her 
 conduct which both Greville and Sir William 
 found inexplicable. It was not what Greville 
 hinted, and Sir William tried to disbelieve that 
 made her accept Signor Gibilmanna's unwelcome 
 attentions. She had told Nelson of her past, but 
 that past had neither included her children nor 
 . . . my Lord of Bristol ! 
 
Nelson's Legacy 347 
 
 Arnodeo Gibilmanna was from Sicily. He was 
 a lawyer, settled in Girgenti, but with frequent 
 engagements in the court-house at Palermo. He 
 had been backwards and forwards whilst the King 
 and Queen were sheltering there and so became 
 acquainted with the Hamiltons. He had quickly 
 fallen a victim to Emma's charms. But Emma 
 was engrossed with Nelson, and at that period of 
 her life would not have stooped to one of Gibil- 
 manna's position. The lawyer bided his time, and 
 found his opportunity when the Hamiltons sailed 
 for Naples leaving the house vacant. Emma left 
 many of her paraphernalia behind her, amongst 
 them letters, clothes, and jewellery. The latter 
 were restored to her ; Gibilmanna charging him- 
 self with their care, and honestly restoring them, 
 making indeed a journey to Naples for that 
 purpose. Emma received him with kindness and 
 gratitude, feeding alike his vanity and passion. 
 He was really a low fellow and unworthy of what 
 she bestowed on him. 
 
 It was two years later that Gibilmanna came 
 to England, and, having good introductions as 
 well as his acquaintanceship with the Hamiltons, 
 he was received into society, and used every 
 opportunity to press his suit. Emma was, as 
 has been seen, less exclusive in London than 
 she had been in Naples, and at first was flattered 
 
34^ Nelson's Legacy 
 
 by the idea that the lawyer, of whom, however, 
 she had but faint recollection, had followed her 
 from Italy. But in the end his Sicilian methods 
 failed to commend themselves to her. Nelson 
 was on his way home to console her for the 
 Prince's indifference, society's neglect. If she had 
 been again imprudent, she was characteristically 
 again repentant. She thought to flout the Sicilian 
 and rid herself of him easily, but reckoned with- 
 out her man. He had strained his resources to 
 follow her to England, and, after the favour she 
 first showed him, had no mind to be balked of her 
 possession. He began by pleading and playing 
 the lover boldly. 
 
 ' Je suis avocat criminel, je comprends voire 
 disposition amoureuse. I, I am the man for 
 you, not ze English sailor, who is besides 
 away.' 
 
 His dark eyes could betray an immensity of 
 feeling, and although he spoke bad French, broken 
 English, and the Sicilian dialect, his voice was 
 throughout low and musical. Emma was amour- 
 euse, but for the moment Nelson held her heart. 
 She said ' No ' and ' No ' again to Gibilmanna, and 
 when he would have surprised her, forcing what 
 she withheld, she let him see it was no assumed 
 aversion she betrayed. Lust, but not love, as we 
 have had occasion to remark before, knows no 
 
Nelson's Legacy 349 
 
 scruples. It was Nelson who stood in Gibil- 
 manna's way. Well, ce cher Nelson should know 
 what her life had been in Naples. He had 
 letters . . . 
 
 Emma had forgotten her lost letters, and took 
 quick alarm. What did he intend doing with 
 them ? Showing them to Nelson. Whose, for 
 instance ? Well, there was one from Lord Bristol. 
 Emma crimsoned and her heart began to beat ; 
 her mind had ever been uneasy about Lord Bristol ; 
 he was at least as imprudent as herself, and if it 
 came to Nelson's ears that she had had commerce 
 with him, she knew not how she would explain the 
 matter. Now she pleaded with Gibilmanna for 
 the letter. And it is unsafe to turn suppliant when 
 one has a favour to refuse. Emma paid dearly for 
 the letter, which we reproduce for the better 
 enlightenment of our readers. 
 
 ' Ever dearest Emma — Write me word, explicitly, 
 how you are, what you are, and where you are ; and be 
 sure that, wheresoever I am, still I am your's, my dearest 
 Emma. 
 
 'I went down to your Opera box two minutes after 
 you left it ; and should have seen you on the morning of 
 my departure — but was detained in the arms of Murphy, 
 as Lady Eden expresses it, and was too late. 
 
 ' You say nothing of the adorable Queen ; I hope, she 
 has not forgot me ; but, as Shakespeare says, " Who doats, 
 must doubt " ; and I verily deem her the very best edition 
 
350 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 of a woman I ever saw — I mean, of such as are not in folio, 
 and are to be had in sheets. 
 
 ' This moment I receive your billet-doux and very dulcet 
 it is I 
 
 ' I will frankly confess to you, that my health most 
 seriously and urgently requires the balmy atmosphere of 
 those I love and who love me. 
 
 ' Sweet Emma, adieu ! Remember me in the warmest 
 and most enthusiastic stile, to your friend, to my friend, 
 and the friend of human kind.' 
 
 The letter itself was not convincing evidence 
 of misdemeanour, and Nelson would never so have 
 regarded it. The allusion to the Queen was in bad 
 taste, but the time had gone by when Emma 
 would ruin herself to protect the reputation of 
 the Queen of Naples. 
 
 Emma, however, never knew how to deal with 
 scoundrels, and Gibilmanna profited greatly by 
 working now on her fears, and now on her feelings. 
 Her weakness proved her undoing. When he had 
 ceased to value that which he had striven so 
 violently to obtain, he began to persecute her 
 with requests for money, and to render her life 
 intolerable by his persistence. 
 
 We have seen at Up Park how despair made 
 her reckless. She was no less despairing nor less 
 reckless when she had been forced into establish- 
 ing Arnodeo Gibilmanna as stevv^ard of the estate 
 at Merton, and lived in dread of what else he 
 
Nelson's Legacy 351 
 
 might demand from her as the price of his con- 
 tinued silence. 
 
 This summer that was to prove the last of Sir 
 William Hamilton's life saw Nelson again in 
 England. Sir William wished to pay a farewell 
 visit to his Milford property and Greville 
 was ready to accompany him. Nothing would 
 serve Emma but that she and Nelson should go 
 too. She said she had never seen Milford and 
 longed to know how it looked. In truth, by now 
 she knew it was Greville' s design to alter the 
 provisions of his uncle's will in his own favour, 
 and she did not care that uncle and nephew 
 should long be out of her sight together. Sir 
 William was falling into something like second 
 childhood, and could be moved this way and 
 that. 
 
 The journey was supposed to be for Sir William, 
 but it resolved itself into a triumphant progress for 
 the national hero. Nothing was more to Emma's 
 liking. Huzzaing mobs and rocking steeples, fly- 
 ing flags and public orations —these made the wine 
 of life for her, and with it her cup could not be 
 filled too often. At Swansea, however, the whim 
 took her to stay and take a course of sea- 
 bathing, such as had been wont to benefit her in 
 her early womanhood. Nelson was wifling, but 
 Greville impatient. She pretended she thought 
 
352 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 it was because Sir William could not brook 
 the quiet of Swansea that he wanted her to move 
 on. 
 
 ' As I see it is pain to you to remain here, let me beg 
 of you to fix your time for going. Whether 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, and now all visiting and bustle is your liking. 
 However, I will do what you please, being ever your 
 affectionate and obedient E. H.' 
 
 The unfair charge pricked Sir William. 
 
 ' I neither love bustle nor great company,' he replied. 
 ' I am in no hurry, and am exceedingly glad to give 
 every satisfaction to our best friend, our dear Lord Nelson. 
 Sea-bathing is useful to your health ; I see it is and wish 
 you to continue a little longer ; I care not a pin for 
 the great world, and am attached to no one as much 
 as you.' 
 
 But Emma still was piqued and would not 
 yield gracefully. ' I go when you tell me, the 
 coach is ready,' she answered. ' This is not a 
 fair answer to a fair confession of mine,' wrote 
 Sir William, with some reason. 
 
 Sir William only lived a few months more. He 
 died in Piccadilly, in the presence of his wife and 
 of Lord Nelson. At the last his mind seemed to 
 be fully restored to him, and the knowledge of the 
 position he had, if not created, at least accepted. 
 
LADY HAMILTON AS A BACCHANTE 
 
 FROM THE PAINTING BV SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, IN THE 
 
 POSSESSION OF THE EARL OF DURHAM 
 
Nelson's Legacy 353 
 
 His words are on record, and have been often 
 used to the end he had in mind. 
 
 ' Nelson, our friendship has been long, and I 
 glory in my friend. I hope you will see justice 
 done to Emma by ministers, for you know how 
 great her services have been and what she has 
 done for her country. Protect my dear wife ; and 
 may God bless you, and give you victory, and 
 guard you in battle.' And to his wife he said : 
 
 ' My incomparable Emma, you have never in 
 thought, word, or deed offended me ; and let me 
 thank you again, and again, for your affectionate 
 kindness to me, all the time of our ten years' 
 happy union.' 
 
 In Sir William Hamilton Emma lost her truest 
 friend, the bulwark that had protected her, at 
 least as far as was possible, from the scorn and 
 hostility of the world. Notwithstanding his in- 
 tentions, but perhaps through Greville's vigilant 
 and incessant endeavours, the provision made for 
 her appeared inadequate to their friends — to the 
 Queen of Naples, for example, and to Lord Nelson. 
 But the unit by which the former measured wealth 
 was not one to be accepted in this country, and 
 the latter would have deemed any provision that 
 was not limitless inadequate to the merits of his 
 beloved. The actual amount was three hundred 
 pounds in ready money, the contents of the house 
 
354 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 in Piccadilly, and an income of eight hundred 
 pounds per annum. Inasmuch as to the last he 
 counted upon his pension being continued to his 
 widow, and some monetary compensation being 
 made to her for her services to her country. Sir 
 William's memory is surely not to be considered 
 as sullied by parsimony in his ordering of Emma's 
 affairs. Her origin and upbringing being taken 
 into consideration, she might indeed be regarded 
 as fortunate in the material position in which she 
 was now confirmed. Moreover, there was still 
 Nelson to protect and provide for her interests. 
 
 Nelson took immediate steps to repair what 
 he deemed the shortcoming of Sir William Hamil- 
 ton's will. Almost before the funeral of her hus- 
 band had been accomplished with every mark of 
 the royal recognition that had been denied to him 
 in his lifetime, Nelson settled an annual income 
 of twelve hundred pounds for her benefit. It was 
 to be paid in monthly instalments. He further 
 gave her unrestricted occupation of Merton Place 
 and made a separate provision for Horatia. He 
 took up his responsibilities eagerly, having no 
 hesitation in making definite that which had long 
 been obvious. 
 
 Emma's situation, in a word, would now appear 
 both comfortable and secure even to persons 
 accustomed by inheritance to luxury and freedom 
 
Nelson's Legacy 355 
 
 from monetary care. Nevertheless, it is a fact 
 that the day Sir William Hamilton died marked 
 the end of Emma's prosperity. Henceforth we see 
 the clouds menacing and ever more heavy. Her 
 history is one to which it is unnecessary to add 
 moral reflection. He who runs may read, and, 
 reading, may well be dismayed. No better illus- 
 tration is ever likely to be forthcoming of the 
 evanescent nature of fortune won by means incon- 
 sistent with virtue. 
 
 The first effect of her husband's death was to 
 deprive her of the ostensible guarantee of what 
 the world calls respectability. To a certain extent 
 it had been necessary and politic to accept the 
 guarantee given by Sir William's countenance that 
 the friendship between her and Nelson was platonic. 
 Blenheim might imitate Windsor in refusing to 
 receive Lady Hamilton, and Canterbury might 
 take the cue from Blenheim, but not one of the 
 three could prove that that which satisfied Emma's 
 husband was just cause for their condemnation. 
 They had to rely for her exclusion, as they could do 
 securely enough, on her ill-conduct prior to her 
 marriage. But with the death of Sir William 
 Hamilton the polite world felt itself released from 
 the obligation of longer maintaining the fiction, 
 and the claims of Lady Nelson to her husband's 
 society were now again put forward. It is a mis- 
 
356 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 fortune that they were pressed in such a manner, 
 and at such a time, for it seemed a concerted attack 
 on one who, for the moment at least, was unable 
 to defend herself. Nelson's reply was vigorous 
 and complete. He had done with Lady Nelson 
 for once and for ever. He would not pretend 
 otherwise, nor ' offer her a consideration which 
 she had ever denied to him and his friends.' 
 
 Emma was not inconsolable at the death of 
 her husband, yet disposed to offer more than a 
 show of resistance to Nelson's decision that as soon 
 as her mourning would permit she should accom- 
 pany him to Merton, and take up her position 
 there definitely and for ever. Nelson neither in 
 battle nor at any time had respect for formal 
 convention, but was possessed of a kind of honest 
 courage very different from bravado, which, had 
 the woman of his choice been worthy of him, 
 might have won for her eventually the respect 
 he claimed. But this was not to be. 
 
 Greville did his share towards making Emma's 
 next step inevitable. The breath was hardly out 
 of his uncle's body before he threw off all restraint 
 in his dealings with the widow. He had now come 
 thoroughly to dislike her, and had no longer 
 scruples in showing it. He gave her notice that 
 she must at once quit the late ambassador's town 
 house. As executor he was prepared to satisfy 
 
Nelson*s Legacy 357 
 
 her claims; as purist, moralist, formalist, as 
 Charles Greville in short, he would not countenance 
 her staying there one hour in the enjoyment of 
 Nelson's company. Nelson would have hurried her 
 to Merton, but at Merton Gibilmanna was estab- 
 lished, and she could not face the position she 
 had herself created. Her one hope was that she 
 might buy off the Sicilian with money. He often 
 said he hated England and longed for his own 
 country. The more she cared for Nelson and 
 clung to his regard for her, the more was the 
 scoundrel able to work upon her fears. She would 
 not go to Merton until she had received from 
 Greville the means to persuade him away. She 
 removed to a small house. No. 11, Clarges Street, 
 there to wait the proving of Sir William Hamil- 
 ton's will, and the distribution of the objects of 
 viHu he had accumulated. Nelson fumed and 
 fretted at the delay, but she was able to soothe 
 him. 
 
 At length everything was in order and Emma 
 had money enough at her command to satisfy 
 even Italian cupidity. She went back to Merton 
 with Nelson to take up her abode there openly as 
 his mistress. Gibilmanna was given £800 for all 
 the letters in his possession and the relinquishment 
 of any claim to her society. It was like Emma's 
 imprudence that she neither checked nor counted 
 
358 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 what he restored to her. She had never known 
 the full extent to which she had been robbed, she 
 only knew the full extent to which she had been 
 terrorised. She paid him all that he asked, seized 
 the packet he gave her, and destroyed it. Now she 
 could face Nelson and her future. And indeed for 
 a time it seemed as if she would behave prudently. 
 She had Nelson and her child, and Merton was an 
 over-growing interest. 
 
 But the disregard shown to public opinion by 
 the open way they were living together as man 
 and wife increased the disapprobation of the Court 
 and the Ministry, and decreased Emma's chance 
 of obtaining pecuniary recognition of any claims 
 she might make upon the Government. Whilst 
 Nelson lived this did not trouble her greatly ; at 
 least we cannot lay to her charge that she was 
 mercenary. 
 
 It is not part of our scheme to follow Nelson's 
 rapid movements in pursuit of the French fleet, 
 or to detail all he did prior to his culminating 
 triumph and glorious death in the Bay of Trafalgar. 
 During all the period covered by these high affairs 
 he was of necessity often absent from his Emma. 
 With a sense of discipline contrasting favourably 
 with his sense of morality, he ever refused her 
 reiterated, if somewhat insincere, entreaties to let 
 her join him on his ship. How ardent his love 
 
Nelson's Legacy 359 
 
 for her was, how constantly his thoughts were with 
 her, his frequent letters show. 
 
 ' You, my own Emma, are my first and last thoughts, 
 and to the last moment of my breath they will be occupied 
 in leaving you independent of the world, and all I long 
 in the world that you will be a kind and affectionate Mother 
 to my dear daughter Horatia. But, my Emma, your 
 Nelson is not the nearer being lost to you for taking care 
 of you in case of events which are only known when they 
 are to happen and to an all wise Providence. I hope for 
 many years of comfort with you, only think of all you 
 wish me to say, and you may be assured it exceeds if 
 possible your wishes. May God protect you and my 
 dear Horatia prays ever your most faithful and affection- 
 ate.' 
 
 Horatia suffering from an attack of smallpox, 
 her father was in an agony of apprehension. 
 
 ' My beloved, how I feel for your situation, and that 
 of our dear Horatia, our dear child. Unexampled love, 
 never, I trust will be diminished, never ; no, even death 
 with all his terrors would be jubilant compared even to 
 the thought. Dear wife, good adorable friend, how I 
 love you, and what I would not give to be with you at 
 this moment, for I am for ever all yours.' 
 
 And once more : 
 
 * My own dearest beloved Emma, Your own Nelson's 
 pride and delight. I find myself within six days of the 
 Enemy, and I have every reason to hope that the sixth 
 of June will immortalise your own Nelson, your fond 
 
36o Nelson's Legacy 
 
 Nelson. May God send me victory, and us a happy and 
 speedy meeting. Adl. Cockrane is sending home a vessel 
 this day, therefore only pray for my success, and my 
 Laurels I shall with pleasure lay at your feet, and a sweet 
 kiss will be an ample reward for all your faithful Nelson's 
 hard fag, for Ever and Ever I am your faithful, ever 
 faithful and affectionate Nelson and Bronte.' 
 
 He did not live long enough to realise that his 
 love was expended on a woman who every day, 
 almost every hour, was proving herself unworthy, , 
 of it. Emma had already begun to take spirits, \ '^ 
 her kindness to her child became intermittent, and 
 she found occasion to quarrel with many of her 
 friends and neighbours. In every way she was 
 showing the effect of that loosening of moral fibre 
 incidental to her mode of life. Unstable in her 
 habits, given over to the pleasures of the table, 
 her figure and complexion began to suffer ; the 
 former became gross and the latter blotchy. Her 
 last attempt to improve the one, and correct the 
 other, antedated Nelson's last voyage. 
 
 She went again to Southend for the sea-bathing 
 that had so often stood her in good stead. There, 
 by a strange coincidence, she met that very Jane 
 Powell who had been her fellow-servant and com- 
 panion at Mrs. Budd's. Jane exclaimed at her 
 portliness, and Emma retorted with the other's 
 wrinkles, the prominence of her bones, the thin- 
 
Nelson's Legacy 361 
 
 ness of her hair. Jane tells us that she found 
 Emma in every way altered from the good-natured, 
 good-hearted girl she had known. Jane was at 
 the zenith of her career as a great artist, and, having 
 no cause for jealousy, may well be accepted as a 
 veracious chronicler. 
 
 It was whilst at Southend exchanging confi- 
 dences with Jane Powell, and incidentally exhibit- 
 ing herself as a changed and deteriorated character, 
 that Emma heard Nelson had anchored at Spit- 
 head. She knew he would be displeased she had 
 left Horatia, only recently recovered from her ill- 
 ness, and needing sea-bathing at least as urgently 
 as her mother. She hurried back with all speed to 
 Merton, in order that he should find her at her post. 
 She greeted him with extravagant demonstration 
 of affection. She kept herself well in hand all the 
 time of his visit, abstaining from spirits and 
 holding her temper in check. But perhaps the 
 restraint she put upon herself made it easy for 
 her, when his summons came, to urge him to 
 obey it. 
 
 ' Your country calls you. Nelson, and you must 
 go,' she exclaimed grandiloquently. 
 
 ' If there were more Emmas there would be more 
 Nelsons,' he answered huskily. It never entered 
 his head that already his company irked her, 
 that she found his goodness and simplicity alike 
 
362 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 uncongenial, and the dutifulness he expected was 
 a mere mask to her impatience of restraint. He 
 never doubted or distrusted her. His love was 
 as loyal as his nature, and no greater praise can 
 be accorded it. He had been months in search 
 of the elusive Villeneuve, incidentally enduring 
 untold hardships of cold and sea-sickness and the 
 always increasing maladies of a body that matched 
 his spirit so ill. The repose at Merton with Emma 
 seemed happiness almost too great ; it was calm 
 after storm, harbour after open sea. He was 
 engrossed, too, with Horatia ; fatherhood was 
 extraordinarily precious to him. 
 
 But when the call came it found him ready. 
 At half-past ten at night, after a farewell to both 
 of them, the poignancy of which we need not 
 chronicle, he entered his post-chaise, and started 
 for Portsmouth on the first stage of his last 
 journey. Here is his own record : 
 
 ' 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 expectations 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 
 leave behind. His will be done. Amen. Amen. Amen.' 
 
Nelson's Legacy 363 
 
 At Trafalgar he found the foe he sought. His 
 plans were perfected and completely prepared. In 
 his cabin he prayed once more. 
 
 ' May the great God, whom I worship, grant to 
 my country, and for the benefit of Europe in general, 
 a great and glorious victory ; and may no miscon- 
 duct in any one tarnish it, and may humanity after 
 victory be the predominant feature in the British 
 fleet ! For myself individually I commit my life 
 to Him who made me, and may His blessing alight 
 on my endeavours for serving my country faith- 
 fully. To Him I resign myself and the just cause 
 which is entrusted to me to defend. Amen. Amen. 
 Amen.' 
 
 For a brief space he turned his attention to the 
 worldly affairs of Emma and Horatia, specially 
 recommending them to the care of his country. He 
 deemed it unnecessary to mention his relations, 
 for whom he had already made ample provision. 
 He spent the last moments before going on deck 
 to engage in battle, in writing to the love of his 
 life. 
 
 ' My dearest beloved Emma, the dear friend of my 
 bosom, the signal has been made that the enemies' com- 
 bined fleet is coming out of port. May the God of Battles 
 crown my endeavours with success ; at all events I will 
 take care that my name shall be always most dear to you 
 and to Horatia, both of whom I love as much as my 
 own life ; and as my last writing before the battle will 
 
364 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 be to you, so I hope to God that I shall live to finish the 
 letter after the battle. May Heaven bless you, prays 
 
 y^"^ Nelson and Bronte.' 
 
 Cetera quis nescit ? From the world-famous 
 signal to the parting sigh, ' Thank God I have done 
 my duty/ every word and incident is stored up 
 in the treasure-chamber of England's national in- 
 heritance. 
 
 ' Take care of my poor Lady Hamilton. Kiss 
 me, Hardy.' ' Remember that I leave Lady 
 Hamilton and my daughter to my country.^ 
 
 Emma had yet nearly ten years to hve. How 
 they were spent can be briefly chronicled. For 
 with the end of her connection with the great 
 gentleman who made her his wife, and the greater 
 hero who threw the halo of his name around 
 her tarnished reputation, her real interest ceases. 
 And henceforward the relation of her career is 
 one unbroken record of darkness, disaster, and 
 downfall. 
 
 The decade beginning by Nelson's open grave 
 on January 10th, 1806, and ending beside her own 
 on January 15th, 1815, is seen as a period of wild 
 extravagance and wilder dissipation, of sordid 
 debt, ever-increasing difficulties, and disregarded 
 appeals. Everyone, it appeared to her, was to 
 blame for her distresses, the true cause of which 
 
Nelson's Legacy 365 
 
 was hidden from her. Canker in the bud, flaw in 
 the flower, that was the beginning and end of the 
 explanation. The evil, as we have seen, was 
 anterior to her birth ; it was the root itself that 
 held a worm in it. 
 
 It would be wholly unprofitable to examine 
 the details of Emma's life during these ten disas- 
 trous years. Those that stand out, and fitly 
 end our chronicle, are sufficiently indicative to 
 permit any of our readers who are curious in 
 morbid degeneration to divine the others ; all the 
 material is at hand. Facilis descensus Averni. 
 Emma was no exception to the rule. Already she 
 had descended far on the road ; now were her 
 steps to gather impetus. There are persons who 
 seem unable, by nature of their temper and con- 
 stitution, to live within limits of propriety at 
 any time or under any circumstance. Lady 
 Hamilton was one of these. The death of 
 Nelson left her with Merton unencumbered and 
 an income that would have seemed fabulous 
 wealth to her grandmother, Mrs. Kidd of 
 Hawarden — a great fortune even to that father 
 who misbegot her and suffered for his sin at Nesse. 
 To Emma it was alike insufficient for her needs 
 and incompatible with her claims. She mourned 
 Nelson as one who had the right to mourn, publicly, 
 and with the intention to draw the eyes of the world 
 
366 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 to herself and the share she had had in his great- 
 ness. One picture of her shows her hovering hke 
 an angel over his tomb. This she herself caused 
 to be painted, and the caricaturists quickly pre- 
 pared another, which is probably familiar to all 
 our readers. 
 
 When ' Emma forlorn and weeping for Nelson ' 
 was treated as a jest she threw off her mourning 
 garb. Now she resumed her former association 
 with such of her neighbours and the fashionable 
 world as maintained their friendship with her. 
 When these proved few and fickle, she sought the 
 society of those literary, musical, artistic, and 
 theatrical persons whose morals were more akin 
 to her own. Her generosity was as extreme and 
 wanting in prudence, and even justice, as it had 
 always been. Countless claims, never refused 
 while she had it in her power to satisfy them, were 
 made upon her purse by former recipients of 
 Nelson's bounty, and by a host of needy Neapolitans 
 who had known her in Naples and had suffered in 
 the Revolution. 
 
 Greville used every means at his command to 
 increase her embarrassments ; delaying payments 
 and making deductions, in a manner calculated to 
 inflame her temper and irritate her, as it did more 
 than once, into telling him to keep his money. 
 
 Yet might she have been only inconvenienced 
 
Nelson's Legacy 367 
 
 and not distressed, but for the return of Gibil- 
 manna to the attack. It seemed that whilst at 
 Merton he had found or stolen other letters, 
 Nelson's own, and these, he told her, he was now 
 about to publish. Nelson's name was on all 
 tongues, and the scandal had like to be outspoken 
 in the extreme, and many now in office would be 
 scathed if they saw in print in what low esteem 
 the nation's hero held them. Emma had still 
 sufficient prudence left her to know the harm 
 that might accrue, and still sufficient regard for 
 one who had so truly cared for her, as to desire 
 to shelter his memory. Gibilmanna played his 
 game well. He quickly saw that in her at present 
 unprotected condition she would be the prey of 
 the first adventurer who came along. He it was 
 who now charged himself with her affairs, and 
 brought them from bad to worse. Extravagance 
 followed extravagance, and when her resources 
 failed she was for ever importuning the Govern- 
 ment to recognise what she had done for Italy 
 and Nelson ! 
 
 The next few years show a sequence of passion- 
 ate appeals to Ministers to give as a right what 
 they might have been disposed to grant as an act 
 of grace had her life been less flagrant. We have 
 it on record that she made overtures to the old 
 Duke of Queensberry, for many years her admirer, 
 
368 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 an amorist by nature and habit, and a man of 
 large means. But age had rendered his Grace 
 cynical, and it may well be, unequal to the grati- 
 fication of appetites almost lost. Emma had 
 beauty still, but her bulk was increasing, and she 
 was now more than forty. He told her plainly she 
 had outstayed her market ; had nothing left worth 
 giving. He promised, however, to remember her 
 in his will, amiably prophesying that she would 
 not have to wait long for her legacy. But, though 
 he kept his word, leaving her an annuity of five 
 hundred pounds and obligingly dying next year, 
 Emma never received a penny of the money, for 
 litigation over his last testament followed his demise, 
 and before that was settled Emma's own troubles 
 were over. 
 
 Her last comfort perished with her mother. 
 Well, according to her lights, had that honest 
 woman kept the promise made to her dying 
 husband so many years before. She had 
 never faltered in her loving watch over her 
 erring daughter. From the time she joined her 
 in Edgeware Row, until the day when she breathed 
 her last, she had combined in her one person all 
 the functions of mother, nurse, companion, house- 
 keeper, confidante, friend — had discharged every 
 service that woman can render to her sex. Never 
 obtruding herself in the company of the great, 
 
Nelson's Legacy 369 
 
 she had, nevertheless, won their esteem and even 
 their affection. The King of Naples called her 
 an angel, the Duke of Sussex was her friend. 
 Emma did not exaggerate when she declared that 
 she had lost the best of mothers, and that her 
 wounded heart, her comfort, all, was buried in 
 her grave. 
 
 Merton had now to be given up, but could not 
 be let, and for a long time was impossible to sell. 
 It was only by vague assertions of the intentions 
 of Ministers to grant her prayers that she was able 
 to stave off the importunity of tradespeople. Gibil- 
 manna, having sucked her dry, deserted her at 
 the only time he might have been of use to her. 
 For it needs a lawyer to circumvent one of his 
 own craft, and it was lawyers now who swam like 
 sharks in the waters of affliction to which she 
 had been brought. The moment came when she 
 who had been the wife of an ambassador, and 
 the friend of a queen, was arrested for debt, and 
 thrown into prison like any common malefactor. 
 It was the humblest of her friends who came 
 to her assistance. Alderman Smith of Merton 
 it was by whose graces she was liberated 
 from the rules of the King's Bench. He, good 
 man, would have no reward from Emma for his 
 generosity. He even shrank from an interview, 
 knowing to what depths she had fallen, not wish- 
 
370 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 ing to look upon her in her degradation. But, 
 when she was almost immediately re-arrested, at 
 the instance of a coachbuilder, and he heard that 
 there were other creditors only awaiting their 
 opportunity, he took upon himself the task of 
 arranging her affairs. All her possessions, includ- 
 ing her presents from the Queen of Naples, and 
 those from Nelson, were sold. She had the satis- 
 faction presently, if it were a satisfaction to such 
 as she had become, of knowing that her creditors 
 lost nothing, although she herself had lost all. 
 
 It would have seemed that the lowest depths 
 of her humiliation had now been reached. But 
 there was more to come. With a depth of meanness 
 only possible in one of foreign extraction Arnodeo 
 Gibilmanna now proceeded to obtain from a 
 publisher that which he had received again and 
 again from Emma in order to avoid publicity. In 
 the autumn of 1814 Messrs. Thomas Love well and 
 Co., of Staines House, Barbican, announced ' The 
 Letters of Lord Nelson to Lady Hamilton,' with a 
 supplement of ' Interesting Letters by Distinguished 
 Characters.' 
 
 Emma in her enfeebled health and broken 
 spirit, could not face the hubbub that immediately 
 arose. Everyone had guessed, now everyone would 
 know, what manner of life she had lived. The 
 fiction of Horatia's parentage, the fact of Sir William 
 
Nelson's Legacy 371 
 
 Hamilton's connivance, the story of her transfer- 
 ence from Greville, her adventures with Captain 
 Willett Payne, would be all disclosed. She put 
 her hands to her ears and found them burning. 
 She did not know what letters of hers had been 
 destroyed, nor what would be in these two shame- 
 less volumes. There was nothing for it but flight, 
 and upon flight she decided. 
 
 Taking boat in the Thames, the unhappy 
 Horatia by her side, she started for Calais. She 
 meant to lie perdus until the storm blew over ; 
 but she was seized with internal pains in the short 
 voyage and arrived in a pitiable condition. Then, 
 not because her resources were exhausted, but 
 because she was ever unfit to manage her own 
 affairs and was now reduced by illness, she caused 
 herself to be carried to a poor lodging in the Rue 
 Fran9aise, where, a prey to melancholy confirmed 
 by ill-health, she passed six miserable months. 
 She drank deeply, and proved herself unfit in every 
 way for the care of a child. 
 
 Mr. Cadogan, the nephew who had taken her 
 father's place with his uncle at Hawarden so many 
 years ago, came to the rescue of one whom he had 
 always been willing to acknowledge as kinswoman. 
 But he arrived too late. The wages of sin is Death, 
 and in the miserable lodging at Calais had they 
 already been paid to Emma, Lady Hamilton. 
 
372 Nelson's Legacy 
 
 Dropsy intervening upon a chill, in the second 
 week of the New Year, in the presence of Horatia 
 and one faithful servant, she rendered up her 
 account. 
 
 For the rest, reflections crowd upon the mind ; 
 the vanity of worldly success, the evanescence of 
 power based on beauty, the unreliability of 
 friendship founded on self-interest, the rarity of 
 human gratitude. With these our self-appointed 
 task ends, and we close the volume, trusting 
 that its veracity will commend it to the student, 
 and its moderation to the critic. Much has been 
 omitted that might offend the susceptibilities of 
 those to whom truth is less grateful than delicacy. 
 Nothing has been added to distort the picture of 
 one who having betrayed its hero had still the 
 temerity to ask the favour of his country. 
 
 Printed sy Cassell & Comiany, Limited, La Belle Sauvage, London, E.C. 
 F 20.3214 
 
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