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 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 AND 
 
 LORD NELSON. 
 
 VOL. 1.
 
 THE 
 
 QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 AND 
 
 LORD NELSON 
 
 AN HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY BASED ON MSS. IN THE 
 
 BRITISH MUSEUM AND ON LETTERS AND OTHER 
 
 DOCUMENTS PRESERVED AMONGST 
 
 THE MORRISON MSS. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN CORDY lEAFFRESON 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 •the real lord BYRON,' 'LAUY HAMILTON AND LORD NELSON,' 
 
 ETC., ETC. 
 
 IN TWO VOLS.— VOL. L 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 HURST AND BI^ACKETT, LIMITED, 
 
 13, GRE.VT .MARLnOROUGH STREET. 
 
 1889. 
 
 /ill Rij^hts Kcicncd.
 
 D&S4-8.37 
 
 V. i 
 
 r>^
 
 INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 The writiug's poiuted to by the title of this work 
 as ' MSS. ill the British Museum ' are (a) Lord 
 Valentia's ' Private Journal of the Affairs of Sicily, 
 1811-12,' (b) the large Collectiou of Letters by Maria 
 Caroline to Lady Hamilton, from which Dr. Petti- 
 grew drew the eighty letters published in English 
 in his ' Life of Nelson,' and Monsieur Gagniero took 
 the forty-eight letters publislied in his ' La Reine 
 Marie-Caroline De Naples, Lady Hamilton Et Nelson,' 
 and (c) Letters and other writings by Emma Hamil- 
 ton, including the notes and memoranda which slie 
 put on the envelopes of the letters written to her by 
 the Queen. 
 
 The maiuiscripts spoken of in the same title as 
 ' Letters and other Documents preserved amongst the 
 Morrison MSS.,' are the multifarious writings of the 
 large body of Nelson-Hamilton papers, that came into 
 the possession of ilr. Alfred Morrison nf/rr T had writ- 
 ten 'Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson.' These manu- 
 scripts comprise (a) the original of Nelson's famous 
 ' Now, my own dear Wife ' letter, (/>) the main body 
 (ifthi- oi'iginals of the NelsDii-IIainilfdii letters, in- 
 cluding Nelson's indisputably authentic TlHtmson- 
 letters, which Dr. Pettigrew used in the composition 
 of his ' Life of Nelson,' (r) several letters wj-itteri by 
 Mrs. Cadogan to her celel^rated <laughter, ('/) two 
 remarkabhr hitters written by Lady Hamilton to 
 Horatia, (e) two especially interesting letters written 
 from Canterbury by Emma ilainilton to Nelson in 
 (3ctober, IHOo, which were restored to the writer, as
 
 vi INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 the Admiral did not live to open them, (/) Emma 
 Hamilton's copy of the letter (of 11th August, 17H5) 
 from Spain, showing how strangel}' she mis-remem- 
 bered in her later time the contents of the Spanish 
 king's letter, referred to by Nelson in the famous so- 
 called 8th codicil, and (g) Emma Hamilton's signed 
 'Statement' (1811) of the services and losses on 
 which she based her claims to a pension, — the curi- 
 ous composition, which shows how large a part of 
 what biographers have heretofore told us about 
 Lady Hamilton consisted of her own ex parte mis- 
 representations. 
 
 The hitherto unpublished writings, set forth in the 
 present work, sui-pass in number, volume and interest 
 the letters published for the first time in ' Lad}* 
 Hamilton and Lord Nelson.' 
 
 For displaying the nature and extent of Emma 
 Plamilton's irregularities and ofiences I was visited 
 ■w-ith censure in some quarters and rewarded with 
 approval in other quarters. Thaidcful for the approval, 
 I have no disposition to complain of the censure. Li 
 this time of democratic ferment I cannot hope to be 
 universally commended for showing that, instead of 
 being the supremely wicked woman that malicious 
 libellers and misguided historians have declared her, 
 Maria Caroline was a virtuous Queen, whose actions 
 in her earlier and brighter time entitle her to admira- 
 tion, and whose subsequent misfortunes entitle her to 
 cliivalric compassion. But it can scarcely be ques- 
 tioned that the extravagances and success of Monsieur 
 Gagniere's ' La Reine Marie-Caroline De Naples, Lady 
 Hamilton Et Nelson' justify the pains I have taken 
 to portray the adventuress with realistic exactness, 
 to discredit the Queen's defamers, aiid to close cer- 
 tain Nelsonian controversies for ever. 
 
 JOHN COKDY JEAFFRESON. 
 
 24, Carlton Road, 
 
 Maida Vale, N.W.
 
 CONTENTS OF VOL. I, 
 
 PROEM. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 The Blacksmith's Daughter .... 3 
 
 Consequences of Publication — Letters from Friends — In- 
 credulity at Birkenhead — Wirral in Wonderment — Inquisitors at 
 Great Xeston — Record of Amy Lyon's Baptism — Record of Henry 
 Lyon's Burial — The Denhall Blacksmith — IMore about the Kidds 
 of llawardeii — ]Mrs. Cadogan a Woman of Letters — The Thomases 
 of Jlawardon — Their Love of Amy and her Mother — Witnesses 
 to a Woman's Character. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Recent Additions to the Morrison MSS. 1 1 
 
 More Light — 'The Bliiid' — Documents given by lloratia to 
 one of her Friends — Additional Sources of Information — Re- 
 covery of Pettigrew's ' TIioniHon Letters' — Tlieir uninipcacliablo 
 Authenticity — Conclusive Evidence of I loratia's maternal I'arent- 
 age — Survey of Amy Lyon's Career from her Childhood to 17'J8 
 — Points of Emma Hamilton's Story to be rcmemliered for Maria 
 Caroline's Sake — Nelson's Passion for Eninia Hamilton — His 
 pulilio Conduct in no degree affected l)y it — Ilis Conduct in the 
 Me<literrancan in 170H and 17'J9 — His Courage in acting upon 
 Orders. 
 
 CHAl'TER in. 
 
 MURMURINGS OF MALCONTENTS . . . .21 
 
 Renewal of Labour — Evidence of 1 loratia's maternal Parent- 
 age— Dista.stcful to her Descendants— Mr. Paget, the Blackwood
 
 viii CONTENTS. 
 
 Essaj'ist — Death of the Rev. Horatio Nelson Nelson -Ward — 
 Obituary Notice in The Times— Letter by ' II. II. E. N.-W.' to 
 The Times — Mr. Edward Walford's Note on the Indignant Letter 
 — Slight Slips and grave Errors of the Indignant Letter — Mr. 
 Haslewood, whilom Solicitor of Craven Street, Strand — Slightness 
 of his Friendship with Lord Nelson — Fanciful Statements made 
 by Mr. Haslewood in his old Age — His feeble Letter to IMrs. AVard 
 (Horatia) — Influence of the 'Thomson Fictions' Discernible in 
 the Letter — Use made of the Letter by Mr. Paget — Lady Hamil- 
 ton's several Admissions of being Horatia's Mother — Family Sen- 
 sitiveness and historic Justice. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Monsieur Gagniere's Book .... 34 
 
 Who re-opened the Nelsonian Controversies? — Monsieur 
 Gagniere's Researches at The British Museum — Maria Caroline's 
 Letters to Enmia Hamilton — Dr. Pettigrew's Translations of 
 those Lettere — Viscount Valentia's ' Private Journal of the Affairs 
 of Sicily, 1811 and 1812' — Errors in M. Gagniere's first Chapter 
 — M. Gagniere's Mistranslations into French of Lord Valentia's 
 English — His Account of Emma Hamilton's earlier Years — His 
 Statement that She came for the first Time to Naples, ' in 1791 ' 
 — Ilis Statement that she was Pitt's Proie'gee and Spy — His 
 scandalous Description of Maria Caroline's Intimacy with Emma 
 Hamilton — Fourteen Errors of Fact in a single Passage of Col- 
 letta's Book — General Colletta's Ignorance and Honesty — Femi- 
 nine Purity of Maria Caroline's Letters to Emma Hamilton — M. 
 Gagniere's Way of dealing with this Evidence — An Example of 
 M. Gagniere's Fairness to two dead ^Vomea — His Abuse of 
 Nelson. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Cui Bono V 53 
 
 England's Interest in Nelson's Fame — The Author's Injustice 
 to Maria Caroline — Slanders upon ruling Women — Elizabeth 
 Tudor — Henrietta Maria of England — Marie-Antoinette of France 
 — Lesson of the Slanders — Marie-Antoinette fortunate in her 
 Death — Maria Caroline's more cruel Lot — The Vilest of all the 
 Slanders against the Queen of Naples — Reasons for speaking so 
 strongly of the Calumny — The Utterer of the vile Lie — Cir- 
 cumstances that disposed I'eople to believe the Story — Perfect 
 Disproof of the Slander — Sources of this Disproof — The other 
 Aspersions.
 
 COXTENTS. ix 
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Maria Theresa's Children .... 65 
 
 Maria Theresa's ISlarriage with Francis of Lorraine — Their 
 numerous and noble Offsi>ring — The Empress- Queen an admirable 
 ]\Iother — Education of her Children — Its Results — Joseph II., 
 I]mperor of Germanj' — His Services to Humanity — -Leopold, 
 Grand Duke of Tuscany — His beneficent Government of his 
 Tuscan Dominions — ]\laria Caroline's Influence over Ferdinand 
 of Naples — Colletta's testimony to the Virtues of Maria Theresa's 
 ' whole Proj^eny' — Fruits of ]\Iaria Caroline's Influence over her 
 Husband — Field of Conjecture — Marie-Antoinette's Fate — Its 
 Effect on her posthumous Fame. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Less for Love than Power . . . .71 
 
 From ChildhoofI to AVomanly Plstate — Charles Bourbon's 
 Accession to the Throne of Spain — Dynastic Arran^^eiuents — 
 Ferrlinand of Naples — Council of Regency — Bernardo, Marquis 
 of Tanucci — His clever Management of the Council — Superlative 
 Disinterestwlness of (Jharles Bourljon — ' Register that ring I' — 
 The Boy-King's Tutor — Tanucci's Craft and Charles's Policy — 
 Muscular Education and Mental Neglect — The r»oy-King becomes 
 a mighty Hunter — Goo<I and Evil of his Nature — His Energy 
 and Indolence — Exaggerations of his Ignorance — He attains his 
 Majority — Betrothal of Fenliiiaiid and .Maria .Josephine — ^faria 
 Theresa's Designs for her Daughters — Maria .Josei)liine's untimely 
 Death — Another Match for the young King — Maria Caroline's 
 Betrothal to Ferdinand — 'J'hc important Stii)nlation of the Mar- 
 riage Articles — .Maria Caroline leaves Vienna for Naples — Splen- 
 dour of her Progress — Italy in Ecstasies — Itcjoiciiigs at Florence 
 — Maria ( aroline's Purpose and Progrannne — So Young an<l so 
 Kesolute I — The Marchioness Soiari on Maria Theresa — Meeting 
 of Ferdinand and Maria Caroline at Portelia. 
 
 17')2— 17(;h A.I). 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 
 FeRDI>JAND IV. AND I. OF Till', TwO SiGILIES . 00 
 
 Meeting at Portelia — Amalia \Valliurga of I'oland — M.iria 
 Caroline's striking Rescmljlance to Mari«'-Antoinctte — Tlie Mar- 
 chioness Soiari on the two Queens — Ferdinand's personal Appear-
 
 X CONTENTS. 
 
 ance — His Voice of Pleasure — From Portella to Caserta — Ferdi- 
 nand's Delight in practicul Jokes — An yl 6tt tossed in a Blanket 
 — Meetings of the Liparotii — Regimental ' High-Jinks ' — Ferdi- 
 nand the Sutler — Maria Caroline the Cantineer — Pranks with the 
 Lazzaroni — Hercules throwing Lichas into the Sea — Ferdinand 
 the Fishmonger — A Marchioness in the Shambles — Lazzaroni at 
 San Carlo — The Macaroni Scramble — Ferdinand and his Peasants 
 — Bread and Onions — Three Boys at a Birth — Parental Kespon- 
 sibility — Sir John Acton's 'good sort of ]\Ian' — The Bishop of 
 Cefalu's Testimony to Ferdinand's religious Merit — Lord Valentia 
 on the King's submissiveness to the Divine Will — Ferdinand's 
 social Gifts and Accomplishments — He dances well and ' sings 
 like a King ' — Ferdinand at the Whist-Table. 
 
 17G8 A.D. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 From the Royal Marrlvge to Tanucci's Fall 106 
 
 From Caserta to Naples — Tanucci studies INIaria Caroline — 
 A Beautiful Hand — Ferdinand, Husband and Lover — Tanucci's 
 Uneasiness — Arch-Duke Leopold at Naples — Joseph II. visits his 
 Sister — Maria Caroline's preliminary Measures — Former Posses- 
 sions of the banished Jesuits — Queen's Management of Ferdinand 
 — Her Consideration for his Feelings — Her genuine Admiration 
 of him — Her Care to prevent Occasions for Contention — Ferdi- 
 nand's occasional Freaks of ^Vilfulness — INLaria Caroline's disap- 
 pointed Hopes — Consequences of her Heirlessness — Her LiHuence 
 in Politics — Ferdinand's 'Xay'and royal "Will — Gaetano Filan- 
 gieri — The Heir comes at last — Maria Caroline's last Quarrel with 
 Tanucci — The Ministers P'all — How it strikes Naples — Tanucci's 
 Death. 
 
 17G8— 1777 A.D. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Reigning King and Ruling Queen . . .121 
 
 The Queen rules — Her Absolutism— Qualified by Ferdinand's 
 Freaks — CoUetta on Maria Caroline's foreign Policy — Emma 
 Hamilton's droll Fancies — The Queen's Coteries — Philosophers of 
 Middle Age — Youthful 'J liinkers — Galanti and Mario Pagano — 
 Galliani and Filangieri — Palmieri and Cirillo — Pagano's Execu- 
 tion — Dominico Cirillo's Fate — ^laria Caroline's Patronage of 
 Gaetano Filangieri — Her Care for Filangieri's Children — Her 
 Ministers and Advisers — Marquis della Sambuca — Marquis Car- 
 acciolo — Prince Caramanico — John Acton the brilliant Adven-
 
 CONTENTS. xi 
 
 turer — His Extraordinary Career — He is invited to Naples — Be- 
 comes Maria Caroline's prime Minister — ' Hsec Kex, hie Kejiina, 
 hie hfec et hoc Acton ' — Libels on Acton — Causes of his Influence 
 vith the Queen — New Neapolitan Fleet — Re-organization of 
 Neapolitan Army — Charles III. advises that Acton should be dis- 
 missed — Maria Caroline's Wrath — Employment of Foreign Officers 
 — Colletta on Acton's Fleet — His Strictures on Acton's Army — 
 Discontent of Soldiers — Signs of Mutiny — Beginning of the 
 Queen's Unpopularity — Jealousies of noble Subalterns — Earth- 
 quake and Pestilence — Emperor Joseph's second Visit to Naples 
 — Sir "William Hamilton's Trip to England — ' The fair Tea- 
 maker of Paddington Green.' 
 
 1777—1784 A.D. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 The Goldex Tour 139 
 
 Ships and ]\Ien — !Maria Caroline visits her Neighbours — The 
 Fleet and the Holiday- ^Makers — From Naples to Leghorn — 
 Bridge-Tournament at Pi.^a — King and Grand Duke — ]\Iaria 
 Caroline averts the Storm — Northward to I\Iilan — Koumling 
 southward by Turin to Genoa — 'ilie Fleet in Harbour — A larger 
 Armament — Homeward bound — Bill for Four Montlis' Touring 
 — A Million Ducats — The Golden King — Maria Caroline in her 
 Glory — Seen at her best — Her highest Felicity — Sovereign, Wife 
 and Mother — Her two Amliitions. 
 
 1785 A.D. 
 
 CIIArTEU VII. 
 The Story of an Adventuress . . . 146 
 
 An Arrival at Naples— Tlirec Travellers— Date of Amy 
 LyoTi's P)irth— Mary Lyon nflrrwanls Cadogan— Amy's ^^'ildn(■.ss 
 -Birth of her first Cliild— Wilder yet, and wilder !— Sir Harry 
 Feihenstonehaugh— ' The fine Line'— Henry Angelo's ' Kemin- 
 iscencci ' — Mr. (Jharles Francis Grcvilh!— l'a<ldington Green — 
 Emina'.s life at 'the Green '—Ilomncy's 'divine Lady '—From 
 Lontion to Naples — ' Caught in a Trap ' — Emma's vain En- 
 treaties — Her alarming .Menace— She becomes 'the Wn^ii' of 
 Naples' — Maria Caroline's Curiosity— Und<T tlie Queen's Oliscr- 
 vation — FI<r MaJL-sty is re-a.s-sured — Emma's gradual Growth in 
 the Queen's Favour — Society is ordered to recognize the Signora 
 Hart — Histr)rian8 at Fault — M. (Jagniero and General Colh'tfa 
 — Review of Emma's ujiward Cfiursr — Her three Ambitions — 
 Her Measures for their Aehicvcmcnt — Connsel to Students. 
 
 170.')— 1791 A.D.
 
 Jdi CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Gathering Clouds 1 73 
 
 Emma's View of the Queen — .Small-Pox in the Palazzo Reale 
 — Chark's the Tliird's Death — Princes Januarius and Charles — 
 They are buried like Princes — Colony of San Leucio — C!ode for the 
 Colonists — Its Provisions — Royal Alurriages — Death of Joseph the 
 Second — ^Nlaria Caroline's growing Concern for Marie-Antoinette 
 — From Naples to Vienna — Leopold's Coronation in Hungary — 
 Ferdinand and Maria Caroline extolled for their Humanity — 
 Brother and Sister in Council — Their Project for staying the 
 Revolution — Differences between Rome and Naples — Expulsion 
 of the Jesuits — Clement the Fourteenth — Pope and King — 
 Abolition of tlie Chinea — Queen and Pope — Dismissal of Caleppi 
 — Their INIajesties of Na]iles visit Rome — Pretty Pit of Acting — 
 Reconciliation of Pius VI. and ]\Iaria Caroline — Princesses of 
 France in Exile — Maria Caroline's Fury against the French 
 Rabble — Her Distrust of her former Teachers — She is back at 
 Naples — Sir William Hamilton and Emma Hart start for London. 
 
 178G— -1791 A.D. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Maria Caroline's ' Laudable Schemes ' . . 194 
 
 Colletta on the Queen's Rule — His Testimony to its Good- 
 ness up to 1790 — Expulsion of the Jesuits — Disposal of their con- 
 fiscated Property — Public Schools and Colleges — Normal Schools 
 — University Reform — Revival and Re- organization of Academies 
 — Redemption of Arrendamenti — Re-arrangements of Taxation — 
 New Regulations for the Coral Fisheries — Division of Lands — 
 Reclamation of Waste Land.s — Colonization of hitherto unin- 
 habitefl Islands — Restoration of the Ports of Miseno, Prindisi 
 and Baia — Censure on indolent Nobles — Op^wsition to Feudal 
 Privileges — New ]\Iarriage-Laws — Fdict for the Restraint of 
 Judicial Corruption — Coniidetion of the Royal Archives — Mur- 
 murs of rapacious Lawyers — Reform of Commercial Laws — lorio's 
 ' Commercial Code ' — New Treaties of Navigation — Colony of 
 San Leucio — Reforms in the Capital — Naples divided into Wards 
 — Magistrates for petty Offenders — New public Buildings — 
 Extra-Mural Interment — Cemetery of Pichiodi — Queen's public 
 Life — Slanders on her private Life — Defects of her Rule — Faults 
 of Absolutism — ' Harassed Interests ' — Explanation of the Queen's 
 Unpoijularity — Resentments and Defamation. 
 
 17G8— 1790 A.D.
 
 CONTENTS. xiii 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The Same and yet Another Queen . . 216 
 
 The French Revolution — W.as it inevitable? — Its Conse- 
 quences to France — Its llesults on Eurojie — What it did for the 
 Two Sicilies — Change in Maria Caroline — Her Re-Appearance 
 in Naples — Preparations for War — Philosophers out of Favour — 
 Re-Organization of the Police — Luigi de Medici — Secret Agents 
 — Fahrizio Ruffo, Prince of Castelcicala — Honour to Spies — 
 The 'Oscura' Salon — Pilnitz and Pavia — Emperor Leopold's 
 Death — Death of Gustavus III. of Sweden — Emma Hamilton's 
 Trip to England — Her INIarriagc in September, 1791 — Her Re- 
 turn to Italy — Commencement of Her Intimacy with ]\Iaria 
 Caroline — Growth of the Queen's Troubles — Her Precautions 
 against Disorder in Naples — Worse News from France — Em- 
 plojincnt of Spies — Maria Caroline's Cry for 'an united Italy I' 
 — Her brave Note to Sardinia and Venice — La Touche in 
 Naples Bay — The French Admiral's Demands — The Queen's 
 Submission. 
 
 1791—1702 A.D. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 La Touche's Return and Recovery of Toulon 238 
 
 La Touche returns — His Petition and Its Consequences — 
 His Intercourse with the Neapolitan Jacoliiiis — Wearers of ' the 
 red cap' — Maria Caroline's Coiiji d'Etat — Leaders of ' the French 
 Party' in Prison — Consternation of the Symj)atliizers — Search 
 for further Evidence — Luigi ("iistode — Maria Caroline's greater 
 Liking for Emma Hamilton — Their Intiiuacy — its ComineiKH'- 
 mcnt — Sir William Hamilton's serious Illness — Louis the Six- 
 teenth's Death — Maria Caroline's Letter on that Event to Emma 
 Hamilton — Her secret Treaty with (ireat Britain — Toulon sur- 
 renders to T^ord Hood — Starvation the Cause of tlie Surrender 
 — General (^)nnt Maudet— Nelson's first Visit to Naples — Nelson 
 and Maria Caroline — Marie-Antoinette's Execution — The Effect 
 on the (itieen of Najiles — The Marchioness Solari's Interview 
 with Maria Caroline — Toulon recovered by the Frencli, 
 
 17112— 17'j;3 A.D. 
 
 CHAPTER xir. 
 
 Conflict and Calumny 259 
 
 Rumours of the Recovery of Tonlnn — Letter from Maria 
 Caroline to Lady Hamilton — Return of the Toulon Expcdition-r-
 
 xiv CONTENTS. 
 
 The Queen's Martial Temper — Cavalry sent to Lombard}' — Ships 
 sent to the English Fleet — Expenditure and Taxation — Inde- 
 fensible Finance — Outcry against tlie Queen — Her Letter on 
 George the Third's Birthday — Sir ^Villiam Hamilton sends the 
 Letter to Loudon — Court Splendour and Neapolitan Gaiety — 
 Earthquake and Vesuvian Eruption — Panic in the Capital — Re- 
 ligious Processions — State .Junta at Work — Trial and Execution 
 of Tommaso Amato — Trials of Jacobins — Vincenzo Vitaliano — 
 Emanuele di Deo — Vincenzo Galliani — Pietro di Falco — Duke 
 d'Accadia— Professor Annibale Giordano — Three capital Exe- 
 cutions — Ages and Quality of Sufferers — Conduct of the Junta 
 — Proportion of Acquittals to Convictions — Consolations for 
 Maria Caroline — French Feeling against the Queen of Naples — 
 The Book of Slander. 
 
 1794 A.D. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Diplomatic Intrigue and Secret Intelligence 275 
 
 Mounted from the royal Stables — Lady Hamilton's Illness 
 — To amuse the Queen's Children — Exchange of Courtesies — 
 Prince Caramanico's Death — Scandalous Rumours — Fury of 
 lying Tongues — Another Plot^ — Chevalier de Medici accused of 
 'I'reason — Annibale Giordano's Information — General Acton's 
 Procedure — ^ladame Sannnarco's Stories — New Junta of State 
 — Riots in Sicily — Blasi's Execution — Sir William Hamilton's 
 Illness — The Queen's Concern for the Invalid — Spanish De- 
 spatches — ' Another Courier from Sjiain ' — King of Spain's 
 Letters to his Brother of Naples — Despatches in Cypher — More 
 Correspondence between the (^ueen and Lady Hamilton — ' One 
 must obey' — 'The poor little King's Death' — Spanish King's 
 Defection from the Coalition — He makes Peace with France — 
 Facts to be remembered — The Intennediary between Maria 
 Caroline and the British Embassj'. 
 
 1794—1795 A.D. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 War against and Peace with France . . 300 
 
 Lady Hamilton's two Invalids — Maria Caroline's Sympathy 
 — Her ^Iftssage to Mrs. Cadogan — ' Futile and Weak Spain ' — 
 Maria Caroline nursing her sick Husband and Children — Emma 
 Hamilton's Letters to Lord Macartney — The Queen's martial 
 Enthusiasm — Her Measures for making the War Popular — The
 
 CONTENTS. xr 
 
 youngf Buonaparte — His Successes in Northern Italy — ISIaria 
 Caroline's Alarm — Honour to her Cavalry — Armistice of Brescia 
 — Queen and Pope — Treaties to be broken — Maria Caroline sues 
 for Peace — Her Gratitude to the Hamiltons — Spanish-French 
 Treaty of War against Great Britain — Spanish King's third Let- 
 ter to the King of Naples — How the Copy of it was sent to Lord 
 Grenville — Famous so-called Codicil to Nelson's V(i\\ — Emma 
 Hamilton's Letter of 21st September, 1796, to Mr. Charles 
 Greville — Maria Caroline's Apprehensions — ' Lady Hamilton's 
 Statement ' — Its curious Misstatements — Its i\Iisrepresentations 
 arlopted by Dr. Pettigrew — And transplanted to ' Blackwood ' by 
 Mr. Paget — Critical Dissection of a Passage of the ' Statement ^ 
 — Death and the Hangman — Emma Hamilton curses France. 
 
 179G A.n. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 From Leoben to Aboukir Bay . . . 326 
 
 Negociations of Leoben — Treaty of Campo Formio — IMarriage 
 of Prince Francis and the Arch-Duchess ("lementina — Berthier's 
 Entry into Hume — Maria Carolines Alarm — Her Letters to Lady 
 Hamilton — DeU'Caro the Danseme — The Queen's Impatience for 
 Nelson's Arrival — Her Correspondence (through Lady Hamilton) 
 with Lord St. Vincent — Buonaparte's Expedition to Egypt — Maria 
 Carolim/s Intorest in tlic K.xiiedition — lIiT Letters touching the 
 Expedition — Garat'a Com^jlaints — 'These Rogues of Frenclimen !' 
 — French Occupation of Malta — Nelson's Squadron off Capri — 
 Captain Troubridge despatched to Naples by Nelson — Chief Pur- 
 pose of Troubridge's Mission — Arrangement for Nelson to water 
 and victual at Palermo — The Vititf/iuml's 'Journal' — .Maria 
 Caroline's Letter of good Wishes for Nelson's Squadron — Nel- 
 Bon's Acknowledgment of the Queen's Letter — His first and futile 
 "Voyage to Egy[tt — His ll(;turn to SielHan Waters in July, 170« 
 — He waters and victuals at Syracuse — He starts on his second 
 and glorious Expedition to Aboukir Bay. 
 
 1797—1798 A.I). 
 
 CIIAPTEK XVI. 
 An Affair of (Jontrovp:rsy . . . .34^ 
 
 How came Nelson to WatiT and Victual so Expeditiously at 
 Syracuse? — Nelson's Answer to tlie Question — Lady I liiniiltnn's 
 alleged Part in the Affair — The ' Fountaiu-of-Arethusa ' Letter —
 
 xvi CONTENTS. 
 
 (i. H. D.'s Postcard touching tbe Fountain — Description of the 
 Fountain in Murray's ' Sicily ' — Doubts resiJecting the Authen- 
 ticity of the 'Arethusa' Letter — INIore Mistakes of Lady Hamil- 
 ton's 'Statement' — Her Blunders adopted as pood History by 
 Dr. Pettigrcw and the Blachiuond Essayist — Mr. Paget causes 
 Amazement — A startling Confession of Ignorance — Doubters and 
 Disputants — Xelson in the Witness-Box — Matters of Fact and 
 Matters of Opinion —Lady Hamilton's Real Part in the Business. 
 
 1798 A.D.
 
 PROEM. 
 
 VOL. r.
 
 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 AND 
 
 LORD NELSON. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE BLACKSMITPl'S DAUGHTER. 
 
 Consequences of Publication — Letters from Friends — Incroilulity 
 at Birkenhead — Wirral in Wonderment — Iiir[ui.sitorsat (Jrcat 
 Neston — Record of Amy Lyon's Baptism — Ilcconl of Henry 
 Lyon's Burial — The Denhall Black.smith — IMorc about the 
 KidiLs of llawarden — Mrs. Cado^ran a Woman of Letters — 
 The Thomases of llawarden — Their Love of Amy and her 
 Mother — Witnesses to a Woman's Character. 
 
 The publication of ;i book of pevRonal bistoiy, that 
 finding many readers comes to be much talked al)out, 
 is Tisually f(;llowed by an enlargement of the author's 
 knowledge of his subject. Hi; receives letters from 
 j)eo[)le, qualified by their domestic papers or fami- 
 liaiity with places to aimiid his statements on matters 
 of detail. 'J'ogether with their h-tterM, ho som<-times 
 receives from these corrcspcmdents documents that, 
 relieving doubtful questious of obscurity, change his 
 surmises into certainties. 
 
 li 2
 
 4 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 One consequence of the publication of 'Lady 
 Hamilton and Lord Nelson ' deserves particular 
 mention in this opening chapter of a companion- 
 book. To my friends at Birkenhead, lying with its 
 noble port about three miles south of the north-east 
 point of Wirral, co. Chester, and some five or six 
 miles from Great Neston church, it was no news 
 that Emma Hamilton belonged in her childhood to 
 Hawarden, co. Flint. But they had never heard of 
 her connection with the twenty-miles-long Cheshire 
 promontory that is known to Cheshire-men by the 
 name of Wirral ; and they received with incredulity 
 my statement that she was a native of the district. 
 Even to a gentleman so versed in the history and 
 traditions of the Hundred of Wirral as Mr. Charles 
 D. Browne of Stone Hive, AVestkirby, Birkenhead, my 
 Avords on this point were a surprise. To ascertain 
 Avhether I was right in saying that the famous and 
 lovely woman was baptized in her infancy at Great 
 Neston, two gentlemen of Westkirby (Mr. Arthur 
 Houghton and Mr. Henry Bell, junior) made an 
 excursion to Great Neston and searched the paiish 
 register for the period in which Amy Hamilton 
 became a member of the Church of England. The 
 result of the search was the discovery of this entry 
 in the book of record : ' Emy Dr. of Henry Lyon smith 
 of Ncsse by Mary his wife. Bap. 12 May, 1765,' whereas 
 the copy of the entry, made on December 19th, 1781, 
 for Amy Lyon by ilr. R. Carter, curate of Great 
 Neston, nms — 'Amy, Daughter of Henry Lyon of 
 Nesse, by Mary his wife. Bap. the 12th of May, 1765.' 
 Continuing their search of the register, Mr. Arthur
 
 AXD LORD XELSON. '6 
 
 Houghton and Mr. Henry Bell found amongst the 
 records of burials in the same year this memorandum 
 of Henry Lyon's interment, — ' Henry Lyon of Den- 
 hall smith. Bur. 21 June, 17(55.' Denhall, be it 
 observed, is a hamlet of the township of Ncssc, which 
 lies in the wide and long-stretching parish of Great 
 Neston. Born in the hamlet, Amy hyon was also a 
 native of the parish. 
 
 Heretofore no one of the numerous writers about 
 Amy Lyon has been able to state precisely her father's 
 vocation and exact social quality. He figures in 
 memoirs as a ' poor peasant,' or a ' man living in a 
 menial capacity.' Henceforth he will Hve on the 
 historic page in his true capacity of a village black- 
 smith. 
 
 In omitting ' smith ' from his copy of the baptismal 
 record, Mr. R. Carter was guilty of a distinct fault of 
 inadvertence ; but he may be held guiltless in respect 
 to his substitution of the initial A for the initial E 
 of the child's Christian name. From the use of E it 
 is not to be inferred that the biacksiuith's daughter 
 was christened after her aunt Amv Moore of Liver- 
 pool by any other name tliaii Amy. In tlu; last 
 century, and even in ludre ri<iiit lime, E was in 
 Wirral universally pronoun(;(!d like the A in 'fate.' 
 Even to this day the old people of the Hundred so 
 nn'spronouncc the second vowel of the alphabet. 
 Writing to mc on this point from Wcstkirby on 
 December 2nd, 1887, Mr. Charles D. Browne says, 
 ' It was the custom in Wirral fill about fifty yeai-fi 
 ago to pronounce E as wo now pronounce A, the first 
 letter of the alphabet being pronounced "Ah I" Old 
 vol. i. b
 
 6 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 peoplo about hero still pronounce E as A.' Spelling 
 by sound rather than by etymological rule, the Wirral 
 peasant, who in 1705 acted as parish-clerk and 
 registrar at Great Neston, naturally used E instead 
 of A iu the record of the baptism ; and no less natur- 
 ally the educated clergyman, in making the certifi- 
 cate, put on his paper the A which he knew was 
 indicated by the E of the original record. 
 
 The discovery of Henry Lyon's ' calling ' is of some 
 moment, as it enables the many people who are in- 
 terested in Lady Hamilton's story to get a clearer 
 view of the circumstances of her infancy. In rural 
 life artisans are rated higher than mere field-labourers, 
 and in several respects the village blacksmith has the 
 advantage over other mechanics. Putting him in 
 personal intercourse with numerous people of different 
 social degrees, from the squire whose horses are shod 
 at his smithy to the farm-labourer whose implements 
 he repairs, his employment affords him a sense of 
 security and iudependence unknown to artisans who 
 serve a single master, or at best look for maintenance 
 to three or four individuals. By the comparative 
 greatness of his earnings, the steadiness of the demand 
 for his labour, and the various circumstances which 
 render his workshop peculiarly attractive to his 
 neighbours, the village blacksmith belongs to the 
 elite of rural craftsmen. 
 
 Through her mother, who on her husband's death 
 returned to her native paiish on the other side of the 
 Dee, Amy Lyon belonged to a family that resembled 
 her father's people in being something superior to the 
 toilers on the fields. Though they were a ' humble
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 7 
 
 stock,' the Hawardeu Kiclds did not belong to the 
 sort of folk who in old age or hard seasons ' fall upon 
 the parish ' as a matter of course. Some of them 
 seem to have begun life with so fair a prospect that 
 they were not trained to manual labour in their 
 childhood. Writing to Lady Hamilton on November 
 27th, 1807, about a certain old and destitute male 
 Kidd — probably one of the famous beauty's uncles, 
 but possibly only one of her mother's first cousins — 
 a lady of Hawarden remarked of the aged wastrel, 
 ' I believe he has been much distressed for some time 
 back, as at this time of the year there is no employ- 
 ment suitable to him, for, as ho observes, he was not 
 brouglit up to work.' 
 
 Whilst some of the male Kidds had, in their earlier 
 lives, no need to work in the lowest kinds of industry, 
 the female Kidds were superior domestic servants, 
 or plied their needles as village dressmakers, mitil 
 they married creditably in their lunnblc state of life. 
 Amy's mother was au especially clever cook before 
 she mated with the Denhall blacksmitli ; and that tht; 
 always-industrious woman was a competent house- 
 keeper, intelligent nurse, and excellent cook in iui- 
 later time is matter of history. It is less generally 
 known that, in a time when tlie daughters of well- 
 to-do fjinners often signed their marriage lines with 
 ' a mark,' this capable woman enjoyed hci' newspaper, 
 and could write a fairly good letter, — at least, as good 
 a letter as Lady Hamilton wrote in the best season of 
 her epistolary style. In village parlance, Mary Lyon, 
 n^e Kidd, was ' a scholar ' and 'had learning'; and 
 in this particular she does not appear to have differed
 
 8 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 from her nearest kindred. It would have been strange 
 bad tbis mother, so Avell able to read, write, and cast 
 accounts, omitted to carry her only child through the 
 usual course of 'pot-hooks' and 'hangers,' and put 
 her early in the way to read, write, and cast accounts, 
 like the other young people of her mother's stock. 
 One may dismiss the story that Amy learnt her letters 
 from her first mistress as a harmless exaggeration of 
 Mrs. Thomas's goodness in allowing and encouraging 
 the little maiden to make herself a better ' scholar.' 
 
 After the grand people at the Castle, and the 
 reverend people at the rectorj^, the Thomases were 
 the principal and politest people of all liawarden. 
 Though nothing better than the wife of a large 
 farmer and man of affairs, Mrs. Thomas was a real 
 lady in the regard of the Hawarden commonalty, and 
 her house was a place of service to which only the 
 choice and pick of the Hawarden serving-girls could 
 hope to be admitted. That in her thirteenth year Amy 
 was taken off her mother's hands and admitted within 
 the hues of this superior family, is evidence both to 
 the child's goodness and her mother's respectability. 
 Such a woman as Mrs. Thomas of Hawarden does 
 not take a village child into her nursery, in the 
 capacity of assistant nursemaid, without first satisfy- 
 ing herself of the damsel's general goodness. Had 
 Mary Lyon (or possibly Dogan by this time) been 
 aught less than a reputable woman, the Thomases 
 would have decided to ' have nothing to do with the 
 child of such a woman !' In connection with this 
 testimony to the character they bore in their Flint- 
 shire parish, it may be remarked that this worthy
 
 AND LORD KELSON. 9 
 
 Mrs. Thomas regarded Amy teuderly, and held Amy's 
 mother in respect, long after the child had gone up to 
 ' a place ' in London. 
 
 There is no reason for enthusiasm about Mrs. Cado- 
 gan. She has no title to admiration. Had she been 
 a person of gentle birth and training, one would use 
 strong expressions of disesteem for the woman who 
 lived so amicably with her daughter whilst the latter 
 played the part of ringless bride to Mr. Charles Gre- 
 villcj, then to Sir William Hamilton, and, after Sir Wil- 
 liam's death, to Nelson. But people should be judged 
 with charitable reference to the ethical tone and stan- 
 dard of their class and peiiod. The woman, who was 
 only a superior female servant, scarcely deserves to be 
 pilloried for ever, because she held staunchly to her 
 only child, after the latter had in one respect ' gone 
 very wrong,' in spite of all the maternal pains that 
 had been taken to make her ' go right.' In the 
 absence of evidence to the contrary, it is only fair to 
 assume that, on changing her name from Lyou to 
 Dogan, Amy's mother made a second marriage with 
 a man of her own humble condition. In subsequently 
 improving this name of Dogau into Cadogau, the 
 humble woman <jnly did what is sometimes dono by 
 people of unimpeachable respectability. She never 
 lived in idleness on her daughter's bounty. Alike 
 whether she was living under ^Ir. Greville's roof, or 
 under Sir AVilliara Hamilton's roof, or under Nelson's 
 patronage, she paid for her entertainment over and 
 over again, by efiicient domestic service. 
 
 Were she and they in this life still, the poor woman 
 could call some remarkable witnesses to speak for
 
 10 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 her general merit. "When he was set on rescuing the 
 faulty girl from her giddiness, and reclaiming her to 
 social sobriety, Mr. Greville was of opinion that Amy 
 should be encouraged to see as much as possible of 
 her mother. Romncy held Mrs. Cadogan in the 
 highest esteem, and in expression of the regard gave 
 her one of his finest portraits of her beautiful daughter. 
 In consideration of good scr\'ice she had rendered 
 him as his nurse and housekeeper. Sir William Hamil- 
 ton left her a contingent legacy of one hundred 
 pounds a year. Writing from sea, Nelson used to 
 style her his ' madro ' in kind and sympathetic letters. 
 Still later in the humble woman's obscure career, 
 Mrs. Thomas of Hawarden used to join with her 
 daughters in sending the old woman messages of 
 ' respect and best love.' I cannot think that this 
 industiious female servant — who was dealt with thus 
 tenderly by the people who knew her best — should 
 at this date be written about scornfully, as though 
 she were a crafty trafficker in her child's dishonour, 
 to be remembered with no better company than the 
 worst of those wicked old women, who show forth so 
 hideously in Hogarth's pictures of bad life.
 
 AND LORD XELSOX. 11 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 RECENT ADDITION'S TO THE MORRISON MSS. 
 
 More Light — ' The Blind ' — Documents given by Horatia to one 
 of her Friends — Additional Sources of Information — Re- 
 covery of Pettigrew's 'Thomson Letters' — Their unimpeach- 
 able Authenticity — Conclusive Evidence of Iloratia's maternal 
 Parentage — Survey of Amy Lyon's Career from her Child- 
 liood to 1798 — Points of Emma Hamilton's Story to be 
 remembered for ^laria Caroline's Sake — Nelson's Passion for 
 Emma Hamilton — His j)uljlic Conduct in no degree affected 
 by it — His Conduct in the ^Mediterranean in 17'J8 and 179i> 
 — His Courage in acting upon Orders. 
 
 Receiving from my coiTL'spoudonts .sc\ural pieces of 
 information respecting Emma Hamilton, I also learnt 
 a few things about Nelson from tlw documents wliicli 
 they were so good as to send or l)riiig to me. After 
 wilting to mo <»n the subject, one gentleman lirou,i;lit 
 to me a document, proving that on bringing little 
 Horatia 'for good ' to Morton Place, L:iily Hamilton 
 was authorized by Nelson to represent to his and her 
 friends that she was 7wt Iloratia's mother, and that 
 he also bore testimony that the little girl was the 
 orphan child of some other woman than Lady Ham- 
 iltfjii. This writing was the document, known to the 
 inmost ring of Nelsom'an specialists as 'the blind,' 
 even as the one Thomson letter, of which Professor
 
 12 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 Lmighton remarked that it 'would be conclusive if 
 its authenticity were established,' has long been 
 known to all Nelsonian controversialists as the ' Now, 
 my own dear Wife ' letter. 
 
 It was also my good fortune to be permitted to 
 examine a small collection of Nelsonian documents 
 and relics that had been for many years in Horatia's 
 possession, when she gave them to the gentleman 
 who brought them to me. This geutleman was, of 
 course, one of that lady's intimate friends. Notwith- 
 standing their friendship, it is surprising that the 
 lady, who was no less proud of her descent from 
 Nelson than reluctant to acknowledge her descent 
 from Lady Hamilton, parted with such interesting 
 items of her domestic muniments. As it was written 
 from sea, one of the documents may have been 
 written in duplicate, and botli drafts may in course 
 of time have come to Mrs. Ward's liands. It is con- 
 ceivable that, whilst giving away the one draft, she 
 kept the other in her possession. To me these 
 writings were more interesting than serviceable. No 
 use is made of their contents in the present work. 
 But I think it right to record that in her later time 
 Mrs. Ward was capable of thus parting with Nelson- 
 ian memorials ; because the fact is one of my reasons 
 for thinking it more proljable that the body of evi- 
 dence, with which Mrs. Ward used to support 'her 
 case,' became weaker than that it became stronger in 
 her later time. 
 
 Since the publication of ' Lady Hamilton and Lord 
 Nelson,' I have also enlarged mj' knowledge of both 
 those famous persons by a careful and thorough study
 
 AND LOUD NELSON. 13 
 
 of a body of Nelsonian MSS., that were no part of 
 the Monison MSS. when I was writing that book 
 and passing it through the press, and also by a similar 
 examination of the documents of a single book of 
 Nelsonian MSS., which, though they had been for 
 some time in Mr. Morrison's possession, did not come 
 under my observation till long after the publication 
 of my memoir of the famous beauty. That this par- 
 ticular set of documents escaped my notice, whilst I 
 was working on my book, is referable to a temporary 
 withdrawal of the volume from the owner's collection 
 of personal writings. When he invited me to carry 
 off from his house an enormous package of Hamilton- 
 Greville records, in order that I should examine them 
 inider the most agreeable circumstances in my own 
 study, it escaped Mr. Morrison's recollection that this 
 one volume had already been lent by him to another 
 student. Hence this particular letter-book did not 
 come to my knowledge till my memoir of Nelson's 
 Lady Hamilton had been for several weeks in the 
 pu])lic ]il)rarics. 
 
 This particular letter-book would not have helped 
 mo much in the composition of * Lady Hamilton and 
 Lord Nelson.' Consequently, when it at length came 
 to my hands, I felt httlo regret at not having seen it 
 sooner. The case was different in respect to another 
 collecticm of Nelsonian evidences, comprising all the 
 ' Thomson letters ' published in Pettigrew'e ' Life of 
 Nelson,' which did not como into Mr. ]\Iorri8on'H pos- 
 session till several niMnths had passed since the 
 manuscript of my memoir of Emma Hamilton was 
 given to the printers. Could I liavc only gained a
 
 14 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 view of the Pettigrew-Nelson MSS. before setting to 
 work ou that biography, I should have produced a 
 more effective book, and have produced it with little 
 more than half the labour spent upon the published 
 work. Instead of elaborating with much care a 
 somewhat prolix demonstration of Horatia's maternal 
 parentage, I should have settled the question with a 
 stroke of the pen. Able to certify that Pettigrew's 
 * Thomson letters ' were impcachably authentic, and 
 that all the scandalous suspicions of the doctor's good 
 faith had been utterly exploded by the recovery of 
 the original epistles, I should have spared myself a 
 vast amount of argumentative trouble, and have 
 produced the writings, whose genuineness ought 
 never to have been doubted, given to the public as 
 they were by so sufficient a judge of Nelson's pen- 
 manship and so honest a man of letters as Dr. 
 Puttigrew. 
 
 But though the Nelsonian MSS., to which I have 
 had access for the first time since the publication of 
 ' Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson,' have enlarged my 
 knowledge of both of those remarkable persons, they 
 brought to light no single inaccuracy in any of the 
 important* statements of my book. On the contrary-, 
 they have afforded additional evidence in support of 
 those statements, and have confirmed me in all my 
 judgments of the two individuals. 
 
 It is certain that, till she fell imder the baneful 
 
 * That Emma Hamilton died in the Catholic faith, and was 
 buried with the Catholic rite, can scarcely be deemed matters of 
 importance; and, before submitting Mrs. Hunter's testimony on 
 these points to the reader, 1 was at pains to warn him that the 
 lady was far from a reliable witness.
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 15 
 
 influence of the man who seduced her, Emma Hamil- 
 ton was what is ordinarily understood by the words 
 ' a good girl," when they are applied to a young 
 maid-servant; — that the immediately ensuing period 
 of her wildness and flagrant naughtiness, during 
 which she encom-aged several idolaters, lived with Sir 
 Harry Fetherstonehaugh, and probably figured as 
 Hygiea in Graham's lecture-room, cannot have much 
 exceeded two years, and certainly was less than two 
 years and a half; — that there is uo evidence (old 
 Henry Angelo's senile gabble is uo evidence what- 
 ever, except testimony to his own folly) of her ever 
 having fallen so low as to be even for twenty-four 
 hours 'a girl of the pavement' ; — that the term of her 
 (.'xtreme naughtiness was followed by a term of what 
 may at least be designated as domestic orderliness, 
 during which her daily haljits and pursuits and 
 l)leasures would not have misbeseemed a young 
 gentlewoman ; — that after regarding him with grati- 
 tude rath(;r than Idvc she conceived l"i>r Mr. Greville 
 a pure affection ; — that she was loyally and strongly 
 attaclied to him (albeit she was only his ringless 
 bride) when at his desire and in his interest, no less 
 than for lier own educational advancement, she went 
 for the first time; from London to Najiles; — that on 
 so going to Naples, after living with In'iii happily for 
 four years, she fully believed Mr. Greville would 
 come out to her there in six or seven months, and was 
 wholly without suspicion of his resolve to be hence- 
 forth (piit of her; — that after vainly endeavouring to 
 recover Mr. Greville to her heart, and then reluctant- 
 ly yielding to Sir William Hamilton's addresses, sho
 
 16 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 lived five years in Italy so as to win the affection and 
 esteem of her Neapolitan acquaintances^ although she 
 was only Sir William's ' mistress ;' — and that after 
 becoming the Britisli ambassador's wife in September, 
 1791, she at least for seven years justified his un- 
 qualified submission to her influence by being (so 
 far as evidence goes) true in every particular to her 
 nuptial vows. Having proved all these points in my 
 last book, in order to show that Nelson should be ac- 
 quitted of the shameful weakness of surrendering 
 himself to the fascinations of a flagrantly wanton and 
 openly vicious woman, I now entreat my readers to 
 bear all these points in mind, so that they maybe the 
 better able to take a fair and justly sympathetic view 
 of Maria Caroline of Naples. 
 
 Supporting all that I have urged in behalf of 
 Emma Hamilton, Mr. Morrison's recently acquired 
 Nelsonian MSS., to which I have given due attention 
 during the last year, are no less confirmatory of all 
 my main statements respecting Nclson^s attachment 
 to the surpassingly beautiful woman. Though 
 Nelson did not make his second trip to the Nile with- 
 out declaring to Lady Hamilton his admiration of 
 her charms in terms that were at least prophetic of 
 his eventual enthralment, it is certain that there was 
 no liaison between them before the Battle of Aboukir. 
 The very terms of this too fervid declaration of 
 afiection for her and her husband show clearly that 
 the strenuous utterance had been preceded by no 
 similar outpouring of perilous emotion. 
 
 That he returned from the Nile a worshipper of 
 the woman, whose feelings overpowered her in so
 
 AND LORD NELSOX. 17 
 
 remarkable a manner at the very moment of their re- 
 union on the Vanguard, is unquestionable. Young 
 Josiah Nesbitt had probably some good grounds for 
 uneasiness, though no sufficient excuse for his out- 
 break of bad manners, at the famous birthday fete. 
 But Nelson was not a man to jdeld to the temptation 
 without first making many efforts to resist it. More- 
 over, words of tender record put it beyond question 
 that in his later time the Admiral used to reflect on 
 the memoraljle pleasure-trip from Palermo to Malta 
 and back to the Sicilian port, as the time when fate 
 converted what might have been a transient passion 
 iuto an enduring attachment. 
 
 These admissions, it is needless to say, have no 
 effect on the considerations and arguments, that 
 wliolly acquit Nelson of the charges preferred against 
 his honour and humanity by Sourhey and AHson. 
 The Admiral's action in 1798 and 1799 towards 
 Naples and Their Majesties of the two Sicilies was iu 
 no way influenced by his passion for Emma Hamilton. 
 He had Ijccn especially commissioned by the British 
 Government and ordered by his commander-in-chief 
 to fight the French in the Mediterranean and take 
 the crown and court of Naples under his especial 
 protection. In liastcning back from Aboukir to 
 Naples ho only did as he was ordered. In i)rovidiug 
 for the safety of Ferdinand and Maria Carcjlinc, ho 
 only cxecutefl the commauds of his sovereign and 
 country. In nullifying tlie infamous treaty for the 
 capitulation of the Castles Uovo and Nuovo ho only 
 oboyod the spirit of his orders, and did his duty with 
 characteristic fearlessness and at the same time witli 
 VOL. I. C
 
 18 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 dae regard for international law. He exercised a 
 wise discretion and betrayed no lack of humanity in 
 sending the treacherous Caracciolo before the Sicilian 
 court-martial, which justly sentenced him to death. 
 Had he never set eyes on Emma Hamilton, had she 
 never been born, he would have done his utmost to 
 crush the Parthenopeian republic, drive the remnant 
 of the French garrisons from Neapolitan territory, 
 extinguish the power of the French Directory in 
 Naples, and re-establish Ferdinand's authority in the 
 portion of his dominions, that at the instigation of 
 France and by means of French arms had defeated 
 his sway for a time. 
 
 Had Emma Hamilton's place in the political drama 
 been filled by some other subordinate actor, some 
 instrument whom he regarded with indifference or 
 even with aversion, Nelson would all the same have 
 done his utmost for these ends, and done it with all 
 possible promptitude, so that, after setthng the 
 French question on land, he should be free to con- 
 centrate all his intellect and energies on the destruc- 
 tion of the great French fleet, which he had reason 
 to believe was moving swiftly towards him. In these 
 days of the telegraph and swift steam-vessels, an 
 English admiral commanding a squadron in the 
 Mediterranean, under circumstances similar to those 
 that tested Nelson's capacity in 1798 — 9, would of 
 course be in constant communication with London, 
 — would at each new turn of events and each fresh 
 crisis send along the electric wires to the Admiralty 
 requests for further instructions. But in Nelson's time,
 
 AND WED NELSON. 19. 
 
 our naval commanders engaged in operations remote 
 from London were charged with the responsibiKty of 
 acting upon the spirit as well as the words of their 
 wintten orders, under emergencies that were un- 
 imagined when the orders were committed to paper. 
 
 It is pleasant and easy work for ingenious journal- 
 ists, sitting in judgment upon Nelson in this year of 
 grace, to survey the temis of his original orders, and 
 after deliberating on their phrases with nice critical 
 acumen to decide, whether he acted well witliin the 
 words in this particular or exceeded the exact force 
 of the words in another particular, or to declare that 
 he should have waited for further instructions from 
 home, before presuming to do this or that on his own 
 rosponsibihty. What would have happened in the 
 MeditciTanean in the summer of 171)9, had the Eng- 
 lish admiral hesitated to annul the scandalous capitu- 
 lation of the castles, and folding his arms waited for 
 orders from homo ? Wliat might not have occurred 
 in the meanwhile, had he given the Neapohtan Jaco- 
 bins time to communicate with Paris aiid allowed the 
 French captains of the Neapolitan forts to draw u 
 French fleet and army to their n.-lief, before doing his 
 best to extinguish the French-Italian republic, and 
 send the French captains and their compatriots back 
 to la helle France? What wcMild have come of it, 
 had Nelson throughout his career lacked the courage 
 to act on the spirit of his orders, when their preciso 
 words fell short of tho requirements of sudden and 
 un-anticipated emergencies ? Just this. Long sinco 
 ho would have become au unrcmembcred namo even 
 
 vol. i. c 2
 
 2a THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 m his own native village, and England wonld have 
 never had his victories. He would have died a 
 retired captain on half-pay, and Great Britain would 
 never have received from his beneficent hands that 
 supremacy over the seas, which makes us still the 
 greatest of all the great powers of the universe.
 
 AXD LORD NELSON. 21 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 MURMURIXGS OF MALCONTENTS. 
 
 Renewal of Labour — Evidence of Horatia's maternal Parentage — 
 Distasteful to her Descendants — Mr. Paget, the Blackwood 
 Essaj'ist — Death of the Rev. Horatio Nelson Nelson -Ward 
 —Obituary Notice in 7'he Times— Letter by ' H.II.E. N.-W.' 
 to The Times — Mr. Edward 'W^alford's Note on the Indignant 
 Letter — Slight Slips and grave Errors of the Indignant Letter 
 — Mr. Haslewood, whilom Solicitor of Craven Street, Strand 
 — Slightnes.s of his Friendship with Lord Nelson — Fanciful 
 Statements made by Mr. Haslewood in his old Agt' — His feeble 
 Letter to Mrs. Ward (Horatia) — Influence of the 'Thomson 
 Fictions' Discernible in the Letter — Use made of the Letter 
 by Mr. Paget — Lady Hamilton's several Admissions of being 
 Horatia's Mother — Family Sensitiveness and historic Justice. 
 
 On piittiug the last touches to my elaboratu dciiion- 
 stration that Iloratia Nelson was Lady llainilton'B 
 daughter,* I hoped that 1 .shoukl never again be 
 required to deal with the subject. Not that the 
 examination of the evidences touching Horatia's birth 
 was repugnant to my sense of delicacy; imr ilia< 1 
 shrinik from th(; thought of again shocking tlio 
 American lady who is known to blush whenever she 
 is confronted by the naked truth, and who seized the 
 earliest opportunity to reprove me in one of the 
 Loudon evening papers for nrgmng the case with 
 
 • Vide, Append!:^ to ' Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson,' 
 vol. ii, pp. ■d.ii—oiO.
 
 22 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 significant ' gusto ' ; nor that I feared any consider- 
 able portion of my readers would concur with the 
 proverbial American lady in thinking Iloratia's parent- 
 age too indelicate a question to be discussed in pages, 
 designed for the general reading of men and women. 
 Fortunately for literature, though we English are 
 not wanting in true delicacy and wholesome regard 
 for the social proprieties, we regard exhibitions of false 
 shame and prudery as 'bad form.' I had no fear 
 that general opinion would cry ' fie !' upon me for 
 assuming that Horatia had a mother, and for doing 
 my best, in Nelson's interest, to prove that the mother 
 could be no other person than the woman whose 
 secret relation to his offspring gave her so strong a 
 hold on his affectionate nature. But when a man 
 conceives himself to have done a piece of work 
 thoroughly, he does not care to be called upon to do 
 it more effectually. Hence my hope that I should 
 not be required to reconsider and reargue the ques- 
 tion of Horatia's parentage. 
 
 The hope has been disappointed. One of Horatia's 
 descendants having recently declared in 77ie Times 
 newspaper (vide, ' The Times' of the 29th of March, 
 1888) that the question of her maternal parentage 
 ' can never be settled with any certainty,' and Mr. 
 Paget, the well-known Blackwood essayist, having 
 still more recently {vide, ' Blackwood's Magazine ' of 
 May, 1888) declared tliat ' the vexed question as to 
 the maternity of Horatia .... will probably remain 
 for ever one of those questions on which the evidence 
 on each side, when taken alone, appears absolutely 
 conclusive, until it is met by the contrary e^adence,
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 23 
 
 Avhich seems equally so,' I am compelled (not by 
 any desire for a barren controversial victory, but by 
 a sincere sense of literary duty, and by desire to 
 render some service to Nelson's reputation, and a 
 very important service to the fame of the slandered 
 Maria Caroline of Naples) to prove conclusively, by 
 the production of further evidence on both sides of 
 the case, that Horatia was Lady Hamilton's daughter, 
 and therefore cannot have been the daughter of any 
 other woman. 
 
 Readers will hke to have at hand the particulars 
 of the controversial matter that appeared in The 
 Times on this subject in the spring of last year. In 
 the March of that year, Horatia's eldest son, the 
 late Rev. Horatio Nelson Ward, died after having 
 held the rectory of Radstock co. Somerset for thirty- 
 five years. This gentleman's death was noticeil 1)y 
 The Times in the following terms : 
 
 •The Rev. Horatio Nelson AVard, for tliirty-fivo years 
 Rector of Radstock, Somerset, whose death we liave to 
 record, was the son of tlie late Rev. Philip Ward, of 
 Tenterden, Kent: his mother was the "little Horatia," 
 whom J»rd Nelson, at his death, liefjiieatluMl to the care 
 f)f the nation, whether .she was his natural dau;;ht<'r Ity 
 Emma Lady Hamilton, or the dauf^htcr of Lady Hamilton 
 by one of her former admirers, and hia adopted rhihl. in 
 any case, whoever m.iy have lieen her fatiier, when she 
 grew up she married Mr. IMiilij* "Ward, and the {gentleman 
 now deceased was her eldest Hon. He was educalcd at 
 Pemhroke College, Caiiil)rid;,'e, where he t<Kik his Hachclni's 
 de{.;rpe in 1817. Li the following year he was ordaintMl 
 Deacon, and admitted into I'ricst's Orders in IHI'.*. Hf 
 was {)referred in 1853 to the Rectory of Radstock, tlw 
 late Lady Waldegravc at that time being patron of the 
 living.' 
 
 vol. i C
 
 24 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 Every • statement of fact ' in this obitnary note is 
 accurate. Moreover, it cannot be questioned that, 
 -whilst speaking of the Rev. Horatio Nelson Ward as a 
 grandson of Lady Hamilton, the writer of the notice 
 was fully justified by circumstances in feeling doubt- 
 ful whether the clergyman teas Nelson's grandson. 
 For myself, whilst 1 am in a position to put it beyond 
 doubt that Horatia was Lady Hamilton's daughter, 
 and that Nelson believed Horatia to be his own 
 offspring, I have not the slightest doubt Horatia was 
 what he believed her to be. I conceive that no one 
 familiar with Nelson's portraits who ever had oppor- 
 tunity for scanning the countenance of one of 
 Horatia's sons, Avhen his resemblance to the Admiral 
 was even more striking than it became in later 
 time, can be in the shghtest degree doubtful on this 
 last point. I have no doubt that Horatia's children 
 were Nelson's grand-children. But, Lady Hamilton 
 having been the kind of woman she was, the writer 
 of the obituary notice, if be were unaware how 
 closely one of Horatia's sons resembled the naval 
 hero, may well have been doubtful whether Horatia's 
 son was indeed the Admiral's grandson. Feeling 
 doubtful on the point, the journalist was right in 
 expressing the doubt. But the reasonableness of the 
 journalist's doubt failed to render his suggestion 
 otherwise than distasteful to Horatia's descendant — 
 ' H. H. E. N.-W.' 
 
 Reasonably proud of her descent from Nelson, 
 Horatia was more than slightly reluctant to acknow- 
 ledge her descent from the lady whom Mr. Paget, 
 the well-known Blackwood essayist, notwithstanding
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 25" 
 
 her several slips and irregularities, has recently com- 
 pared with Judith and Joan of Arc. Horatia was so 
 sensitive about her alleged descent from the whilom 
 Amy Lyon, as to have been at considerable paius to 
 persuade her acquaintances that she was the daughter 
 of some other woman. The imputation that troubled 
 H oratia is distasteful to ' II. H. E. N.-W.' Hence the 
 displeasure at the obituary notice, which declared 
 Horatia's children to be Emma Hamilton's descend- 
 ants, and at the same time expressed a doubt whether 
 they were Nelson's descendants ; — displeasure that 
 found expression in the following letter to the Editor 
 of T/ie Times, which submitted the sentiment of 
 private individuals to puljlic consideration and to 
 
 public criticism : 
 
 'Radstock, Bath, l\rarch 23rd, 1888. 
 
 'I was astonished to read in tlie obituary column of 2'/ic 
 Times of to-day regarding the death of tiie Kev. Horatio 
 Nelson Nelson-Ward the following sentence, — "His mother 
 was the Little Horatia whom Loi'd Nelson l)C(|U('atlu'd to 
 the nation, whether she was his natural daughter hy Kmma 
 L;idy Hamilton, oi- the daughter <if Jjady Hamilton by one 
 of her otiicr admirers, and his a<loj)tfd child." As to the 
 first of these theories, I am Iteyond measure astonisheil that 
 it should be again offered to the world, in spite of the solemn 
 statement ma<Ie by Mr. Hazlirwood (L)rd Ntdson's most 
 intimate associate and conlideiitial adviser) to Horatia that 
 he was permitted at any late to assure her " that she certainly 
 did not owe her being to Lidy Ilamillon." This was the 
 only satisfaction whirh Hor.itia's p.iasionate ap|)fal produced 
 from i\Ir. HazIewKxl, KoimkI as ho was l)y oath to secrecy. 
 Apart from this. Lady Hamilton herself never claimed to ijc 
 the mother of the chiM ; in f.icl. she left behind her in 
 writing an emphatic dinial of her right, to the relationship, 
 and the frcrpient unkinrlncss .she displayed towards Horatia 
 in her latter years woulil not lead «)nc to bestow it gratui- 
 tously upon her. As to the curiotig suggestion th.it .^^he was
 
 26 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 '• the daughter of Lady Hamilton by one of her other ad- 
 mirers," I cannot tliink it is necessary now to discover fresh 
 and unreasonaltle possiliilities. That Lord Nelson would 
 have styled himself " Your ever loving father," or would 
 have made provision for her at his death, or have, beyond 
 all, desired by will that Horatia should marry his nephew, 
 the son of his brother, and heir-apparent to his titles after 
 his death, is absurd and incrcdil)le, had her father been an 
 imknown admirer of Lady Hamilton. It is a question which 
 can never be settled with any cerUiinty, but it is of interest 
 that not one of Lord Nelson's relatives of that time for one 
 uioment accepted Lady Hamilton in the light of mother to 
 the child. The latter has left it on record that " Horatia's 
 mother was too great to be even mentioned " ; and I think it 
 •would be as well to leave it so. 
 
 'Yours, etc., H. H. E. N.-W.' 
 
 Having published the aforegiven letter on March 
 29th, 1888, the Editor of The Times, on April 5th, 
 1888, inserted in one of his columns this brief note : 
 
 The 'Little Horatia.'— Mr. E. Walford writes : 'Before 
 ■writing positively on this matter, about which so much mys- 
 tery hangs, H. H. E. N.-W. would have done well to refer 
 to Mr. .leaffreson's new Avork on "Lady Hamilton and Lord 
 Nelson," vol. 2, chapter 10, and especially pp. 220-225. 
 Those Avho doubt the parentage of " Little Horatia" as the 
 child not only of Lady Hamilton, but of Lord Nelson as 
 well, nmst find great difficulty in explaining away the fol- 
 lowing letter from Lord Nelson to his beloved Emma, dated 
 March 1, 1801, which they will find there in extenso: — 
 " Now, my own dear Avife — for such you are in my eyes, and 
 in the face of Heaven — I can give full scope to my feelings 
 .... You know, my dearest Emma, that there is nothing 
 in the world I would not do for us to live together and to 
 have otir dear little child with us .... I nev'er had a dear 
 pledge of love till you gave me one .... Kiss and bless 
 our dear Horatia." (The italics in the first case are mine: 
 in the other they are given to Nelson himself by Mr. JeafTre- 
 son.) Mr. Jeaffreson adds a foot-note, showing that he by 
 no means accepts Mr. Hazlewood's assertion about the " little
 
 AXD LOUD yELSOX. 27 
 
 Horatia" as final ; but he is strongly of opinion that she was 
 born on the 29th, 30th, or 31st of January, 1801, at No. 23, 
 Piccadilly, where he shows that Lady Hamilton was confined 
 at that date. About her being Lady Hamilton's child, 
 therefore, Mr. Jeaflreson has not the smallest doubt, neither 
 have r, for surely the mystification in which Nelson indulged 
 on the subject is sufficiently accounted for by the fact that 
 at this time Sir "William, Lady Hamilton's legal husband, 
 was still alive.' 
 
 In due course the reader will conic in this work on 
 absolutely conclusive proofs of all the more import- 
 ant statements I am about to make in this chapter, in 
 order to dispose of 'H. H. E. N.-W.'s ' protest against 
 the imaginary errors of the quite accurate and wholly 
 justifiable Times notice. 
 
 ' If. U. E. N.-W.'s' letter contains several minute 
 errors, such as the mis-spelling of I\Ir. Ilaslewood's 
 name, the statement that Mr. liaslewood was 'bound 
 .... by oath to secrecy,' and the insertion of ' even ' 
 between * be ' and ' mentioned ' in his brief quotation 
 of a part of Emma Hamilton's vile slander on the 
 Queen of Naples ; but of sucli slips I will take no 
 further notice. 
 
 T/ie Times journalist never questioned whetiicr 
 Nelson believed liimself to ])v, lioratia's father, but 
 merely intimated a doubt whether Nelson had KufTi- 
 cieut grounds for the belief. Nelson's benefactions to 
 Horatia and design for her marriage Avith hiw nejtiiew 
 are of course part of the large mass of testimony 
 that he believed himself to be her father ; but they do 
 not prove ho icfis her father. (Jonsequently they make 
 nothing against the journalist's suggestion that 
 Horatia may have been some other man's daughter.
 
 28 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 The journalist was of course no less cognizant than 
 « fi. H. E. N.-W; of Nelson's firm belief that Horatia 
 ■was his oflTspriug. 
 
 ' II. li. E. N.-W.' is greatly at fault in supposing 
 that Mr. Ilaslowood was Nelson's ' most intimate 
 associate and confidential adviser.' William Hasle- 
 wood, whilom of Craven Street, Strand, was a solicitor 
 whom Nelson used to employ in some of his legal 
 affairs, once in a while invited to his table, and chose 
 for one of the executors of his last will and testament. 
 But there was no such intimacy between the Admiral 
 and the lawyer as ' li. H. E. N.-W.' imagines, and 
 several other individuals have represented. As Nel- 
 son's lawyer, or rather as one of his lawyers, Mr. 
 William Haslewood was of course in his client's con- 
 fidence in respect to such affairs of business as the 
 Admiral committed to his professional care. But this 
 was the whole extent of the mutual confidence that 
 has been exaggerated so fancifully. The severely 
 respectful terms in which Mr. Haslewood used to 
 address Nelson are sufficient evidence that the rela- 
 tion of the lawyer to the Admiral was no such inti- 
 macy as people have been asked in recent time to 
 think it. As Nelson introduced the lawyer to mem- 
 bers of the Nelson family, and sometimes entertained 
 him hospitaljly, Mr. Haslewood was no doubt justi- 
 fied in speaking of the Admiral as his friend ; but the 
 friendship was never much more than the acquaint- 
 anceship of two individuals, differing greatly in 
 pursuits, tastes, and social quality. 
 
 As he grew to be an old man, Mr. Haslewood found 
 pleasure in imagining and saying that he had been
 
 AND LORD XELSOX. 29 
 
 the close and especially coiifideutial friend of his 
 client, the celebrated Lord Nelson. In course of time 
 Mr. Haslewood believed and said, that he knew the 
 true story of Iloratia's parentage, and could state who 
 was really her mother, were it not for the obligation 
 of honour, which rendered it impossible for him to 
 divulge so delicate and sacred a secret. When he 
 first talked in this strain, I cannot say ; but it is certain 
 he talked to this effect, and found people to believe 
 him — at least, as early as 1846. By that time the 
 lawyer, who had been Nelson's solicitor in the last 
 century, was an old man. In or possibly a little before 
 1846, when Nelson had been dead for forty years, this 
 aged solicitor addressed Sir Harris Nicolas in tenns 
 wliich caused the careful editor of Nelson's 'Dis- 
 patches and Letters' to write in his memoir of lloratia 
 Nelson Thomson (vide, ' Dispatches and Letters,' vol. 
 vii, p. 869), 'It has been generally supposed that slie' 
 (i.e., lloratia) 'was tlie daughter of Lord Nelson by 
 Lady Ilamiltiju ; but although maiiy facts are calcu- 
 lated to raise such a presumption, tlie editor is 
 authorized by Mr. Ilaslewood, long the confidential 
 friend and professional adviser of Lord Nelson, to 
 declare in the most positive; maimer tliat Lady Hamil- 
 ton was not the motJier. The name of th(! mot hi t is 
 known to ]\Ir. Ilaslewood; but lie is prevented by a 
 sense of honour from disclosing if.' Thus much and 
 no juore from Sir Harris Nicohis. As Mr. Ilaslewood 
 was an honest and most worthy gentleman, read(!rH 
 may be sure that wliatcver Ik; said to Sir Harris 
 Nicolas was spoken in good faitli. Wliolly mistaken, 
 the old lawyer was wholly lionest in the business.
 
 80 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 Something later, ia answer to a letter ho had re- 
 ceived from Horatia,then searching for evidence that 
 she was not Lady Hamilton's daughter, Mr. Haslewood 
 wrote the following note (transfeiTed to this page from 
 ' Blackwood's Magazine ' for May, '88), which affords 
 pathetic indications of the writer's debility : 
 
 ' Brighton, 2Cth Sept., 184G. 
 ' My dear Madam, 
 
 ' I dare not write so fully as I could wish 
 on the topics referred to in your kind letter of the 23rd, lest 
 the secret which I am bound to keep should be rendered too 
 transparent. Thus much only may be said without incurring 
 such risk. Your mother was well acquainted with Lady 
 Hamilton, and saw you often during your infancy ; but soon 
 after her marriage she went to reside at a considerable dis- 
 tance from London, which or never visited afterwards. 
 
 'Lamenting that I cannot be more communicative, T 
 remain always, my dear madam, faithfully yours, 
 
 'Wm. Haslewood.' 
 
 Observe the incoherence of the closing words of this 
 short note's principal paragraph, — ' but soon after her 
 marriage she went to reside at a considerable distance 
 from London, which or never visited afterwards !' The 
 "worthy old gentleman, doubtless, meant to write: 
 ' which she rarely or never visited afterwards,' when 
 his brain became too weak to direct his hand rightly, 
 or his hand too weak to obey his brain, and his mind 
 and sight too feeble and dim to notice what a nmddle 
 he had made of so brief a letter. ' Your mother was; 
 well acquainted with Lady Hamilton, and saw you 
 often during your infancy.' Regard and meditate 
 on these words, which remind one of the singular inti- 
 macy that existed in Horatia's infancy between Lady 
 Hamilton and Mrs. Thomson, who were one and the
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 31 
 
 same person. Mrs. Thomson was extremely intimate 
 ■with Lady Hamilton, Avho was continually seeing 
 and doing Mrs. Thomson good services, — at a time, 
 be it observed, when Mrs. Thomson alias Lady 
 Hamilton was looking forward to a speedy marriage 
 with Mr. Thomson alias Nelson, — a marriage that 
 was to be followed by the Thomsons' speedy retire- 
 ment from London. 
 
 There were two sets of 'Thomson letters' — A, 
 those that were published for the first time by Petti- 
 grew in his ' Life of Nelson ' (1849), and B, the notes 
 Avliich Sir Harris Nicolas had published in 184^*, 
 shortly before ]\Ir. Ilaslcwood wrote the feeble scrap 
 of a letter to Mrs. Ward. Mr. Haslewood had pro- 
 bably seen both A and B before iSeptember, 1840. 
 One of tlie witnesses of Emma Hamilton's last will 
 and testament, he had probably seen A when they 
 were in her keeping. The B lot he had doubtless 
 perused recently in Sir Harris Nicolas's printed pages. 
 Moreover, whilst it is not at all probable that Nelson 
 spoke to him truly of his secret relation lo Lady 
 Hamilton, it is highly probable lli.if tlio solicitor was 
 one of the many persons whom Nelson and Lady 
 Hamilton mystified with the 'Thomson iictioiis' 
 and 'the Blind.' Anyhow, the infliK^nce of the 
 ' Thomson fictions ' is clearly disceruible in the old 
 man's letters to Mrs. Ward. What more remains lo 
 be said on this point I shall say towartls the close of 
 the second volume of this work. Enough for the 
 present that readers should observe the feebleuesH of 
 this poor scrap f)f letter, and remark how ]\Ir. Paget 
 (i'u/<", ' Blackwood's Magazine' for May, 1888) pro-
 
 32 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 duces it gravely as a piece of evidence that Lady 
 Hamilton was 7iot Horatia's mother. 
 
 As I am in a position to prove, and in due course 
 shall prove up to the hilt, that Emma Hamilton was 
 Horatia's mother, it is certain that Mr. Haslewood 
 was wholly wrong in declaring Horatia to be the daugh- 
 ter of another woman. If Mr. Haslewood made that 
 statement in good faith, he knew nothing whatever 
 about Horatia's maternal parentage. If he knew the 
 truth of her maternal parentage, he was guilty of 
 untruth in declaring her the child of some other 
 woman than Lady Hamilton. In respect to that 
 statement, he was either wholly mistaken, or wholly 
 false, or one of those witnesses who give false evi- 
 dence partly from misconception and partly from 
 deceitful purpose. 
 
 ' H. H. E. N.-^Y.' says in his letter to The Times, 
 ' Lady Hamilton never claimed to be the mother of 
 the child.' On this point he is quite mistaken. 
 Though she on countless occasions and to many per- 
 sons denied that she was the child's mother, Emma 
 Hamilton repeatedly admitted she was one of Horatia's 
 parents. The denials were made to deceive the 
 many persons whom she dared not or could not afford 
 to enlighten. The admissions were made to persons 
 to whom she could safely speak the truth. Having 
 produced in my former book passages from a letter, 
 in which Nelson spoke of her and liimself as the 
 child's parents, I shall in due course produce a 
 letter, written by Lady Hamilton to Nelson, in which 
 she spoke of herself and him as the child's parents. I 
 shall also produce another letter of unimpeachable
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 33 
 
 authenticity, addressed by Lady Hamilton to Horatia, 
 in Avhicli the wiiter declared herself the child's 
 mother. 
 
 ' H. H. E. N.-W. ' may be assured that 1 take no 
 malicious pleasure in calling public attention to facts, 
 which he wishes the world to forget or to reject 
 as idle fictions. Were no historic interests affected 
 by the truth and falsehood of the affair, I shoidd 
 forbear to vex him with more words about Horatia's 
 maternal parentage. But tenderness for the feehugs 
 of Emma Hamilton's descendants may not be allowed 
 to check the course of historic justice to Nelson and 
 Maria Caroline of Naples. 
 
 VOL. 1. i>
 
 34 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 MONSIEUR GAGXIERE'S BOOK. 
 
 Whore-opened the Nelsonian Controversies? — Monsieur Gagniere's 
 Researches at The British Museum — Maria Caroline's Letters 
 to Emma Hamilton — Dr. Pettigrcw's Translations of those 
 Letters — Viscount Valentia's ' Private Journal of the Affairs 
 of Sicily, 1811 and 1812' — Errors in M. Gagnicre's first 
 Chapter — ^I. Gagniere's Mistranslations into French of 
 Lord Valentia's English — His Account of Emma Hamilton's 
 earlier Years — His Statement that She came for the first 
 Time to Naples, 'in 1791' — His Statement that she was 
 Pitt's Prottqee and Spy — His scandalous Description of 
 !Maria Caroline's Intimacy with Emma Hamilton — Fourteen 
 Errors of Fact in a single Passage of Colletta's Book — 
 General Colletta's Ignorance and Honesty — Feminine Purity 
 of Maria Caroline's Letters to EmmaHamilton — M.Gagniere's 
 Way of dealing with this Evidence — An Example of ]\L 
 Gagniere's Fairness to two dead Women — His Abuse of 
 Nelson. 
 
 Some of the most thoughtful and judicious critics of 
 ' Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson ' having questioned 
 whether I did wisely to re-open the various Nelsonian 
 controversies, and also whether any good could 
 result at this distance of time from a re-consideration 
 of the many painful circumstances of her not edifying 
 career, it is well for me to make it clear that it was 
 not I M'ho re-opened the controversies, and also to 
 show that history needed the account of the adven- 
 turess, Avhich proves her to have been only a sub- 
 ordinate agent and mere instrument, instead of a chief
 
 AND LORD NELSOX. 35 
 
 coutrolling power, of the political dramas in which 
 she played so strange and interesting a part. 
 
 The controversies were re-opened in a book that 
 was concocted some three or four years since at the 
 British Museum by Monsieur A. Gagniere, a French- 
 man of whom I will do my best to write with judicial 
 fairness. 
 
 Getting access to the reading-rooms of the British 
 Museum, this gentleman spent some time there in 
 perusing and copying certain letters written by Maria 
 Caroline of Naples to Emma Hamilton, in studying 
 and making a few brief extracts from an interesting 
 M.S. volume, entitled, ' Viscount Valentia's Private 
 Journal of the Affairs of Sicily, 1811-12,'and in perus- 
 ing such printed books as the scandalous ' Memoirs 
 of Lady Hamilton' (181G), the 'Letters of Lord 
 Nelson to Lady Hamilton ' (1814), and the ' Reminis- 
 cences of Henry Angelo ' (] 828-30), which last-named 
 book sets forth certain alleged incidents of Lady 
 Ilamiltcm's earlier time, which the superannuated 
 fencing-master imagined himself to remember, but 
 certainly did not rememhcr* to the discredit of u 
 woman, on whom he probably never set eyes. 
 
 I am not aware that 'Viscount Valentia's Private 
 Journal of the Affairs of Sicily, 1811-1812,'— from 
 which Monsieur Gagniere took a few passages — has 
 been printed; but most of the 'Letters from the 
 Queen of Naples to Emma Hamilton' have been 
 
 • Readers who wouM ascertain with the least posKiblc trouble 
 the evidential wortldcsHiiesa of tlie tnwh written by old Ilcnry 
 Au^'flo about Euiuiu Hamilton hIiouM refer to tlic Athcnxutri, 
 No. 313J and No. 3134, U'th aud 19th of Nov., 1887. 
 
 1) 2
 
 86 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 in the hands of Enghsh readers for just forty years. 
 In England they have been known to bookish people 
 ever since the English translations of the epistles 
 appeared in Dr. Pcttigrew's ' Life of Nelson,' (1849). 
 In the hands of the Messrs. T. and W. Boone 
 and Dr. Pettigrew when the late publishers of 29, 
 New Bond Street engaged the doctor to write 
 the ' Life of Nelson,' the queen's letters, at some 
 time after the pul)lication of that work, became 
 part of the Egerton MSS. in the British Museum. 
 These particulars are given in order that readers 
 may see in wliat degree Monsieur Gagniere was 
 justified in representing to his fellow-countrymen 
 that the letters (of which his book is chiefly com- 
 posed) were bought by the British Museum soon 
 after Emma Hamilton's death, and that the collection 
 of precious documents liad lain buried amongst the 
 Museum MSS. for seventy years ('enfouie depuis 
 soixante-dix ans dans les cartons du British Museum '). 
 Monsieur Gagniere stops short of declaring himself 
 the actual discoverer of the letters. But he states 
 most precisely that the British Museum acquired 
 them at Lady Hamilton's death, which occurred in 
 January, 1815, and that they lay buried in the 
 British Museum for seventy years, z.e., till 1885, in 
 which last-named year he came upon them, and was 
 working upon them in London. Consequently, if 
 he did not himself bring them to the light, he was 
 all but present at their discovery. All this of the 
 collection of letters, which Dr. Pettigi-ew used, and 
 most of which he published forty years since, in 
 his * Life of Nelson !' Clearly Monsieur Gagniere is
 
 A^W LORD NELSON. 37 
 
 not a man to undervalue his services to liturature,* 
 nor likely to miss celebrity through hiding his light 
 under a bushel. 
 
 ^Vithdrawing from the British Museum Avith his 
 transcripts of the recently-discovered letters, Mon- 
 sieur Gagniere lost no time in publishing his book 
 ' La Reine Marie-Caroline de Naples d'aprcs des docu- 
 ments nouveaux,' which, on the fly-leaf, is described 
 by the more ample title, 'La Reine Marie-Caroline 
 de Naples, Lady Hamilton et Nelson.' The exact 
 date of the publication of this work I do not know ; 
 but my copy of the second edition is dated 1880, 
 whereas my ' Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson ' 
 appeared in the autumn of 1887. Dressed and flav- 
 oured for the Parisian palate, ]\Ionsieur Gagniere's 
 compilation tickled the taste of the French people, 
 and, notwithstanding its calumnies on Nelson, has 
 found readers on this side the channel. 
 
 Monsieur Gagniere, or at least his English readers, 
 may be cougi-atulated on his inaccuracy, for some 
 of his blunders are extremely diverting. Tlie French- 
 man who confounds the Grevilles with the Ncvills, 
 and tells the world that the present Earl <jf Warwick 
 
 • Instead of beirif,' lost amoiiK tlio arcliivcs of tlip Hritisb 
 Muaeunj, the collection has been accessible to Ktudeuta from a 
 flay following closely upon its transference to tlic Kgcrton MSS. 
 From tlie collection, as it was in IKIO, rctti^rew took nomc 
 fiy///^ letters, including tlie notcB by Maria ("anilinoH children. 
 From th(! Kanie collection, aa it is at the jirescnt time, Monsieur 
 Gagniere has taken /or<_v-f '.7/'' •'•t'tcrH. Of the /orti/-cif/lil letters 
 by Maria (Caroline, cc't forth in Monsieur (Jagnierc'H pages, 
 Ihirlif-tcvcn afipcar in T'cttigrcw's vnlumes ; and these thirly-s(!ven 
 letters comprise all the more important of the cpislles on which 
 Monsieur (iagnicre bases his new indictment of Maria Caroline. 
 So much for the newness of Monsieur Gagniere's documents !
 
 38 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 is a lineal descendant of tho iSfteentli century ' king- 
 maker,' may be said to have distinguished himself. 
 'L'honorable Charles Greville descendait du grand 
 AVarwick, le faiseur de rois,' Monsieur Gagiiiero 
 remarks with fehcitous infelicity. After marking and 
 counting twenty-nine errors of fact in Monsieur 
 Gagniere's opening chapter of less than fourteen 
 pages, I ceased to count his blunders. Something 
 should also be said of the inaccuracy with which 
 this unfortunate French gentleman has translated 
 into French certain passages of ' Lord Valentia's 
 Private Journal of the Affairs of Sicily, 1811-12.' 
 Lord Valentia's account of Maria Caroline in 1811, 
 when she had survived her personal charms and finest 
 moral graces, and had fallen from Enghsh favour, 
 is sufficiently painful ; but the English nobleman 
 is much less severe upon her than the translator 
 represents : 
 
 Lord Valentias Journal Monsieur Gagnieres 
 
 1811-12. Translation. 
 
 ' The strange accounts that ' Les etranges relations qui 
 
 I have received of the Queen m'ont etc faites sur le compte 
 
 have been more than con- de la reine, m'ont e'te plus que 
 
 firmed to me by Lord and con6rmees par Lord Amherst 
 
 Lady Amherst, and the pre- et sa femme. Le miserable 
 
 sent critical state to which etat actuel de la Sicile est du 
 
 Sicily is reduced may be aux folies et aux violences de 
 
 entirely attributed to her folly son caractere. Scs vices aont 
 
 and violence of temper, — her innomhrables.^ 
 vices are by far less detrimental.^ 
 
 A strongly prejudiced witness against tho queen, 
 Lord Valentin, speaks of Maria Carohne's vices, but 
 forbears to declare them innumerable.
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 
 
 39 
 
 Contrasting the sadly deteriorated woman, as she 
 appeared to him in her sixtieth year, with what she 
 was in her youth and lovehness at Naples, Lord 
 Valentia uses words that are curiously misreudered 
 by his translator : 
 
 Monsieur Gagnierc's 
 Translation. 
 
 ' Tel est I'exemple que nous 
 fournit Marie-Caroline, la 
 fille de I'illustre Marie- 
 Therese. Elle se croit tou- 
 jours estimee et respectee 
 comme la belle reine de 
 Naples, alors que s'il lui pre- 
 nait fantaisie de se regarder 
 au miroir, elle verrait une 
 vieille sorciere ridee, sexu- 
 genaire. Jeune, elle liniitait 
 ses vices aux seules passions 
 qui la dominaicnt, au dc'sir 
 de rendrc les autres aussi 
 heureux qu'elle croyait etre 
 heureuse cllc-mumc ; a pn-- 
 sent, olle est tombee dans 
 tons les d<?reglements, ivrc 
 d'opium, couvertc du sang 
 de scs sujets. Qui aurait pu 
 predirc (lu'cllc dut <lcvenir cc 
 qu'elle est aujourd'liui?' 
 
 Cue more example of MouKieur Gaguiere's faculty 
 for mistraiislatinir : 
 
 Lord Valentia s Journal, 
 1811-12. 
 
 ' Such was the fate of Maria 
 Carolina, the daughter of the 
 illustrious Maria Theresa. 
 When honoured and respect- 
 ed as La belle reine de Naples, 
 she probably would have re- 
 coiled at the picture of a 
 withered hag of sixty, in- 
 dulging in promiscuous de- 
 bauchery, drunk with opium, 
 and stained with the blood of 
 her subjects. She probably 
 then limited her vices to the 
 indulgence of her personal 
 passions, wished to make 
 others a-i happy as she fancied 
 herself, and would have con- 
 sidered the being as frantic 
 who would have told her that 
 Buch she would be.' 
 
 Lord Valfintia'n Journal, 
 1«1I-12. 
 
 She receives every niorn- 
 300 ounces in 8[)ecie, 
 which is expendetl in the 
 
 ing 
 
 Monsieur Gagnieres 
 Translation. 
 
 ' L'indcmnitf- do 8<'jour 
 payee aux refugies napoli- 
 tains 8C munte k quinze mille
 
 40 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 course of the day on her spies trois cents francs par jour ; 
 
 and private agents, and the somme presque egale a la 
 
 allowances to her Neapoli- solde de toutc la flotte an- 
 
 tan refugees amount to 1200 glaise. Cette profusion, ce 
 
 ounces per day, — amounting gaspillage insense ont ruine 
 
 together to £342,984, a sum les finances, ont fait suspendre 
 
 nearly equal to the British la paye de I'armc'e depuis 
 
 subsidy. This profuse and plusicurs mois, en sorte que les 
 
 useless expenditure has ruined soldats, sur lesquels la reine 
 
 the finances, has caused the compte, sont tres mecontents 
 
 pay of the army to be some et a la merci du premier 
 
 months in arrear, so that even acheteur. Ce qui arrivera tot 
 
 this body on which she de- ou tard.' 
 pended are become dissatis- 
 fied, and are at the command 
 of the first purchaser, — but 
 more of this hereafter.^ 
 
 Of course, Monsieur Gagniere represents that 
 Emma Hamilton was largely accountable for Maria 
 Caroline's policy and action towards the Neapolitans 
 from 1793 to 1800, that, instead of being Maria Caro- 
 line's mere instrument, she did her pleasure with the 
 imperious queen by ministering to her passions and 
 propensities, and that she charmed Nelson into com- 
 mitting the enormous crimes of which he was charged 
 by iSouthey and Alison. Unaware that she began 
 her long sojourn at Naples in April, 1786, Monsieur 
 Gagniere represents that she never set foot in the 
 lovely capital till October, 1791. Unaware that a 
 period of nearly ten whole years intervened between ' 
 her brief passage of ' wildness ' and the October of 
 1791, — years which she spent in sobriety and refining 
 pursuits, and during which she was so completely 
 reclaimed from the vicious irregularities of her girl- 
 hood as to be a virtuous woman, in so far as that
 
 AXD LORD XELSON. 41 
 
 term maybe accorded to a loyal ' mistress ' — Mousiem- 
 Gagniere represents that, from her seveuteeuth year 
 even to the autumn of 1791, she was a shameless 
 wanton. According to this misinformed Frenchman, 
 she was by turns a nude model in the studios and a 
 girl of the pavement, and, after rising to be Mr. 
 Greville's mistress, cherished all the impure tastes 
 and persisted in all the vicious habits which she had 
 acquired, whilst following with a light heart the some- 
 what lower calling of a common courtesan. Dissolute 
 and saucy, overflowing with flippancy and coarse 
 badinage, though still a fascinating creature, in the 
 worst sense of the epithet, she had, according to this 
 same witness, lost her girlish elegance, and grown no 
 less fat than noisy, before she solicited and won Sir 
 William Hamilton's admiration. Extortiug a promise 
 of marriage from her mature idolater, this compound 
 <jf Moll Flanders and Venus Callipegia hastened with 
 liim from the London church where they were mar- 
 ried to the Italian capital, where she quickly became 
 the familiar and darling friend of a proud and over- 
 bearing queen. The most noteworthy feature of 
 Monsieur Gagniere's romance is his representation 
 that this courtesan of the Lftndon taverns had never 
 stayed or faltered for a moment in her long career 
 of the grossest profligacy, when she went straight 
 from England to the presence of Maria Caroline, who 
 at once received her with open arms. 
 
 The Parisians learnt from ]\I(jnsieur Gagnitre that 
 Emma was indebted for her first reception l)y Maria 
 Caroline to I'itt, who moved Her l\Ia)eHty'K niiuiHter, 
 General Acton ('Lord' Acton, as .Monsieur Gagniirc
 
 42 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 styles Lira), to induce the Queen of Naples to receive 
 the lady whom our Queen Cliarlotte had refused to 
 admit to her presence. This is not all that Monsieur 
 Gagniere tells about this delicate affair. In return for 
 Pitt's help, Emma Hamilton became a spy at the Nea- 
 politan court, and acted in that capacity from 1792 to 
 1800, sending the famous statesman all the secrets of 
 Italy, and thereby doing the French more than one 
 unfriendly turn. ' En echange de I'appui de Pitt,' 
 says Monsieur Gagniere, with delightful gravity, 
 ' I'ambassadrice devint son espion ; de '92 a 1800, 
 elle livra h I'Angleterre tous les secrets de I'ltalie, 
 parfois ceux de I'Espagne. Elle eut par la sur nos 
 affaires la plus siuistre influence.' 
 
 i\Ionsicur Gagniere omits to say how Pitt came 
 to think so notorious a courtesan (as the French 
 litterateur styles her), with a quick temper and a 
 reckless tongue, and of course unfamihar with the 
 Itahan language (as, according to Monsieur Gagniere, 
 she had passed all her life in Great Britain), would 
 prove a discreet and efficient spy at Naples. But 
 this is a point that may be dropped. I will not labour 
 it. By this time Monsieur Gagniere has learnt that 
 in October, 1791, Emma Hamilton had lived more 
 than five years at Naples, and that the Queen of 
 Naples had long regarded her favourably. 
 
 We are assured by Monsieur Gagniere that, at the 
 first audience she accorded the adventuress, Maria 
 Caroline was so fascinated by the fat and audacious 
 Beauty, as to throw away queenly reserve and sur- 
 render herself at once to the strange enchantress. 
 Henceforth the two women became inseparable asso-
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 4S 
 
 ciates for reasons which cause ]\IoDsieur Gagniere to 
 declare indignantly that no comparison can be made 
 between Marie-Antoinette's passionate affection for 
 Madame de Laraballe and Madame de Polignac, and 
 Maria Caroline's scandalous passion for Lady Hamil- 
 ton. 'Nulle comparaison,' exclaims the indignant 
 chronicler, ' entre I'affectiou passionnee de Marie- 
 Antoinette pour mesdames de Lamballe et de Polignac, 
 avec la passion scandaleuse de sa soeur Marie-Caroline 
 pour lady Hamilton. Non, nulle comparaison, malgr6 
 les pamphlets empoisonnes des libellistes du comte 
 de Provence coutre sa belle-soeur. Marie-Caroline 
 afficha sa nouvelle conquete avec un cj^nisme incroy- 
 able. Emma rcgna, sans conteste, sur I'Etat, la reiue, 
 la chambre a, coucher, le lit royal. Tout pliait a ses 
 ordres.' This is sufficiently plain speech. But to 
 make his meaning manifest to the dullest reader 
 Monsieur Gagniere appends a note, in which ho 
 refers to Colletta as an authority for the revolting- 
 suggestion. 
 
 Let us see what General Colletta says. Here is the 
 passage to whif;h Monsieur Gagniere refers, as il jqi- 
 pcars in Horner's translation of the ' Storia di Napoli ': 
 
 ' When the hciv) of Aboukir arrived from Kgypt, lie was 
 captivatcfl by the chaniis of Lady ir.iiiiillon. Her name 
 was ori;,MnalIy Kmiua ' Lyon, tlie daii^litf-r of a poor woman, 
 and her J'dthcr unknown^ ♦ wliile she herself was in so low a 
 condition of life, thdt ichethcr boi^ in Wales or Knglaiid, ia 
 uncertain.^ She ^'rew up rxtrcmoly l)eautifiil, but ii-ithout 
 frienils, * poor and a vtf/rdiit ; '■' her niorals had been cor- 
 rupted before she attained her sixteenth ycnr, when " her beauty 
 atfraofcd the notice of several artist.s, arnl TJf)iniiey tlie 
 painter represented her in various niytholo;;ical ami historical 
 character?. Charles Greville, of the noble family of War-
 
 4i THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 wick, fascinated u'ith the beauti/ of the ivoman under these 
 celestial or fabulous characters,'^ fell in love with her; and 
 when sunk from a high position and fortune, sent Emma to 
 his uncle. Sir William Hamilton in Naples, to ask for assist- 
 ance in money, ^ and for his leave to marry her ; ^ the uncle 
 paid his nepheiv's debts, ^'^ but refused his last 7'equest ; ^^ and, 
 in 1791, married her himseU tmder the name of 3Iiss Ilarte; ^^ 
 when Emma Lyon, now the ambassadress, forgetting her 
 origin and early career, assumed a new deportment, and sus- 
 tained her present position, as if she had been accustomed to 
 it from birth. When Lord Nelson became madly fascinated 
 by her charms, the artful Queen of Naples (who until then 
 had treated Lady Hamilton with the disdain ^^ of a queen 
 towards an adventuress) changed her haughty tone, ^* and, 
 seeing the use she might make of her at some future time, 
 attached her to herself by the strong fetters of vanity ; in 
 the palace, in the theatre, and in public promenades, Emma 
 was always beside the queen ; and often in the privacy of 
 the palace, they dined and slept together,' 
 
 The words printed in italics are so printed, in 
 order that the reader may the more readily refer to 
 the fourteen errors of fact in this passage. (1) Emma 
 Hamilton's original name was Amy Lyon. (2) Her 
 father was not unknown in his decent domestic circle 
 and immediate neighbourhood ; — he was the black- 
 smith of Denhall in Great Neston, co. Chester. (3) It 
 is not uncertain whether she was born in England or 
 Wales. (4j She did not grow up without friends, 
 for she had good friends in the Thomases of Ha warden, 
 who protected her in childhood and were her friends 
 after Nelson's death. (5) She never was 'a vagrant' 
 in the sense assigned to the word by Colletta. (6) 
 Romney was not attracted to her in her sixteenth 
 year ; she was at least in her nineteenth or twentieth 
 year, when he first saw her. (7) Charles Greville 
 was not in the first instance fascinated by her beauty
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 45 
 
 through Romney's portraits of her ; — she was living 
 with Charles Greville before Romney set eyes upon 
 her for the first time. (8) Charles Greville never 
 sent her to ask Sir William Hamilton for money, nor 
 (9) did he ever send her to ask Sir William Hamilton 
 for his consent to their marriage. (10) Sir William 
 Hamilton did not, in the usual sense of the term, pay 
 his nephew's debts. (11) Sir William never refused 
 his consent to her marriage with his nephew, for the 
 simple reason that the consent was never sought. 
 (12) Sir WilHam did not marry her under the name 
 of Miss Harte ; he married her under the name of 
 Amy Lyon. (13) The Queen of Naples did not treat 
 Emma Hamilton -with disdain, till Ntlson was fasci- 
 nated by her charms after his return from Egypt. 
 On the contrary, the Queen had treated her with 
 singular favour for almost two years Avhcn Nelson saw 
 the Beauty for the fii'st time ; and at the date of 
 Nelsnn's return from Egypt Maria Caroline had lived 
 in intimacy witli Emma Hamilton for just upon six 
 years. (14) The Queen never changed her hauglity 
 tone towards Emma, becauBC Her Majesty had never 
 treated her haughtily. 
 
 Enough has been said to show that a thing is not 
 necessarily true because General (Jolletta said i(. 
 Still r am far from thinking disdainfully of the 
 General. Though lie adopted too readily the poison- 
 ous inventions of the FreTK;h libellers, ho was an 
 honest man, who believed what ho adopted. Though 
 he was oftcm guilty of miHstatem(!nt respecting tlio 
 matters, about which lie wrote antlioritati vdy. General 
 Colletta always meant to bo truthful. He wrote uu-
 
 4C THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 justly of several persons, but in doing so he was 
 guiltless of malicious purpose. He did his best to be 
 fair and even generous to Maria Caroline, and in the 
 ensuing pages I shall often have occasion to quote 
 words written by him in her honour, as testimony 
 borne to the Queen's noble qualities by an honest 
 witness who abhorred her. But General Colletta's 
 political resentments too often got the better of his 
 resolve to be just and even generous to Marie- 
 Antoinette's sister. 
 
 In citing Colletta as a witness to the fairness of 
 his description of Maria Caroline's friendship for 
 Emma Hamilton, i\Ionsieur Gagniere appeals to an 
 authority who saw nothing worse than unqueenly 
 extravagance in the conduct, which the Parisian 
 essayist attributes to abominable depravity. Had 
 General Colletta regarded Maria Caroline's attentions 
 to the English adventTiress, as j\Ionsieur Gagniere 
 asks us to regard them, it might have been urged in 
 his excuse that he had never enjoyed the French- 
 man's op])ortunities for forming a fair and humane 
 judgment of the two women. But after perusing 
 Maria Caroline's letters to her English jyrotcg^e, Mon- 
 sieur Gagniere is without a shadow of an excuse for 
 speaking of their friendship as a wicked intimacy. 
 
 The Queen's letters have come to us, unattended 
 by the epistles which Emma Hamilton wrote in reply. 
 Like Nelson's letters to the famous Beauty, they are 
 one side of a correspondence whose other side is not 
 before the world. What became of Lady Hamilton's 
 letters to Maria Caroline it is impossible to say. They 
 may come to light even yet. But it is more probable
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 17 
 
 that they were destroyed by the Queen almost at the 
 moment of receiving them ; for hving in palaces, 
 where treacherons spies were almost as numerous as 
 loyal servants, Maria Caroline had good reason to 
 burn all papers, that at some future time might be 
 produced to her injury. Whilst those of Emma's 
 letters, that referred to the secret political intelhgeuce 
 which Her Majesty was in the habit of giving her, in 
 order that it should be transmitted by Sir AVilliam 
 Hamilton to the Euglish government, were papers 
 which might injure the Queen, should they fall into 
 the hands of her enemies, those of Emma's notes tliat 
 dealt with nothing more important than the mere 
 gossip of the hour, were trivial compositions un- 
 deserving a second perusal. Whilst she had cause 
 to destroy the political notes as soon as she had read 
 tlieni, Maria Caroline can scarcely have thought it 
 worth her while to preserve the non-political missives. 
 If she committed every one of her protrtjee's letters t<» 
 the flame of a burning taper innnediately after read- 
 ing it, Maria Caroline only did what was natural. On 
 the other hand, it was no less natural for the whilom 
 nurse-maid to keep from motives of pndo every note 
 written to her b}' so gracious and condescending a 
 sovereign. Hence it is not surprising tliat so many 
 letters from the Queen to Imt 'instrument' ;in- in 
 existence, and that no letters from the 15oauty to 
 her royal patroness liavn hitherto come to light. 
 
 With the exception of some of the letters, written 
 by the Queen froiti Palermo to Lady Hamilton in the 
 summer of 1799, which relate to certain Parfheno- 
 peian culprits, no one of Maria Caroline's epistles to the
 
 48 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 conrt-lady contains a single expression for which 
 Her Majesty's admirers need utter a single word of 
 apology or regret. So far as the writer's personal 
 regard for her correspondent is concerned, all the 
 letters are creditable to Maria Caroline's womanly 
 honour. In this respect, the non-political letters are 
 just such epistles as any English gentlewoman might 
 write to her own sister, or any other intimate female 
 friend. They exhibit the writer as a sincerely affec- 
 tionate wife and fond mother, and as a woman of 
 good principles and devotional earnestness. The 
 entire body of the documents puts to shame the 
 ■wi'etches who were the first to suggest that the 
 Queen's condescension to the British ambassadress 
 was due to the depravity of her nature. 
 
 Monsieur Gagniere is compelled to admit that these 
 letters, which reveal so fully and precisely the nature 
 and minutest details of the intercourse of the two 
 women, whom he covers with aspersions, do not con- 
 tain a word or hide a thought which one might 
 not read to a young girl (' toutes les lettres de la 
 collection ne contionnent pas un mot, ne recelent 
 pas une pensee que Ton ne puisse faire lire a une 
 jeune fille '). Coming to the study of these long- 
 since published letters in the British Museum, with 
 the expectation of finding them eloquent of impure 
 thoughts, openly expressed or daintily concealed, 
 this Frenchman is forced to acknowledge his inabihty 
 to discover in the whole mass of the papers a single 
 unchaste word or suggestion. 
 
 What is the effect of this discovery on the editor 
 of new documents, recently recovered from the
 
 AND LORD KELSON. 49 
 
 gi-aves of the British Museum ? Does the innocence 
 of the letters— their absolute purity of the particular 
 kind of moral defilement with which he expected 
 to liud them tainted, and even surcharged — cause 
 him to modify his ill opinion of the correspondents, 
 and to suspect that the libellers moved him to think 
 too unfavourably of the two women, more particular- 
 ly of the Queen ? Not so. This comprehensive col- 
 lection of letters by the hand of Maria Caroline, 
 which exhibit her as a virtuous woman in her 
 domestic relations (' absolument correcte dans sa 
 vie privee '), must necessarily be a picked and 
 garbled collection. Discovering gaps in the series 
 of letters {i.e., periods during which the Queen had 
 no need to write to her good Emma, because they 
 were seeing one another daily), and a reference in 
 one of the letters to one brief and hasty note which 
 does not appear in the collection, ]\Ionsieur Gagni^rc 
 argues that numerous letters have been witlidrawu 
 fnjm the collection, because they were immoral. IIo 
 is 80 indiscreet as to say outright that all lliu intimato 
 letters from the woman to the woman ('do femmo 
 a femme ') were withdrawn from the five volumes 
 of documents, and tliat only the letters IVnm the 
 Sovereign to the ambassadress (' de souveraine k 
 ambassadrice ') were allowed to go to the I'riliNh 
 Museum. Monsieur Gaguicre ventun-s in say this, 
 tliough tl)e five folios preserved amongst tlio Kgerton 
 MSS. comprise numerous purely personal epistles tliat 
 make no reference whatever to matters of politics. 
 Woree still,* Monsieur Gagniere ventures to suggest 
 • So that Monsieur Gagniere may not charge me with luis- 
 V(JL. I. K
 
 60 THE QUEE:N of NAPLES 
 
 that the iutimate, the more than intimate ('phis 
 qu'iutiines'), i.e. the immoral, letters which would 
 have passed to the Egertou MSS., had they not 
 been seasonably withdrawn from the collection, were 
 possibly purchased back from Emma Hamilton by 
 Maria Caroline herself. What other historical writer 
 has ever shown such malicious perversity? That 
 the papers comprise no such letters as would support 
 i^Ionsieur Gaguiere's view of the friendship is proof 
 that the collection has been weeded. The non- 
 appearance of more than intimate letters is proof 
 
 representing bis amiable sentiments, let bim speak for bimself : 
 ' La premiere lettre, dans I'ordre, porte la date du 26 juillet, et 
 son premier mot nous indique qu'elle fait suite a une lettre du 
 1*5, qui ne se retrouve plus dans la collection. A cela, rien de 
 surprenant. Certaincmeut les lettres intimes, plus quintimcs, de 
 Marie-Caroliue h Emma Hamilton ont ete dctruites, on sont 
 cnfouies pour toujours dans les archives secretes de I'ex-raaison de 
 Naples. La reine dut les racheterelle-meme, lorsque son ancienne 
 amie, pressoe par le besoin, brocacta ses plus chers souvenirs. 
 Les lacunes de la correspondance saatent aux yeux, et aussi, le 
 triage. Que sont devenues les reponses d'Emma? Existent-elles 
 encore ? 11 est permis d'en douter. La liaison des deux femmes 
 — d'une duree de dix ans, 1792-1802 — cessa reellement en 
 IWO ; la reine touchait a la cinquantaine. Get age, ayant sinon 
 eteint, du moins calme I'ardeur de sa pa.ssion, il est douteux que 
 Marie-Caroline ait voulu laisser apres elle les preuves ecrites de 
 Fes faiblesses pa.ssees. — Car enfin (et pour eutrer dans le vif de 
 ]a question), toutes los lettres de la collection nc contiennent 
 pas un mot, ne recelent pas une pensee que Ton ne puisse faire 
 lire a une jeune fille. Marie-Caroline se revele h nous comme 
 une femme dovoree d'anibition, sans aucun scrupule politique, 
 impitoyable, descendant mGme jusqu' au crime, mais aVjsolument 
 Correcte dans sa vie privee. Devons-nous en conclure que la 
 seulement est la verite ? Certes non, les preuves du contraire 
 .sont trop accablantes. — En resume toutes lettres intimes, de femme 
 a femme (et non de souveraine h ambassadrice) — ont disparu ; 
 ne sont reatees dans les mains de lady Hamilton que les lettres 
 politiques, dont la divulgation posthume etait indifferente h la 
 reine.' — Vide, ' La Reine Marie-Caroline de Naples d aprca 
 des Documents Nouvcaux.'
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 51 
 
 that they have beeu withdrawn. The withdrawal 
 of the letters (which were never written) is pre- 
 sumptive evidence that Maria Caroline compassed 
 their withdrawal, in order to save herself from post- 
 humous infamy. That Maria Caroline may have 
 paid a heavy sum to recover the documents is proof 
 that the writings were of a most flagitious kind, 
 as she would not have been likely to redeem at 
 a high price any letters that would have sullied 
 her honour only a little. Thus the very purity of 
 her letters to Emma Hamilton is conclusive testimony 
 that the Queen was unspeakably vicious in thought 
 and act. It is thus that this French essayist makes 
 war upon two dead women. 
 
 What does he say of Nelson ? Reproducing all the 
 disproved libels against the Admiral, as though they 
 were sure history. Monsieur Gaguicrc asks us to 
 believe that, after he had been depraved by Emma 
 Hamilton's baneful beauty and wanton arts, Nelson 
 was by turns a voluptuous sybarite, a currish bull- 
 dog, a man meanly jealous of the glory of others, a 
 cynical hypocrite, a moral coward, a dissolute OiiitilT 
 who violated all civil laws and trod underfoot all 
 moral laws, a butcher who with prudent thought for 
 his own safety murdered Caracciolo craftily, an ex- 
 ample of frigid cruelty, an atrocious liar, a savage 
 beast, a mad dog, an illnKtrioiis warrior who became 
 the vile executioner of two furies, ji hero who put his 
 power at the service of the private resentments of 
 two shameless women I It is thus that Nelson is 
 exhibited to universal execration by the bof)k that 
 was concocted by a Frenchman at the British Museum. 
 
 e2
 
 62 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 It is tlius that the Nclsouian controversies were re- 
 opened. Am I to be blamed for endeavouring to reply 
 effectually to so passionate an assailant of Nelson's 
 honour, and to deal -with the re-opened controversies 
 in such a way that men of common sense may regard 
 them as settled for ever ?
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 53 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 GUI BONO ? 
 
 England's Interest in Nelson's Fame — The Author's Injustice to 
 Maria Caroline — Slanders upon ruling Women — Elizabeth 
 Tudor — Henrietta Maria of England — ^larie-Autoinette of 
 France — Lesson of the Slanders — Marie-Antoinette fortunate 
 in her Death — Maria Caroline's more cruel Lot — The Vilest 
 of all the Slanders against the Queen of Naples — Reasons for 
 speaking so strongly of the Calumny — The Utterer of the 
 vile Lie — Circumstances that disposed People to believe the 
 Story — Perfect Disproof of the Slander — Sources of this 
 Disproof — The other Aspersions. 
 
 Whilst Eugland canuot afford to be indifferent to 
 Nelson's honour, it is to the interest of all mankind 
 to render tardy justice to Maria Caroline of Naples. 
 Humanity suffers at the sources of her moral good- 
 ness from everything that weakens her confidence in 
 the purity and virtue of womankind. It ik time that 
 this Queen's record should be relieved of the slanders 
 whieli have been writicn iuff) it by French and 
 Italian libellers, — libellers whose nauseous inventions 
 have been too readily believed and tooofti^n repeated 
 Ijy Englishmen. The only words of my former book, 
 which I am sorry to have written, appear on the page 
 (nV/-?, ' Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson,' vol. ii, j). 
 310^, where it is said, 'Maria Caroline; was no angel. 
 She has no strong title to admiration ninl sympathy, 
 albeit she has some weak claims to both.' She was
 
 64 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 no angol; tbe best of women are soraetliing- lower 
 than the angels, and it cannot be contended the 
 slandered (^leen of Naples was a superlatively good 
 woman. But I should not have written that she was 
 ' no angel,' so as to imply that she was greatly de- 
 ficient in the finest virtues of her sex. I erred yet 
 more gravely in saying she had no strong title to 
 admiration and sympathy ; for, on further examina- 
 tion of all the mournful details of her sad story, I am 
 of opinion that, instead of being weak, her claims to 
 sympathy and admiration are strong. The words 
 now recalled were put on paper when I was too 
 much under the influence of her defamers to appre- 
 hend her various merits, trials, and wrongs. In the 
 ensuing pages of this work I will be less unjust to 
 her. 
 
 The student of history has cause for sadness when 
 he reflects how many ruling women have been ac- 
 cused of the sin that is most shameful in all women, 
 whether they be princesses or peasants, court-ladies 
 or cottagers. How seldom has a woman escaped this 
 darkest defamation who has ruled reluctant subjects I 
 Political animosity deals out slander with equal 
 measure to male despots and female sovereigns. It 
 is ahke quick to charge the emperor with the failings 
 most discreditable to a man, and the empress with 
 the \'ice8 and crimes most dishonouring to a woman. 
 Denouncing the king as tyrannical, cruel, treacher- 
 ous, and coioardhjt it declares the queen tyi'annical, 
 ciiiel, treacherous, and unchaste. It has been so even 
 in England, where women have been and are rever- 
 enced more chivalrously than in most other countries.
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 55 
 
 And thus put upon an argent fame the stain some- 
 times endures from generation to generation. To this 
 day a generous eulogium of Eh"zabeth Tudor is less 
 likely to win unanimous assent than to provoke a 
 cynical reference to some filthy tract. In the middle 
 of the seventeenth century caitiffs were capable of 
 sapng in London taverns, that Henrietta Maria was 
 the mother of a child who was not her husband's 
 offspring. Since this was possible in England, it is 
 not surprising that towards the close of the eighteenth 
 century the Parisian libellers could say and write 
 even worse things to the infamy of Marie-Antoinette. 
 It lives in the burning recollections of most people 
 how, in the darkest hour of her humiliation, Maria 
 CaroHne's sister appealed to the maternal instinct of 
 every mother, who heard the intolerable accusation, to 
 acquit her of a charge too abominable for repetition. 
 
 More fortunate at least in one respect than her 
 lovelier and more queenly sister, Marie-Antoinette 
 escaped posthumous infamy by the tragic death that, 
 enshrining her in every generous human breast, 
 silenced her most malignant enemies, and made all 
 honest people the defenders of her memory. Acting 
 like water on polished marble, the crimson stream that 
 flowed from her severed neck washed from her fame 
 the muddy calumnies of her persecutors. 
 
 Maria Caroline's lot was far more cruel. Surviving 
 the beauty and the charm of manner that were so 
 irresistible in her earlier time, the wit that subdued 
 Statesmen, and the power which gave her authority 
 in foreign courts, estranged from old friends whilst 
 making new enemies at every turn, she fought her
 
 66 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 fate despairingly, till an exile from her dominions and 
 a fugitive in her native land, she died at the threshold 
 of old age — died of nothing less commonplace than a 
 broken heart. What claim had such a failure on the 
 generous regard of history ? Neglected by the his- 
 torians, her honom- has remained the prey of the 
 slanderers. 
 
 To show that, notwithstanding her several imper- 
 fections, this greatly wronged princess was at least 
 deserving of the compassionate homage that is due 
 to f;illen greatness, it will be needful for me to call 
 particular attention to the evidence of Horatia Nel- 
 son's birth. For to show that Iloratia Avas Lady 
 Hamilton's offspring is to demonstrate Maria Caro- 
 line's innocence of a charge that has been more hurt- 
 ful to her fame in this country than all the other 
 slanders hurled at her womanly honour by countless 
 defomers. 
 
 From the opening day of J 800, and oven from an 
 earlier date, whilst having uo reason to question the 
 I)urity of the passion, the Queen was well aware of 
 the vehemence of Nelson's attachment to Emma 
 Hamilton. She knew that the fervour and force of 
 tlie attachment rendered him incapable of a concur- 
 rent passion of the same kind for another woman. 
 Had she in tiiat year lured Nelson into a guilty liaison 
 with herself, she would have done so witli the know- 
 ledge, that he could not regard her with any such 
 feeling as would have relieved their crime of the 
 tui-jjitude of utter gi-ossness. Be it observed that the 
 record of Horatia's baptism in the Marylebone register 
 certifies (falsely) that Horatia was born on 29th
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 67 
 
 October, ISOO ; the date always giveu by Lady 
 Hamiltou to her friends as the child's birthday. The 
 date was a part of Emma Hamilton's charge against 
 the Queen. It is therefore certain that either the 
 accusation was false, or that the Queen lured Nelson 
 into a shameful familiarity witli herself at a time when 
 she was aware that the affair would on his side be 
 utterly loveless. A more revolting imputation on a 
 woman of ]\Iaria Caroline's rank, age and circum- 
 stances, an imputation more dishonouring to her as a 
 wife and a mother, it is difficult to conceive. 
 
 One does little for the palliation of a woman's 
 frailty, by insisting that at the time of falling into 
 error she had for a considerable period been suffering 
 from enmd, and a lack of the social interests needful 
 for her superabundant energies. But it does aggra- 
 vate her offence to show that in the season of her sin 
 she endured no such want. Had ^laria Caroline been 
 guilty of the alleged crime, she would have merited 
 all the more reprobation, because she had more 
 interests than were needful for the occupation even of 
 lier active and energetic mind. No previous jierioil of 
 her reign had been more fruitful In li' r <il" (lillicuIlifH 
 and fierce excitements than the two years Inllowing 
 Nelson's first f;xpedition to Egypt. The term covered 
 Mack's fiasco, her flight from Naples to Palermo, the 
 terrible though not too severe measures for the 
 recovery of the insurgent ca])ital, \]u' stern measures 
 taken by her husband for tin; uttor subjugation of 
 the Neapolitan Jacobins. Had she been guilty of 
 the vil(! liaifioii, the Queen, who in so short a finie 
 had experienced the fiercest excitements of political
 
 68 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 strife, such quick reverses and recoveries of fortune, 
 could uot have pleaded, either to the world or her 
 owu conscience, that her life had been unhealthily 
 tame and uninteresting. Nor could it be urged, in 
 mitigation of the judgment to be passed upon her by 
 history, that she was young, disappointed in her hope 
 of oflspring, or naturally of a weak will. In 1800 
 ^laria Caroline completed her forty-eighth year, was 
 the mother of a brood of lovely children, and retained 
 in all its vigour the strength of will, that from her 
 childhood had been one of her chief characteristics. 
 Had Maria Caroline under these circumstances become 
 the mother of Horatia Nelson, she would have been 
 what her enemies declared her. But the accusation 
 is disproved by the body of evidence, which puts it 
 beyond question that the Admiral's daughter was 
 Lady Hamilton's offspring. 
 
 (Jbserve how the accusation came to the English 
 people. It was not a mere rumour, no less uncertain 
 in its origin than aljominablc in its purport, — a 
 rumour that might have originated in the idle gossip 
 of a few profligate courtiers, or in the morbid fancy 
 of a fanatical Jacobin muttering his hatred of the 
 < jueen to meet comrades in a wine-shop. Instead of 
 proceeding from an imdiscovcred and undiscoverable 
 source, it came during Maria Caroline's life from the 
 woman, who in 1800 know the Queen more intimately 
 than any other living person, and had for years 
 enjoyed a larger measure of the Queen's confidence 
 than Her Majesty ever accorded to any other 
 individual of her own sex. Far from being regarded 
 by most people as a woman of questionable veracity
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 69 
 
 at the time when she put this accusation in writing, 
 Emma Hamilton was generally rated as an honest 
 and loyal creature. The few people who spoke of 
 her as untruthful were answered with indignant out- 
 cries from the many, who maintained that, whatever 
 her failings and slips, she was pre-eminently honest. 
 Even by those who thought most unfavourably of 
 her, she was deemed incapable of speaking a false 
 word to the injury of the Queen, to whom she was 
 believed to be so deeply grateful and strongly 
 attached. It is not sm-prising that the vile lie was 
 believed by the few who knew of the written state- 
 ment during her life, and was credited by historians 
 when more than thirty years had passed over its 
 uttercr's grave. The critical Sir Harris Nicolas 
 publislied the statement as stroug evidence that 
 Horatia was not Emma Hamilton's child. To this 
 day it is part of the evidence on which Horatia's 
 descendants rest their refusal to acknowledge them- 
 selves to have descended from the famous adventuress. 
 At this day it may seem strange that so monstrous 
 a story was ever believed In' the majority of educated 
 English people. But it is, perhaps, more strange 
 that a state of things should have como about, in 
 which few people, no judicious people, will bo found, 
 after duo examination of the evidoncos, to regard tlu; 
 poisonous fable as anything but a fable. Had not 
 Emma Hanu'Iton preserved and left behind lur a 
 remarkable body of writings, — viz. (a) «;ertain Ii-tters 
 written to her by Nelson, which he had begged h<-r <<• 
 burn, (/;) one letter ^vl•itten to her by Nelson, which 
 she was authorized to keep and show to her intimato
 
 CO THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 fneiuls, (c) certain letters which she wrote to him 
 after his last departure from England, and recovered 
 into her hands some weeks after his death, and (d) a 
 remarkable letter which she wrote to her daughter 
 lloratia on Easter Sunday, 1813, — it would have 
 been impossible to prove conclusively that Horatia 
 was )iot Maria Caroline's offspring. No doubt, Avith- 
 out the aid of these fortunately preserved documents, 
 one could by means of (1) Lady Hamilton's ' Thom- 
 son Letters' to Mrs. Gibson (Horatia's nurse), (2) Mrs. 
 Johustone's testimony that Horatia was not more 
 than eight days old, when she was taken furtively at 
 night by Lady Hamilton to the nurse's house, and 
 (3) certain prime and indisputable facts of Emma 
 Hamilton's story, have produced an elaborate argu- 
 ment, that would have caused critical readers to rate 
 'the vile lie' correctly, or at least t(» regard it as an 
 accusation, of which in default of proof the Queen 
 of Naples should be acquitted. But this argument 
 would have been much less conclusive evidence of 
 the Queen's innocence of the guilt, thus basely 
 charged against her. 
 
 But fortunately the writings a, b, c, and d leave 
 no room for even the smallest and weakest doubt 
 respecting Horatia Nelson's maternal parentage. 
 That she was Emma Hamilton's daughter is a matter 
 of historic certainty. Tlie statement that Maria Caro- 
 line was Horatia's mother is therefore completely 
 disproved. 
 
 To disprove the accusation, which came from the 
 lips of so authoritative an accuser, so impressive a 
 witness, is to shake and weaken, if not to utterly
 
 AND LORD NELSOX. 61 
 
 extinguish the credit that has been too generally 
 accorded to the other revolting charges of personal 
 profligacy, which originated in the malice of obscure 
 wretches who never had access to the Queen, or in the 
 levity of a palace that harboured some of her bitterest 
 enemies, or in the fury of passions begotten of politi- 
 cal conflict. But I shall do raucli more for th6 
 vindication of the slandered Queen. Meeting the 
 worst of those charges with conclusive disproof, I 
 shall show how all of them proceeded from idle 
 scandal-mongers or rancorous politicians. I shall 
 show that Maria Caroline was as innocent of the 
 domestic immoralities charged against her by her 
 defamers as Marie-Antoinette was guiltless of crime 
 against her own offspring.
 
 BIOGRAPHY
 
 THE QUEEX OF NAPLES AND LORD NELSON. 65 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 MARL\ THERESA'S CHILDREN. 
 
 Maria Theresa's ^larriage with Francis of Lorraine — Their numer- 
 ous and noble Offspring — The Empress- Queen an admirable 
 Mother — Education of her Children — Its Results — Joseph II., 
 Emperor of Germany — His Services to Humanity — Leopold, 
 Grand Duke of Tuscany — His beneficent Government of his 
 Tuscan Dominions — IMaria Caroline's Influence over Fer- 
 dinand of Naples — Colletta's testimony to the Virtues of 
 Maria Theresa's ' whole Progeny' — Fruits of Maria Caroline's 
 Influence over her Husband — Field of Conjecture — Marie- 
 Antoinette's Fate — Its Effect on her posthumous Fame. 
 
 No less remarkable for personal charms tlum for 
 intellectual and moral endowments, Maria Theresa, 
 by her marriage with Francis Stephen, Duke of 
 Lorraine and Grand Duke of Tuscany, mated ^vith 
 tlie handsomest princo of his epoch ; and the numer- 
 ous progeny of their fortunate union inherited tlio 
 coraehnesK of their beautiful parents. Lovely in their 
 infancy, they in due courso fulfilled the physical 
 promise of tlieir opening years. A nobler brood of 
 princes never came from the same parents ; and it 
 is one of Mana Theresa's titlcK to historic homage 
 that she was no less exemplary as a mother than 
 admirable as a ruling woman. Most of these stately 
 children of a statelier mother have passed, in Time's 
 tragic course, from human regard ; but four of them 
 — Joseph, Leopold, Maria Carohne, and ^larie-Antoiu- 
 VOL. I. P
 
 66 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 ette — live, and will continue to live, amongst the mo- 
 mentous personages of European story. 
 
 Trained from early childhood to regard themselves 
 as persons designed by Providence to govern their 
 fellow-creatures, the sons and daughters of the 
 empress-queen were educated, even in the nursery, 
 to apprehend that princely position was attended 
 by serious obligations, as well as by enviable privi- 
 leges. Under the discipline of teachers whom Maria 
 Theresa selected with fine discrimination, and con- 
 trolled with her characteristic good sense, these 
 imperial children acquired a premature thoughtful- 
 ness, whilst preserving the gaiety appropriate to 
 youth, and escaping the faults of iiifantile precocity. 
 To fully apprehend the spirit and capacities of 
 the Austrian princess, — who became the Beautiful 
 Queen of Naples at an age when the daughters 
 of English carls are deemed too young for a Court 
 drawing-room, and barely old enough for the diver- 
 sions of a ceremonious lawn-party, — it is needful 
 for readers to realize the nature of the training 
 which made Maria Caroline a woman in her six- 
 teenth year, without diminishing in any degree her 
 bhthe-hcartcd lightness and girlishness. 
 
 Tliat i\Iaria Theresa's children were educated in 
 a way alike favourable to their humanity and mental 
 vigour appears from the record of their doings. A 
 favourer of the liberty of the press at a time when 
 that liberty was generally deemed irreconcilable with 
 social order, Joseph, after spending his earlier man- 
 hood in studying the needs and mitigating the 
 distresses of the poor, abolished slavery in Bohemia,
 
 AND LOUD NELSON. 67 
 
 Moravia, and Silesia, and, iu his later time, provoked 
 the distrust of the more fortunate classes of bis 
 subjects, only because be so far surpassed tbem iu 
 wisdom aud virtue. In tbe government of Tuscany, 
 Leopold figured at tbe same time as the most 
 energetic of reformers and most successful of rulers. 
 By stimulating the useful arts aud liberating industry 
 from depressing restraints, be raised tbe revenue 
 of bis state whilst reducing the taxation of its people. 
 Repressing the excesses of the Papal authority, be 
 made provision for tbe proper education of bis sub- 
 jects. Reforming tbe criminal laws, be was rewarded 
 for bis humanity and enlightenment by seeing crime 
 decrease, though during ten years no criminal was 
 put to death iu bis dominions. Proclaiming the 
 enfranchisement of property, be introduced measures 
 for tbe better division of real estate, abobshed predial 
 servitude, and endowed bis dominions with commercial 
 freedom. 
 
 "Whilst such things are recorded of Maria Tiieresa's 
 two greatly historic sons, a no less honourable ac- 
 count may be given of her two pre-eminenlly bistonc 
 daughters. How influential for good Maria Caroline 
 was at Naples for more than twenty years will be 
 rIiqwu in ensuing pages. For the present, it is 
 enough to say, that Ibe beneficenccj of lier au- 
 thority over Neapolitan affairs from tbe hour of licr 
 man-iago up to tbe year 1790 is admitted by (Jolletla, 
 who certainly would not have borne such testimony 
 to tbe honour of the Queen wliom lie abhorred, 
 bad not facts constrained liim to do bo. Maria 
 Caroline was in tbe bistoriau'H mind when be wrote, 
 
 f2
 
 68 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 ' Thus the -whole progeny of Maria Theresa appeared 
 to UR a family in high places, sent by God to 
 regenerate the human race.' Regarding her in this 
 light, whilst her beauty and wit were new to them, 
 the Neapolitans continued to hold Maria Cai'oline 
 in the same regard after the subsidence of their 
 first, and too-short lived, enthusiasm for her graces 
 and goodness. Insisting, with abundant reason, that 
 whilst Cliarles's government of the Two Sicilies was 
 ' a good reign,' Ferdinand's government of the coun- 
 try Avas a ' still better reign ' up to the year 1790, 
 Colletta — tlie most honest, and therefore the most 
 liurtful of all the Queen's literary assailants — puts 
 it beyond question that she alone should be com- 
 mended for the goodness of the most beneficent 
 period of her husband's reign, because, in his dis- 
 taste for public affairs, and his perfect confidence 
 in her wisdom, Ferdinand committed his regal power 
 so full}' into her hands, that she was accountable for 
 everything of national moment done under his name. 
 One may enter a field fruitful of diverting conjec- 
 tures by asking what would have become of it if 
 Marie-Antoinette had been bom in 1752 instead of 
 17")0, and Maria Caroline been her junior by some- 
 thing over two years, and if fate had matched the 
 more intrepid and energetic sister with the French 
 dauphin, after having despatched the milder and less 
 resolute of the two sisters to reign in southern Italy. 
 It is conceivable that at Naples, though she could 
 never have coped with the difiiculties of '1)8 and '99, 
 the less adroit and less masterful Marie-Antoinette 
 might have proved equal to the not always easy task
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 69 
 
 of managing Ferclinand, and would even have extended 
 the good part of his reign. On the other hand, it is 
 conceivable that with her brighter beauty and keener 
 wit, her sublime self-sufficiency and singular aptitude 
 for poHtical intrigue, her genius for controlling parties 
 and ruthless power of compassing bitter ends by 
 Ijitter means, Maria Caroline would have brought the 
 French nobles about her before they lost heart and 
 power of resistance, would have strangled the great 
 revolution at its birth when it was still only a revolt, 
 and, reaping the full fruits of success, w^ould have 
 become the idol of the fickle multitude, who (^[uickly 
 grew brave and strong enough to murder her helpless 
 sister. In which case, Naples would have escaped the 
 great troubles of '98 and 'i)S>, King Ferchnand's whole 
 reign might have won General Colletta's approval, and 
 both the queens might have lived happily to the cud 
 of their days. 
 
 On one point of the matter as it stands in history, 
 there is no room for difference of opinion. !Maria 
 Theresa's niu-ture of the less intrepid of her two 
 greatly historic dauglitors was in no degree discredited 
 by the Queen, who endured her manifold sorrows and 
 liumihations with lofty resignation, and accepted her 
 fate with noble tranquilh'ty, when the hour came for 
 her to die for no other cause tliaii that she was a 
 queen. France would be glad if with an easy eoii- 
 Hcienco she could aver fhat im (inhiring discredit 
 came to her from that ghastly execution. The Icro- 
 cious rabble who screamed out blasj)hemieK ;it their 
 victim dunng lier slow journey from her last j)nHr»n 
 to the place of death, the patnots who imagiiietl they
 
 70 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 were teaching Europe a wliolcsome lesson by killing 
 au iuuGCOut princess, the philosophers who spoke of 
 the Queen's doom as only one of the many deaths 
 needful for tlie adequate assertion of a sacred prin- 
 ciple, were far from imagining how in the coming 
 generations Franco would blush for the brutal out- 
 rage on humanity, — how their passionate pains to 
 cover a wretched woman with infamy would com- 
 mend her to the admiration of posterity. Never did 
 human rage more completely defeat its purpose. Had 
 Marie-Antoinette been allowed to escape to Austna, 
 she would long since have lived only in the vaguely- 
 remembered pages of a few books of history, instead 
 of being regarded by the nations as the most inter- 
 esting woman of modern France.
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 LESS FOR LOVE THAN POWER. 
 
 From Childhood to "Womanly Estate — Charles Bourbon's Acces- 
 sion to the Throne of Spain— Dynastic Arrangements — 
 Ferdinand of Naples — Council of Regency — I3ernardo, 
 Marquis of Tanucci — His clever Management of the Council 
 — Superlative Disinterestedness of Cliarles Bourbon — ' Regis- 
 ter that ring !' — The Boy-King's Tutor— Tanucci's Craft 
 and Charles's Policy — Muscular Education and Mental 
 Neglect — Tlie Boy-King becomes a mighty Hunter — Good 
 and Evil of his Nature — Ilis Energy and Indolence — Exag- 
 gerations of his Ignorance — He attains his Majority — Be- 
 trothal of Ferdinand and Maria Josephine — Maria Theresa's 
 Designs for her Daughters — Maria Josephine's untimely 
 Death — Another Match for the young King — Maria Caro- 
 line's Betrothal to Ferdinand— 77/e important Stipulation of 
 the Marriage Articles — Maria Caroline loaves Vienna for 
 Naples — Splendour of her Progress — Italy in Ecstasies — 
 Rejoicings at Florence — Maria Carolinu's Purpose and Pro- 
 gramme — So Young and so Resolute I — The March ion ess Solari 
 on Maria Theresa — Meeting of Ferdinand and Maria Caroline 
 at Portella. 
 
 1702— 17G8 A.D. 
 
 Tirr: year 1768 beheld Maria CaroIino'H passage fmm 
 eln'Mhood to womanly estate. That slio passed thus 
 <^arly, -when only fifteen years old, from the eoutrol 
 of a governess to the companionship of a husband 
 was duo to circumstances worthy of consideration. 
 
 On succeeding to the throno of Spain and tho 
 Indies in 17.51), Charles Bourbon of Na[)les was re- 
 quired by European treaties to vacate the throne of
 
 72 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 the Two Sicilicf?, and appoint a successor to the 
 oroAvn that could not be worn by a King of Spain. 
 At this time Charles Bourbon, the husband of a still 
 beautiful queen in whom he delighted, was the father 
 of six sous and two daughters, the three eldest of the 
 sons being respectively named Philip, Charles Antony, 
 and Ferdinand. Already in his thirteenth year, 
 Philip, the eldest of the three brothers, was so de- 
 ficient in mind and body as to preclude the hope that 
 he would ever be capable of either ruling a kingdom 
 or managing the affairs of a private estate. Under 
 these painful circumstances, Charles Bourbon now 
 revealed to the whole world a domestic trouble which 
 had hitherto been withheld from notoriety, and with 
 due observance of the ceremonious formalities need- 
 ful for so grave a transaction, proclaimed his eldest 
 son's incuraljle imbecility, and put him outside the 
 dynastic arrangements of hi^ family. Selecting his 
 second boy Charles Antony for heir-apparent to the 
 Spanish throne, the king appointed Ferdinand, a 
 vigorous lad in his ninth year, to succeed at once to 
 the crown and throne of the Sicilies, 
 
 For the sufficient government of the kingdom, thus 
 committed to a child of tender age, Charles Bourbon 
 gave the new sovereign of the Sicilies a council of 
 regency, whose constitution was significant of Charles's 
 design to remain as far as possible the ruler of the 
 kiDgdoms from which he affected to be wholly with- 
 drawing himself. The council of regency consisted 
 of eight nobles, seven of whom were docile and un- 
 ambitious courtiers, whilst the eighth, Bernardo, 
 ]\Iarquis of Tanucci, was a statesman of extraordi-
 
 AND LORD AELSOX. 73 
 
 ricaiy intelligence, great experience, and overbearing 
 will, in whose fidelity and devotion to his interest the 
 retiring monarch had unqualified confidence. Tanucci, 
 the one strong man of the eight regents, was ap- 
 pointed prime minister of the kingdom and president 
 of the council of nobles, who were authorized to rule 
 the realm during the young king's nonage, i.e., till he 
 should have completed his sixteenth year. 
 
 For Charles Bourbon's purpose no better council 
 could have been composed. The seven docile cour- 
 tiers were men whose rank and general credit entitled 
 them to their places about the boy-king, and helped 
 to commend the government to the esteem of all the 
 powers, whose favourable opinion was needed by 
 Charles and Tanucci. Persons of consideration in the 
 ♦Sicilies, they were acceptable to the foreign ministers 
 at Naples. A statesman whose capacity liad been 
 proved during years of official service, Tanucci was 
 peculiarly (puilified for Iiis rather delicate jKjsitiou by 
 his stately bearing, faultless temper, fine tart, and 
 noble urbanity. Content with the possession of 
 supreme authority. In; was wliolly devoid of tho 
 vanity that would liave disposed In'm to assert it 
 without due consideration for i\ui sensibilities of his 
 comrades-iu-council. Never wounding their self- 
 love by an air of superiority, he treated them with a 
 winning show of respect, whilst secrt.'tly valuing 
 them as so many puppets. On tho few occasions 
 when he failed to cany them uiianimouHJy along 
 with him, at the council-table, he affected to bi- so 
 greatly moved by tlnir argumcnls as fo fr'cl tlio 
 Jieed of further deliberations and of more definite
 
 74 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 guidauco from Spain. By feigning the gravest 
 respect for their scruples, and even a flattering 
 disposition to yield to their sentiments, and subse- 
 quently making an adroit use of ' latest letters ' from 
 the Spanish king, he first soothed the superstitious 
 anxieties of the councillors "who favoured the Pope, 
 and eventually lured them into adopting the anti- 
 papal policy, that still seemed to them alike im- 
 pnident and sinful. Thus it was, that throughout 
 the boy-king's nonage, Charles Bourbon contrived in 
 all important matters to rule the realm, which he was 
 supposed to have surrendered to his third son. 
 
 Whilst thus arranging for the continuance of his 
 influence over Neapolitan affairs, after ho should 
 have ceased to be the King of Naples, Charles Bour- 
 bon made a rather cmious parade of the honesty and 
 disinterestedness of his deahngs with the State, from 
 which he was about to i-etire. Registering the 
 accounts of the kingdom, so as to leave behind him a 
 perpetual record of his immunity from gi-eed and 
 avarice, he declared that he would take into Spain 
 none of the gold jewels and costly paraphernalia per- 
 taining to the Sicilian crown. He even took from one 
 of his fingers an antique ring, that had been found in 
 the excavations of Pompeii, and ordered it to be 
 registered and preserved with the jewels belonging 
 to the State. The ring was gi-eatly valuable neither 
 from its material nor from its workmanship, but, not- 
 withKtanding the smallness of its worth, the retiring 
 monarch refused to keep the toy which did not 
 belong to him ; and in CVjlletta's time the far from 
 precious relic was exhiljited in one of the pubho
 
 AXD LORD KELSON. 75 
 
 galleries of Naples, as an evidence of the king's nice 
 conscientiousness. One may be pardoned for smiling 
 at this display of virtue by the sovereign, who whilst 
 he declined to retain the comparatively worthless ring- 
 on his finger, was doing his best to keep all Naples 
 in his hand. 
 
 As the Piince of San Nicandro resembled the other 
 six subordinate courtiers of the council, in being the 
 Prime Minister's mere instrument, ho is less to be 
 blamed than the Marquis of Tanucci for the short- 
 comings of Ferdinand's defective education. A man 
 of enlightenment, Tanucci was himself neither want- 
 ing in cultiu'c nor indifferent to the interests of the 
 higher arts. A man of learning, he is honourably 
 remembered for l^eginning the excavations of lier- 
 culaneum and Pompeii. But as he was ambitious of 
 hohling the place nf premier till his death, and was 
 of opinioii that he slicjuld find an ignorant king mori' 
 manageable than a king Avhose superior attainments 
 might dispose him, in the season of youthful suirici- 
 ency, to think lightly of his chief counsellor's saga- 
 city, Tanucci encouraged the Prince of San Nicandro 
 to Ije more careful for his pupil's bodily welfare, than 
 for liis mental dovelopnient. TIhi"' .iro also grounds 
 for a suspicion, that Charles the Third of Sjciin was 
 aware of 'I'anucci's design to check the young king's 
 intellectual growth, and agreed with the wary states- 
 man in thinking it would bo more convenient for 
 both Naples and Spain that the young king sluaild 
 not grow up so clever and mentally energetic as to 
 bo denirous of ruling as well as reigning. 
 
 Anyhow the education, for which San Nicandro
 
 76 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 has liithcrto been licltl (jliie'fly accountable, was just 
 the -vvroug education for the boy-kiug, who in his 
 ninth year was one of the briglit, well-grown, saucy 
 and rather intelhgent urchins who usually become 
 such men as their tutors wish to make them. Devoid 
 of genius, but otherAvise far from mentally deficient, 
 he might by good training have been raised to the 
 intellectual level of Maria Theresa's sons. And, had he 
 l)een so trained, he might have proved as humane 
 and benevolent a despot as Joseph or Leopold ; for 
 though his passions were violent, and in the worst 
 seasons of his career were sometimes coloured with 
 crueltj^ his nature was far from devoid of generosity 
 and kindliness. Unfortunately for the young king, 
 Tanucci decided that he should be over-educated on 
 the side of his nature, which might have been left to 
 take care of itself, and l)e allowed to grow up almost 
 without any education at all on the side of his nature 
 which needed the most careful culture. Had he been 
 a nervous, weakly, timid child, delighting in books 
 but morbidly averse to masculine sports, he would 
 hav^e benefitted from the discipline, which caused 
 him to spend most of his wakeful hours in the open 
 air, and encouraging him to delight in the fatigue 
 and perils of the chase gave him in his sixteenth year 
 tile reputation of being the best shot, the cleverest 
 fisherman, and the most fearless horseman to be 
 found in his dominions. But the shapely, robust, 
 athletic youngster, who under any educational condi- 
 tions would have distinguished himself in the ruder 
 exercises and gi-own to be one of the swiftest runners 
 and strongest wrestlers in southern Italy, needed no
 
 AXD LORD NELSOX. 77 
 
 encouragement to become the keenest sportsman of 
 his generation. The boy, whose superabundant bodily 
 vigour was attended with the mental indolence and 
 impatience of studious labour, so often observable in 
 young people, needed the management that, whilst 
 slightly cheeking his passion for muscidar pastimes 
 and the field sports, would have quickened hi» 
 curiosity respecting scholarly matters, and inspired 
 him with a desire to escape the opprobrium of ignor- 
 ance. Under the control of a capable and sympathetic 
 tutor, who would have said to him every morning, 
 ' Now, sir, let us play our best with those books for 
 two good hours and then spend the rest of tlie day 
 with our horses and guns,' Ferdinand Bourbon would 
 have grown to be a clever man (for nature had en- 
 dowed him fairly well with brain-force), and would 
 have been none the worse, possibly would liave been 
 all the better sportsman, for the suflicient education 
 of his higher faculties. Unfortunately the rulers of 
 his youth, eitlier from base suljservienco or foolish 
 policy, encouraged him to spend his time as though 
 the highest career open to him were that of a cavalry 
 officer. 
 
 The marvel is that ho turned out so well, and did 
 not really become some such a noisy clown as tho 
 grossest of his caricaturists wished us to think ln"m. 
 Ho would have turned out mucli worse, had not tho 
 good largely exceeded the evil of his inconsistent 
 nature. No doul)t ho was grossly ignorant in com- 
 parison witli his brotlier-in-Iaw, Leopold of Tuscany^ 
 and throughout his Hfe was indifferent to literaturo 
 and tho sciences, and regarded their followers with
 
 78 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 more disdain than he cared to express. In thinldng 
 thus contemptuously of the professors he was not 
 singular. Even in this politer age one could point to 
 persons of high dignity and some merit who think 
 less favourably of the professors than the professors 
 think of themselves. Nor was he so grotesquely 
 unlettered as some of his detractors have represented. 
 Whilst some accounts of his ignorance are obviously 
 nothing else than humorous inventions, others are 
 disproved hj the admissions of the very persons who 
 first gave them general currency. 
 
 Speaking from hearsay, for she had no knowledge 
 of Ferchnand till long after his marriage, the Mar- 
 chioness Solari declares that ' on his marriage with 
 the Archduchess Caroline of Austria, he scarcely 
 knew how to sign his name,' and that Maria Caroline 
 ' T\-as actually the first to teach him so to read and to 
 write as to make himself understood.' Though the 
 latter assertion is less amazing than the former, it is 
 questionable whether Ferdinand's epistolary style was 
 greatly improved by his wife's care for his better 
 education. That Maria Caroline's letters afford much 
 interesting information and a superabundance of con- 
 clusive evidence to the innocence of her intercourse 
 ■with Emma Hamilton, I have already had occasion to 
 rcraai'k ; but letter-writing was not an art in which 
 Her ^lajesty excelled, and even in the season of her 
 In'ghest literary skill slie so often failed to spell cor- 
 rectly and write intelligibly, that it is difficult to 
 imagine her acting as Ferdinand's writing-mistress 
 when she was only fifteen years old. 
 
 CoUetta says nothing in support of the staggering
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 79 
 
 statement that Ferdinand attained liis majority with- 
 out being able to sign papers with sufficient ease and 
 exactness. On the contrary, from what he says of 
 the king's frequent forbearance to subscribe state 
 documents with his own hand, the historian seems to 
 have regarded the story which must have come to 
 his ears as a mere fable. ' As he found it tedious,' 
 says the author of the ' Storia di Napoli,' ' to sub- 
 scribe his name to the acts of the government, ho 
 ordered them to bo signed in his presence and im- 
 pressed with his signet, which he jealously guarded.' 
 Colletta therefore attributed to mere indolence what 
 less judicious writers have attributed to lack of 
 manual dexterity. The f;ict to which he thus called 
 attention scarcely sustains the historian's imputation 
 of ]ial)itual and nlniost incredible indolence. Tliough 
 Elizabeth Tudor, the most energetic of ruling women, 
 used to sign documents with her own hand, it was 
 her practice to employ a professional penman — her 
 * flourisher,' as he is styled in extant ' privy seals ' — 
 to execute the more laborious part, the elaborate 
 ' flourishes,' of her signatures. In taking good care 
 of his signet, Ferdinand w;is guilty of nothing worse 
 than proper prudence. One wouM like to liave 
 Colletta's authority for saying that, in his distaste for 
 councils of state and his desire to make them as brief 
 as possible, Ferdinand forbade ink-stands to be put 
 on the council-table, in order to prevent the delay 
 caused by writing. In recording that the king 
 'never opened a book from a love of study,' Colletta 
 may be held guiltless of liljelling the sovereign, who 
 was as wanting in literary taste as it is possible for a
 
 80 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES. 
 
 mau to be ; but certainly the historian exceeded the 
 trutli by adding that Ferdinand 'never read a paper 
 from interest in public affairs,' for it would be easy 
 to mention several papers which he read and re-read 
 with the keenest interest on account of his lively 
 concern in the public affairs to which they related. 
 
 But, though the deficiencies of Ferdinand's educa- 
 tion have been exaggerated, they were alike unfor- 
 tunate for him and. shameful to the guardians of his 
 youth. As a very little learning was sufficient for a 
 king in the eighteenth century, the Marquis of Tanucci 
 and the Prince of San Nicandro should at least have 
 given their royal pupil the small amount of culture 
 that would have saved him from a most galling kind 
 of social disesteem. 
 
 After coming to his majority on January 12th, 
 17<j7, the last day of his sixteenth year, the young 
 King of Naples lost no time in making overtures to 
 Maria Theresa for the hand of her daughter Maria 
 Josephine. With several archduchesses to place in 
 wedlock about Europe, the Empress-Queen, who 
 regarded her marriageable daughters as instruments 
 for enlarging and confinning her own political influ- 
 ence, received Ferdinand's proposal with greater 
 pleasure than so astute and powerful a sovereign 
 condescended to avow. The suggested alhance for 
 her daughter with the wealthiest and most powerful 
 ruler of Italy, where her son Leopold had already 
 won an honouraljle reputation, was the very arrange- 
 ment she had for some time been desirous of com- 
 passing. The deficiencies of Ferdinand's education 
 made his proposal none the less acceptable to the
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 81 
 
 great empress. On the contrary, as she had a strong 
 opinion that her daughters should rule their husbands 
 in ways to be pointed out by herself, and as, with all 
 her universally recognized superiority to all other 
 ruling women, she was not superior to the common 
 notion that it was easier for a wife to rule an ignorant 
 than an enlightened husband, Maria Theresa regarded 
 Ferdinand's lack of learning as a reason for wishing 
 to become his mother-in-law. 
 
 ' The overtures from Naples being tlius acceptable 
 to Vienna, a marriage was arranged, between the 
 8ixteen-years-old king and the Archduchess Maria 
 Josephine, on terms that were settled with due fore- 
 thought for the dignity of the Austrian princess and 
 her future influence over the affairs of her husband's 
 kingdom. But all the preparations came to nothing 
 through the interference of a power with whom even 
 Maria Theresa could not contend. The bridal gifts 
 had been interchanged, the very day had been fixeil 
 for the bride's departure from Vienna, the prepara- 
 tions for the galas to greet her as she journeyed to 
 Southern Italy were taxing the powers of court- 
 chamberlains and civic authorities, when llic .ucli- 
 duchesR languished and (li<(l after a brief illnes.s. 
 Fate had decreed that, instead <jf being raised to a 
 throne, ^laria Josephine should bi- laid in a t(imb, 
 and, missing the honours that had been provided for 
 her, should escape the troubles by which they would 
 have been followed. 
 
 Maria Josephine having been buried with lit 
 mourning for her untimely end, no long period 
 elapsed before it was determined by the courts of 
 
 VOL, I. G
 
 82 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 Naples and Vienna to compass without her aid the 
 alhance that was desired by both powers. Maria 
 Carohne was full young for marriage ; but the maiden 
 of only fifteen years surpassed her age in mental 
 ^^gour and personal beaut3\ A princess of an elegant 
 and stately presence, she was a mistress of several 
 graceful accomplishments ; and, in her desire for a 
 closer alliance with the Two Sicilies, Maria Theresa 
 was willing to allow this girl of many gifts to accept 
 the position, which death had denied to her sister. 
 As his heart had not suffered deeply from the mis- 
 carriage of the previous arrangement, Avhich can 
 scarcely have touched his affections however much 
 it may have gratified his fancy, Ferdinand was 
 desirous of Aviuuing Maria Caroline, in lieu of the 
 arch-duchess who had passed to another world. So 
 another treaty of marriage was settled, by which it 
 was provided that, on giving her husband a son and 
 heir, Maria Caroline should be entitled to a place in 
 the council, and a voice in the government, of her 
 adopted country. 
 
 I am thus careful to state, that this important 
 provision for ]\Iana Caroline's future dignity was 
 secui-ed to her by one of the articles of her marriage- 
 contract, because in reliance upon an historian of 
 authority I represented, in ' Lady Hamilton and Lord 
 Nelson ' (vide, vol. ii, p. 260), that the Queen was in- 
 debted for her place and power in the Council of the 
 State to the operation of pre-existing Neapolitan 
 law. Speaking of these remarkable privileges, 
 through which Maria Caroline enjoyed for so many 
 years an ascendancy in state affairs, Colletta says
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 83 
 
 precisely that they accorded neither with the laws 
 nor the usages of the monarchy of Naples, but came 
 to the ambitious woman by an express stipulation of 
 her mamage-contract ; and on this point I find 
 General Colletta is right. 
 
 In April, 17 (18, Maria Caroline left Vienna for 
 Naples, and made her progress to Ferdinand's 
 dominions with the pomp and splendour befitting an 
 Austrian arch-duchess, on her way from her native 
 land to the throne of another country. All along 
 her route, whether she passed through cities whose 
 rulers came forth to meet her, or moved tlirough 
 villages where simple peasants prayed Heaven for 
 the welfare of one so young and lovely, or rested in 
 princely palaces, she received demonstrations of 
 homage and affection that stirred her warm and emo- 
 tional heart with gladness and gratitude. Day after 
 day she made her superb progress to the strainK of 
 military bands and the heartier though less artful 
 music of popular acclamations. The towns through 
 which she passed were bright with countless Hags 
 and banners by day, and illuminated with iunuincr- 
 able lamps and candles by night. The Italian princus 
 vied with one another in rendering liomage to the 
 I)rince88 of fifteen years, who a few days later would 
 become ' the beautiful (^ueen of Naples.' At Florence, 
 where she was the guest of her brother Leopold, wlio 
 from that hour ratc^l her as liis favourite sister, oven 
 as Joseph in later tim<3 preferred Marie-Antoinette to 
 his other sisters, Maria Caroline was prepared by the 
 enthusiasm of tlio warm-hearted Florentines for the 
 still fiercer vehemence and inipulsiveuess of fho 
 
 G 2
 
 84 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 people, over •whom she was appoiuted to reign. 
 Whether her carriage rolled over the Limg'Arno, or 
 ou her returu fi'om excursions into the environs 
 passed through the narrow ways of the lovely 
 capital, she was ever greeted with clamorous delight 
 by the multitudinous idolaters of her beauty. Per- 
 haps even Florence has never accorded another 
 visitor a welcome so passionately enthusiastic. But 
 even in that brief season of universal gala and violent 
 delights, the one fair cause of all this wild commotion 
 found once and again a tranquil hour, during which 
 she stood, silent and becharmed, before the choicest 
 canvases of those almost sacred galleries, that for 
 successive generations have been the teachers of the 
 Avorld's wisest and brightest minds. 
 
 On her southward way, after bidding adieu for a 
 brief while to Leojiold, who followed her quickly to 
 the scene of her wedding, the young arch-duchess 
 also found opportunities for calmly re-considering the 
 purpose and programme, with which she had started 
 from Vienna more in the spirit of a royal adventuress, 
 than of a maiden going to the arms of an accepted 
 suitor. She was going to her fate, less for love than 
 for power. Trained from the cradle to play the part 
 of a ruling woman, to regard power as the most 
 precious of earthly endowments, to deem it part of 
 her manifest duty to make the attainment of power 
 her first object, and to check, disregard, even ex- 
 tinguish every force of her nature, which tended in 
 any degree to disqualify her for the pursuit of the 
 one dazzling prize,, she was about to wed — ay, for all 
 practical considerations, had already wedded a youth
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 85 
 
 of whose nature she knew just nothing, without 
 debating what would become of him, her, the whole 
 business, should she find him so repugnant to her 
 taste, that to endure his society with any show of 
 composure would exceed her powers of endurance. 
 
 The fifteen-years-old arch-duchess had neither 
 debated this extreme case, nor had permitted herself 
 to entertain it for an instant's consideration. But 
 she had considered what she would do, should she 
 find herself incapable of loving the young man to 
 whom she was betrothed. She had also fully made 
 up her mind what course to take should she be un- 
 able to love him. In that case, she had no intention 
 to confess the not flattering truth to his ear, and beg 
 him to be lenient to her wifely shortcomings in con- 
 fiideratiou of her inability to delight in him. On the 
 contrary, she meant to conceal the real statu of the 
 case from him, and to behave to him precisely as 
 though sho worshipped the ground touched by his 
 feet. Of course she liopcd to fiud Ferdinand lovable, 
 and meant to do her best to regard him affectionately 
 cveu if she should be unable to idolize him. .Slieuld 
 it be out of her power to feel :iffecti(jnately lor him, 
 she still meant to clicrisli a kind of hkiiig fur him. 
 But however much ov iittli- kIh; hjved her husband, 
 however niucli she might dislike; him, it was Maria 
 Caroline's intention to treat her husl)and as though 
 she loved hinj paKsiunately, and to do her utmost to 
 make him think lier a devoted wife. To attain to 
 the largest possible auth(n-ity over the Two Sicilies, 
 was the purpose for wjiich she was jourueying to 
 JNaples. To win this largest possible authority she
 
 86 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 must rule her husband. To rule him she must make 
 him beheve himself to be greatly beloved by her. 
 This child (for in years she was still ouly child) saw 
 that, under certain conceivable circumstances, it 
 would devolve upon her to do daily violence to her 
 feelings by acting with systematic hypocrisy towards 
 her husband, — even by deceiving him at every turn, 
 in order to keep him well in hand. 
 
 To accomplish her purpose and achieve the work 
 appointed to her as a ruling woman, Maria Caroline 
 was prepared to do this daily violence to her feel- 
 ings. Her appointed work must be done — the work 
 for which she had been trained from infancy. By 
 example (ever stronger than precept) and also by 
 precept, the Empress-Queen had trained Maria Caro- 
 line to understand that a ruling woman's first duty 
 was to rule her own husband. Young though she 
 was in 1768, Maria Caroline (ever an observant and 
 prematurely clever child) could remember how her 
 father had been kept in hand and ruled by her 
 mother ; but it was not by example only that in 
 fashioning her daughter to be a ruling woman Maria 
 Theresa had also fashioned her to be a ruling wife. 
 On arming her with the needful tool for the accom- 
 plishment of an arduous task, the Empress-Queen 
 explained to the child wh}"- the tool, procured with 
 much difficulty, was put into her hands. Cognizant 
 of the stipulation, which under a certain very probable 
 contingency would give her both place and voice at 
 Councils of State, Maria Caroline was also well aware 
 why her mother had insisted on the insertion of 
 the important stipulation in the marriage contract.
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 87 
 
 These last two pages have not been writteu with- 
 out sufficient authority. A shrewd judge of character 
 and an acute searcher of the hidden sources of 
 poHtical action, the Marchioness Solari had better 
 opportunities than most clever women of her period 
 for taking a fair view of Maria Theresa's relation to 
 her daughters, and also of the fruits of her iuflueuce 
 over them. ' The real cause,' says the marchioness, 
 (vide, ' Venice under the Yoke of France and Austria, 
 1824,') 'of the misfortunes which have attended tlie 
 Queen of Naples may be traced to her mother, the 
 Empress Maria Theresa, who by her own example 
 taught all her daughters to govern their husbands ; 
 and in so doing she had in view the furtherance of 
 her own political influence.' Perhaps the marchioness 
 slightly overstates her case. It may bo urged that 
 Maria Caroline's action towards her husband is no 
 less referable to the dominating spirit and passion f(.)r 
 power, which she inherited from her mollier, than to 
 Maria Theresa's example and explicit instructions. 
 On the main facts, however, the marchioness is right. 
 After training Maria Caroline to be a ruling Avife as 
 well as a ruling woman, the Empress, chiefly for her 
 own political ends, opened the door of the Neapolitan 
 Council to the Queen of Naples, and stimulated the 
 young queen to acquire the largest possible authority 
 over her liusband. 
 
 The Marchioness Solari was scarcely justified in 
 attributing Maria Caroline's niisforfunes wholly to the 
 mother, who for the furtherance of h<r own political 
 ends trained lier daughters to be domineering wives, 
 and, after despatching the cleverest and njost anibi- 
 
 vol. i. g
 
 88 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 tious of them to Naples, was incessantly instigating 
 her to meddle in politics and acquire a larger control 
 over Sicilian affairs. Sooner or later, Maiia Caroline's 
 appetite for power and delight in political intrigue 
 would under any circumstances have caused her to 
 do her utmost to bring the Two Sicilies under her 
 personal sway. 
 
 It is also questionable whether her chequered 
 reign would, on the whole, have been more fortu- 
 nate, had slie been a yielding wife. Whilst the first 
 two-and-twenty years of her time at Naples witnessed 
 a considerable amelioration in the affairs of the 
 country, for which she was mainly accountable, it is 
 doubtful Avhether Ferdinand and his subjects would 
 have endured fewer troubles during the next twenty- 
 two years, had Maria Caroline died suddenly of grief 
 and dismay on hearing of her sister's execution. 
 Impartial historians are constrained to think it re- 
 dounds in some degree to the Queen's credit, and 
 also to the credit of her early education, that she was 
 the actual ruler of the Two Sicilies during by far the 
 greater portion of what Colletta calls the good part 
 of Ferdinand's reign. 
 
 It remains, however, that from her early infancy 
 Maria Caroline was trained to he a ruling woman, 
 that on leaving Austria the ambitious child went to 
 Italy with orders from her mother to nile her hus- 
 band cleverly with a view to ruhng his dominions 
 despotically, and that she did not enter on her 
 womanly career Avithout having taken to heart these 
 instructions from a mother whom she never ceased to 
 regard with superstitious reverence. These facts
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 89 
 
 should be borne iu mind by readers who would take 
 a fair view of the Queen's whole career, from the 
 date of her marriage to the moment of her latest 
 breath. Unmindful of these facts, the reader will fail 
 to apprehend the temper and frame of mind in which 
 the fifteen-years-old archduchess came face to face 
 with her future husband at Portella on the 12th of 
 May, 17(58.
 
 90 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FERDINAND lY. AND I. OF THE TWO SICILIES. 
 
 Meeting at Portella — Anialia Walburga of Poland — ]\Iaria Caro- 
 line's striking Resemblance to Marie-Antoinette — The Mar- 
 chioness Solari on the two Queens — Ferdinand's personal 
 Appearance — His Voice of Pleasure — From Portella to Caserta 
 — Ferdinand's Delight in practical Jokes — An Abhe tossed in 
 a Blanket — Meetings of the Liparotti — Regimental '• High- 
 Jinks ' — Ferdinand the Sutler — Maria Caroline the Cantineer 
 — Pranks with the Lazzaroni — Hercules throwing Lichasinto 
 the Sea — Ferdinand the Fishmonger — A Marchioness in the 
 Shambles — Lazzaroni at San Carlo — The Macaroni Scramble 
 — Ferdinand and his Peasants — Bread and Onions — Three 
 Boys at a Birth — Parental Responsibility — Sir John Acton's 
 ' good sort of ]\Iaii ' — The Bishop of Cefalu's Testimony to 
 Ferdinand's religious Merit — Lord Valentia on the King's 
 submissiveness to the Divine Will — Ferdinand's social Gifts 
 and Accomplishments — He dances well and '■ sings like a 
 King ' — Ferdinand at the Whist-Table. 
 
 1768 A.D. 
 
 On coming face to face witli Maria Caroline at Por- 
 tella — the same place where thirty years since his 
 father had raised the beautiful Amalia Walburga of 
 Poland from her knees, and kissing the princess of 
 only fourteen years proclaimed her his wife and queen 
 — Ferdinand had reason to admire the arch-duchess 
 who offered herself to his embrace. For in all 
 Europe he could not have found a loveher and nobler 
 maiden than the princess who had travelled from 
 Vienna to Italy at his entreaty. Whether the two
 
 AXD LORD NELSON. ' 91 
 
 sisters resembled one another so strongly in child- 
 hood historians have forborne to say ; but on attaining 
 to matunty Maria Caroline bore a remarkable like- 
 ness to Marie-Antoinette,* whilst surpassing her no 
 less distinctly in personal attractiveness, than in 
 mental gifts and force of character. 
 
 Whilst Ferdinand was charmed by the grace and 
 stateliness of his bride's figure and the exceeding 
 beauty of her countenance, she saw in him a youth 
 of princely presence. Though it afforded indications 
 of his almost Herculean strength, his tall and slight 
 figure was not wanting in the elegance, appropriate 
 to a young man of his stature and age. He moved 
 with ease and dignity ; and had it lu^t been i\n- the 
 excessive largeness of the Bourbon nose, whicli in 
 later time caused him to be called ' Nasone ' alike by 
 the courtiers and lazzaroni of his capital, his face 
 
 * Few persons were better qualified to bear testimony to 
 the resemblance of the two sisters and to the intellectual 
 superiority of the Ciueen of Naples tiian the iSlarcliionisH 
 Solari wlio, fis the confidential and devoted servant of the Frencli 
 Queen, cannot have come to Maria Caroline's presence for the iirst 
 time, with any predisposition to find her superior to Marie- 
 Antoinette. Speaking,' of Her Majesty of Naples as one who in 
 her fi;;ure and countenance ' l)ore so strong a resemlihmce to her 
 niurdered sister,' the Marchioness exhibits the mental and moral 
 difference of the two queens in thest; words, — ' For tiiis princess' 
 (i.e., Maria Caroline) 'really jio.'^sc.-i.seil a ^trong masculint! umlcr- 
 standin^', with threat natural and acquired powers of mind, 
 scarcely inferior to those enjoyed by the profoundest statesman. 
 She had a cool head in council, was capable of forming; a just 
 conception of tiiint^'s in ^'eiieral, and had .tcquired a knowledj^d of 
 men and mannerH far exceeding tiial of iier unfortunate sister, 
 Marie- Antoinette of France ; who, thou^jh slu- had a greater por- 
 tion of the milk of human kindness in her comiiosition than 
 ('aroline, pos.se8.sed a capacity by no means cajialile of executing 
 any plan that required iirmne.ss or perseverance. ISlic ueverthe- 
 les8 had a large share of natural good sense.'
 
 ■92 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 would have been baudsome. His eyes were keeu 
 and iutelHgent, and when anything tickled bis more 
 lively tban delicate sense of bumour tbey brightened 
 with infectious frolicsomeness. To Maria Caroline's 
 finely musical ear bis voice would have been more 
 agreeable had its pitch been lower ; but on discover- 
 ing that the treble key, in which he spoke to her 
 with much vivaciousness, was indicative of great 
 gladness,* she became tolerant of its shrillness and in 
 a few weeks even learnt to like it. For his comely 
 though somewhat grotesque visage she conceived a 
 liking from the first hour of their association. 
 
 From his childhood the young kiug, whose pecu- 
 liarities of speech and manner engaged the arch- 
 duchess's attention as they travelled from Portella to 
 Caserta, had delighted in practical jokes, which he per- 
 petrated on his obsequious playmates, the servants of 
 his palaces, and the lazzaroni of his capital. Of course, 
 some of these jokes were very much less amusing to 
 the individuals who suffered from them, than to the 
 people who were only required to laugh at them ; 
 but on the whole, though they resulted in one or two 
 deaths, they Avere not more barbarous than the 
 practical jokes of an absolute monarch may be, with- 
 out shocking social sentiment. 
 
 At the annual meetings of the Liparotti — a body 
 of soldiers whom Ferdinand used to drill in his non- 
 age, and continued to drill long after he had become 
 a husband and father — the routine of parade was 
 
 * ' When he is pleased, his voice is raised to a treble,' Viscount 
 Valentia remarks in Jiis ' Private Journal of the Affairs of Sicily, 
 1811-12.'
 
 A.\D LORD NELSON. 93 
 
 ofteu enlivened by the pranks of the chief commander. 
 It was at one of these seasons of mihtary exercise 
 and regimental high jinks, that the Abbe Jlazzinghi 
 had the misfortune to attract the king's attention, 
 whilst the latter was plajang ball with a select party 
 of his companions in arms. The cnt and material of 
 the Ab])ate's dress indicated that ho was not a Nea- 
 politan, and in other respects he was remai-kable for 
 outlandish style. Something of a clerical fop he had 
 made himself unduly conspicuous by standing before 
 the front-rank of the courtiers and camp-followers, 
 who were Avatching the royal ball-games, when the 
 king — ever alert in his earlier time to repress and 
 punish sacerdotal presumption — dispatched a mes- 
 senger to his field-tent for a stout blanket, and ex- 
 changed confidential words with several of his 
 soldierly playmates. Throe miinitea later, before he 
 could protest against the indignity about to be 
 offered him, the Abbate Mazzinghi was seized ami put 
 into the blanket, each of whose corners was held by 
 an ofiicer, well qualified to do the bidding nj" his 
 master. One can imagine the uproarious glee, with 
 which the courtiers, the camp-followers, and the 
 whole force of tlus valorous Liparottl watched the 
 gesticulations of llu; priest, whilst he was bein 
 tossed in the blanket. A fopjjish Abbate being seldom 
 treated so irreverentially, the. spectators of lln' rude 
 horse-play had cause to laugh af what was I'ar from 
 a laughing matter to the victim of the drollery, who 
 besides being an Abbate of the holy catholic church 
 was a Florentine noble. On escaping from the 
 blanket with unbroken bones, the Abbate withdrew 
 
 rr
 
 91 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 from the sceue of his discoinfituro witli keenly 
 woimded pride. In vain the poor man complained to 
 the Arch-dnke Leopold ; for though Maria Caroline's 
 favourite brother made the affair a matter of com- 
 plaint to the King of Naples and also to the King of 
 8paiu, nothing was done by either king to solace the 
 unhappy priest. Ashamed to return to his native 
 country, the luckless Mazzinghi died a few months 
 later at Rome of chagrin. The human heart having 
 little compassion for people who die of being too 
 thin-skinned, people heard of the Ahbd's fate without 
 concern, and, like the English rector on hearing that 
 Keats had died at Rome of the Quarterly article, 
 merely remarked, ' Well, it pleased the gentleman to 
 die, and he had a right to please himself!' Colletta 
 made too much of a foolish and unfortunate business 
 when he wrote of this Signer Mazzinghi's fate as an 
 outiago on humanity, which ' it was left for history 
 to revenge.' 
 
 During a considerable term of years, it was usual, 
 for the annual drill and review of the Liparotti to 
 close with a camp-froHc, in which the king, assuming 
 the dress of sutler, opened a refreshment booth, at 
 which he sold food, wine and tobacco to his soldiers 
 at something less than cost-price, the chief sutler 
 being aided in the performance of his duties by noble- 
 men, who figured in the lively play as tapsters and 
 waiters. To take a fair view of this droll game, 
 readers should remember how the sports of the 
 carnival had for centuries educated the nobles of 
 Italy to assume plebeian disguises and enact plebeian 
 parts for the amusement of themselves and the
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 95 
 
 populace. It being her policy and practice to tlirow 
 herself heartily into her husband's amusements, J\Iaria 
 CaroHne suggested that it would heighten the attract- 
 iveness and piquancy of one of these camp-frolics, if 
 she figured in the booth as chief cautiueer and 
 daughter of the regiment. Ferdinand accepted her 
 offer gratefully, the consequence being that Maria 
 Theresa's proud and fastidious daughter appeared at 
 the next military" gala in the daintiest cantineer's 
 dress ever turned out of hand by a court-milliner, 
 and Avent about selling cognac and cigars to the 
 king's soldiers. Of course she was accompanied by 
 ladies of the court, who, resembling her in dress, imi- 
 tated her courtesies to the men of war. To the 
 historians who like to discover evil in the (Queen's 
 doings, it is oljvious that Maria Caroline and her 
 ladies in attendance could not have acted in this 
 fashion, had they not been greatly wanting in 
 Avomanly refinement. History might as well censure 
 the indecorum of the English duchesses and other 
 ladies of fashion who have in our time amused them- 
 selves at fancy-fairs and charity-bazaars by figuring 
 as confectioners' attendants, and selling cluK-olate- 
 sweets and cups of affiiMonn tea to pi!ople on whom 
 they had ni^ver before set eyes. 
 
 Upon the lazzaroni of his capital, Ferdinand could 
 indulge his taste for practical jokes without any fear 
 of wounding the amour proprc of his subordinate 
 playmates; and for one of his mirthful cbnllitions on 
 a representative of this humblest class of his subjects 
 art has cause to be thankful. Strolling leisurely 
 along the Chiaja, the athletic Ferdinand saw a tfUl
 
 96 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 shapely, vigorous young beggar, moving indolently 
 onwards, little dreaming bow closely be was followed 
 by bis good and gallant king. Rents in tbe young 
 fellow's tattered clothing revealed bow greatly he 
 needed a bath. In a moment tbe king saw what was 
 needed, and resolved to do his young friend a good 
 turn. Three seconds later, be bad gi-asped tbe stal- 
 wart lad by his legs, swung him round and over- 
 bead as though he were a lot of old cordage, and 
 flung him into tbe laughing waters of the merry gulf. 
 On discovering from the boy's struggles that be could 
 not swim, Ferdinand leaped into tbe water, swam to 
 bim, and brought him safe to shore. It is said that 
 tliis incident gave Canova a hint for bis two figures 
 of Hercules throwing Lichas into the sea. Tbe lad, 
 whom the king had thus honoured, of course became 
 a notable personage and object of envy in his social 
 class. Henceforth, whenever Ferdinand was in the 
 humour to give one of bis lazzaroni a ducking, be 
 seldom walked many paces along the beach without 
 coming on a candidate for royal baptism. 
 
 Notice may be here taken of another of Ferdi- 
 nand's drolleries that delighted tlie lazzaroni and the 
 fishermen of Naples by reminding them of their piime 
 bei'o, Massaniello the fisherman, who in the middle of 
 tbe seventeenth century raised himself for a brief 
 hour to almost regal greatness. At several seasons 
 of the year, when religion required the faithful to fast 
 till they were hungry and then satisfy the craving 
 for food with no better fare than fish, it was Ferdi- 
 nand's practice to appear in the garb of a fishmonger 
 in tbe public market of Naples, and sell bis subjects
 
 A^'D LORD NEURON. 97 
 
 the fish he had either takeu himself or caused to be 
 taken iu his name. One of the yearly times for this 
 display of royal humour and humility was the day 
 before Christmas Day, when the Neapolitans closed 
 their fast with a fish-suppor. In 1791, soon after 
 Emma Hamilton's first appearance in Italy as a mar- 
 ried woman, the jMarchioness Solari drove witii the 
 British minister. Lady Hamilton, and Mrs. Cadogan 
 from their Caserta villa to Naples, in order to see the 
 king play the part of a fishmonger on Christmas Eve. 
 On arriving at the entrance to the fish-shambles, the 
 marchioness, parting for a few minutes with her 
 liostess and Mrs. Cadogan, allowed Sir AVilliam Hamil- 
 ton to conduct her into the noisy and crowded 
 market, when the sale and fun were in full progress. 
 Tlie humours of the scene repaid the marchioness for 
 bringing her feminine finery into an assembly that 
 was not chiefly remarkable for cleanliness and de- 
 corum. 
 
 Wearing a white night-cap and a salesman's a])ron, 
 Ferdinand stood on a dais, descanting with racy 
 H[)ortiveness on the merits of tlie fisli, which ho held 
 up to view with his own hands, whilst Helling tlu^ 
 successive lots to the highest bidilcrs. Spiced with 
 jests not to be put on pages designed for 1h(! cntci- 
 tainment of gentle women, the king's voluble eloquonco 
 delighted the lazzaroni, who screamed with nieni- 
 raent at the orator's pleasantries. Sometimes, ceasing 
 to sell by auction, the royal salesman invited «ir 
 accepted overtures for a l)argain, and set forth the 
 considerations which forbade him to lower his [irice. 
 From a lawyer, who was known tu be rich and 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 98 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 miserly, the king demanded an exorbitant sum for a 
 single fish. The customer grumbled, the king bade 
 him sup on Avhat is never eaten, and the populace 
 yelled out their approval of the jeu-d'esprit, that sent 
 the miserly lawj'-er off with the proverbial flea in his 
 ear. A few minutes later, the marchioness returned 
 to Lady Hamilton's carriage with amusement in her 
 face, and a secret purpose of changing her dress at 
 the earliest opportunity. 
 
 On the last night of the carnival, Ferdinand played 
 in an even more remarkable manner with his least 
 fortunate subjects. Feeding them with fish on 
 Christmas Eve, he fed them with macaroni at the 
 close of the festival that precedes Lent. By ancient 
 usage the lazzaroni and poorest artisans of Naples 
 had a right to assemble in the pit of the beautiful 
 theatre of San Carlo on the last night of the fete. 
 People of better quality were free to join them there, 
 but the wearers of decent clothing kept away from 
 the pit of San Carlo, when the lazzaroni were ad- 
 mitted to it without payment. The boxes of the 
 theatre were crowded with ladies in elegant cos- 
 tumes, and cavaliers in gallant finery, but the pit was 
 avoided even by artisans who wished to preserve 
 their holiday-suits from defilement. Choosing a 
 moment when the occupants of the pit were intent 
 on the beauties of the opera or the dancers in the 
 ballet, Ferdinand went to one of the upper boxes, 
 followed by servitors beaiing dishes of macaroni, hot 
 from the fire and rich with oil and cheese. As soon as 
 the mess could be safely touched by bare fingers, the 
 king threw handfuls after handfuls of it down upon
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 99 
 
 his childi-en in the pit, who, turning in an instant 
 from the diversions of the stage, and yelhug with 
 joy at what was to them the best part of the en- 
 tertainment, scrambled and fought together for the 
 falling bits of hot and greasy food. As the pictur- 
 esque wretches struggled with one another, in the 
 fierce excitements of the sport, leaping towards each 
 dropping handful, throAving one another to the floor, 
 and tumbling heels-over-head with characteristic 
 agility, the uproar was deafening. Whilst this rude 
 game was in riotous progress, it was usual for ]\laria 
 Carohne to retire to the back of the royal box ; but 
 on being rejoined by her husband, after he had washed 
 his hands and re-ordered his toilet, she would come 
 witli him to the front of the compartment, and acknow- 
 ledge the plaudits of the lazzaroni with graceful 
 inclinations of the liead, and even witli gestures more 
 expressive of sympathy and queeiily benevolence. 
 
 Histoi-ians have been too ready to attribute Fer- 
 dinand's way of playing with liis lazzaroni to a 
 taste for low society, and to the pleasure which 
 insolent persons so often derive from doininccnng 
 over their social inferiors. Policy and natural kind- 
 liness were both in some degree accountable for his 
 treatment of these luckless dependeiitR. It is cer- 
 tain that the treatment inspired the lowest of fhc 
 Neapolitans with loyalty to his person and sway. 
 Numbering some thirty or forty thousand souls, 
 drawn into a fellowship that obeyed its self-elected 
 chiefs, and took its own views on ))olitical questions 
 without regard to the wishes of tlio nobles or the 
 richer bourgeoisie, the lazzaroni were a ])ower in 
 
 H 2
 
 100 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 the social life of the capital, — a power that under 
 irritatiou was apt to favour disorder, and under 
 discreet and sympathetic handling might be ren- 
 dered a cordial and steady support of the throne. 
 Under these circumstances, the young king showed 
 his sagacity in taking pains to win their affection. 
 He may also be commended for the humanity that 
 moved him to mitigate their distresses and be con- 
 siderate for their humours. Things might have gone 
 less ill with Louis XVI. of France, had ho followed 
 the example set him by the King of Naples, and 
 essayed to plant himself in the affections of the 
 meanest classes of the Paiisian populace. It is some- 
 thing to Ferdinand's credit, that from the beginning 
 of 1767, when he attained his majority, till the 
 troubles of 171)8 drove him to Palermo, he never 
 feared to walk about his capital, so confident was 
 he that the lazzaroni were to a man devoted to his 
 service and watchful for his safety. 
 
 Towards poachers it must be admitted that Ferdin- 
 and's benevolence was defective. Dr. Johnson was 
 not more quick to think ill of a dissenter than 
 Ferdinand to think the worst of peasants suspected 
 of having followed game within the limits of a royal 
 chace. But, criminals of this heinous kind excepted, 
 the King was no less benignant to his peasants in 
 the country than to his lazzaroni in the capital. The 
 stories told of his munificence to rustics, whose 
 troubles appealed to his compassion, recall similar 
 anecdotes about his father, who, on taking refuge 
 from a violent storm in a hut near Rosarao, was so 
 affected by the sight of a young woman with a
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 101 
 
 uew-boru iufaut in her arms, that he astonished 
 the indigeut mother by giving her a hundred doub- 
 loons of gold, and assigning a monthly allowance 
 of twenty ducats for the maintenance of the child, 
 for whom he promised to stand godfather. No 
 tale of such extravagant frec-handedness is told of 
 Ferdinand, but history has adopted several anecdotes 
 of his beneficence to rustics, whom he encountered 
 in his hunting excursions or in his leisurely wanderings 
 in the neigl)ourhood of Caserta. 
 
 Ferdinand had barely survived what CoUetta calls 
 the good part of liis reign, when, after hunting for 
 some hours in one of the royal forests, he turned 
 faint, and, hastemng to a small farm-house, asked 
 for such refreshment as the humble tenement could 
 afford. The petition was answered with a meal 
 of bread, onions, macaroni, and cascia cavallo, lor 
 which liomely fare tlie peasant, wlio had oitertained 
 his sovereign unawares, was rewarded with a renewal 
 of his lease. Another story relates to the much 
 earlier period of the King's reign, when he and iMaria 
 Caroline had been married for seveval years, but 
 were still witliout offspring. T\w, still childleKs King 
 and Queen were sauntenng by themselves in tlu; 
 gUnles of Caserta, when a young and li.ill-witli'd 
 peasant told them of ;i calamity that had recently 
 befallen him. The lueldess fellow's tah; claimed 
 both a smile and ;i t<;;ir. Ho was poor, ami his 
 young wif<! had just given him three boyH at a 
 birth I Had not fortune been hard upon him '. 
 
 'Hard!' replied the King, banteringly. 'Fortune 
 has treated you too well I 1 .md the tSignora have
 
 102 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 been married for years, and we are witbout a child. 
 How gladly would I be in your case !' 
 
 From the lout's rejoinder, however, it appeared 
 that his case was more cruel than his words had 
 implied. He had been married only three months ; 
 and on the morning of his wedding he was under the 
 impression that all Italy contained no maiden more 
 virtuous and discreet than his bride. Under the 
 circumstances, the weak-witted rustic had conceived 
 a notion that he ought to be held responsible for 
 the maintenance and nurture of only one of the 
 children. Unable to take the petitioner's strange 
 view of his domestic diflRcnlty, and declining to re- 
 lieve liim of two-thirds of his parental obligation, 
 Ferdinand dismissed him with a present of money, 
 wherewith to buy a cow. 
 
 Kindly to the poor, Ferdinand may be credited 
 with other amiable qualities. Sir John Acton, the 
 King's stately and, upon the whole, capable minister, 
 remarked of his royal master, ' Ferdinand is a good 
 sort of man, because nature has not supplied him 
 with the faculties necessary to make a bad one.' 
 In giving utterance to this oft-quoted sentiment, Sir 
 John was less than just to a king who bad a strong 
 claim on his generosity. The minister should at 
 least have said, * Ferdinand is, upon the whole, so 
 good a man that, under the circumstances, it is diffi- 
 cult to say why he did not turn out a better man.' 
 As he denounces him passionately for having been 
 'un scelerat,' I shall perhaps rouse Monsieur Gag- 
 niere's indignation, by calling attention to the suf- 
 ficient evidence that Ferdinand was not so devoid
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 103 
 
 of religious sentiment as tlie world has been asked 
 to think him. The good Bishop of Ceftihi assured 
 Viscount Valentia that the King ' was a rehgious 
 man ' ; and up to a certain point the Enghsh noble- 
 man seems to have agreed Avith the bishop. Know- 
 ing him, and studjang him closely, when he had 
 fallen on evil days, and retained only the shreds and 
 tatters of his historic grandeur. Lord Valentia was 
 compelled to admire the spirit in which Ferdinand 
 recognized the Divine justice and mercy in eveiy 
 calamity that had befallen him. To the greatly- 
 humiliated despot, it almost seemed a matter for 
 thankfulness that he had lost Naples, since it was 
 the Almighty who had been pleased to deprive him 
 of the nobler part of his former dominions. In the 
 accident, which had recently broken his knee^ lie 
 saw a wholesome chastisement of his over-weening 
 pride in his bodily strength. 
 
 ' The most amiable part of his character,' Lord 
 Valentia wrote in his Journal of 1811-12, 'is a perfect 
 vesigiiatinu to his misfortunes, and an imi)licit con- 
 fidence tliat the Almighty will do what is bist for 
 His creatures. lie never repines at what Ik* has 
 lost, and last year, wlien he broke Iiis kne<> by a 
 fall, ho bore his confinement to his bed with the 
 utmr)st good-hum oiu'.' 
 
 Headers shouM, however, bear in mind that the 
 superficial good-huniour aii'i indolciit amiability 
 which caused Fcrdinand'H slight acquaintances to 
 judge hiiu too favourably, overlay a spirit that was 
 th(! reverse of amiable, — a cruel and dcHj)otic temper 
 that, hu-kiiig in the depths of his enntradietory 7iature,
 
 lOi THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 brolcc forth at long intervals with volcanic violence, 
 and more than once in his career spent itself in words 
 and deeds of ferocious cruelty. It was in reference 
 to his prevailing kindliness and occasional ferocity 
 that I spoke on a former page of ' his inconsistent 
 
 uatiu-e." 
 
 From his early manhood to his old age, Ferdinand 
 was a charming man of society. At the ceremonious 
 entertainments of the court, that in Maria Caroline's 
 palmiest days was the stateliest and most brilhant 
 court of Southern Europe, he appeared a worthy 
 l)artner of so lovely a queen. In his youth he danced 
 well and was not wanting in conversational tact and 
 sprightliness. A connoisseur of music he attained to 
 some proficiency as an instrumentahst, and used to 
 sing duets for the hour together with the ladies of 
 Maiia Caroline's entourage. ' Yesterday,' Lady Hamil- 
 ton Avrote to Mr. Charles Greville on 2nd June, 1793, 
 ' the King and me sang duetts 3 hours.' It is true 
 that the writer went on to say, ' It was but bad, as he 
 siufjs like a Kinrj.'' Probably, Ferdinand sang more 
 to his own delight than to the gratification of critical 
 hearers ; but that he Hked to sing for hours together 
 with Maria Caroline and her attendant ladies acquits 
 him of the charge of being in private Hfe nothing 
 else than a free-liver and a keen sportsman. 
 
 In every stage of his career he was acceptable to 
 men, even to men witli whom he could not associate 
 on terms of intellectual equahty. In the company of 
 the learned, he was often silent and bored, but never 
 made himself ridiculous, because he was unassuming 
 and quite free from the vanity, which sometimes im-
 
 ASD LORD NELSON. 105 
 
 pels the ignorant to talk authontatively on matters, 
 of wbicli they know little or nothing. An English- 
 man, to whose estimate of the monarch Lord Valentia 
 refers with approval, remarked that Ferdinand of 
 Naples (/.<'., the middle-aged Ferdinand) had the 
 bearing of a country gentleman, and would have 
 been sent to parliament for his county had he been 
 an English squire. ' There is,' Lord Valentia re- 
 marked, ' good-humour in his appearance and every 
 motion, and he resembles more a country gentleman 
 than a sovereign.' Figuring better at a card-table 
 than at the council-table, from which he is said to 
 have banished ink-stands, Ferdinand delighted in 
 whist and played an excellent rubber.
 
 lOG THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FROM THE ROYAL MARRIAGE TO TANUCCl'S FALL. 
 
 From Caserta to Naples — Tanucci studies Maria Caroline — A 
 beautiful llaud — Ferdinaud, Husband and Lover — Tauucci's 
 Uneasiness — Arch-Duke Leopold at Naples — Joseph II. 
 visits liis Sister — Maria Caroline's preliminary Measures — 
 Former Possessions of the banished Jesuits — Queen's Manage- 
 ment of Ferdinand — Her Consideration for his Feelings — 
 Her genuine Admiration of him — Her Care to prevent Occa- 
 sions for Contention — Ferdinand's occasional Freaks of 
 ^Vilfulness — Maria Caroline's disappointed Hopes — Con- 
 sequences of her Heirlessness — Her Influence in Politics — 
 Ferdinand's 'Nay' and royal Will — (Jaetano Filangieri — 
 The Heir comes at last — i^Iaria Caroline's last Quarrel 
 ■\vith Tanucci — The JMinister's Fall — How it strikes Naples — 
 Tanucci's Death. 
 
 1768—1777 A.D. 
 
 After staying for a week in comparative seclusion 
 at Caserta, the young king and queen drove to the 
 Palazzo Reale of Naples on 19th May, 1768, under 
 arrangements that kept their arriv^al a secret from 
 the populace. Three days later, this private coming 
 to the seat of their government was followed by a 
 public entrance, made with royal pomp in the full 
 light of a lovely day. The scene was worthy of the 
 occasion, and the oisuiug celebrations of the royal 
 marriage were prolonged for several months. 
 
 Of all the nobles who hastened to kneel at her feet,
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 107 
 
 none scanned her countenance and air and demeanoiu' 
 more critically than the Marquis of Tanucci, who had 
 for more than eight years been ruUng the Two 
 Sicihes, in obedience to secret orders from I\Iadrid. 
 Faithful to the foreign king to whom he owed his 
 greatness, the minister still hoped to hold his nominal 
 master under firm control, and for raauy a coming 
 year to keep the kingdom of Naples subject to the 
 sovereign who might not openly rcigu over it. But 
 even in those days of festivity, when even the gravest 
 and most thoughtful yielded in some degree to 
 allurements of pleasure, there were moments when 
 Tanucci was troubled by doubts, whether the future 
 would go well with him and his hidden purpose. As 
 ho regarded the young queen's form and presence, so 
 exquisitely graceful and so expressive of native 
 dignity, he was troubled by what he admired. There 
 Avas force in the girlish face, whose feminine sweet- 
 ness qualified the signs of her extreme sensibility. The 
 changeful Ijrightness of her complexion indicated ii 
 degree of emotional fervour, tliat under provocation 
 might reveal itself in consuming anger. T(j Tanucci 
 the composure, with which she received the liomage 
 of her countless worsliippcrs, seemed the veil of 
 Miii-ia Caroline's sense of her superiorify to jill who 
 approached her. The siiigularly beautiful hand,* 
 
 * ' On ])(!iiig ushrTcd into the royal prcHciico,' (lie iMarcliioiu'SS 
 Solari says in her account of her lant interview with Maria Caro- 
 line, ' I offered, as usual, to kiHs her majcsty'H hand ; whicli, like 
 that of her unfortunate nister, Marie- Antoinotto, wan remark- 
 ably handsome.' — Vifle, 'Venice under the Yoke of France and 
 Austria,' vol. ii, p. 70.
 
 108 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 which she ofFored to the lips of kuceliug courtiers, 
 was eloquent of power. 
 
 Once and again, as the statesman studied the 
 play of her features, he seemed to detect subtle indi- 
 cations of a spirit, not incapable of severity and even 
 capable of cruelty. That this fair and winsome and 
 fearfully fascinating princess was the mistress of her 
 husband's heart, that the marriage of policy had 
 proved a love-match, at least on Ferdinand's part, 
 Tanucci knew from the joyfulness of the young 
 king's countenance, and from the treble pitch of the 
 voice, which showed how the heart overflowed with 
 gladness. For some time, certainly for several years, 
 possibly for ever, she would be all-powerful over her 
 husband. How would she use the power 1 Would 
 she be content to lot him remain, so far as concerned 
 the higher interests of his dominions, under the tutelage 
 of the statesman, who was less Ferdinand's minister 
 than Charles the Third's covert viceroy of Naples? 
 Would she allow the Two Sicilies to remain almost 
 without an army and altogether without a navy, so 
 that in case of a foreign invasion their nominal king 
 would have to ask for his father's protection, and 
 pay for it by surrendering himself uiu-eservedly to 
 his father's authority '? As he reflected on these 
 questions, and on Ferdinand's manifest delight in his 
 bi'ide, and on her various qualifications to play the 
 part of a ruling woman, Tanucci had cause for 
 luieasiness. 
 
 Having followed his favourite sister to Naples, in 
 order to witness the celebrations of her wedding, 
 Leopold did not return to Florence without stimu-
 
 AND LORD XELSON. 100 
 
 lating her ambition to improve the condition of her 
 hushaud's subjects, or without conversing on political 
 affairs with the few men of light and leading in 
 Naples who were known to cherish hopes and pro- 
 jects for the better government of the country. 
 
 In the next year (17G9), Maria Caroline had the 
 pleasure of entertaining at Naples and Caserta her 
 eldest brother, the Emperor Joseph II., who was no less 
 desirous than Leopold of Tuscany that * the peoples ' 
 should be ruled with greater intelligence and bene- 
 volence. At Naples, Joseph spoke freely and con- 
 fidentially to the same philosophers with whom his 
 brother had conferred in the previous year, one result 
 of this intercourse between the Emperor and the 
 Neapolitan reformers being that the latter looked 
 more hopefully than ever to their young queen for 
 countenance and practical help. Thus soon after 
 Maria Caroline's coming to Italy were the savans of 
 her capital encouraged to regard ' the whole progeny 
 of Maiia Theresa as a family of philosophers in high 
 places, sent by God to regenerate the human race.' 
 
 Coming to Naples in the year following the ex- 
 pulsion of the Jesuits, Maria Caroline arrived there at 
 the moment when people were asking what would bo 
 done with the oonfiscatod property of the expelled 
 Order. The question was soon answered in a way 
 tliat, pointing to the inlluence of Jose})h and Leopold 
 over their sister, points also to the young (|ueon'M 
 influence over her enamoured husband. l>y an edicl 
 dated July 28th, 17(i'.>, he jnuiounced to his HMbj'fjcts 
 that, in accordance with previous edicts tou(;liing tho 
 same business, he had already founded schools and
 
 110 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 colleges for the education of poor youths in piety aiul 
 letters, hospitals for the maiuteuance of indigent 
 orphans of both sexes, and industrial schools for 
 necessitous invalids and able-bodied vagrants, with 
 tlie former possessions of the banished Jesuits ; and 
 was further administering the same property for the 
 benefit of the humbler people by dividnig vast tracts 
 of land into small farms and by making provision 
 for the relief of honest though necessitous persons 
 with daily alms. The demands of pubhc charity 
 having been tlius satisfied, the edict cancelled all 
 entails or bequests falling to the exiled Jesuits, so 
 that the property comprehended in the entails or 
 bequests should remain at the free disposal of the 
 last lay proprietor. 
 
 But though by this show of zeal for popular edu- 
 cation she was thus quick in justifying the hopes of 
 the learned men and their far from numerous fol- 
 lowers, the young queen deferred for the moment to 
 satisfy all their expectations. Had she placed her- 
 self openly at the head of the new thinkers at her 
 first arrival in Italy, she would not have merited the 
 commendation which Colletta bestows on the maturity 
 of understanding that distinguished her in her six- 
 teenth year. With all her self-coiifidence, she was 
 sensible that by premature activity she would only 
 injure the cause she meant to further. For the 
 present it would be enough for her to acquire greater 
 knowledge of her subjects and a more perfect com- 
 mand of their language, to estaljHsh herself as a 
 ' queen of society,' to strengthen her hold on her 
 husband's affections, and to show a womanly concern
 
 AND LORD NELSON. Ill 
 
 for the poorest of her people. It woulcl be time 
 enough for her to enter the field of higher politics 
 when she should have taught Ferdinand to honour 
 her as the wisest as well as the loveliest of woman- 
 kind, and should have acquired a seat at the council- 
 table. 
 
 Her treatment of her husband was most judicious. 
 Never thwarting him in anything, she led him to 
 imagine himself altogether admirable in her eyes. It 
 was easier for her to do this, because whilst liking 
 him greatly she regarded him with a certain degree 
 of genuine admiration. Pleased with his appearance, 
 she was pleased also by his manners and absolute 
 freedom from affectation and fire-side arrogance. He 
 was tall, strong, active, and uniformly good-tem- 
 pered, — a combination of good qualities that is often 
 seen to place an otherwise oidinary man high in the 
 esteem of a clever woman. There was something in 
 his homely humour that tickled the woman of fine 
 vnt. Because he was a most unfortunate soldier, his- 
 torians have been too ready to charge Ferdinand with 
 pUKillanimity. But so fearless a rider and intrepid a 
 Imnter of the wild boar must have possessed a fair 
 share of the most common of the virile virtues. 
 Anyhow, wliilst she had no reason to question his 
 courage, she had several reasons for thinking him a 
 brave man. On subjects within the Hmits of his know- 
 ledge she found liim an entertaining and intelhgcnt 
 talker. I\Iaria Caroh'ne knew enough about horsos, 
 dogs, and affairs (jf sport to see that he was a master 
 of these subjects; and on no other matters did ho 
 venture to speak authoritatively. The young queen's
 
 112 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 imperfect knowledge of Italian disqualified her for 
 criticising' the peculiarities of his speech ; but had she 
 been a nice connoisseur of the dialects of his mother 
 tongue, she would have known that, in speaking the 
 impure dialect of Southern Italy, he only resembled 
 the majority of his proudest and best descended 
 nobles. Upon the whole, therefore, Maria Caroline 
 had cause to congratulate herself on having a hus- 
 band so much to her taste. 
 
 Of course ]\Iaria Caroline was well aware that her 
 husband was wholly ignorant of many matters about 
 which kings usually know something, and had better 
 know a little, unless they are so fortunate as to be 
 married to extremely clever women, by Avhom they 
 are content to be governed. But as she hoped to 
 turn it to her own account, as much as the Marquis 
 of Tanucci had hoped to turn it to his advantage, 
 Ferdinand's ignorance was no matter for the Queen 
 to be unhappy about. The defect appeared the less 
 shameful to her, because she was fully alive to the 
 smallness of her own book-learning. Possibly the 
 Marchioness Solari Avas right in saying the Queen 
 used to give Ferdinand lessons in reading and writing. 
 In that case, the king had a poor writing-mistress ; 
 for, though highly educated in her childhood in 
 respect to the ideas and the ways of thinking suit- 
 able to a princess of her high degree, Maria Caroline 
 spelt and wrote badly to the end of her days. 
 
 Certainly Ferdinand had a sympathetic wife. Going 
 heartily with him in all his favourite pursuits, she 
 never seemed to gi-ow weary of his tales of fishing 
 and the chase and the habits of wild animals. She
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 113 
 
 delighted in seeing him shoot birds upon the wing. 
 Of his experiments in horse-breeding and dog-breed- 
 ing, horse-breaking and dog-training, she was a 
 cm-iou8 and intelHgent observer. Instead of talking 
 of the chase as a mere pastime, she affected to regard 
 it as one of the most serious interests of human 
 existence. When he returned from a day's hunting, 
 with a long face and the doleful intelligence that he 
 had killed nothing nobler than a wild cat, her face 
 and voice were eloquent of sadness. On the con- 
 trary, when he returned with a cheery countenance 
 and good news, she was eager for particulars, and 
 uttered exclamations of delight on hearing the precise 
 weight of the largest boar that had been slain. 
 
 Making it a rule never to contend with him, she 
 was careful to prevent occasions for contention. On 
 discovering how quick he was to agree with the first 
 speaker, and how much it pained him to change his 
 nn"nd on anything, she was careful to be the first speaker 
 (jn every question of moment, and to ' settle his mind ' 
 for him befn-e any other busybody could get at it. 
 And, having planted her own resolve in the indolent 
 thing which he was pleased to call his mind, she 
 displayed n)arvellou8 cleverness in leading liim to 
 mistake the implanted resolve for a IVuit of his own 
 independent will and unaided judgment. 
 
 Once in a while, not oftener than onc(! in a liluo 
 moon, Ferdinand after the wont of thoronglily wife- 
 governed men declined to obey iustructionH, and out 
 of pure mannislitiesH, and a wish to show he could be 
 his own master, did the exact reverse of what Ik.- was 
 told to do. When ho thus took tlie bit between his 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 lU THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 own teeth, ^laria Caroline let him go his own way at 
 his own pace. If he escaped disaster she remarked 
 with nice tact, ' How cleverly you managed ! Your 
 judgment was better than mine !' On the other 
 hand, if his ' own way ' ended in a scrape, she never 
 twitted him with the result of his wilfulness, but 
 soothed his annoyance with some such speech as, 
 ' One cannot always see how things will turn out. 
 You acted for tlie best, and only took the course, 
 which I at first thought of advising you to take !' As 
 he grew despondent and heavy with years, the Mar- 
 quis of Tanucci, who saw the king only once in a 
 while — say once a week or fortnight — was no match 
 for this clever and beautiful young queen, Avho had 
 Ferdinand's ear and heart in constant and safe 
 keeping. 
 
 As year followed year without the appearance of 
 the son, whose birth eventually opened the council- 
 chamber to Maria Caroline, the old statesman became 
 hopeful that she would fall out of favour with her 
 lord. But it is conceivable that the delav, which 
 gratified Tanucci almost as much as it fretted Maria 
 Caroline (who yearned for male offspring) and irri- 
 tated i\Iaria Theresa (who wrote her daughter more 
 than one querulous letter on the subject), was 
 favourable to the Queen's authority over Ferdinand. 
 Had the son-aud-heir come in 17G9, instead of some 
 seven years later, the young queen might have been less 
 studious of Ferdinand's character and less considerate 
 for his feelings. In the elation of too quick success, 
 she might have taken a hasty and ill-advised step, 
 that would have given Tanucci a serious advantage
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 115 
 
 over her. lu the absence of the longed-for hen*, she 
 was dependent on Ferdinand for information respect- 
 ing the secret business of the council-table. Already 
 neediug this information for the contentment of her 
 curiosity and the success of her minor policies, j\Iaria 
 Caroline was sensible that, should she remain without 
 a son-and-heir, she would be even more dependent on 
 her husband's favour for the political supremacy at 
 which she was aiming. lieirlessness rendered the 
 Queen more assiduous to please Fertlinand. 
 
 After waiting some years for the much-desired 
 heir, Maria Caroline gave birth to a lovely infant ; 
 but alas ! the perverse little creature was of the 
 wrong sex. Again she underwent the peril and labour, 
 only to endure a repetition of the same exasperating 
 disappointment. When would the son come V Would 
 he never come? Would the council-chamber be for 
 ever closed to the mother of children, who were 
 'only girls '? 
 
 But though debarred from meddling so openly and 
 directly in politics as she would fain have done, and 
 as she meant to do with or without a scat at the 
 council-table, the sonless (piecn steadily became 
 more influential in affairs of state, whilst her court 
 grew more splendid to beholders, and more famous 
 for its splendour in foreign laiids. Tanucci felt her 
 influence in matters that were no mere affairs of the 
 palace ; and recognizing tlu; inflneuco he rcBOnted it. 
 Occasions arose when the king, so averse to business, 
 who had been trained from (;hildhood to Ixj a mere 
 show-king, exercised the will given him l^y Nea- 
 politan law and defined by the same law aw Mho 
 
 I 2
 
 116 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 royal will, inalienable, wliich can never set limits to 
 its own powers nor surpass them.' When this puppet- 
 king said ' Nay ' at the council-table, the prime 
 minister knew it was the queen's ' nay.' This know- 
 ledge was confined neither to the marquis nor to his 
 comrades in council, but was whispered about in the 
 galleries of nobles, the offices of merchants, the shops 
 of mere tradesmen. Rumours went about, that the 
 young queen was to be thanked for the new law, 
 Avhich required magistrates to state pubhcly the 
 grounds of their decisions, and for the firmness of the 
 royal edict that terrified the contumacious lawyers 
 into recognizing the reasonableness of what they had 
 so recently denounced. It Avas no secret that young 
 Gaetano Filangieri, the defender of the new law and 
 the controversial opponent of the contumacious 
 lawyers, had been rewarded for his treatise ' Reflections 
 on the Political Consequences of the Law of 23rd 
 September, 1774,' with a message of approval from 
 the Queen, and an invitation to her ' coteries.' 
 
 There was as yet no open quarrel between the 
 statesman, whose first care was for the interests of 
 his master in Spain, and the young queen who Avas 
 set on liberating Naples from the secret domination 
 of Madrid. When Tanucci appeared at the cere- 
 monious entertainments of the Palazzo Reale, Maria 
 Caroline paid him the attention due to her husband's 
 chief minister ; but whilst she listened to his Avary 
 Avords Avith apparent satisfaction and even Avith a 
 show of queenly deference, she Avas capable of saying 
 to herself, ' This old man imagines he is out-Avitting 
 me.'
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 117 
 
 The first and last open quarrel between the 
 lovely young queen and the failing veteran followed 
 quickly upon the event that, after so long a period 
 of repeated disappointments, qualified her for a place 
 at the council-table. Rising from her accouchoneiit, 
 Maria Carolhie claimed the privilege that had been 
 secured to her by her marriage articles. The claim 
 resulted in action on Tanucci's part, for wliich the 
 Queen with all lier prescience was unprepared. For- 
 tune is quick to desert the statesman, however strong 
 and numerous his titles to respect, who loses his 
 temper and shows himself wanting in common pru- 
 dence. That he was so foolish as to advise Ferdinand, 
 delighting more than ever in liis wife now that she 
 had just satisfied his longing for an heir, to deny her 
 the place which was hers by right, to break his word 
 of honour to her, to proclaim her unfit for the privi- 
 lege 80 solemnly promised to her, sliows that Tanncci 
 was ripe for ruin. On learning tliat Tamicci pre- 
 sumed to give her husl)and such counsel, the proud 
 queen showed she could Ije a ruthless queen. Rising 
 iti her wratli, witli the glow of anger in lier stern face 
 and a terrible brightnc'ss in her flashing eycB, slio 
 pointed to the minister, and lie fell dead,— officially 
 dead, never to rise again. 
 
 The news flew from palace to workshop, from mer- 
 chants at their desks to tradesmen at their counters, 
 from the chamberH of students to the keiuielK of the 
 hizzaroni, that the minister, who had served (Charles 
 Bourbon from the conquest to Ferdinand's accession, 
 and onwards from the first hour of Ferdinand's reign 
 to the present day,— who for forty-three years had
 
 118 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 been a chief power of the state, — was no longer of 
 greater account than any other old marquis ; and 
 that the Beautiful Queen of Naples, who had struck 
 him to the earth, would henceforth be no less power- 
 ful than l:»eautiful. The announcement was received 
 joyfully by most hearers. Nobles were pleased by the 
 startling intelligence on account of their long-nursed 
 jealousy of the statesman's greater grandeur and power. 
 Base spirits chuckled over the marquis's fall, as they 
 would have exulted in some degree over the fall of 
 any other person of long acknowledged worth. 
 Tradesmen were pleased, because the Queen was 
 believed to favour schemes for lightening the taxes 
 of ordinary people, and because her personal influ- 
 ence tended to quicken trade and make it more 
 profitable. To the thinkers and students and artists 
 the news was acceptable, because the Queen fostered 
 learning and the higher ai-ts, and was set on improving 
 the government of the country. Tlie lazzaroni were 
 vastly elated at the Queen's triumph, because she 
 was the wife of their dear king, who delighted in 
 her. 
 
 But there was a minority who received the intelli- 
 gence with dissatisfaction. There were persons who 
 heard the startling news with lively chagrin, and 
 even with dismay. To people who had been less 
 jealous of Tanucci than they were jealous of every 
 kind of social change, it seemed that the old man 
 ought to have been kept in office to his last hour, out 
 of regard for his former services. Things had gone 
 on mending under the marquis, who was no rash
 
 AND LOUD NELSON. 119 
 
 reformer, tboug-h he had iutroduced several useful 
 chani^es ; but uow there was reason to fear there 
 would be too much alteration. Whilst the timorous 
 spoke in this fashion, the few individuals who Avere 
 battening- and fattening on political abuses turned 
 pale at the startling announcement, and then, after 
 regaining their usual colour, fell into low spirits. 
 The most malignant of these few people had sleep- 
 less nights, during which they bethought themselves 
 what they could say to the Queen's discredit, should 
 it ever be safe to whisper tales against her. 
 
 No fallen minister ever felt official overthrow more 
 acutely than Tanucci. It is not surprising tliat he 
 suffered much from loss of power which he could 
 not hope to regaiu, and from humiliation which ho 
 could refer to nothing but his own folly. Ministers 
 being more apt to bestow their patronage on the 
 importunate than on the deserving, it is seldom that 
 a statesman, who has incurred irretrievublu ruin, is 
 emljan-assed by the gratitude of his former ^n'o^v/f/.?. 
 Flatterers and parasites fell away from Tanucci win n 
 lie ceased to bo a profital)le acquaintance ; ami in (he 
 solitude of his deserted galleiies lie was not without 
 excuse for reflecting bitterly on the Avorld's neglect. 
 Small comfort came to liim from speaking passion- 
 ately of human ingratitude and the corrujjtion of the 
 times. He would have borno his fate with greater 
 dignity, had ho l)een less sensibh' of his own folly. 
 La<king the fortitude to remain in the capital, whose 
 very beauties deepened his melancholy, the childless 
 veteran retired with his aged wife into th'' country,
 
 IL'O THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 -where lie died in liis eighty-fifth year, after surviving 
 his fall by abont six years. It is usual for historians 
 to remark that ho died in ' comparative poverty,' as 
 though the fact were greatly to his credit. Is it so 
 rare for love of power to be unattended by avarice ?
 
 AND LORD XELSON. 121 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 REIGNING KING AND RULING QUEEN. 
 
 The Quoen rules — Her Absolutism — Qualified by Ferdinand's 
 Freaks — Colletta on Maria Caroline's foreign Policy — Einina 
 Hamilton's droll Fancies — The Queen's Coteries — Philoso- 
 phers of Middle Age — Youthful Thinkers — Galanti and 
 Mario Pagano — Galliani and Filangieri — Palmieriand Cirillo 
 — Paganos Execution — Dominico Cirillo's Fate — Maria 
 Caroline's Patronage of Gaetano Filangieri — Her Care for 
 Filangieri's Children — Her Ministers and Advisers — Marquis 
 della Sambuca — Marquis Caracciolo — Prince Caramanico — 
 John Acton the lirilliant Adventurer — His Extraordinary 
 Career — He is invited to Naples — Becomes Maria Caroline's 
 prime Minister — ' Uxc Ilex, hie Regina, hie hajc et hoc 
 Acton ' — Libels on Acton — Causes of his Influence with the 
 Queen — New Neapolitan Fleet — Ile-organi/.ation of Neapoli- 
 tan Army — Charles 111. advises that Acton should he dis- 
 missed — Maria Caroline's Wrath — Employment of foreign 
 Officers — Colletta on Acton's Fleet— His .Strictures on 
 Acton's Army — Discontent of Soldiers — Signs of Mutiny — 
 Beginning of the Queens Unpopularity — Jealousies of 
 noble Subalterns — Pkrthquake and Pestilence — Emperor 
 Joseph's second Visit to Naplfs — Sir William Hamilton's 
 Trip to I'^ngland — 'The fair Tea-Maker of Paddinglun 
 (ireen.' 
 
 1777—178-1 A.i). 
 
 Acquiring in 1777 the asociMl.'incy in afTiiiiH of state 
 at wliicli sho had aimed from the moment of her 
 arrival in Naples, I\Iaria Caroline ruh-d the fSicilicH 
 for the next ono-and-twonty y(;arR with such abso- 
 lute atithority that I HJiall not licHitatc to speak of tlu^ 
 more important acts of the Neapolitan government 
 during h{> long a period as Iirr acts. The successive
 
 122 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 edicts of course ran in her husband's name ; but 
 whether they were wise and sahitary or ill-advised 
 and hurtful, she devised and promulgated them. Her 
 mind determined the higher policies of the council, 
 and her hand was visible in the doings of every de- 
 partment of the State. Ferdinand reigned, but Maria 
 Caroline ruled. Catherine the Great was scarcely 
 more absolute in tlie Russias than Maria Caroline in 
 the Sicilies; although the latter ruled in her hus- 
 band's name and under cover of his authority, and 
 had to endure once in a while a check from his hand 
 when, in one of those ' freaks of mannishness ' to 
 which reference has been made on a former page, he 
 would refuse to do her bidding, just to show that he 
 could when he pleased be his own master. 
 
 Describing her action in the opening years of this 
 term of almost absolute sway, Colletta says, ' In the 
 bloom of youth, only twenty-five years of age, . . . 
 beautiful, proud by nature, and still more proud by 
 the gi'eatness of her family, she found it easy to rule 
 her husband, who was absorbed in sensual pleasures. 
 She changed all the foreign relations, broke off their 
 connexions with Spain, and leaned more towards 
 England than France.' One might object to the 
 words ' sensual pleasures ' as giving too unfavonrable 
 a view of the manners and amusements of the king, 
 whose frivolous pursuits resembled his appearance in 
 being those of a country gentleman. But in all other 
 respects the passage is sound history, and I exhibit 
 it here as evidence that Maria (Jaroliue thus early 
 showed a disposition to mistrust France and conciliate 
 England.
 
 AXD LORD NELSON. 123 
 
 111 the time of her rapid deterioration, when in her 
 vanity she even deemed herself chiefly accountabk^ 
 for Nelson's greatness and victories, Emma Hamilton 
 used to boast that she de-Bourbonized the Neapolitan 
 Bourbons, and Avas the sole cause of ]\Iaria Caroline's 
 admiration of England. Had these boasts been 
 taken for what they were worth by Englisli his- 
 torians, I should not be so careful to recall them to 
 the reader's memory. But as the droll fancies of the 
 failing adventuress have been accepted for facts by 
 a series of influential English biographers and his- 
 torical essayists, it is well for the reader of these 
 pages to observe and bear in mind that ]\Iaria Caroline 
 had de-Bourbonized the Neapolitan court years before 
 Lady Hamilton set foot in Italy, and was remarkal)l(' 
 for her friendliness towards England full thirteen 
 years before she had any personal intercourse with 
 the lovely daughter of a Cheshire bla(;ksnn*th. 
 
 The famous 'coteries,' to which .Maria ('aroline 
 used to draw the Neapolitans of light antl leading, 
 were in existence before she gained In r seat at 
 tlie council-table; but after Tanucei's fall, the pliilo- 
 Hophers met oftener at the Queen's palace, and grew 
 rapidly in number. One may well smile at the 
 youthfulness of some of these lovers of wisdmi, wh<. 
 under the control of so august atid charming ji 
 patroness were ambitious of regenerating the country, 
 and enlarging the boiiii-ls (.(' hiunan knowledge, 
 (ralanti the wiitd- <iii jurispruden('P, (.'onforti the 
 ])rofoHsor of history in the- university of Naples, who 
 had bi-en emplr)yed by Tanucei to writer against thf> 
 papal pretensions, ami Dominico Cinllo the physician
 
 12i THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 and botauist, were indeed men of middle age ; and 
 Mario Pagano, the author of ' I Saggi Politici ' was 
 fom- years older than the young Queen. But Gal- 
 liaui the political economist, Filangieri the author 
 of ' La Scienza della Legislazione,' and Her Majesty 
 were nearly of the same age. Herself young and 
 enthusiastic, Maria Caroline, whilst drawing philoso- 
 phers of riper years and judgment to her salons, gave 
 her most gracious smiles to thinkers who resembled 
 her in being j^outhfid and sanguine. Acting for 
 the nation's future, she did well to draw about her 
 the young men, who would be the leaders of thought, 
 when the grey-beards of the passing hour would 
 have gone to their graves. 
 
 One reflects with sadness on the fate of three of 
 these eminent men. Mario Pagano, Conforti, and 
 •Cirillo died on the scaffold for defective loyalty to 
 the sovereign, who had preferred them to honour in 
 the university of Naples. All three are entitled to 
 <}ompassion ; and there are grounds for the opinion 
 that Cirillo should have been pardoned. Though 
 they have been greatly overrated, his scientific worth 
 and services were considerable ; and though his vir- 
 tues have been exaggerated by revolutionary enthu- 
 siasts, he may be honestly commended for sterling 
 benevolence. On the other hand, it remains that his 
 j)olitical conduct was far more blameworthy than 
 partial eulogists are willing to admit. 
 
 On the first establishment of the Parthenopeian 
 republic, Cirillo had the courage to decline the place 
 in the Provisional Government, to which he was 
 appointed by Championnet. But some months later.
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 125- 
 
 when the republic seemed more likely to endure, he 
 aat iu the Legislative Commission. It would have 
 been better for him, had he held stoutly to the cause 
 of the Queen, who had cherished his genius, placed 
 him amongst the professors of his university, and made 
 him a physician of the palace. Nelson had a strong 
 opinion, that the amiable and weak man went beyond 
 the truth, in declaring he never spoke against the 
 King's government. The offence that brought him 
 to a shameful death differed widely from the treason 
 of Caracciolo, but it was no trivial error in a sub- 
 ject, who owed so much to the crown. Clarke and 
 M'Artliur may have been at fault, in representing that 
 the Queen knelt to her husband, whilst vainly entreat- 
 ing him to pardon Cirillo ; but there is small room 
 for doubt that Maria Caroline was troubled at heart 
 by the physician's case, and that Emma Hamilton 
 did her Ijcst to save him. 
 
 On Maria Caroline's relations with (I ait aim 
 Filangif.-ri readers can reflect with untjuaHlicil 
 satisfaction. In every particular Ihey redound io 
 the honour of the Queen, wlio in cherishing so 
 gi-eat a teaclier rendered humanity a service, thai ol 
 itself would have entitled an ordinary queen-consort to 
 grateful commemoration. Beckoning him to her side, 
 when in his twenty-second year he silenced the con- 
 tumacious lawyers of 1774, she hcjiceforth cherished 
 him with sym])athetic care. On rising to the fullncsH 
 of licr power, she in 1777 made; him a gentlcmaji of 
 the King's bed-chamber and an officer of th'- vohni- 
 teers in the marine service, — places tliat, wliiist 
 distinguishing him at court, afforded him abundant
 
 126 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 leisure for his studious and literary pursuits. Thus 
 planted, so to speak, under the Queen's own roof, 
 Filang-ieri may be said to have written and published 
 the first four volumes of ' La Scieuza della Legisla- 
 ziono ' under her observation : and in 1783, when he 
 desired a place of residence, where he would be less 
 exposed to distraction, she encouraged him to retire 
 from the court to the country house (in the im- 
 mediate neighbourhood of La Cava, not far from 
 Naples), where he spent the next four years pursuing 
 his studies and working on his great enterprise, whose 
 fiftli and two following volumes were published in 
 1785. As it was drawing to a close, Maria Caroline 
 rewarded tlie author of the ' Scienza della Legis- 
 lazione,' for his long labour on so noble a work, by 
 appointing him to a lucrative office in the royal 
 College of Finance. 
 
 The reward was well-deserved, fur few books of 
 its class have produced so deep and enduring an im- 
 pression as 'The Science of Legislation,' which has 
 passed through ten Italian editions, besides being 
 translated into other languages. In France and also 
 in Germany it found two translators. Don I Rubio 
 translated it into iSpanish. Benjamin Constant 
 published at Paris, in 1822-1824, a ' Commentaire sur 
 rOuvrage de Filaugieri,' in two volumes. In 180G Sir 
 Richard CUiyton produced an Enghsh translation of 
 «uch portions of Filangieri's voluminous treatise as 
 relate to political and economical laws. 
 
 Unfortunately the author was not permitted to 
 enjoy the fruits of liis successful toil. Succumbing 
 in his thirty-seventh year to gout and malignant
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 127 
 
 fever, Gaetano Filangieri breatlied his last breath 
 before the publication of the eighth volume of his 
 unfinished Avork. Dying thus early, he left behind 
 him three children, for Avhose nurture the Queen was 
 prompt in assigning an adequate pension. Thus 
 ^laria Caroline cherished the great political writer 
 from his early manhood to his last hour, and after 
 his death became the guardian of his offspring. Per- 
 haps it was alike fortunate for the Queen and the 
 thinker, that he passed from the world before the 
 terrifying events which some years later caused her 
 to mistrust the wisdom of theoretical politicians and 
 even to regard philosophers with aversion. 
 
 The first successor to the eminence from which 
 Tanucci had been hurled was the Marquis dclla 
 Sambuca, a diplomatist who had buen acceptable to 
 Maria Theresa whilst acting as aml)assad()r from tlic 
 Two SiciUcH at the court of Vienna. That this 
 minister 8U])ported Mai-ia Caroline in what Colietta 
 (never too friendly, and on the whole most unjust to 
 the Queen) calls ' her laudable schemes for the welfare 
 of the people,' it is needless to say: for no jninistcr, 
 who failed in willingness to finthi )• llioso BchemcH, 
 would have been lb r Majesty's chief adviser for 
 six months. As it was, Delia ISambuca's tennrr of 
 the high office was brief. That it !aHt<'d .,nly about 
 two years was chiefly duo to his ignorance of financi'. 
 Needing a larg(;r revenue for the expenses of the 
 ])alace, which had for years been growing in Kj)len- 
 dour and costliness, Maria Caroline wished to raise a 
 greater income by taxes, and at tiie same time to 
 render taxation less oppressive to her subjects. As
 
 128 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 Delia Sambuca could not satisfy these wishes, the 
 Queen turned to the old IMarquis Caracciolo, then 
 Neapolitan ambassador at the French court, who had 
 long enjoyed a high reputation as a political 
 economist. 
 
 The most memorable incident of Delia Sambuca's 
 brief tenure of an office, for which he would have 
 proved incompetent even if the Queen had not been 
 set on raising the revenue and diminishing the pres- 
 sure of taxation at the same time, was the introduc- 
 tion of John Acton, one of the cleverest and most 
 fortunate adventurers of his epoch, to the court of 
 Naples, 
 
 An Englishman by ancestral extraction, a French- 
 man by birth and early education, a Neapolitan by 
 adoption, John Acton was the son of a well-descended 
 EugHsh Jacobite, who emigTated to Besanc^-on in 
 France, where he for many years practised as a 
 physician. A seaman in early life, when he little 
 dreamt of the greatness in store for him, John Acton, 
 on tlie death of his cousin (in the third degree, i.e., in 
 common parlance, ' second cousin ') Sir Richard Acton 
 of Aldenham Hall, Shropshire, succeeded in 1791 to an 
 Englisli baronetcy and an English estate; but he was 
 never made an English nobleman, as Colletta asserts, 
 in recompense for ' service rendered to England as 
 Minister of Naples.'* 
 
 * Dying in 1811 at Palermo, this remarkable adventurer (the 
 word is of course here used in its most honoural)le sense) left 
 two sons — 1. Ferdinand-Richard-Edward, who succeeded to the 
 baronetcy, and 2. Charles-Januarius-Edward, who entered holy 
 orders, and became a cardinal of the Catholic Church. Sir Ferdi- 
 nand's son and heir, the eij,'hth baronet of his line, was raised to 
 the peerasfe in December, 1S69, as Baron Acton.
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 123 
 
 A tall, handsome, shrewd mau of the world, John 
 Acton had passed his fortieth jear Avheu, as the cap- 
 tain of a frig-ate belonging to the Grand-duke Leopold 
 of Tuscany, he distinguished himself off Algiers in an. 
 expedition sent by the Spanish king against the 
 Moors. Achieving his first considerable success thus 
 late in life, he returned to Tuscany with a reputation 
 which caused the Prince of Caramanico to commend 
 him to Maria Carohue as an officer whom she should 
 appoint admiral of the fleet, which she designed to 
 strengthen, or rather to create, for the protection of 
 her long lines of coast. Leopold of Tuscany being 
 well-pleased to oblige his sister in the matter, and 
 also to witness the elevation of an officer who had 
 done him good service, gave Acton permission to 
 seek brighter fortunes in Naples. 
 
 Brighter fortunes came to the handsome adven- 
 turer who sought them in Maria Caroline's service. 
 Appointed admiral of her fleet, he was made Minister 
 of Marino, and in a short time Minister of War. 
 Whilst still holding these offices, he became, on the 
 Marquis (Jaracciolo's death, Minister of Foreign A flairs 
 and chief adviser of his royal mistress. Having the 
 prudence to avoid the ofiico of Minister <;f Finance, 
 ho advised the (^uecu to confide its duties to a com- 
 mission of thirteen councillors, who could .ill bo 
 murmured against for deficits of the oxche(pior, whilst 
 no one of them would become dangerously acccpt- 
 al)Ie to Her Majesty or llie nation by a tliirtcenth 
 share of the credit due to a single successful minister 
 of finance. The other places of the adminiHtration 
 were given to persons who bowed before Acton as 
 
 VOL. r. K
 
 130 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 prime minister of the crown. Other honours flowed 
 to the fortunate Acton. He became field-marshal, 
 general, lieutenant-general, captain-general, and on 
 gala-days at court blazed with all the Sicilian orders 
 of chivalry. There were times when it was whis- 
 jDcred amongst the jealous nobles, the least worthy 
 element of Neapolitan society, that, besides being 
 more powerful than Ferdinand, the English prime 
 minister of the kingdom of Naples was stronger than 
 the Queen, and even of more account than the King 
 and Queen together. Two of these malcontents 
 seldom dined tete-a-tete without saying, ' Hajc rex, 
 hie regiua, hie hsec et hoc Acton,' — a jeu de mot 
 recorded by the Marchioness Solari. 
 
 To believe all the French libellers wrote about 
 Acton is to believe that he was ungrateful, treacherous, 
 licentious, and not incapable of mvu'der. According 
 to those gentlemen of letters, in a selfish fear that the 
 Prince of Caramanico might recover his influence over 
 the Queen, Acton caused the prince, to whom he 
 owed his first successes at Naples, to be sent away 
 from the court, first on an embassy to London, then 
 to Paris, and eventually as viceroy to Palermo, where 
 he soon died under circumstances justifying a strong 
 suspicion that he was poisoned at his formerprof</^J's 
 instigation. But in these days the judicious reader 
 is wisely distrustful of biogi-aphers, capable of repre- 
 senting that Maria Caroline was an eighteenth century 
 Messalina, who found her Silius in a big Englishman, 
 and hoodwinked her Ferdinand just as the Roman 
 empress hoodwinked her Claudius. The libellers 
 spoke no worse of Acton than of Nelson.
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 131 
 
 
 It is easy to account for Actou's loD^--cuduriiii 
 power over the Queen, without adoptiug the vile 
 fabrications of the libellers. From the hour of his 
 arrival in Naples (1779 — 80), she was favourable to 
 him, because he was an Englishman by descent, 
 though not by actual birth, — a fact to be remem- 
 bered in connection with Ennna Hamilton's boast 
 that it was she who anglicized the Queen of Naples. 
 Maria Carohne felt almost grateful to him for the 
 heartiness with which he threw himself into her pro- 
 ject for liberating the Sicilies wholly from Spanish 
 authority, and applauded her resolve to be no less 
 independent of the French Bourbons, — a fact to be 
 remembered in connection with Emma Hamilton's 
 boast, that it was jshe who de-Bourbonized the Nea- 
 politan Bourbons. It raised the EnglishraaTi yet 
 liigher in the Queen's esteem, that, on iiearing of 
 Acton's exertions to create such a fleet aud army as 
 would preserve Naples from the Inmiiliatiou of suing 
 Madrid for help in case of an expedition fVoin 
 Barbary, Charles 111. wrote to his son Ferdinand, 
 lu'ging him to dismiss so unsuitable a servant as 
 Actcjn. 
 
 After the wont of ruling women, wliether they be 
 <jueens or the wives of mert; private citizens, the 
 beautiful Queen of Naples h.eld ' her husband'H family ' 
 in lively contempt, and (hished with indignation at 
 the faintest sign of a disposition on their part to 
 intciferc in * her husband'H afFairH.' Fuming with 
 wrath at her father-in-l.iw's preminiption in venturing 
 to advise, that /<cr Admiral should be disctharged from 
 her service, Maria Caroline determined to tcadi 
 
 K 2
 
 1S2 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 Charles III. henceforth to mind his own business. 
 Sucli insolence in a mere father-in-law was nn- 
 endnrable. To the order — yes, the order ! — that her 
 Admiral should be sent out of her country, the 
 indignant daughter-in-law replied by taking Acton 
 under her especial protection, and making him — in 
 an altogether honourable sense of the word — her 
 fav^nurite, i.e., the minister whom she respected and 
 honoured above all her other ministers. By his 
 futile attempt to do him injury, Charles III. did the 
 Admiral a great service, and fanned his daughter-in- 
 law's dislike of all Bourbons but her husband to 
 white heat. In her fierce resolve to let all Bourbons 
 know how little she cared for them, she was absurdly 
 uncivil to the King of France and his subjects in 
 refusing to sell them wood for ship -building, though 
 wood abounded in the Calabrian forests, and from 
 times beyond memoiy France had bought wood at a 
 high price in the Neapolitan dominions. No, said 
 the angry Queen : now Naples was going to have a 
 sufficient fleet of her own, she would need all her 
 best wood for her own use. 
 
 There were other reasons for the greatness and 
 long endurance of the Queen's favour towards this 
 minister. Doing with zeal what she told him to do^ 
 lie was quick to see when who needed encouraging 
 counsel and to give it fearlessly. On the other hand, 
 his discretion and knowledge of her character never 
 failed to preserve him from the mistake of giving her 
 distasteful advice. Moreover, though he was no 
 conventional courtier, he was a master of the art, 
 that is more serviceable than any other to those who
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 133 
 
 pursue their own ends by conciliating the great. 
 Overbearing to those of his equals who ventured to 
 oppose his will, and in moments of auger not in- 
 capable of brutal insolence to his inferiors, he was 
 uniformly worshipful in speech and bearing to Her 
 Majesty, who relished his flattering addresses all the 
 more, because she mistook his occasional hrusquerie 
 and lack of courtliness for signs of English honesty. 
 
 The need for a navy and a better army was no 
 imaginary want, but an urgent necessity. Nor did 
 action for supplying the want originate Avith the 
 sailor of fortune, whom Ferdinand was admonished 
 by Spain to dismiss from his service. The need was 
 one of ' those subjects ' which, by Colletta's admission, 
 ' were discussed by men of high consideration and 
 talents in the private coteries of the Queen,' whilst 
 Acton was still in the Grand-duke Leopold's service. 
 Acton's appearance in the country was a result of 
 the discussions in the Queen's coteries. He was sent 
 for because (again, by Collctta's admission) there was 
 no native Neapolitan capable of doing what the 
 Queen and her ' men of high consideration and 
 talents ' required to be done. 
 
 Against the navy, wliich Acton called into exist- 
 ence, even Collctta can urge liothing worse, than 
 that it exceeded the requirements <»f a coniitry 
 which only requinid a good enougli fleet ' to (iclcnd 
 the coast and overawe the petty sovereigns of" Jiar- 
 bary,' and that it exceeded the resources of the King's 
 exchequer, drained as it was by Maria Caroline's love 
 of display and Kpl<.-ti(lid prodigality. A sniallcr and 
 cheaper fleet would have been sufficient. \\\ other
 
 134 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 words, Acton did the Queen's bidding too grandly 
 and thoroughly. 
 
 Against Acton's army more is urged by the 
 historian, who admits that the force, left in the 
 countiy by Charles III., had dwindled from thirty 
 thousand soldiers to fourteen thousand soldiers, in 
 consequence of Tanucci's policy of leaving it to 
 dwindle ; the purpose of this policy being, as I have 
 before observed, that Naples should be dependent on 
 Madrid. That the army should forthwith recover its 
 old strength, the commons were required by a new 
 law to furnish a large number of infantry, whilst the 
 barons had to furnish cavalry and horses. Colletta 
 makes it an article of complaint against Acton, that to 
 raise the army to the full number he enrolled ' volun- 
 teers, debtors, vagabonds, and men taken from the 
 prisons and galleys into the regular military service.' 
 One is not told why he should have forborne to enlist 
 volunteers and debtors. Volunteers are generally 
 supposed to be men with a natural disposition for 
 military service. A man may be a good soldier with- 
 out being able to pay his creditors twenty shilhngs in 
 the pound. Our drilled vagabonds helped us to win 
 Waterloo. The discipline of piisons and galleys is a 
 better preparation for a service of obedience than no 
 disciphne at all. That Acton took a few men from 
 the prisons and galleys shows his determination to 
 have the full number of thirty thousand soldiers. It 
 was not his fault that, in the demoralization con- 
 sequent on long peace and their long neglect of 
 military pursuits, the people did not come in sufficient 
 number to the weakened regiments. He took the 
 best material he could get.
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 135 
 
 The men, good bad and indifferent, having been 
 found, the important (question arose, how the motley 
 assemblage of old soldiers who had lost much of 
 their martial aptitude, and the raw recruits who had 
 never been drilled, should be made into an effective 
 army. To accomplish this work, it was found neces- 
 sary to invite officers and drill-sergeants from foreign 
 countries, as the degenerate Neapolitans comprised 
 neither nobles fit to take the higher commands, nor 
 soldiers of lower quality, Avho were competent to 
 direct the exercises of the drill-yards. Baron Salis 
 came from the Orisons to train the new levies, and 
 Colonel Pomereul, an officer of ability and high 
 reputation, came from France, to form the corps of 
 artillery. That Acton was no less fortunate in his 
 choice of foreigners for inferior duties may be in- 
 ferred from the subsequent history of two of them. 
 Olio of the foreign subalterns was Jean Baptiste 
 Eble, who became first general of artillery in France ; 
 and one of the foreign sergeants was Pierre Angereau, 
 who rose under Buonaparte to be a general of the 
 French republic, and in later time a marshal of the 
 French empire and Duke of Castiglione. 
 
 But their soldierly merits failed to commend these 
 foreigners to the goodwill of the Neapolitans, who 
 deemed themselves insultiid by the presence of their 
 instructors. Distasteful t(; the popnlace, the foreigners 
 were regarded with aversion by the common soldiers 
 and with detestation by the native subaltern officers 
 of the re-constitnt<,'d army. The inditrnant subalterns 
 had no right to murmur at being excluded from the 
 higher comnjands, for General Colletta admits ' they
 
 136 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 had none of the Labits of military life, and were 
 sunk in the corruptions of an idle city.' But the 
 sense of their own unworthiness only aggravated the 
 rancour of these native subalterns against the superior 
 officers, who knew only just enough Italian to utter 
 words of command at parades and reviews. Ere 
 long the wrath of the military malcontents seemed so 
 likely to break out in dangerous mutiny, that Maria 
 Caroline and her chief minister decided to dismiss all 
 the foreign officers, with the exception of Pomereul, 
 who had not provoked much ill-feeling, because he 
 had nothing to do with the general body of the 
 army, and in training the artillery acted with Italian 
 subalterns of superior intelligence and generosity. 
 
 The Marchioness Solari, who had no personal 
 knowledge of Neapolitan affairs till long after these 
 events, was at fault in saying that Maria Caroline 
 ' was very much disliked by the Neapolitans, almost 
 as soon as she arrived in their country.' For some 
 time after her marriage she was popular with all 
 classes. Indeed, till Tanucci's fall she was universally 
 acceptable to her husband's subjects, with the ex- 
 ception of those of the nobles, who were in tliat 
 minister's qualified confidence and cherished some- 
 thing like devotion to him, those of the clergy Avho 
 resented her encouragement of secular education, 
 and those of the lawyers whom she had offended by 
 her efforts to correct judicial abuses, Begiiming in 
 the distrust with which the noljles regarded her anti- 
 Spanish policy, the Queen's uiipopularity became more 
 general from the jealousies she provoked by employing 
 foreign soldiers for the re-organization of the army.
 
 AND LORD XELSON. 137 
 
 After speaking of these jealousies, Colletta says, 
 ' About this time commenced the hatred the people 
 bore Acton and the Queen, while their attachment to 
 the King increased, as it was believed that he was 
 averse to these innovations, although they were 
 issued in his name, out of comphance to the will 
 of his wife and minister.' Thus originating in the 
 distrust and jealousy of the most degenerate nobles, 
 the dislike of Maria Caroline grew steadily, as she 
 persevered in carrying out what Colletta calls ' her 
 laudable schemes for the welfare of the people,' 
 until it animated even the classes that had most 
 cause to be grateful for her social reforms. 
 
 The next two years were a period of appalling 
 disasters to Ferdinand's subjects. The great earth- 
 quake of 1783, 80 destructive of hfe and property in 
 Calabna and Sicily, was followed in the ensuing 
 year by the gi-eat pestilence, that spreading through 
 both Calabrias brought death and terror to the huts 
 and caves of the squalid and miserable peasants. The 
 later of these calamitous years is also memorable in 
 Neapolitan annals for the Emperor Joseph's second 
 visit to his sister's capital. Declining on this occa- 
 sion the hospitality of Palazzc) Kcale, the humauo 
 and enlightened Joseph II., who had travelled incog- 
 nito to Naples for a renewal of intercourse with lujr 
 learned men, asked Maria Caroline to humour his 
 desire for privacy and to provide him with tlu^ best 
 guide to the antiquities of the; capital, — a petition to 
 which the Queen responded by leaving her imperial 
 brother to live as he pleased, and appointing tho 
 learned Luigi Serin to bo his cicerone to tlie mnsenms
 
 138 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 and historic buildings. That the British minister, Sir 
 WiUiam Hamilton, was one of the learned men with 
 whom Joseph II. conversed during his former stay 
 in Naples appears from a paper in the Morrison MSS., 
 whicli afifords a pleasant view of the graceful simpli- 
 city that distinguished the emperor's demeanour to 
 men of comparatively humble degree, who were 
 interesting to him, on account of their enlightenment. 
 But I have no evidence that Joseph saw anything of 
 Sir William Hamilton in 1784, though there was 
 time for a renewal of their intercourse, before the 
 brilliant diplomatist and savant started for his trip to 
 England, during which holiday he made Emma Hart's 
 acquaintance, and fell in love with 'the fair tea- 
 maker of Paddington Green.'
 
 AND LORD NELSON. U9 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE GOLDEN TOUR. 
 
 Ships and Men — Maria Caroline visits her Neighbours — Tlio Fleet 
 an<l the Holiday-Makers — From Naples to Leghorn — Bridge- 
 Tournament at Pisa — King and Grand Duke — Maria Caro- 
 line averts the Storm — Northward to IMilan — Hounding 
 southward by Turin to Genoa — The Fleet in Harbour — A 
 larger Armament — Homeward bound — Kill for Four Months' 
 Touring — A Million Ducats — The Golden King — Maria 
 Caroline in her Glory — Seen at her best — Her highest 
 Felicity — Sovereign, Wife and ^lother — Her two Ambitions. 
 
 1785 A.D. 
 
 ACTOX having created the new fleet, whose grandeur 
 according to Colletta so greatly exceeded the needs 
 and means of the kingdom, and having manned it 
 with seamen, who according to the same severe 
 critic of the minister's doings were 'better qualified 
 for trading vessc^ls,' Maria Caroline botlK)nglit lierself, 
 in the spring of 17^5, that she would in person dis- 
 play her ships to certain of the Princes of Italy, and 
 induce Ferdinand to attend her on a trij), from which 
 she anticipated great pleasure. Embarking on the 
 superb and luxurious ilag-shi[) im the .'>()th of April, 
 1785, the beautiful Queen saih^l nortlnvard.s, followed 
 by twelve war-ships — each of the vessels decked with 
 onsigtiH, each provided with musicians and im ans 
 of ainuHement, and each beanng over the bright
 
 140 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 blue waters a coutingeut of courtly gallants and 
 court beauties. It was an armament of war-vessels, 
 tricked and equipped for a long and brilliant gala. 
 
 Disdaining to touch any point of the States of 
 Kome, with whose sovereign they were at enmity, 
 Maria Caroline and Ferdinand passed onwards to 
 Leghorn, where they were greeted by the Tuscan 
 princes, in whose company they travelled from the 
 Livornese harbour to Pisa, and from Pisa to Florence, 
 the lovely capital that seventeen years since had 
 welcomed the fifteen-years-young archduchess with 
 wild acclamations and picturesque pomp, as she 
 made her progress to Southern Italy. At Pisa the 
 tourists were entertained with a theatrical revival 
 of the old bridge-tournament. At Florence there 
 was a repetition of the rejoicings that had been so 
 bright a part of the Queen's nuptial journey. 
 
 One incident of Maria Caroline's second stay at 
 Florence should be remembered. Full of his reforms 
 for the welfare of his subjects, the Grand Duke Leo- 
 pold had spoken about them to Ferdinand more than 
 the latter cared to hear, when from a courteous desire 
 to give his guest an opportunity for vaunting his 
 own philanthropic achievements, Maria Caroline's 
 favourite brother inquired of his brother-in-law, what 
 he had done for the Neapolitans. ' Nothing 1' Ferdinand 
 replied bluntly, and not a little to the perplexity of 
 the Grand Duke, who was well aware how much of 
 late years had been effected in Ferdinand's name, for 
 the better government of his people. The blunt 
 reply was no less true than short. Though much 
 had been done in his name, Ferdinand himself had
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 141 
 
 done nothing for the Neapolitans ; and he disdained 
 to take credit for the Queen's doings — at least, in her 
 brother's presence. The bluntness of the reply was 
 also intended to intimate, that the speaker had heard 
 enough of social reforms, in which he took no interest, 
 and would rather be told how well or ill the Tuscan 
 forests were provided with the nobler kinds of game. 
 Seeing displeasure as well as surprise in his brother- 
 in-law's countenance, the sometimes irascible Ferdi- 
 nand became pugnacious. ' Many Tuscans,' he re- 
 marked waspishly, ' beg for employment in my king- 
 dom : how many Neapolitans ask the same of your 
 highness in Tuscany?' Had Leopold been a Bourbon, 
 Maria Caroline would have allowed the despots to 
 wrangle on. But though she would have let him quarrel 
 to his heart's content with any of Ms own people, 
 Her Majesty had no wish to see him at feud with a 
 member of her own family. So with light laughter 
 and lighter words the inx'sistible ruler of men threw 
 oil on the troubled waters, and turned the conversa- 
 tion to a safer topic. 
 
 After resting for some tiuKj at Florence without 
 outstaying their welcome. Their Majesties of the Two 
 Sicilies with their regiment of courtiers and court- 
 ladies went northwards to l^Iilan, whence rounding 
 southwards they visited Turin and Genoa, iti tlio 
 harbour of which last-named city of palaces they 
 found tlieir bravo ships, all ready for the homewanl 
 voyage. The southward trip was made by tJK! 
 Neapolitan fleet in the company of so many English, 
 Dutch and Maltese vessels, that the entire friendly 
 armament comprised twenty-three men-of-war of all
 
 142 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 5?izes. From first to last, the progress of the southern 
 Queen of the Seas had been triumphal and free from 
 misadventure. Perhaps a grander and more success- 
 ful torn- was never made by superlatively great 
 people. The splendour and profuse luxury, which 
 had distinguished their Sicilian Majesties' movements 
 on laud and sea, were so magnified by rumour, as to 
 gain for Ferdinand the style and title of the Golden 
 King. Even with the aid of rumour such a reputa- 
 tion is not to be purchased for a small sum. Colletta 
 says the trip cost Their Majesties a million ducats, — 
 -a good round sum for four months of pleasure. But 
 probabl}^ this enormous bill for a four months' holiday 
 comprised the pay of the seamen, who would have 
 been paid all the same, had the court remained at 
 home. 
 
 The Queen was in the fullness of her grandeur 
 and regal glory during this brilliant expedition; and 
 the long gala is the more attractive to students, 
 taking a view of her whole queenly career, because it 
 brightens that portion of her reign, which even by so 
 severe a judge as Colletta is allowed to have been 
 gi'catly good and admirable. It was also the passage 
 of her career in which she shows forth in the perfec- 
 tion of her personal loveliness. Still only two-and- 
 thirty years of age, she was even yet in the full sum- 
 mer of her beauty. Time had given lier ueitlier a 
 single grey hair nor a single line whose deepening 
 furrow would ere long warn her that her earliest title 
 to admiration had already lost much — and henceforth 
 would yearly lose more — of its impressiveness. Her 
 waist was still girlish, whilst the upper and lower con-
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 143 
 
 tours of her figure were iu the happiest season of their 
 perfect development. Her shoulders and throat were 
 white as purest ivory, the complexion of her deli- 
 cately pink cheeks had never been more lucid ; her 
 lips — Maria Theresa's own mouth — had not been 
 more daintily winsome in the hour when Ferdinand 
 first dared to touch them. Her eyes had never been 
 more powerful to delight those on whom she smiled 
 Avith approval, or more eloquent of anger when she 
 was displeased. 
 
 One word of reference to the delicate liautem', tliat 
 gave a pecuhar piquancy to the prevailing sweetness 
 of her countenance. Portraits of Maria Caroline are 
 not common in Englanil ; but many readers of tliis 
 page have studied one or more of the exquisite 
 miniatures of ]\Iarie-Antoinette, that are in the 
 possession of our known art-connoisseurs, and appear 
 from time to time in loan-exhibitions. No one who 
 has studied any of these miniatures will find it difficult 
 to recall the lurking Austrian pride — a pride remote 
 from arrogance and innocent of pi^tty insolence — 
 which reveals itself in tlic fastidious face, that with- 
 out it would be almost insipid. !Maria Caroline's 
 finer * and far stronger but closely similar face was 
 
 * 1 am at the moro jiains to speak of Maria Caroline's personal 
 charms, because writers of credit and f^enius have been induced 
 by the Queen's contemporary lil)cllrrs to deny that KJie was 
 bt-autiful. After denouncing Iilt as a prodigy of wantonness, 
 Michelct calls a marble Imst in evidence to her extreme wicked- 
 ness. ' C'est,' he exclaims, ' la figure menu- du vice. Sur cette 
 tete sensuelle et basse, bouffie dr jiassions furieuses et de luxure 
 efTrcnec, on pent hanlinicnt junr fjuc I'hiKtoire n'a pas inenti.' — 
 Admitting that .Maria Caroline was beautiful, M. (iagnii re quali- 
 fies the admission by declaring her beauty sensual an<l brutish : — 
 ' clle ctait belle, mais d'une beaute brutalc et Hcnsuellc ' ! ! !
 
 lU THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 animated in a sliglitly higher degree by the same 
 ineffable and fascinating disdainfulness. 
 
 This period of her beauty's perfection was also the 
 period of her highest felicity. Fortunate in her 
 relations with her husband, she could reflect on them 
 with an easy conscience. If she ruled him for the 
 gratification of her own ambition, he submitted 
 gratefully to her government, and was a far happier 
 man than he would have been, had he married a 
 princess incapable of ruling his dominions for him. 
 Regarding him affectionately, she cherished him as 
 though she loved him devotedly. It was not in. 
 natm-e for one of Maria Theresa's daughters to lack 
 maternal tenderness. By this time Maria Caroline 
 was the mother of numerous children in whom she 
 delighted. Of the many letters she wrote in a later 
 passage of her career to Lady Hamilton, few are 
 more desei'ving of sympathetic consideration, than 
 the notes which exhibit her womanly care for her 
 offspring, the personal pains she took for their amuse- 
 ment when they were in health, and the solicitude 
 with which she tended them in their times of sickness. 
 
 A good wife in her own peculiar way, and an 
 admirable mother in the ordinary way of good 
 mothers, Maria Caroline in 17<S5 could reflect with 
 justifiable self-complacency on her services to the 
 country, which she had undertaken to govern. fSome 
 of 'her laudable schemes for the welfare of her 
 people ' had been accomplished, others were in pro- 
 gi'css towards accomplishment, and she was hopeful 
 that every future year of her sway over the Sicilies 
 would be fruitful of more measures for the same end.
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 145 
 
 Desirous of doing- much good, and of being known to 
 the world as the Good Queen of the SiciUes, she was 
 hopeful of achieving both ambitions. Of course, she 
 was aware that her measures for the ivhole nation 
 and the greatest happiness of the gi*eatest possible 
 number of her subjects had caused a few selfish and 
 perverse people to regard her with distrust and dis- 
 like. But as yet nothing had occurred to forewarn 
 her of the obloquy that would come to her from her 
 efforts to make the world happier. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 146 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE STORY OF AN ADVENTURESS. 
 
 An Arrival at Naples — Three Travellers — Date of Amy Lyon's 
 Birth — Mary Lyou afterwards Cadogan — Amy's Wildness — 
 Birth of her first Child — "Wilder yet, and wilder ! — Sir 
 Harry Fetherstonehaugh — ' The fine Line ' — Henry Angelo's 
 ' Keniiniscences ' — Mr. Charles Francis Greville — Padding- 
 ton Green — Emma's life at ' the Green ' — Romney's ' divine 
 Lady ' — From London to Naples — ' Caught in a Trap ' — 
 Emma's vain Entreaties — Her alarming Menace — She be- 
 comes 'the Rage of Naples' — Maria Caroline's Curiosity 
 — Under the Queen's Observation — Her Majesty is re-assured 
 — Emma's gradual Growth in the Queen's Favour — Society 
 is ordered to recognize the Signora Hart — Historians at 
 Fault — ^L Gagniere and General Colletta — Review 'of 
 Emma's upward Course — Her three Ambitions — Her 
 Measures for their Achievement — Counsel to Students. 
 
 17G3— 1791 A.D. 
 
 In the spring of 1786, the spring next following the 
 Golden Tour, there arrived at Naples on the 26th 
 April a young Englishwoman, who some years later 
 was associated with Maria Caroline in a peculiar 
 intimacy, which, though it served the Queen's pur- 
 pose for a time, and even proved for some years 
 greatly beneficial to the lovely autocrat of the 
 Sicilies, resulted in great injury to her reputation. 
 
 On the 14th of March, 1786, three persons started 
 from London for Italy. The trio consisted of a 
 gentleman, famous in the annals of art, who was re-
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 117 
 
 turuiug to his professional pursuits in Rome, a woman 
 of a homely appearance whose pleasant and shrewdly 
 expressive countenance betokened that she was 
 ' well on ' in middle age, and a quite young woman 
 whose sHght, lissom figin-e and riant looks declared 
 she was still to be rated with the girls of her period. 
 The owner of two lovely blue eyes, one of which 
 was remarkable for a brown spot that, instead of 
 showing like a defect, gave additional piquancy to 
 her glances, this girlish creature was fortunate in the 
 deHcate dignity of her profile, the ineffable tender- 
 ness of what Gavin Hamilton styled her ' beautiful 
 and uncommon mouth,' and the exuberance of her 
 rich auburn tresses — deep brown, toned with scarcely 
 pcrceptiljle redness — that on being unlooped fell 
 from her head literally to her heels. These were 
 only some of the elements of her historic beauty. 
 Her smiles were poetry, and their effect on those who 
 regarded her, when she was talking to her com- 
 panions with her usual frankncBs and animation, was 
 heiglitened by the qualities <»f a voice, that could 
 plead in the softest of persuasive accents, though 
 miisical connoisseurs spoke; most often ot its strength 
 and melodious ricliness. Wliiist rccogni/Jiig the 
 peculiar charms of her ' beautiful and uTiusual ' moutii, 
 most admirers of this lovely girl s[)oko with lively 
 enthusiasm of the air of serene and virginal goodness 
 that clothed her coiuitenance in i<s peaceful mo- 
 ments. This air, so expressive of girlish simpUcity 
 and innocence, accorded with her nature, but was, 
 alas I at painful discord with one already remote 
 passage of her earlier story. To regard her, in 
 
 l2
 
 148 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 ignorance of the lamentable circumstances of lier 
 career, was to recall the lines, 
 
 ' O, welcome, pure-eyed faith, white-handed hope, 
 Thou hoveriniif 'T^ngel, girt with golden wings, 
 And thou uublemish'd form of chastity !' 
 
 But to remember the saddest incidents of her life 
 was to recall a story, which had often caused women 
 to turn from her with signs of abhorrence, and even 
 to this hour exposes her apologists to odious 
 imputations. 
 
 Born at least as early as 26th April, 1763,* at the 
 hamlet of Denhall, in the township of Nesse, in the 
 parish of Great Neston, in the hundred of Wirral co. 
 Chester, Emma liamiltou (as she came in due course 
 to be called) was the child of Henry Lyon, a black- 
 smith, who followed his vocation in the girl's native 
 hamlet. Thus born at Denhall, the child was baptized 
 and at her baptism christened Amy (spelt Emy by 
 the Wirral clerk) at Great Neston church on the 12th 
 of May, 17G.5, just five weeks and five days before 
 her father, his labours at the anvil ended, was com- 
 mitted to his last resting-place in Great Neston 
 churchyard on the 21st June, 1765. Thus early 
 losing her father, Amy Lyon was henceforth sup- 
 ported, till she could support herself, by her mother, 
 Mary Lyon 7i^e Kidd, who on becoming a widow re- 
 crossed the river Dee and found a home amongst her 
 own people in her native parish of Hawarden co. 
 
 * I have a strong suspicion that Emma Hamilton was born a 
 year or two earlier. Possibly the date of birth given in the 
 //amiZ/on 3/emo«V5, i.e., 1761, is right. But I do not feel justi- 
 fied in setting aside the evidence of the Calais certificate of her 
 death, which points to 17G3 as the year of her birth. — J. C, J.
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 149 
 
 Flint. Of the particulars of JMr.s. Lyou's circmnstauces 
 at this poiut of her career I know next to nothing ; 
 but, though she may have cleared out of Denhall and 
 returned to Wales with a few guineas in an old 
 stoclring, it may be assumed that, to maintain herself 
 and her only child, the village blacksmith's widow had 
 to work hard for some years. The ever busy and inde- 
 fatigable mother, who to her latest time delighted in 
 domestic toil when she might have lived in idleness, 
 was no woman to murmur against the fate, that 
 required her to live by the sweat of her brow. 
 
 Thus born of humble but decent parents, who in 
 respect to their social condition were a full degree 
 above the lowest class of honest peasantry, Amy 
 Lyon received in her childhood the imrturc and train- 
 ing suitable for a maiden of her humble estate. Sent 
 to school at a tender age, slie could read slowly and 
 handle a pen awkwardly, before she donned the cap 
 of domestic service and, some time about the end of 
 her fourteenth year, became a nursing-maid in the 
 employment of Mrs. Thomas of Ilawardcn. It has 
 already been remarked, that her admission into such 
 a family as the Thomases in such a capacity is 
 testimony alik<; to the child's fair repute and to her 
 mother's respectability. It Avould liavc Ijcen better 
 for the girl, had she remained longer in tlie well- 
 ordered Welsh household, instead of being brought 
 Up to London in the middle of her sixteenth year and 
 placed in the no less orderly household nj" Di-. I'lidd 
 of Chatham Place, Blaekfriars. In London people 
 "Were too ready to extol the singular Ixauty, of which 
 the child, who developed into the inordinately vain
 
 150 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 Lady Hamilton, was of course dangerously cognizant. 
 The flattery, that fell upon Amy at every street- 
 corner, whenever she carried Mrs. Budd's babj^ out 
 for an airing, seems to have unsettled her, or rather 
 to have preventcM:! her from fairly settling down in 
 her appointed place in the physician's home. Leaving 
 the doctor's service, she took the course which ex- 
 ceedingly beautiful serving-girls are so strongly 
 tempted to take in great cities. Changing her places, 
 and staying long in no one of them, she ripened 
 quickly for ruin. For a few weeks she played the 
 part of waitress in a tradesman's shop.* For 
 two or three months, she played an even more 
 dangerous role as the companion of a foolish ' lady of 
 fashion ' (Heaven knows of lohat fashion !) who was 
 so captivated by the tradesman's pretty waitress, as 
 to offer her a home and introduce her to society in 
 the character of a young gentlewoman. The foolish 
 lady of some fashion gave ' evening receptions,' at 
 whicii tluj foolish girl of nature's finest fashion made 
 the acquaintance of flatterers, who thought so highly 
 of her natural endowments, as to think it would be 
 pleasant pastime to deface and spoil them for ever. 
 Uncertainty attends her movements for a while. One 
 sad fact is, however, all too certain. That happened, 
 which seemed too likely to happen, when the silly 
 child with a light heart and lighter head crossed Dr. 
 Budd's threshold for the last time. Seizing an 
 
 ♦There is evidence (of a kind) that she was for awhile Mrs. 
 Lindley's servant at the Drury Lane theatre, and also inconclusive 
 evidence that the story of her having so served Mrs. Lindley was 
 only one of the fictions with which in her later time tlie adven- 
 turess used to cover her true story.
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 151 
 
 advautage, given him by her gratitude for an inno- 
 cent ser\-ice, a naval oflEicer pressed his suit so effect- 
 ively on the emancipated serviug-girl, as to make 
 her imagine he loved her. There were meetings, 
 fruitful of wicked exultation to the rouS in a blue 
 coat and of romantic frenzy to the simpleton in 
 petticoats. The brief liaison ended before the simple- 
 ton was a mother. It was a seaman's last frolic on 
 shore, before he went off to serve his country on the 
 deep. A few months later, Amy Lyon was clothed 
 with shame, and was weeping over the infant,* to 
 which she had given birth, when she can scarcely 
 have completed her seventeenth year, unless she 
 was born something sooner than the Calais certificate 
 indicates. 
 
 The sad and dark passage of Emma Hamilton's 
 earlier story becomes even sadder and darker. 
 Kelieved of the care of her infant, which was 
 despatched to Ilawarden, where it was nursed by 
 Dame Kidd (Amy's grandmother) for some four or 
 five years, Amy Lyon rose from her accouchemenf, to 
 find herself penniless and disquaHfied for domestic 
 service. Having taken the first steps towards incur- 
 able de])ravation, she felt herseli' nuabh^ to retrace 
 them. For a brief time, Hhrinkiiig from the tliought 
 
 •This infant was the 'little Kniily,' aftt-rwanlH the 'littlo 
 Kiiinia,' who figures in 'Lady Ilainiltuii and Lord NelHon,' and 
 will rtj-apiH-ar in this work. In lii.s latewt (;.'i'<ay on matters toiich- 
 inj,' Kinnia Hamilton and N<'lHon (vidr ' lUackwfKHl'H Maga/iiiL" ' 
 for May, 18HX), Mr. I'aKct has madi- the unarcoiintalili- mistake 
 of representing thattlio litth; lOnnna, wjio was sent to a l)oariling- 
 achool in the suinmor of 17H4, was horn in 1782. It ia not usual 
 to Bcnd children to boarding-school at the ripe age of two 
 years. — J. C.J.
 
 152 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 of seeking admirers on the pavement, she seems to 
 have enacted for payment the part of the ' Goddess 
 of Health ' at Dr. Graham's ' Temple of Health,' and 
 in that character to have exhibited herself, not so 
 shamelessly as scandalous literature asserts, but in 
 the long robe given to Hygiea in works of antique 
 art. She may have displayed herself in this com- 
 paratively inoffensive manner to the men and women 
 of highest fashion, who for a season thronged the 
 famous charlatan's lecture-room, lohilst she was living 
 for the most part on Sir Henry Fetherstonehaugh's 
 bounty. That she lived for a short time with that 
 baronet, both in London and at his country-seat in 
 Sussex, is certain. To know this is sufficiently pain- 
 ful. But it is more distressing to know that, in this 
 period of her higliest levity and wildness, whilst 
 delighting the baronet's friends with her vivacious 
 temper, her racy prattle, her skill in mimicry and 
 her equestrian address, she found amongst them 
 confidential worsliippers, whose admiration of her 
 charms was unattended by loyalty to their host. 
 
 Sir Henry Fctherstonehaugh had reasons for dis- 
 missing her from Up Park witli scant courtesy, and 
 packing her off to Hawarden with barely enough 
 money for the costs of the journey. In some respects, 
 however, her misbehaviour towards the Sussex 
 baronet has been exaggerated. The Morrison MSS. 
 comprise papers which show that after Nelson's death, 
 when friends were falling away from the discredited 
 Beauty, Sir Henry Fetherstoneliaugh was at pains 
 to write her friendly letters, to send her frequent gifts 
 of flowers, fruit and game, and to cheer her with
 
 AXn LORD NELSON. 15S 
 
 proofs of his respectful consideration. Had she in her 
 giddy girlhood given him cause to remember her in 
 after-time as a mere demirep, who had ' nearly ruined 
 him l)y her extravagant profusion,' he would scarcely 
 have shown so much regard for her in the closing 
 term of her career. 
 
 From their point of view, rigid moralists are right 
 in declining to recognize the line that divides wicked- 
 ness done in the seclusion of rich men's houses from 
 similar wickedness done in places of vulgar enter- 
 tainment. But the fine demarcation, that separates 
 women who play with sin in drawing-rooms lit 
 with wax candles from women who follow evil in 
 Avays lit by street-lamps, shows out broad and dark 
 to women of vanquished honoiu- ; and it cannot be 
 questioned that in crossing this l30undary-line an 
 erring girl greatly lessens her chances of escaping 
 utter depravation and unqualified infamy, and that 
 in proportir)n as slie falls lower she is less likely to 
 omergu from dislionour and return to nnjral health. 
 It is, therefore, worthy of remark (in a chapter, 
 which aims at showing how far Amy Lyon was fit 
 and unfit to associate with Maria Caroline, and in 
 what degree she was likely to exercise an evil influ- 
 ence over the Queen, who sufi'ercd much in reputation 
 from associating with her), that Amy never crossed 
 the line, which is so insignificant to stern moralists, 
 and so broadly visibl"-- and momentous to womou 
 who are tempted to overstep it. There is literally no 
 evidence that Amy Lyon ever erossed this line. On 
 the contrary, certain iiidi.Hi)utal)l(! facts of her story 
 alTord grounds for a confident statement that, in the
 
 151 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 saddest season of her career, she neither became a 
 girl of the pavement, nor an inmate of any such 
 home as Mrs. Kelly's once notorious house in 
 Arlington Street. She never displayed her charms 
 to painters, as Allan Cunningham alleged, in order 
 that they should be the better able to put art to vile 
 uses. Nor did she ever stand as a nude model to 
 students at the Royal Academy. 
 
 But though she escaped the shame and degi'ada- 
 tion of a girl following sin on the Loudon pavement, 
 she only escaped them through the timely intervention 
 of the Honourable Charles Francis Greville (second 
 son of Francis, 8th Baron 15rooku and 1st Earl of 
 Warwick, of the Greville family), who was one of her 
 confidential admirers during her association with Sir 
 Henry Fethorstonehaugh. Answering with com- 
 mendable quickness and humanity the appeal she 
 made to him from Hawarden in January, 1782, when 
 she had been discarded by the Sussex baronet and 
 when the time for her second accouchement was near at 
 hand, Mr. Charles Greville, a kindly but far from 
 faultless man, rescued her from the utter ruin, with 
 which she was threatened. For something over four 
 years Amy Lyon lived under this gentleman's protec- 
 tion, and during these four years she was mistress of 
 the small house in or near Paddington Green, which 
 he also made his home. I do not palliate what was 
 manifestly wrong in this association. But 1 do 
 not hesitate to say, that for four years Mr. Greville's 
 treatment of his mistress was distinctly beneficial to 
 her better nature, and that consideration for the 
 kindness and salutary discretion, with which he
 
 AXD LORD XELSON. 155 
 
 treated her during those four years, should dispose 
 us to speak leniently of what was contemptible and 
 revolting in his way of getting quit of her. 
 
 Seeing her an outcast, he sheltered her ; caring for 
 her when she was sick, he ministered to her needs ; 
 snatching her from the jaws of ruin, he recovered 
 her to sanity and self-respect ; feeling it was his duty 
 to do something for the development of her higher 
 endowments, he gave her the finest education of 
 which she was susceptible. Though poor for his 
 station — a younger son with only a younger son's 
 narrow means, already hampered with debts, and 
 yearly sinking deeper into debt — he provided her 
 with a piano, paid a sufficient pianist to teach her to 
 play upon it, and paid a singing-master to train her 
 strong and richly musical voice. Training her to 
 take an interest in the works of art, of which ln' was 
 a fine connoisseur, he enabled her to apprehend and 
 delight in their excellences. Not the least fortunate 
 of tiie several l)enign conditions of her life in P.id- 
 dingfon was the friondsiu'p she formed, under Mr. 
 Grevill(;'s observation and encouragcnient, with the 
 famous painter Roinney, to whom she sate so often as 
 a model, not for payment, but fn^m desire to please 
 him aiirl from dehght in IiIh l.-ibours. At her small 
 and w<ll-onlered house in the Kdgwaro Road she be- 
 came acquainted with the- choie(;st aii<l closest of ^Ir. 
 (j-reville'ft fricTuls, — men who unironnly treat(Ml her 
 with the respect dm' to a gentlewoman. Neither 
 there nor elsewhere during the ionv years had she; an 
 acquaintance, who was distasteful to her fastidious 
 protector.
 
 156 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 So far as the epithets may bo applied to a young 
 woman in so distinctly reprehensible a position, Amy 
 Lyon (or Emma Hart, as she now styled herself) was 
 a good, and right-minded, and sound-hearted girl. 
 Temperate, truthful (at this time of her career), 
 zealous in her studies, attentive to her domestic 
 duties, happy in her temper, and blithe in all her 
 ways and days, she was chiefly occupied by the 
 interests befitting a gentlewoman. Apart from the 
 one sad fact, she led the life of a gentlewoman. 
 
 ller letters remain in evidence, that I do not speak 
 too highly of her temper and life dvmng these four 
 years. The evidence of those letters accords with 
 the terms in which j\Ir. Greville used to speak and 
 write of her. On ceasing to live with her, he 
 declared that she was absolutely free from all the 
 usual failings of young women of her degree and 
 peculiar position ; that, throughout their association 
 at Paddington Green, she had never displayed an 
 inclination to make an acquaintance he would have 
 disliked her to make ; that she had never been guilty 
 of falsehood or equivocation or any kind of deceit or 
 meanness, had never asked or hinted a desire for 
 pleasure he could not afford to give her, had never 
 shown — even in her wildest moments and sauciest 
 moods — the slightest inclination to irreverence, and, 
 though often revealing a lack of purely conventional 
 politeness, had never, even in her most unguarded 
 moments, shown a want of native refinement or of 
 natural feminine delicacy. To the generosity of her 
 impulses, her precise honesty in pecuniary matters, 
 her proud punctiliousness on all questions touching
 
 AND LORD NELSOy. 157 
 
 her own interests, and to the charitableness of her 
 disposition towards all people, Mr. Greville also bore 
 testimony. 
 
 Romney, who resembled ]\Ir. Greville in knowing 
 all the saddest and most dishonouring particulars of 
 her story, did not value her for her beauty more than 
 for those traits of disposition, which combined vnth 
 her personal charms to make him think and habitu- 
 ally speak of her as his ' divine lady.' Of course, the 
 painter's use of this epithet was a fantastic extrava- 
 gance, at which we may well smile. All the same, 
 it is good evidence of his sincere opinion of her. Had 
 Emma (raciest of merry talkers) ever entertained 
 liim with gossip more remarkable for malice than 
 humour, or with stories deficient in feminine delicacy, 
 the artist might have relished the malice and laughed 
 over the piquant levities, but he would scarcely have 
 worshipped her as a ' divine lady.' Tliat he rated 
 Emma with the divinities of human flesh and blood 
 must have been in some degree duo to tlie fact, that 
 he credited lier witli more tlian an ordinary share of 
 the goodness of tlio best human nature. 
 
 Warmly and deeply grateful to Mr. GreviMe for 
 the kindness he liad shown her in her season of sore 
 need, p]mma had not lived many weeks with lior now 
 protector, without conceiving the strongest affection 
 for In'm. That she loved liini velienicntly appears 
 from the letters she wrote him from Italy, after dis- 
 covering the real purpose for which he had sent her 
 to Naples. Tliat her attof-hment to him was dis- 
 interested, appears from the nnnnf-ss witli which she 
 rejected the proposals made to iier by rich worship-
 
 153 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 pers who desired to possess her in free love, and with 
 which she also declined the good offers of marriage 
 that were made to her during her residence in 
 Paddington Green. Further evidence of the force 
 of her dev^otion to Mr. Greville is afforded by the 
 pains he took to conceal from her, that in sending 
 her to Italy for a few months only (as he assured 
 her) he was in fact sending her from his side for 
 ever. His strong opinion that her love of him would 
 defeat his purpose, should the purpose be revealed 
 prematurely to her, Avas the chief reason why he 
 kept her to the latest moment in ignorance of his 
 design for her future settlement. 
 
 On starting for Italy on 14th March, 178»5, in the 
 company of her mother (Mrs. Cadogan) and under 
 the escort of Mr. Gavin Hamilton, Emma Hart left 
 London without even the faintest suspicion that Mr. 
 Greville had dismissed her from his protection. 
 Believing that she was going to Italy for better 
 musical instruction, and in order to confirm Mr. 
 Greville in his uncle's (Sir William Hamilton's) 
 affection, she crossed the channel in perfect confi- 
 dence, that he would join her at Naples in the follow- 
 ing October. He had promised to come to her there 
 in October, and take her back with him to England. 
 Had she at Dover suspected, that she was being 
 pushed and lured out of_England in order that she 
 should become Sir William Hamilton's mistress, she 
 would not have entered the boat. The evidence is 
 conclusive that she went for the first time to Italy, 
 lo\4ng Mr. Greville and hoping in course of time to 
 become his wife.
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 159 
 
 Lt-aving Loudon on tlio 14th of j\Iarch, Emma 
 Hart and her mother arrived at Naples on the 2t)th 
 of April, 1786. The time spent on the journey shows 
 that the travellers did not hurry to their destination, 
 Avithout regard for their personal comfort. Allowing 
 themselves time for repose, they viewed the chief 
 objects of interest in the towns through which they 
 passed. Mr. Gavin Hamilton had good opportunities 
 for studying Emma's ' beautiful and uncommon 
 mouth,' as she asked him questions about the pictures 
 of famous galleries and the architecture of ancient 
 cathedrals. He may be presumed to have regarded 
 with approval the manifold expressions that played 
 over the girl's face, as she surveyed the novel scenes 
 through which he conducted her. He may have had 
 enough of Mrs. Cadogan's society, but he must have 
 parted reluctantly with J\Irs. Cadogan's daughter, 
 when he bade them farewell at Rome. 
 
 At Naples the motlier and daughter stayed for a 
 few days at the Britisli embassy, wliilst workmen 
 were putting tlio last touches to an apartment of four 
 rooms opposite the sea, wliich tlif P)i-itish minister 
 had taken and re-decorated for tlicir lioiuc. A week 
 or two later, Emma Hart and her mother were occu- 
 pants of this lovely apartment, and were also the 
 mistresses of the carriage and horses, the boat and 
 livened boatmen, which Sir William Hamilton put 
 at their service. Astonished fur a brief moment at 
 the cmprcsnement with wliich ho wuleomcd his guests 
 from England, and at tli<' prodigality of his arrange- 
 ments for their comfort and gratification, Emma was 
 quick to detect both the passion nnd tlir- ])urpo8c,
 
 IGO THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 that impelled Mr. Grcville's uncle to give her so 
 many signs of his care for herself. How could she 
 be blind to the passion, when, besides covering her 
 with costly gifts and flattering complaisances, he 
 met her at every turn with looks of adoration and 
 pursued her in every path with glances of entreaty"^? 
 
 Emma was prompt to inform Mr. Greville of her 
 emban-assment, and of the nature of the solicitations 
 to which she "was exposed. In fourteen weeks she 
 wrote him fourteen letters. By the first of these 
 letters (begun on 30th April, 1786, when she had 
 been only four days in Naples, and finished on 
 the following day) ]\Ir. Greville was informed that 
 the writer saw the motive of Sir William's civilities 
 Avith equal pain and perplexity. In the letter's post- 
 script Emma begged Mr. Greville to write and come 
 to her quickly, — ' P.S. Pray, for God's sake, wright 
 to me and come to me, for Sir William shall not be 
 anything but your friend.' In subsequent letters she 
 wrote still more precisely of the humiliating em- 
 barrassments of her position, from which she implored 
 hiin to extricate her. In reply to these fourteen 
 letters, Mr. Greville wrote her only one epistle. 
 Naturally slow to believe her former benefactor had 
 sent her to Italy in order that she should become his 
 uncle's mistress, she persisted in pouring letters of 
 entreaty upon him, in spite of his cruel and insulting 
 silence. 
 
 At length, on 1st of August, 1786, she received a 
 second letter from her whilom kind protector, who 
 had ' thrown her over ' all the way from London to 
 Naples,— a letter in which he expressly counselled
 
 AND LORD NELSON. IGl 
 
 her to yield to his uncle's suit. To this cruel letter 
 the miserable girl answered with one last desperate 
 eflfort to recover his affection, and bring him to her 
 presence. ' It is not,' she wrote fiercely, ' your 
 interest to disoblige me, for you don't know what 
 power I have hear. Onely I never will bo his mis- 
 tress. If you afiront me, I will make him marry me.' 
 Observe this threat. Mr. Greville's chief fear was 
 that his uncle should marry again and beget an heir- 
 apparent to his Welsli estate. His only chance of 
 ever becoming rich lay in the prospect of succeeding 
 to that estate and to his uncle's other possessions. 
 As matters then were, he stood next in succession to 
 tlie property, by the Avill and word of his uncle Avho 
 bad promised to leave him the first and immediate 
 interest in the estate. The one chance would be 
 extinguished by Sir William Hamilton's marriage, if 
 it should be fruitful of offspring. And hero was the 
 most beautiful woman ho had over seen, tlircatening 
 to marry his uncle, who was already in love with 
 her ! 
 
 I have been informed by able writers, that J show 
 simplicity and a droll ignorance of femiuino artifice 
 in regarding Emma's letters from Naples to Mr. 
 Greville as sincere epistles. According to these 
 writers, the young woman was only acting a part in 
 those letters, — a part that would sustain lier credit 
 with both the unchj and tli<! nephew, and make it 
 easier for her to <l«t gracefully what they both 
 desired. 'J'lu; vehement letters were only fireworks, 
 that would entitle her to the honours of war, when 
 she should surrender to the besieger. Surely, the 
 
 VOL. J. M
 
 162 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 gentlemen who wrote in this fashion must admit that 
 Emma's threat of marrying Sir William Hamilton has 
 the ring of genuine coin, and that of all conceivable 
 menaces it was the one most likely to bring Mr. 
 Greville to his knees and her presence. If, as my 
 adverse critics assert, Emma was only playing a part, 
 and would have been greatly annoyed had Mr. 
 Greville taken her letters seriously, she certainly 
 acted rather too well in using this menace. 
 
 The threat failed of the desired effect. Mr. Greville 
 neither answered the letter nor kept his promise to 
 come to Naples in October. A month or so later 
 Emma Hart yielded to the suit, which she had re- 
 sisted for some six or seven months, and towards the 
 close of 178(3 consented to become Sir WilHam 
 Hamilton's mistress — in order to execute her threat 
 of marrying him. 
 
 It was thus that Emma Hamilton came to and 
 settled in Naples, not in the October of 1791, as 
 French and Italian historians have concuiTcd in 
 asserting, but five years and a half earlier. She did 
 not even at this much earlier date come to Naples 
 straight from a long course of vicious excesses in 
 England, with the aroma of London taverns and 
 dancing-saloons, still clinging to her auburn tresses. 
 Her brief time of extreme naughtiness was not so 
 grossly vicious and sinful as M. Gagni^re represents. 
 Heaven knows, it was bad enough ! But it was less 
 repulsive and much less poisonous than the French 
 libellers have represented. At most, it covered no 
 more than thirty months. It ended with December, 
 1781, since which time she had lived a decent, whole-
 
 ^iVZ> LORD NELSON. 163 
 
 some, and refining life for more than four years, before 
 she put foot in Naples. 
 
 What her life was in England during those four 
 years readers know. Let it now be shown how she 
 lived in Italy during the next five-and-a-half years, 
 i.e.f from April 1786 to October 1791, when she was 
 received at court by Maria Caroline. 
 
 She may be said to have lived during this consider- 
 able period under Maria Caroline's observation. 
 Keenly watchful of the doings of her capital, the 
 Queen heard of Emma Hart's beauty before the latter 
 had been many days in Naples. The King and the 
 nobles about the King, the Queen's attendant ladies 
 and the foreign ministers, were so often speaking of 
 the charming English girl, who lived with her mother 
 in an apartment provided for them by Sir William 
 Hamilton the British minister, that Her Majesty 
 naturally became curious about this Queen of Beauty 
 who was the rage of the Neapolitans. So early as 
 the 20th of July, 178G, Maria Caroline spoke to an 
 Austrian prince (Ktyled Prince Draydrixtous in Emma's 
 ill-Hpelt letters) respecting the young Englishwoman 
 whoso beauty was making so much noise. As tlie 
 prince had already been accepted by the young lady 
 as her cavaliere-servente (of course, in tlie innocent 
 sense of the term), he could tell Her Majesty a good 
 deal about Mrs. Cadogan's daughter. After listening 
 attentively to the prince's account of Emma's blue 
 hat and white feathers, the crowds of lazzaroui who 
 never failed to appear on the quay whenever she 
 aliglited from her boat, and the eomewhat better- 
 clothed crowds who raced after her carriage whcn- 
 
 M 2
 
 161 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 ever she drove through Naples, Maria CaroliDe in- 
 structed him to attend at the next evening's promenade 
 in the gardens of the Villa Reale, for the purpose of 
 enal)ling Jier to take a good view of the new Beauty. 
 Of course, the prince did the Queen's bidding with 
 the result that Her Majesty had a good view of the 
 features, figure and entire personal style of Roraney's 
 ' divine lady.' 
 
 The Queen may be pardoned for this unqueenly 
 curiosity respecting the young Englishwoman, who 
 was understood to be qualifying herself for the voca- 
 tion of a public singer, under professors selected by 
 so fine a musician as Sir William Hamilton. For 
 there was gossip in tlie sets and cliques of Maria 
 Caroline's courtly entourage, about the attentions 
 which the helle from England had received on several 
 successive Sundays at Posilipo from the Kingliimself. 
 
 Hitherto Ferdinand's brief fits of enthusiasm for 
 pretty actresses at San Carlo and for enchantresses 
 of higher quality had not caused Her Majesty serious 
 uneasiness. But when her political sway depends at 
 least in some degree on her dominion over her hus- 
 band, it is well for a ruling woman to have a prudent 
 regard for his foibles. In the case of a mere actress 
 or professional songstress, even though she were a 
 prima donna of European celebrity, Maria Caroline 
 knew how to act for her own dignity and comfort. 
 The Queen, who in later time caused Madame Banti 
 to be hurried straiglit from the stage to the travelHng- 
 caniage which whisked her in a few hours out of 
 Neapolitan temtory, knew how to deal with ordinary 
 assailants of her peace of mind and royal interests. 
 But she had no wish to act impulsively respecting
 
 AXn LORD NELSON. 165 
 
 this young person from England, who enjoyed the 
 countenance of the Chevaher Hamilton. Still as 
 Ferdinand could not pass this young woman in the 
 promenade without bowing almost to the ground, and 
 only the other Sunday sate uncovered in his boat 
 whilst his musicians played air after air in her 
 honour, it was well for the Queen of Naples to take 
 a view of this Madame or Mademoiselle Hart. Possi- 
 bly the secret of the young person's colour would 
 prove no secret to the daughter of Maria Theresa. 
 
 Thanks to the adroitness with which Prince 
 Draydrixtous obeyed the Queen's order, Her Majesty 
 had a good view of Emma Hart at the rxe.'^t promenade, 
 and it was with relief that Maria Caroline saw that 
 the lovely English girl would cause her no trouble. 
 The air of goodness, which was so remarkal)le a 
 characteristic of the girl who liad for awhile been far 
 from good, impressed the Queen of the Two Sicilies. 
 Nor was the girl's charming naturalness lost upon 
 the Queen, who saw at a glance that nature was 
 wholly accountable for the briglitness of tlie com- 
 plexion, about which she had lieard so much. ' There 
 is no wickedness in that lovely creature,' thought 
 Her Majesty, ' and if her liead sliduld bo touched by 
 80 much attention, the good Chevali< r Hamilton will 
 see she doesn't run wild.' So the tjrantLc dauu: could 
 with sincerity say a few words to Prince Draydrix- 
 tous in coimnendation of th(; lieauty from England, — 
 words which, as her cavaliere-HcrvcnU\ he would be 
 sure to convey to her. Emma ha<l grounds for 
 writing to Mr. Greville on 22inl July, IVSC, ' Tlie 
 Queen likes me much, and desired Prince Draydrixtous 
 to walk with me near her, that she might get a good
 
 166 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 sight of me.' Having thus conciliated Sir William 
 Hamilton's jyrotegee by a delicate little touch of 
 queen-craft, Maria Caroline was not surprised to 
 leam from sure reporters, that though Emma acknow- 
 ledged F'erdinand's complaisances with indications of 
 natural delight, she did not seem at all inclined to 
 play the fool herself or allow him to make a fool of 
 her. ' We are,' Emma wrote to Mr. Greville on 1st 
 of August, 1786, ' closely besieged by the King in a 
 round-about manner. He comes every Sunday to 
 Posilipo, but we keep the good-will of the other 
 party mentioned above,' — the other party thus 
 referred to being ' the Queen.' 
 
 Having made this favourable impression on the 
 greatest lady of the land at the outset of her Nea- 
 politan career, Emma grew gi-adually in Maria Caro- 
 line's regard. Seventeen months later, i.e., in the 
 last month of 1787, Sir William Hamilton could 
 assure one of his most confidential friends, that 
 Emma's good behaviour had won her many sensible 
 admirers, and that, without receiving her into their 
 circle at present, the Queen of Naples and the prin- 
 cipal ladies of the Neapolitan nobility took every 
 occasion of showing her distant civility. It was 
 not till the summer of 1790, that Sir WilHam Hamil- 
 ton's eyes sparkled with dehght at hearing that both 
 Ferdinand and Maria Caroline had spoken of the 
 Signora Hart as a rare example of feminine propriety 
 and virtue. Soon after Their Majesties had thus 
 formally declared their high opinion of Emma's merit, 
 and given the mot d'ordre for her social recognition, 
 Maria Caroline seems to have privately taken direct
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 167 
 
 personal notice of the young Englishwoman, who 
 however was not formally received at the Neapolitan 
 Court till October, 1791. Maria Caroline and the 
 Duchess of Argyll divide between them the credit or 
 discredit of making Sir William Hamilton decide to 
 wed the famous Beauty. 
 
 Thus it took Emma Hart five years and a half to 
 win (by patient waiting and striving in Italy) that 
 place at the Neapolitan Court, Avhich M. Gagniere 
 and previous French writers declare was conceded 
 to her as soon as she entered the country. M. Cag- 
 ni^re and his instructors have taught people to 
 believe that Emma Hamilton came straight from 
 London taverns to the Court of Naples, whereas 
 ten years (or to speak more precisely, ni7ie years and 
 ten months) intervened between the end of her brief 
 term of flagrant naughtiness and the day of her 
 formal and open recognition by Maria Caroline. 
 
 On this point, Colletta is even more extravagantly 
 wrong than M. Gagniere. Adt)pting the erroneous 
 story, that Emma came to Naples for the first time in 
 1791, and straight from a flagrantly vicious life in 
 London, Colletta represents that the Queen treated 
 Lady Hamilton with the disdain f)f a Queen towards 
 an adventuress, and forbore to show her any com- 
 plaisance until she saw how greatly Nelson was fas- 
 cinated by the beauty's many charms. What are the 
 facts? Maria Caroline never treated Emma Hart with 
 disdain. On the contrary, she regarded .Sir William 
 Hamilton's protcyt'e with favour, though of course 
 distant favour, fmm an early hour of her residence in 
 Naples. She had received Lady Hamilton and made
 
 168 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 a friend of her long before the adventuress ever set 
 eyes on Nelson. And the two -women, tlie Queen 
 and the adventuress, had been intimate friends and 
 corresjyondents for more than five years, when Nelson 
 iirst fell under the spell of Lad}'- Hamilton. — Such 
 are the blunders made about Maria Caroline, Emma 
 Hamilton and Nelson, by the men who have hitherto 
 been accepted as good authorities respecting the 
 three notable persons. 
 
 Whilst Emma Hart rose thus steadily in Maria 
 Caroline's favoiu-able regard, she rose no less steadily 
 in the good opinion of the Neapolitans, the diplomatic 
 circle and the English colony. It was, of course, 
 more to her credit that she rose in the esteem of 
 the English residents, than that she grew in the 
 esteem of the Queen, the higher Neapolitans and the 
 diplomatic circle. From the first the Queen was in 
 some degree disposed to countenance Emma from 
 politic care for the feelings of the British minister, 
 Avho had the power to do the Neapolitan government 
 service or disservice at the court of London ; and 
 from the outbreak of the French revolution Her 
 Majesty's treatment of the adventuress was distinctly 
 animated and determined by a desire to attach Sir 
 William Hamilton to her interest and quicken his 
 zeal for her cause. The higher Neapohtans, who 
 grew more and more favom-able to Emma Hart, 
 belonged to the court party, and in all their doings 
 were animated by a desire to please the Queen. For 
 the growing complaisance of the foreign ministers 
 and their wives, Emma was chiefly indebted to Sir 
 William Hamilton's influence with the diplomatists.
 
 AND LORD XELSOK 169 
 
 But her success iu the Enghsh colony was not more 
 due to Sir WiUiam Hamilton's tact and popularity than 
 to her o-\\Ti good conduct. Had she been wanting iu the 
 kind of social orderliness, tliat is commonly called 
 good behaviour, the touring Englishwomen and the 
 ladies of the English colony, instead of gradually 
 coming to her side, would have waged war with her 
 to the bitter end. 
 
 That she rose thus steadih^ in the favour of the 
 Neapolitans of the court-party, the diplomatists and 
 the English colony, appears from her letters and from 
 other papers of the Morrison MSS. During the first 
 twelve months of her residence at Naples her friends 
 were fur from numerous, notwithstanding the uni- 
 versal admiration of her beauty. Ladies were slow 
 to visit the British P^mbass}-- for several months after 
 the Signora Hart and ]\Irs. Cadogan moved into it. 
 But before the end of 1787, ladies were less reluctant 
 to call at the house of which Emma was mistress. 
 J?ut thougli many people, who accepted her invitations 
 ghidly in tlu; following yar, kept away from her 
 liouse in 1787, the Signora Hart could even in that 
 year gather 'near sixty people' to a musical-party 
 under her roof. In 1788 she had a larg('r circle and 
 her friends were seen to improve in quality. Things 
 went still more agreeably to Kmina'H social ambition 
 from the begiinn'ng of 17811; and in Iho winter of 
 178IMX), when the Duchess of Argyll (wliilom Eh'za- 
 bcth Guiun'ng) 'took her up,' ;in<l Lady Elcho niado 
 much of her, the most severe and timid ladies of Iho 
 EiigUsh cliijucs began to think that after all they 
 might as well join hands with Mrs. Il.irt, Avho was
 
 170 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 said to have been secrutly married to the British 
 minister. 
 
 Though she was required to endure a few rebuJQTs 
 between New Year's day and the 31st of December, 
 1790, the year in which Their Majesties spoke to the 
 courtiers in her behalf and Sir WiHiani Hamilton 
 gave her a set of diamonds, was so fruitful of social 
 successes for the blacksmith's daughter, that she and 
 Sir William decided to throw open all her salons and 
 give a grand concert and ball to her goodly army of 
 friends. At tliis gi-aud concert and ball given in 
 January, 1791, 'the first great assembly we have 
 given publicly ' (as Emma wrote exultingly to Mr. 
 Greville), ^Ir. Legge saw an assembly of nearly all 
 the people of highest consideration at Naples — foreign 
 ministers and their wives, Neapolitans of the best 
 families and both sexes, and stately English people, 
 numbering in all four hundred persons — Avhose pres- 
 ence at the significant demonstration put it beyond 
 question, that the Siguora Hart had ' all society ' 
 with her. 
 
 Aided as he was by Ferdinand and Maria Carohne, 
 Sir William could not have compassed this triumph 
 for his mistress, had she not done much to conciliate 
 social sentiment by her own merits and commendable 
 behaviour during her residence in Italy. In her upward 
 course she was animated by three strong ambitions, 
 (1; to win social recognition and become * a personage' 
 in Neapolitan circles^ (2) to accomplish her threat of 
 marrying Sir William Hamilton, (3) to become a 
 good musician and especially a good singer, so that, 
 in case she should fail to make herself Lady Hamilton, 
 
 I
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 171 
 
 she might win for herself a leading positiou amongst 
 operatic artistes. To achieve the first ambition she 
 was studious of the social convenances, and quick to 
 seize every opportunit}"" of ingratiating herself with 
 the beau monde. To achieve the second ambition, she 
 was studious of Sir William Hamilton's feelings, and 
 obedient to his wishes in every particular. To render 
 herself dearer to him, she kept watch over her too 
 fervid and emotional nature. ' Tell Ilayly,' she wrote 
 to Romney on 20th December, 1791, 'I am allways 
 reading liis " Triumphs of Temper." It was that that 
 made me Lady lI[amilton], for God knows I had for 
 5 years enugh to try my temper, and I am afraid, if 
 it had not been for the good example Serena tought 
 me, my girdle would have burst ; and if it had, I had 
 been undone, for Sir William minds temper more than 
 beauty,' To achieve the tliird am])itiou she gave 
 mucli time to her studies, and persevered in them 
 with excellent industry. 
 
 In a year or so she acquired a knowledge of Italian 
 and French, that enabled her to speak both languages 
 with fluency and sufficient correctness, and also to 
 write them as readily as she wrote her mother tongue. 
 Taking lessons of professors daily when she was at 
 Naples, she seldom went to a country house without 
 taking a music-master with her, so that she should 
 be going forward with her musical education, whilst 
 staying with her frif^ndn. Cultivating her histrionic 
 powers, she diHtinguishcd herself as an amateur 
 actress, and made her celebrated ' attitudes' un enter- 
 tainment, that in later time delighted even so fasti- 
 dious a critic as Mrs. Trench. Dancing adnn'rably.
 
 172 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 she was a clever and elegant horse-woman. A writer 
 of many letters in three languages to her friends, she 
 found time to assist Sir Wilham Hamilton in his 
 literary and official labours, as a confidential 
 amanuensis. 
 
 It is not more certain, that during her four years 
 at Paddington Emma led a homely, wholesome and 
 orderly existence, than that during the first term of 
 her residence in Italy, i.e., from 26th of April, 1786, to 
 the s]^)ring of 1791, when she went to London for her 
 marriage, the charming adventuress spent her time 
 and energies in good society and refining pursuits, 
 and led a singularly industrious life, against which 
 nothing could be urged but the one grave objection, 
 — that, instead of being the British minister's wife, 
 she was only his mistress. When Mr. Legge, acting 
 in ]\Ir. Greville's interest, went about Naples in the 
 closing months of 1790 and the earliest weeks of 
 1791, making inquiries respecting her ways of Hfe 
 and general reputation, he found she had everyone's 
 good word. The only thing he heard to her discredit 
 was that she sometimes sung slightly out of tune. 
 
 In considering how far Emma Hamilton was fit or 
 unfit to be admitted to the favour and intimacy of 
 the Queen of Naples, and how far she was a woman 
 likely to influence the Queen for evil, students should 
 have due regard for the orderliness and industry of 
 her life from the beginning of 1782 to the close of 
 1791, and should take little or no account of the two- 
 and-a-half years of distinctly bad behaviour, that 
 came to an end in 1781.
 
 AND LOUD XELSOy. 17S 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 GATHERING CLOUDS. 
 
 Emma's View of the Queen — Small-Pox iu the Palazzo Reale — 
 Charles the Tiiird's Death — Princes Januarius and Charles 
 — Tiiey are buried like Princes — Colony of San Leucio — Code 
 for the Colonists — Its Provisions — Royal Marriages — Death 
 of Joseph the Second — Maria Caroline's growing Concern for 
 Marie-Antoinette — From Xaplcs to Vienna — Leopold's Coro- 
 nation in Hungary — Ferdinand and INIaria Caroline extolled 
 for their Humanity — Brother and Sister iu Council — Their 
 Project for staying the Revolution — Differences between 
 Rome and Naples — Expulsion of the Jesuits — Clement the 
 Fourteenth — Pope and King — Abolition of the Chinea — 
 Queen and Pope — Dismissal of Caloppi — Their Majesties of 
 Naples visit Rome — Pretty Bit of Acting — Reconciliation of 
 Pius VI. and Maria Caroline — Princesses of France in Exile 
 — Maria Caroline's Fury against the French Rabble — Her 
 Distrust of her former 'J'eaclu.'rs — She is baek at Najiles — Sir 
 William Hamilton and Enuua Hart start for London. 
 
 178G— 1791 A.u. 
 
 The (jiiuen, wlio took a dclibcrato view of Emiua 
 Hart at the evening proinoiiadc (jf the 22ii(l of July, 
 178G, was Htill in tin- perfection of her beauty and iu 
 the fulhicfis of her power and Hpleudour, when the 
 adventuress, who seven or eight years hitor becarao 
 Her Majesty's ' dear friend ' and ' dearest P^nuna,' was 
 takin;.:; h(;r first lessons of the professors of music, 
 singing and languages, whom Sir Williani Ilamiltou 
 introduced to the 'apartment of four rooms,' and 
 appointed to instruct \\ih protcgdc. Amongst those of
 
 171 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 tlie nobility, who disliked her foreign policies and 
 murmured against her profuse expenditure on the 
 army, navy, and palace, Maria Caroline was, no 
 doubt, becoming steadily more and more unpopular. 
 Amongst the small but powerful minority of her sub- 
 jects, who had already suffered much, and who feared 
 in coming time to suffer more, from her ' laudable 
 schemes for the welfare of the people ' at large, the 
 Queen was also increasing the number of her secret 
 enemies, who were biding their time to reward her 
 merits and services to the nation, as the virtuous 
 labours of conscientious sovereigns are too often 
 rewarded. But at present, the growing disfavour, 
 with which she was secretly regarded by the discon- 
 tented minorit}^ forebore from manifestations, that 
 would come naturally to the cognizance of the 
 charming young woman who had so recently 
 migrated from Paddington Green to Naples. 
 
 The professors who visited this young woman's 
 apai-tment came to teach her singing and the piano, 
 French and Italian, not to enlighten her respecting 
 the undercurrents of political sentiment in Southern 
 Italy. Applauding her for the zeal with which she 
 persevered in her studies. Sir William Hamilton did 
 not encourage his protegee to prattle about politics. 
 The people introduced to her by Sir William Hamil- 
 ton, one of the Queen's warmest admirers, were not 
 people to think or whisper ill of Maria Theresa's 
 exemplary daughter. Taking only the most super- 
 ficial view of Neapolitan affairs, and living amongst 
 people who thouglit well of those affairs, Emma Hart 
 necessarily regarded the Queen with unqualified
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 175 
 
 approval. Whenever Maria Caroline appeared at 
 the evening promenade with a train of obsequious 
 courtiers and elegantly attired ladies in attendance, 
 she passed through throngs, who gazed at her with 
 worshipful eyes, and hummed in admiration of her 
 grace and \'irtue. Whenever Her Majesty appeared 
 at fSan Carlo's, she was greeted with rapturous ap- 
 plause. The many stories, told in Sir Wilham Hamil- 
 ton's circle of the Queen's tenderness for her lovely 
 children, were conclusive evidence to the always 
 emotional and never severely logical young woman 
 from Paddington Green, that Maria Caroh'ne was no 
 less amiable in her private life, than splendid and 
 beneficent in her public doings. 
 
 When the Queen and her attendant ladies began to 
 show Emma ' those distant civilities,' which gratified 
 her so greatly in the last mouth of 1787, the object 
 of those distant indications of a sovereign's benignity 
 became even more enthusiastic in her praise of so 
 amiable a princess, and more hopeful of being 
 eventually allowed to Iciicel in the good Queen's 
 presence-chamljer. A year later, after regarding the 
 Beautiful Queen of Naples in her prosperity for some- 
 thing over two-and-a-lialf years, the Cheshire black- 
 smith's daughter had occasion for showing a distant 
 sympatliy for II or Majesty's sorrow. 
 
 Towards the close f)f 1788, a rumour ran through 
 Naples, that tlie small-pox, more fortunate than tlie 
 whilom tea-maker of Paddington Green, had been 
 allowed to enter the private apartments of the royal 
 palace. It was even whispered, that this scourge 
 of human beauty had prcRiuaed to lay its disfiguring
 
 17 G THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 hands on two of Maria Caroline's lovely offspring. 
 Prince Januarius, aged nine years, and the baby 
 Prince Charles, who numbered only six months, had 
 been visited by the awful malady. At the same 
 time a messenger from Madrid arrived at Naples witli 
 intelligence, that Charles the Third of Spain had 
 passed to another world, without forgiving the un- 
 dutiful son, who to please his Austrian Avife had 
 flouted his father's authority, and refused to dismiss 
 the dangerous Acton. Worse still, a few days later 
 the dread power, that has no more respect for a 
 Bourbon's palace than a peasant's cabin, taught Dr. 
 Dominico Cirillo and the other court-physicians that 
 their antics were powerless to divert Death from his 
 purpose. Prince Januarius and Prince Charles went 
 the way of all flesh, and at the funeral services, that 
 ensued in the royal chapel, wax-effigies of their little 
 faces and forms were exhibited on catafalcos, together 
 with the effigy of their grandsire, the late King of 
 Spain. It is improbable that the Signora Hart wit- 
 nessed the ceremonies of interment ; but one may 
 assume confidently, that she went in mourning attire 
 to the chapel, to gaze on the effigies and the candles. 
 The year, which closed thus mournfully to the royal 
 family, being the year of Gaetano Filangieri's death, 
 the sympathy for Maria Caroline was quickened by 
 the recollection of her recent care for the philosopher's 
 children. 
 
 Memorable to Emma, in later time, as the year in 
 which the Duchess of Argyll took her by the hand 
 and strengthened her hope of becoming Lady 
 Hamilton, 1789 is interesting to the readers of Maria
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 177 
 
 Caroline's history, as the year in which Her j\Iajesty, 
 having ah-eady had experience in colonizing hitherto 
 uninhabited islands, established her model conimiinity 
 of operatives at San Leucio, in the neighbourhood of 
 her country palace of Caserta. Like other benevolent 
 enterprises, accomplished by the Queen in accord- 
 ance with the \news of her social philosopliers and 
 the spirit of the age, the establishment of San Leucio 
 is often attributed to Ferdinand, simply because the 
 edict for creating the colony ran in his name. 
 
 Founded as an experiment for the guidance of 
 social reformers, and an example to the wealthy and 
 humane, who wished to improve the condition of the 
 virtuous and poor, the new industrial colony was pro- 
 vided at the royal charge with a hospital, a church, 
 good dwellings for the thirty-one several families of 
 tlie two liundred and fourteen colonists, factories for 
 the manufacture of silk, and a modest villa in which 
 Maria (Jaroline hoped to find reposu from time to 
 time, wliilst surveying the simple and happy lives of 
 tho work-people, whose labour should enrich no 
 tyrannical master but bo made to result in tlio 
 greatest possible prosperity of tho labourers. Tho 
 factories wore equipped, also at tlie royal cost, witli 
 novel machinery ; and to start the operatives in the 
 best method of working their silk, foreign artificers 
 were engaged, for tho sufficient instruction of the 
 primitive settlers. By the laws, provided for tho 
 good government of the community, i\Iaria Carolinii 
 aimed chiefiy at excluding pride, luxury and seHisli- 
 ness from the settlement. She desired that the spirit 
 of equahty should pervade tho society, and that each 
 VOL. I. N
 
 178 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 individual of the colony should have the largest 
 measure of liberty, that was compatible with the 
 rights and interest of his associates. 
 
 It was ordained by Maria Caroline that merit 
 should bo the only title to distinction recognized by 
 the settlers; and that this merit should not be 
 rewarded with a greater share of the colony's wealth, 
 but with the joys of an approving conscience and 
 the sense of being held in social esteem. To preserve 
 the republican character of the commune, the colon- 
 ists Avere required to dress alike and avoid every kind 
 of luxury. It was ordained that marriage should bo 
 observed as a civil contract and celebrated as a reli- 
 gious rite, and that parents should forbear to influ- 
 ence their children in respect to their love affairs, so 
 as to lessen the young people's freedom to marry 
 in accordance with the impulses of affection. In 
 order to preserve the generous promptings of love 
 from the corruption of selfish greed, dowries were 
 forbidden. At the same time to ensure to marriage- 
 able youths and maidens the means of marrying, the 
 Queen, speaking of course in the King's name, under- 
 took ' to endow every new household with the needful 
 implements of trade, and to give the newly-married 
 couple all other necessary assistance.' — To prevent 
 the litigation to which will-making so often gives 
 rise, an ordinance denied to the colonists the power 
 to make wills, and provided for the disposal of every 
 citizen's property after death. Just as they were en- 
 joined to maintain equality in costume, the colonists of 
 San Leucio were to avoid distinction at their funerals, 
 which the parish was ordered to conduct at the ex-
 
 AND LORD nelson: 179 
 
 pense of the bereaved family. The use of mouruing- 
 dress was put under close restrictions. 
 
 One of the orders for the care of the children points 
 pathetically to Maiia Caroline's recent domestic sor- 
 rov/. It was ordained that the magistrates of San 
 Leucio should enforce ' inoculation for small-pox,' 
 without any respect to parental authority or weak- 
 ness. Further, it was directed that all the boj^s and 
 girls of the commune should be taught reading, 
 wnting and arithmetic in the normal schools, and be 
 instructed in their trade, in other schools. — The San 
 Leucian heads of families were authorized to elect 
 periodically by secret ballot fit persons for magis- 
 trates from among themselves ; the magistrates, so 
 chosen for a j-'car's official service, being empowered 
 to adjudicate on disputes, to regulate matters touch- 
 ing the manufactures and trade of the community, to 
 punish petty misdemeanants, and to superintend the 
 execution of the laws and statutes of the societ}'. — On 
 being accused of oQences, with which the communal 
 magistrates or seniori were incompeteut to deal, it 
 was ordered that colonists should be sent for trial to 
 tho ordinary tribunals aftur being privately stripped 
 of their colonial uni^jmi, and that the riglits and 
 privileges pertaining to them as San Lcucians should 
 fall into abeyance till their acquittal, and perish 
 altogether on their conviction of the cliarges j)re- 
 fcrred against them. — On feast-days, after joining in 
 the celebration of the day and delivering up the past 
 week's work, the colonists of San Leucio, capable of 
 bearing arms, were required to perform the military 
 exercises, in consideration of the never-to-be-forgotten 
 
 N 2
 
 180 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 fact, that as their first duty was to their countiy, they 
 should be ready to give their blood and labour for its 
 defence and honour. 
 
 Thus founded, towards the close of what Colletta 
 calls the good part of Ferdinand's reign, by the 
 Queen who ruled the Two Sicilies, whilst her husband 
 only reigned over them, the colony seemed for many 
 years, as though it would not merely satisfy but 
 would surpass the sanguine expectations, with which 
 Maria Caroline placed it amongst the institutions of 
 the country. Decade after decade it grew steadily 
 in population, riches and repute. Numbering two 
 hundred and foui'teen colonists at its first establish- 
 ment, it numbered eight hundred and twenty-three 
 colonists forty years later. ' Their manufactures,' 
 says Colletta, ' were excellent and the operatives 
 Avere happy, until the pestilence of political opinions 
 and suspicion penetrated the receptacle of industry 
 and peace.' There was no need for Colletta to record 
 that the Neapolitans never for a moment credited 
 Ferdinand with originating the ideas, which resulted 
 in so interesting an attempt to solve one of the most 
 difficult problems of political econoiny. But justice 
 required him to give Maria Caroline due praise for 
 her share of the work, which was so distinct a step 
 in the direction of wise government, that the Nea- 
 politans were delighted with its wisdom and bene- 
 volence, and (to use Colletta's words) * hoped to sec 
 the principles of government in the colony spread 
 throughout the kingdom.' 
 
 Of course, Maria Caroline is no more entitled than 
 Ferdinand to celebration for originating the ideas
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 181 
 
 that resulted in the establishment of the San Lencio 
 colony. In respect to this particular experiment in 
 practical state-economy, no less than in her other 
 ' laudable schemes for the welfare of her people,' she 
 was from one point of view only the pupil of think- 
 ers, whom she had the intelligence and more than 
 queenly benevolence to draw around her. But from 
 another point of view she deserves reverential praise 
 for the ' laudable schemes,' which she adopted at the 
 advice of her political counsellors. The colony and 
 the scheme for its government no more proceeded 
 directly from her intelligence, than Filangieri's 
 brain-force proceeded from her patronage ; but cordial 
 commendation is due to the rulijig woman who, far 
 from surrendering herself wholly to the courtly pleas- 
 ures for which she liad a keen appetite, showed con- 
 scientious care for the duties of her high jiosition, 
 and humane concern for the distresses of her poorer 
 suljjectR. 
 
 But for licr eiilighteiinicnt and humanity, the San 
 Leucio colony would liavc remained a men; project 
 on paper, for theorists to extol and cynics to deride, 
 instead of a successful achievement, for social 
 reformers to study and imitate. One is the more 
 disposed to think approvingly of this service to \]\q 
 por)r, because it was Maria Caroh'no's memorial to the 
 children Avhom she had lost anil the philosopher whom 
 fihe had protected. 
 
 In the year that witnessed Hk- publication of the 
 code for the government nl llio cdhinislK ol" San 
 Leucio, the Queen bestirred herself for the hap[)ine88 
 of three of the numerous children who still remained
 
 182 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 to her. For the deaths of Januarius and Charles she 
 was consoled by the presence of eight children, and 
 the prospect of again becoming a mother in a few 
 months. Two of her progeny, the piincess Maria 
 Theresa and the princess Lnigia Amalia, Avere already 
 of marriageable age, and though still in his thirteenth 
 year her son and heir, Francis, had attained an age 
 to justify arrangements for his matrimonial settle- 
 ment. Having no wish that the two princesses 
 should mate with any of their Spanish or French 
 cousins, Maria Caroline determined that they should 
 join hands with the Austrian archdukes Francis and 
 Ferdinand, the sons of her favourite brother Leopold. 
 Marriages were arranged for Maria Theresa and 
 Luigia Amalia in accordance with this resolve ; and 
 at the same time it was settled that the archduchess 
 Maria Clementina should in due course become the 
 bride of the heir to the throne of the Two Sicilies. 
 
 The mairiages of the Neapolitan princesses were, 
 however, delayed by the premature death of the 
 Emperor Joseph II., on the 20th of February, 1790, — 
 an event that heightened Mai'ia Caroline's satisfaction 
 ■with the alliances which she had negociated for her 
 daughters. Succeeding to his elder brother's place, 
 tlie Grand-duke of Tuscany became Emperor of 
 Germany ; and whilst keeping his eldest son Francis 
 by his side at Vienna, as heir-apparent to the empire, 
 Leopold II. sent his second son as Grand-duke to 
 Tuscany. Still beautiful and prosperous, and still in 
 the fullness of her power and splendour, Maria Caro- 
 line, exulting in the exaltation of her two eldest 
 daughters, had survaved the grief that covered her
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 183 
 
 ia the Last mouth of 1788- She was still happy and 
 hopeful, though the growing agitations of France, 
 Avhich were believed to have been one cause of the 
 Emperor Joseph's death, occasioned her much anxiety 
 for her sister Marie-Antoinette, and at times filled 
 lier with apprehensions for the peace of Europe. 
 
 To these growing apprehensions is referable Maria 
 Caroline's resolve to accord to Emma Hart a measure 
 of recognition, that would delight Sir William 
 Hamilton and dispose him to commend Neapolitan 
 aftairs to the British government. In extolling the 
 Signora Hart so warmly to her courtiers in the 
 summer of 1790, and giving the mot (Vordre to Nea- 
 politan ' society ' to receive the adventuress, the 
 Queen's sole object was to gi-atify the British 
 ambassador, whose good-will she needed already and 
 of Avhose friendly offices she might be in more urgent 
 need before another year had passed. But, though 
 great events followed one another quickly from this 
 date, years had still to pass before Maria Caroline 
 looked for important personal service from the 
 lovely English-woman, wlioni slie now resolved to 
 recognize openly, as soon as she could do so v.ith 
 propriety. 
 
 Attended by hi r husband, Maria (JaroliiH; took her 
 daughtL-rs Maria Theresa and Luigia Amalia and her 
 eldest sou to Vienna towards the close of 1700, where 
 the marriages of the princesses were celebrated with 
 splendid pomp, and the Iwir-apparent to the kingdom 
 of Naples was betrothed to tho archduchess Maria 
 Clementina. Nor were these events the only occa- 
 sions for rejoicing to the Emperor Leopold, whilst ho
 
 18i THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 entertained his Neapolitan Idndrecl. In his jom-ney 
 to Hunc;aiy for his coronation, Leopold was accom- 
 panied by Maria Caroline and his brother-in-law of 
 Naples, who were welcomed by the Hungarians with 
 acclamations, scarcely less cordial than the signs of 
 delight with which they greeted their own sovereign. 
 Extolled for the beneficent reforms, which had 
 distinguished their rule of Southern Italy, Ferdinand 
 and Maria Caroline were especially commended by 
 an official orator for their latest service to humanity, 
 — the establishment of the operatives' colony at San 
 Leucio. It should be borne in the reader's mind, 
 how in life's middle term Maria Caroline {oetat 38) 
 and Ferdinand {cetat 40) were as cordially applauded 
 for their humanity and benevolence, as they were 
 passionately denounced ten years later for ferocious 
 cruelty. 
 
 Wliilst figuring with equal splendour and (hgnity 
 at the celebrations of the weddings of her two 
 daughters, and receiving the worshipful addresses of 
 the Hungarian nobles, Maria Caroline found occasions 
 for spealdng to her brother of the state of France, 
 and deliberating with him on measures for rescuing 
 their sister Marie-Antoinette from an equally humili- 
 ating and perilous position. To protect their sister 
 from further outrage, and to stay the revolution, that 
 besides menacing the French I5ourbon with ruin gave 
 all the European sovereigns reason to be apprehensive 
 for their own safety, Leopold and Maria Caroline 
 were of opinion, that the time had come for the 
 friends of order throughout Elurope to take prompt 
 Btepa for restoring tranquillity to France. The jeal-
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 185 
 
 onsies of the sovereigns and their indisposition to 
 defer the pursuit of inferior and personal policies, iu 
 order to provide for larger and common interests, 
 forbade the Emperor and Maria Caroline to be hopeful 
 of such a combination of the powers as might ex- 
 tinguish the French Revolution before another year 
 had passed. But the brother and sister iu council 
 were guilty of no excessive arrogance in imagining 
 that they could b}" their own action check the 
 development of the forces, which their natural con- 
 cern for ^larie-Autoinette made them so desirous of 
 annihilating. 
 
 They could unite the Italian powers for a war 
 against France. The King of Spain could hardly 
 decline to join in an enterprise for rescuing the 
 French Bourbon from troubles that might soon result 
 in his destruction. Even if the weak and meanly- 
 selfish Charles IV. should refuse to take part in a 
 movement so needful iux the honour of all Bourbons, 
 imperial Germany and united Italy could at least 
 postpone the disasters with whicli ^larie-Antoinette 
 was threatened. Aided \)y llic refugees who had 
 escaped from France, and tliose of the French people 
 who were bestirring tliemselves within Franco for 
 a counter-revolution, Italy and iiii[)irial Uermany 
 might even cover themselves with glory, by crushing 
 the revolutionary movement that, left to itself, would 
 at no distant date sweep .'dl the sovereigns of Europe 
 from their thrones. So long as hi.s imj)etuous ;iik1 
 rescjhite sister was ])y his side;, Leopold glowed 
 with martial ardour. For the moment, less a philan- 
 thropist tiian a soldier, Leopold spoke us though
 
 186 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 he were auimatocl by his mother's indomitable spirit. 
 Ou returning from Austria to her own dominions 
 in the spring of 1791, ]\Iaria Carohne was intent 
 on carrying out the scheme arranged by herself and 
 Leopold for drawing the Italian states into a compact 
 confederation for war against France. 
 
 The greater part of the twenty-three years, which 
 intervened between Ferdinand's escape from tutelage 
 and the nuptial visit to Vienna, had been passed by 
 Naples in contention with the Papal authority. The 
 young king had barel}'- attained his majority when, 
 to the indignation of Clement XIII. , he expelled 
 the Jesuits from his dominions, and confiscated their 
 property, in obedience to instructions from Madrid. 
 The brief by which Clement XIV. confirmed the 
 expulsion of the Jesuits resulted in nothing more 
 than a momentary accommodation of differences; 
 for the publication of the disingenuous instrument 
 was followed at no long interval by the Pontiff's 
 death, which was generally attributed to the resent- 
 ment of the friars, whose feelings he had outraged. 
 
 On the accession of Pius VI., whose election had 
 been opposed by Maria Caroline, the strife was re- 
 newed between the Courts of Naples and Rome, 
 and for a time was carried on with an interchange 
 of indignities, wliich it is difficult to recall without 
 a lively sense of amusement. Incensed by Ferdin- 
 and's presumption in appointing, at his mere motion, 
 a new archbishop to the See of Naples, Pius VI. 
 refused to invest the irregularly created primate with 
 the cardinal's purple, altliough the distinction had 
 been accorded for three centuries to the Archbishops
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 18T 
 
 of Naples. Fei'diaaucl retorted by threateniug to 
 institute within his dominions an ecclesiastical order, 
 whose members should be clothed with pm-ple, and 
 endowed with wealth that would enable them to 
 surpass the cardinals in magnificence. Exercising 
 his right of appointing to the bishopric of Potenza, 
 the King nominated Francesco Surrao, whom the 
 Pope was known to regard with disfavour, for being 
 a Jansenist and an author who had written copiously 
 in behalf of lay jurisdictions. Pius declined to 
 consecrate Sen-ao. The King threatened to compass 
 Serrao's consecration without the Pope's assistance, 
 and to introduce into his kingdom a new practice 
 for episcopal ordinations, by which three of the 
 existing l^ishops in each province would, in accord- 
 ance with early discipline of the church, be com- 
 petent to consecrate new bishops for sees within the 
 province. The threat caused the Pope to submit, 
 witii a bad grace ; and Serrao became Bishop of 
 Potenza. 
 
 In tlie scries of duels between the King and Pope, 
 no blow was felt more acutely by the latter fli.in 
 Fenlinand's staggering refusal to (;(jntiime the yearly 
 offerings of tlie CIdnea and seven thousand golden 
 ducats. This annual tribute of golden ducats, and 
 a richly-caparisoned white horse, was far more pre- 
 cious to Pius than the valr.e of the rent. It was the 
 formal and public acknowledgmcMit Ijy the King of 
 Naph'S that h*; was a vassal of the Holy Sec. Pius 
 had, therefore, reason for surprise, and indignation, 
 when, seizing upon a trivial disturbance which had 
 occurred at the latest oflferiug of the C/dnea, and
 
 188 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 making it a pretext for escaping from vassalage, Fer- 
 dinand, on the 29tli of July, 1776, declared that he had 
 offered the Chinea and the ducats for the last time. 
 As they were fruitful of much irritating controversy, 
 and resulted in Monsignor Caleppi's dismissal from 
 Naples, the negociations for a new Concordat to- 
 wards the close of the Mai'quis Caracciolo's career 
 aggravated the mutual animosities of the King and 
 the Pontiff. These abortive negotiations were fol- 
 lowed by the Golden Tour of 1785, Avhich afforded 
 Maria Caroline an opportunity for offering Pius a 
 slight, that, doubtless, had the intended effect on his 
 vain and sensitive nature. 
 
 Because Tanucci was still in office in the summer 
 of 177(5, historians have given him the credit of 
 abolishing the Chinea. In like manner, because 
 Caracciolo Avas Maria Caroline's chief minister at 
 the time of the futile negociations for a Concordat, 
 the aged minister has been extolled for the spirit 
 vnih which he sent Caleppi about his business. 
 * The last glory,' says Colletta, ' of the minister 
 Tanucci had been the abolition of the Chinea ; the 
 last of Caracciolo was his resistance to the Court 
 of Rome,' in the matter of Caleppi's mission. There 
 are, however, grounds for thinking that the Queen 
 was entitled at least to a share of the praise given 
 to Tanucci for the earlier incident, and to the 
 honour of being solely accountable for the nuncio's 
 dismissal. The feminine malice and humour of the 
 2)erfonnance at least justify a suspicion that Maria 
 Caroline, on the eve of rising to the plenitude of 
 her power, had a hand in the epistle that parodied
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 189- 
 
 with such exquisite piquancy the pious insolence 
 of an unusually haughty and overbearing papal 
 rescript. 
 
 ' The disputes,' Ferdinand was made to instruct his 
 ambassador at Rome, ' which have arisen on the occasion 
 of the presentation of the Chinea have affected the devout 
 soul of the King, as, considei'ing the place, the time, and 
 the circumstances, they might have occasioned serious con- 
 sequences to disturb the harmony existing between the 
 two sovereigns and the two states. As this example has 
 proved how an act of pure devotion such as the offering 
 of the Chinea may be a source of scandal and discord, he 
 has deliberated and resolved that the ceremony shall cease 
 in future, and that in place of this act of devotion towards 
 the holy apostles, he shall, through his representatives and 
 ministers, j)erforin whatever else may be pleasing to them. 
 Example, reason, reflection, prudence, humanity and con- 
 science, concur to move the royal mind to this determination, 
 the form of the act being solely dependent upon the sovereign 
 will, upon his pious inclinations and religious humility. 
 These sentiments of filial reverence towards the supreme 
 head of the church may be communicated to the Court 
 of Home. Date, Naples, 20th July.' — Vide, 'Horner's 
 Translation of CoUetta's " Storia di Napoli," ' vol. i, 
 pp. 121, 122. 
 
 Brimming over with womanly merrinient and satire, 
 these words must surely have proceeded IVom tlui 
 young (Jliieen's proud spirit and lively liiiiiinur, al- 
 though her husband's aged nu'nister was th(; oflieial 
 drauglitsiuaii of tin- despatch. That the Marrjuis 
 Caracciolo acted on his own responsibility in send- 
 ing the nuncio Calep})i ])af;k to Rome, at a tiim; 
 when Maria Caroline's imperious spirit and restless 
 mind dominated every department of tlie state, 
 is not to be imagined. For the disrespect shown 
 to Pius by the Golden Tourists, who carried their
 
 100 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 ships along bis coast without paying him a visit, 
 or rendering him a sahite, ]\Iaria Caroline was, of 
 course, solely accountable. 
 
 But new conditions require new policies, and may 
 justify a ruling woman in smiling on those who, 
 no long while since, were the objects of her dis- 
 pleasure, and even on those whom she still regards 
 with secret dislike. On her homeward journey from 
 Vienna, in the spring of 1791, Maria Caroline was 
 careful to visit Rome, and conciliate the Pope with 
 public homage and private complaisance. On their 
 arrival at Rome, the King and Queen of Naples 
 hastened to play their parts in a pleasant comedy. 
 It had been arranged that, in their eagerness to come 
 to the presence of their spiritual fathei', Ferdinand 
 and Maria Caroline should arrive at St. Peter's sooner 
 than they intended, and that Pius should look for 
 their arrival just so much later than the hour when 
 he knew they would stand before him. At the 
 moment of rapprochement, the visitors should affect 
 to be taking the Pope by surprise, and Pius should 
 feign to be deliglitfully surprised. On alighting at 
 St. Peter's, for the peribrmaiice of this pretty pro- 
 gramme, Ferdinand, after begging the guards and 
 servants at the private entrance to the Vatican to 
 hold silence, hastened with Maria Caroline into the 
 palace. Three minutes later, they had penetrated 
 to the Pope's private apartments ; another minute, 
 they entered the room where Pius rose with an air 
 of astonishment from his arm-chair, and, with out- 
 stretched hands, raised Maria Caroline, as she was 
 ou the point of kneeling at his feet. The acting
 
 AND LORD NELSOX. 191 
 
 was perfect. Whilst Ferdinand and the Queen ex- 
 plained how thej had overtaken time in their eager- 
 ness to entreat his blessing, Pius was astonished at 
 seeing them so soon, although it was manifest, from 
 his superb sacerdotal attire, that he had made a 
 more than usually elaborate toilet, in honour of the 
 guests who had dropped in upon him so much sooner 
 than they were expected. Having thus entered the 
 Vatican — not as a haughty queen, preceded by heralds 
 and conducted by a courtly Master of Ceremonies, 
 but as an affectionate daughter of the church hasten- 
 ing, with filial humility and devotedness, to the arms 
 of her spiritual father — ]\Iaria Caroline addressed 
 herself to the handsome old man's more than feminine 
 vanity with equal directness and delicacy. 
 
 IiTcsistible when she essayed to fascinate, the 
 Queen of Naples encountered no difficulty in making 
 the Pontiff imagine that slic would never have causeil 
 him a momeiit's uneasiness, had she only come under 
 the spell of his personal fascinations before the begin- 
 ning of their unfortunate differences. The recon- 
 cilement of the ruling woman and her former enemy 
 was followed by the interchange of costly presents, 
 and by the festivities that are matters of course when 
 princes come together lor scrviccfi of mutual admira- 
 tion. Much passed between the Pontiff and their 
 Majesties of Naples respecting affairs in France, and 
 the measures for l)nnging tliose affairs into harmony 
 with the interest of the church and the rights of 
 sovereigns. And what passed at llir Vatican on 
 these interesting topics was necessarily inlluenced in 
 some degree by Louis XVI. 's aimts, the Princess
 
 192 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 Adelaide and the Princess Victoria, who had recently 
 escaped to Rome from the distractions of the country, 
 where Marie-Antoinette had already lingered far too 
 long. 
 
 Whilst it is improljable that Maria Caroline was 
 more hopeful for her sister's case, after conferring 
 with these princesses of France, it is certain that 
 she journeyed from Rome to Naples in a fury of 
 wrath against the execrable Parisian canaille. And 
 the more furious she grew against the rabble on 
 the banks of the Seine, the more distrustful she 
 became of the principles on which she had, now for 
 fourteen years, ruled her husband's people. She 
 had received those principles from philosophers, and 
 earned them out under the guidance of philosophers 
 — just such wise men, in some cases the very same 
 wise men, as those who had brought about the 
 French Revolution, by intoxicating the vile canaille 
 witli visionary notions of justice and benevolence, 
 and with wild talk about the rights of man. What 
 had resulted from these fine principles in France 
 and Belgimn :" What evil might not have already 
 proceeded from those new principles in Naples, where 
 she had meant, and hoped, and striven to be the 
 best queen of her period, — meant, hoped, and striven 
 to do much good, and make her people as happy as 
 the laws of life would permit. 
 
 ^laria Caroline asked herself these questions, and 
 went on thinking in the directions indicated by the 
 questions — sometimes thinking dolefully and some- 
 times thinking fiercely, — as she journeyed southward 
 to Naples, where she arrived in time for much con-
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 193 
 
 fidential talk on European affairs with the good 
 Cbevaher Hamilton before he started for his lono- 
 holiday in England, — the vacation during- which he 
 meant to marry the good girl Emma Hart. Without 
 having conceived any kind of enthusiasm for the 
 charming young woman, Maria Caroline was disposed 
 to think that she should find tlie English signora a 
 very meritorious person, and possibly even a useful 
 and convenient person, to have about her both at 
 Naples and at Caserta. Anyhow, whether the Eng- 
 lish signora should prove meritorious or turn out 
 no better than others of her sort, Maria Caroline had 
 resolved to befriend the lovely Emma, in order to 
 make the good chevalier more than ever the good 
 friend of Naples at the Court of London. 
 
 VOL. I. O
 
 194 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 MARIA Caroline's ' laudable schemes.' 
 
 Colletta on the Queen's Rule — His Testimony to its Goodness up 
 to 1790 — Expulsion of the Jesuits — Disposal of their con- 
 fiscated Property — Public Schools and Colleges — Normal 
 Schools — University Reform — Revival and Re-organization of 
 Academies — Redemption of Arrendameiiti — Re-arrangements 
 of Taxation — New Regulations for the Coral Fisheries — 
 Division of Lands — Reclamation of Waste Lands — Coloniza- 
 tion of hitherto uninhabited Islands — Restoration of the 
 Ports of iMiseno, Brindisi and Baia — Censure on indolent 
 Nobles —Opposition to Feudal Privileges — New Llarriage- 
 Laws — Edict for the Restraint of Judicial Corruption — 
 Completion of the Royal Archives — Murmurs of rapacious 
 Lawyers — Reform of Commercial Laws — lorio's ' Commercial 
 Code ' — New Treaties of Navigation — Colony of San Leucio 
 — Reforms in the Capital — Naples divided into Wards — 
 ^lagistrates for petty Offenders — New public Buildings — 
 Extra-Mural Interment — Cemetery of Pichiodi — Queen's 
 public Life — Slanders on her private Life — Defects of her Rule 
 — Faults of Absolutism — ' Harassed Interests ' — Explanation 
 of the Queen's Unpopularity — Resentments and Defamation. 
 
 1768—1790 A.D. 
 
 In the ' Storia di Napoli,' Colletta speaks of ' the 
 good reign of Charles and the still better reign of 
 Ferdinand np to 1790.' Of course, Ferdinand is 
 neither to be praised nor to be blamed for what was 
 done by the council of regency during his nonage ; 
 and enough has been said in foregoing pages to 
 indicate that, though the eight years of the regency
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 195 
 
 were in several respects beneficial to the Two Sicilies, 
 they were far from being the best part of Ferdinand's 
 ' better reign up to 1790,' AVhilst taking care, that 
 the boy king should not be qualified to rule as well 
 as to reign on coming to man's estate, Tanucci 
 allowed affairs to move smoothly in their usual 
 course, when no order from Madrid required the 
 course to be sHghtly altered. Under the regency, 
 Ferdinand's reign was neither better nor worse than 
 eight ordinary years of Charles's rule. The best 
 terms of ' the still better reign of Ferdinand up to 
 1790 ' began, when Maria CaroHne, after discreetly 
 feeling her way towards supremo authority, first 
 began to irritate Tanucci by influencing the decisions 
 of the council, from which she was still excluded. 
 Now that they have come to the time, when Ferdi- 
 nand's reign and Maria Caroline's rule changed from 
 mildness and splendour to severity and gloom, 
 readers will do well to take a view of the reforms in 
 Neapolitan aff;iirs, for which Mai'ia Caroline was 
 largely or altogether accountable. 
 
 Having banishr-d the Jesuits from his dominions 
 in November, 1 7(17. just six months before his mar- 
 riage, Ferdinand conliseated tiieir possessions. History 
 affords so many cases, where the confiscatinl wealth of 
 a suppressed religious society has been dissipated in 
 the pleasures of a royal palace, or giveJi away to 
 greedy courtiers, that one would have felt no sin-prise 
 had the young king spent the moneys and roveimes 
 of the despoiled friars on his own enjoyments, even 
 after promising to devote them to pious uses and 
 benevolent enterprises. That Ferdinand certainly 
 
 o2
 
 196 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 maclc no ill use of the wealth he took with strong- 
 hand from the expelled Jesuits, and that he used it 
 in accordance with Maria Caroline's wishes, readers 
 were shown in a previous chapter. 
 
 It may, of course, be urged by readers, Avhose 
 sympathies are with the despoiled Jesuits, that it is 
 easy to be liberal with other people's money. But 
 even by these critics it must be allowed, that it is 
 even easier for a young king to be selfish with other 
 people's money. Had Ferdinand and his young 
 Queen decided to squander or hoard what had been 
 taken from the Society of Jesus, there was no one to 
 say them ' nay.' What would have become of the 
 spoil of the Jesuits, had not Maria Caroline come to 
 Naples, at the very moment when public notaries 
 were making out schedules, and inventories, and 
 rentals of the confiscated property "? Doubtless, 
 there would have been the royal promise, that the 
 effects of the banished friars should be used for the 
 good of the nation. But would the promise have 
 been kept? As he was prime minister at the time, 
 Tanucci is, of course, officially entitled to a share of 
 the honour, due to those who disposed of the wealth 
 so wisely and patriotically. But historians presume 
 on the simplicity and ignorance of their readers, 
 when they give all the honour to the minister. The 
 good works, enumerated in Ferdinand's edict of 28th 
 July, 1769, belonged to the class of philanthropic 
 enterprises, that may be called Leopold's ' pet hob- 
 bies ;' and at the very time, when the enamoured 
 Ferdinand was asking his lovely bride what ought to 
 be done with the wealth of the Jesuits, the grand-
 
 AND LORD NELSON 197 
 
 duke was his sister's guest, and seizing every occa- 
 sion to entreat her to act for the social regeneration 
 of the NeapoHtans, as he had for years been acting 
 for the good of his Tuscan subjects. 
 
 AVhilst the wealtli taken from the Jesuits was main- 
 taining ' pubhc schools and colleges for the gratuitous 
 education of poor youths iu piety and in tlie know- 
 ledge of letters/ measures were taken to diffuse 
 education throughout the kingdom. In every pro- 
 vince, in all the principal cities, and in some of the 
 smaller cities, there sprang into existence a college 
 of nobles, where lectures were delivered on theology, 
 science and literature. The professors of these 
 colleges were chosen by public examination. Students 
 of inferior social quality were taught in normal 
 schools to read, write and cipher, by masters who re- 
 ceived communal payment for their services. Though 
 they still controlled the seminaries, i.e., the religious 
 rcIkjoIh, under the King's authority, the bishops were 
 fcjrbiddeu to interfere in the secular schools, and 
 checked unceremoniously whenever thc^y ventured 
 to rpicstion the orthodoxy, or on any rcdigious 
 ground to complain of the practice of the secular 
 flchoolmasters. 
 
 Grander things were demo for cultun^ in the capiful, 
 where the university was rwforined, and provided 
 with noble rooms in the Salvatorc, which had been the 
 monastery of the . Jesuits. In tliese rooms 8ufHci<'ntly 
 endowed professois instructed their classes in ' Italian 
 elocution, the art of criticism as applied to the history 
 of the kingdom, agn'culture, architecture, natural 
 histoiy and mechanics.' Under the roof of this same
 
 198 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 whilom monastery of the Jesuits, rooms were also 
 assigned to the academies of painting, sculpture and 
 architecture, the Farnese and Palatine libraries, and 
 the Herculaneum and Farnese museums. Whilst 
 other rooms of the same vast building were used 
 respectively as a chemical laboratory, an astronomical 
 observatory and a theatre of anatomy, the groundf? 
 of the Salvatore were converted into a botanic 
 garden. To the university, thus seated amidst 
 academies, museums and libraries, in the old home of 
 the banished Jesuits, students and savans flocked 
 from foreign countries, as well as from every province 
 of the Two Sicilies. In his glowing account of all 
 that Maria Caroline did for the university, whilst her 
 husband was shooting or fishing, Colletta even goes 
 the length of asserting that the chief seat of learning 
 at Naples drew within its bounds ' all the intellect of 
 the age.' 
 
 Whilst the university was thus reformed and 
 enriched, changes for the better were made in tho 
 statutes of the suljordinate academies of science and 
 literature. By the academy of science it was decided 
 to labour for the advancement of the arts, medicine, 
 and trade, and for the discovery of new truths. 
 The academy of literature declared that its peculiar 
 functions were to dispel the uncertainties of Neapoli- 
 tan history, to enlarge general knowledge, and to 
 instruct the world in the art of self-government. 
 At the same time steps were taken for the revival 
 of the Herculaneum Academy, which, since its estab- 
 lishment by Charles Bourbon, in 1755, had fallen 
 into such neglect that four old men constituted the 
 whole force of the remaining academicians.
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 199 
 
 Much Avas done for the arts of hfe by re-arrange- 
 ments of taxation, by measures for the development 
 of existing industries, by the reclamation of waste 
 lands, and by the planting of colonies on hitherto 
 uninhabited islands. 
 
 Redeeming numerous arrendamenti,i.Q.^ fiscal imposts 
 gathered by individuals who had bought the right of 
 collecting the taxes on teniis alike beneficial to them- 
 selves and hurtful to the state, the government 
 enriched the exchequer, while rendering taxation less 
 vexatious to individuals and less burdensome to trade. 
 Some of the arrendamenti thus recovered from the 
 liands of extortionate farmers were abolished. For 
 example, the del mimito, or excise imposts, tlie taxes 
 on tobacco, manna, brandy, and saffron, the tolls ou 
 foot-passengers, and in some provinces the duty on 
 silk, were abolished, the loss to the treasury from 
 these important remissions being made good by the 
 imposition of new but less oppressive taxes, and by 
 the increase of some few existing imposts, against 
 which there was no reasonable ground for comphiint. 
 
 New regulations were made for tiie coral fish cries 
 in the Corsican and Sardinian seas ami aldiig the 
 coasts of Africa, a df^partment of the maritime enter- 
 prise of the Neapolitans, which, after its great and 
 sudden development in 17H() and several subsequent 
 years, became so fruitful of conllicting intcrcHts and 
 personal contentions, that the government deemed 
 it politic to form the coral adventurers into a char- 
 tered company, with a bo(ly of laws that were called 
 'The Coral Code.' From (Jollctta one learns that, 
 though they put an end to strife and injustice 
 amongst the fishers of coral, the new company and
 
 200 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 code were, in the long run, prejudicial to the fisheries, 
 by compelling the adventurers to work for the com- 
 mon benefit of their society, instead of allowing 
 individuals to retain for their own advantage the 
 fruits of their greater skill, daring, and energy. But 
 for some years the Queen, with so many ' laudable 
 schemes ' on hand ' for the welfare of her people,' 
 could congratulate herself on the success of her 
 measures for arranging the disputes of the coral- 
 fishers, and making the adventurers, as far as possible, 
 equally prosperous. 
 
 To encourage agriculturists to recover waste lands 
 from unproductive wildness, a law was enacted that 
 lands so brought into cultivation should be exempt 
 from predial taxes for twenty years, and that the 
 exemption from taxation should last for forty years, 
 in respect to waste lands which, besides being 
 brought into cultivation, should be planted with 
 olives. The hitherto uninhabited islands of Ustica 
 and Ventotene were colonized with people selected 
 from necessitous but respectable families, who were 
 efpiipped at the charge of the state with agricultural 
 implements and fishing- gear, and provided with the 
 means of existence till they should have gathered 
 the first fruits of the lands assigned to them. These 
 two essays in colonization were successful. The 
 subsequent attempts to colonize the islands of Tremiti 
 and Lampadusa with thieves and vagabonds resulted 
 in failure, and in the course of a few years the 
 islands became state-prisons, instead of reformatory 
 settlements. But the failure of the experiment does 
 not lessen the praise that is due to the benevolence
 
 AXD LORD XELSON. 201 
 
 of the Queen's design for converting pick-pockets 
 and vagrants into honest husbandmen and decent 
 members of society. 
 
 Whilst displaying so much concern for the poor, 
 I\Iaria Caroline was no less solicitous for the interests 
 of the general body of her people. Restoring the 
 ports of Miseno, Brindisi, and Baia, she designed 
 high-ways for the provinces, and proclaimed religious 
 toleration in Brindisi and Messina, — measures for 
 which she was solely accountable, though Colletta 
 assigns them to Acton's influence, and even speaks 
 of them as the minister's selfish contrivances for 
 conciliating pubHc sentiment, and winning the suffrage 
 of the people. 
 
 For the suppression of evils that too often resulted 
 from an institution which concerns itself especially 
 with dctmestic morality and contentment, ^laria 
 Caroline introduced laws tliat accomplislied for matri- 
 mony in the Two ^jicilies what Lord Ilardwicke's 
 MaiTJage Act had achieved in the [)receding genera- 
 tion for matnmony in England. Putting an end 
 to irregular marriages, the new laws for the better 
 ordering of matrimony in Sotithcrn Italy resembled 
 the iMiglisJi marriage-act in d(Miying validity to 
 promises and vows mad«- liy lovers in disregard of 
 tlio new regidations, even though the promises should 
 bo interchangiid at the altar and in tlie i)resenco 
 of the priest. The new marriage laws of Southern 
 Italv resembled the Kn-rlish chancellor's famous 
 eiiactuKiiit in their bencfifi.il consiitpienr-cs to society. 
 Female, artifice was deprived of its favom-ite field 
 for juischicf-making, elopements fell out of fashion,
 
 202 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 and unequal alliances of the most scandalous and 
 pernicious sort came to an end. 
 
 Whilst the jurisdiction of the barons Avas confined 
 to narrower limits, their power within those limits 
 was diminished. Enemies of social reform, these 
 unworthy nobles were not incapable of resisting 
 good government by force ; and, in proportion as 
 they detested measures for bettering the condition 
 of the people at large, they resented the new edicts, 
 which, by reducing the number of their armed 
 retainers, rendered them weaker for purposes of 
 rebellion. 
 
 Notice has already been taken of the edict, which 
 required the judges to state the reasons for their 
 decisions, and of the commotion which the edict 
 occasioned amongst the professional lawyers. But, 
 in this general survey of Maria Caroline's ' laudable 
 schemes for the welfare of her people,' one may 
 glance again at the measure of bare justice to suitors, 
 which caused the Queen to be cordially disliked by 
 the lawyers long after they ceased to clamour against 
 the odious edict, and even affected to recognize its 
 wisdom and equity. The edict, and the lawyer's 
 clamour against it, were incidents of the later months 
 of 1774, when the Queen was already nearing the 
 plenitude of her power, though still excluded by 
 her heirlessness from the council-chamber. Tanucci 
 (still in power) may have been too prudent to offer 
 stout opposition to a measure which emanated from 
 the Queen, whose interference in state affairs was 
 daily gi-owing more vexatious to him ; but it is not 
 to be imagined that the edict for the correction
 
 AXD LORD nelson: 20» 
 
 of the judges was sincerely supported by the aged 
 minister, who, whilst capable of favouring changes 
 in the judicature that were prejudicial to the many, 
 was no reformer in the honest sense of the word. 
 
 Maria Caroline did the Neapolitans another service, 
 no less beneficial to the entire community than pre- 
 judicial to the interests of the single profession, whose 
 members thrive by litigation and the distresses of 
 their clients, when she perfected the royal archives, 
 by compassing the registration of all deeds, productive 
 of, or subsidiary to, claims of mortgage. The honour 
 of originating the royal archives of Naples is due to 
 Ferdinand of Ai'ragon, who instituted them so early 
 as 1477. The work begun by Fei'dinand was carried 
 forward by Charles the Fifth and Pliilip the Third ; 
 ' but,' says Colletta, ' the inconstancy of princes, or 
 untoward circumstances, prevented the execution of 
 their design, until the reign of Ferdinand the Bourbon, 
 who completed the work in 1786,' — i.e., Avhen Maria 
 Caroline had been the actual autocrat of the Two 
 Sicilies for full nine years. In the just-quoted words, 
 readers have a good example of the way in which 
 Maria Caroline is deprived of the glory duo to her for 
 her good deeds, even by the liistorians wlio in a 
 round-about way admit, tliat Ferdinand was in no 
 degree personally accouiilal)l<' for the virtuous 
 achievements of his reign. Caring fir ncjfliing but 
 his pleasures, Ferdinand was wholly in<lifftjrcnt to tho 
 work under consideration. Had it related to tho 
 game in the royal chases, instead of the, parchments 
 in tho royal archives, tho matter would have received 
 a proper share of the King's attention. When they
 
 204 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 Bay, with reasonable pride, that the royal archives of 
 Naples comprised iu 1786 the gTeater part of the 
 system of mortgage, which in later time became an 
 important featm*e of the ' Code Napoleon,' Neapolitans 
 shoidd remember that they owe this gratification of 
 their patriotic sensibility to the Queen, whom they 
 never recollect without resentful emotion and seldom 
 mention without words of indignant abhoiTence. 
 Speaking of the results of the method of registration, 
 by which Maria Caroline secured the rights of 
 creditors, Colletta observes, ' By the archives con- 
 taining the patrimony of every family, frauds are 
 prevented and litigation diminished ; the measure, 
 therefore, was opposed by the lawyers, who were 
 already influential in the reign of Charles, and had 
 become still more so under his successor.' 
 
 Whilst the national archives were being completed, 
 measures were taken for the better regulation of 
 commerce. An admiralty court was established for 
 commercial cases and suits arising from naval affairs, 
 under the control of the supreme tribunal of com- 
 merce, instituted by Charles. For the con-ection of 
 fraudulent bankrupts, old punishments were revived 
 and new penalties ordained. It was determined that 
 these laws should Ijc administered firmly, without re- 
 gard to the rank, descent, or official dignity of oflenders. 
 When a duke of ancient nobility and influence at 
 court attempted to avoid the obligation of a bill of 
 exchange for which he was responsible, and to escape 
 the legal consequences of bankruptcy, it was declared 
 by Ferdinand, in accordance with Maria Caroline's 
 will, that neither nobility nor official dignity afforded
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 205- 
 
 any favour or privilege, in respect to obligations 
 upon bills of exchange. Colletta tells how by another 
 law it was ordained that ' bills with foreign nations 
 should henceforth be made directly from Naples, and 
 no longer through the intermediate cities of Rome, 
 Leghorn, Genoa and Venice.' The commercial statutes 
 of Charles and the later commercial statutes of Ferdi- 
 nand were reduced to harmony, and registered in a 
 separate book, that was entitled ' The Commercial 
 Code.' But, though it was printed and published in 
 four volumes, the work, in which Michele lorio dis- 
 played sound editorial discretion, remains nothing 
 more than a monument of good intentions and a 
 serviceable guide to lawyers in the conduct of com- 
 mercial causes. Missing the authorization tliat would 
 have given it legal validity, the code fell out of Maria 
 Caroline's view and care, during the domestic and 
 foreign troubles tliat followed so soon after its 
 completion. 
 
 Whilst i\Iichele lorio was codifying the commercial 
 statutes, the King (or rather let iis say, Maria Caro- 
 line imder Ferdinand's name and authority) renewed 
 old, or negotiated new, treaties of navigation witli 
 Tripoli in August, 1785, with Sardinia in June, 178(), 
 with Genoa in Juno, 1786, and with liussi.i in May, 
 1787. 
 
 It has already been told, with sufHcient fulhicss and 
 precision, how Maria Caroline, whilst })ushing forward 
 her many other social reforms — a scries of benevolent 
 enactments, closing with the institution of tlie colony 
 of San Lcucio — provided for the security of the 
 Sicilies by restoring the army with the aid of foreigu
 
 206 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 officers, and creating the navy, some of whose ships 
 figured so picturesquely in the Golden Tour of 1785. 
 
 Thus thoughtful for the general interests of the 
 whole country, and for the more urgent needs of 
 districts remote from her usual places of residence, 
 Maria Caroline did not neglect the inferior require- 
 ments of the capital, whose university became under 
 her patronage the chief seat of learning in Southern 
 Europe. For the greater safety of the inhabitants, 
 and for the abatement of evils that cannot be utterly 
 driven out of populous cities, Naples was divided 
 into twelve wards, and each ward was placed under 
 an alderman, who had authority to commit petty 
 ■offenders to prison, or to send them to the reformatory 
 settlements of Tremiti and Lampadusa ; — arrange- 
 ments which are allowed by CoUetta to have been 
 fruitful of consequences, on which the citizens cor- 
 dially congratulated themselves. 
 
 At the same time, whilst adding to the number of 
 the subordinate magistrates of the capital, Maria 
 Caroline raised and strengthened the ordinances, 
 which enabled every Neapolitan, however poor and 
 humble, to put any magistrate, by whom he conceived 
 himself to have been wronged, on his trial for the 
 alleged misconduct. 
 
 It is sometimes remarked, in disparagement of 
 Maria Caroline, that Ferdinand's reign was fruitful of 
 no considerable additions to the architecture of the 
 capital. But the Queen, whose bitterest enemies 
 have never charged her with parsimony, would not 
 have neglected to raise grander palaces, had such 
 •edifices been required for the dignity of the kingdom
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 207 
 
 or the embellishment of the capital. As it was, she 
 did more for the architectural grandeur of Naples and 
 its environs, than her detractors like to acknowledge. 
 The palaces and buildings that commemorate Charles 
 Bourbon's greatness, and redound to his historic 
 glory, were completed at enormous cost in Ferdinand's 
 time. Though she built no theatre that is compar- 
 able with San Carlo, Maria Caroline raised two thea- 
 tres of artistic merit, the Fondo (a miniature San 
 Carlo) and the San Ferdinando, which were needed 
 for diversion. Moreover, the earlier and brighter 
 time of Maria Caroline's supremacy in Neapolitan 
 affairs saw the quick accomplishment of a work of 
 utility, that should not be overlooked in the survey 
 of the architectural improvements of her capital. 
 
 Alive to the baneful effects of intramural interment, 
 Maria Caroline wislied to introduce extramural sepul- 
 ture, witliout issuing any compulsory edict that 
 might offend the sensibilities of the people ; and for 
 this end, the cemetery of Pichiodi, afterwards known 
 as the cemetery of Santa Maria de Pianto, (best 
 known to EngHsh tourists as the ' Camposanto 
 Vecchio') was constructed at Iht instance by the 
 architect Fuga. That the need for this campo santoy 
 with its three hundred and sixty-five vaults, was 
 manifest to the generality of th(; well-to-do Neapoli- 
 tans appears from the quickncHS with which the 
 money for the work was raised by voluntary dona- 
 tions. But, unfortunately for the health of Naples, 
 the usual reluctance of the rich to depart from 
 established usage in funereal arrangements caused 
 the new cemetery to be regarded disdainfully as a
 
 208 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 mere grave-yard for the poor. In continuing to 
 bury their own dead in the churches, after having 
 subscribed towards the charges of making the camjoo 
 santo, the superior NeapoHtans showed how cold was 
 their approval of another of the Queen's ' laudable 
 schemes for the welfare of her people.' 
 
 In respect to those schemes, small credit is due to 
 Maria Caroline for originality. With regard to several 
 of the enterprises, noticed in this survey of her ser- 
 vices to a people wliose welfare she strove to pro- 
 mote, Maria Theresa's daughter can only be applauded 
 for completing what had been begun long before her 
 arrival in Southern Italy. And even in respect to the 
 several social reforms, that were begun at her order 
 and can-ied out under her observation, she was not 
 so much an originator of new policies, as the apt 
 pupil and powerful instrument of the political 
 philosophers who had won her confidence. But the 
 schemes are none the less evidential of her genuine 
 benevolence, and her strong desire to do good in her 
 generation. In her best time slie had the ordinary 
 failings of an ambitious, aspiring, imperious and 
 supremely beautiful woman. In her later years, 
 when multitudinous troubles and griefs that shai-pen 
 Avith time had changed her moral nature, and so 
 affected her mind that its sanity was sometimes 
 questionable, she became a woman whose claim to 
 pity was stronger than her title to admiration. But 
 ' the beautiful Queen of Naples,' with her delight in 
 splendid vanities and her keen appetite for every 
 enjoyment befitting a personage of her high degree, 
 could not have been so steadily considerate for the
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 209 
 
 poor and ignorant, and so perseveringly thoughtful 
 for the higher interests of her people, had she not 
 been a conscientious and good woman. The story of 
 Maria Caroline's humane and glorious government of 
 the Sicilies up to 1790 would by itself discredit the 
 monstrous inventions of the much later libellers, who, 
 without a single scrap of sound testimony for the jus- 
 tification of their revolting statements, require us to 
 believe, that her private life during this same period 
 was no less vile and loathsome than her public life 
 was bright and admirable. 
 
 Readers are not invited by these last sentences to 
 regard Maria Caroline's rule as faultless. Her abso- 
 lute rule had the faults of absolutism ; and like her 
 brother Leopold, who whilst doing his utmost for his 
 subjects showed no disposition to let them accom- 
 j)li.sh for themselves what ho was so generous as to 
 do for them, Maria Caroline, albeit only a queen- 
 consort, had no intention to be aught else than abso- 
 lute in the exercise of the authority couimitted to 
 her hands by God and her husband. It pleased this 
 ruling woman to play the part of a benignant provi- 
 dence to her people, — to give them what she in her 
 wisdom saw would conduce to their happiness. To 
 consult with her people about their wants and wishes 
 was no part of her plan, although she condesccsnded 
 to talk matters over with her wise men, and even to 
 ad(jpt their suggestions. What she did for her 
 people was none the less done by herself, because 
 she graciously permitted a few of her leading minds 
 to aid her in coming to sound conclusions on nico 
 and difficult questions. For what she did to their 
 
 VOL. I. P
 
 210 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 advantage, this shepherdess expected her sheep to 
 be deeply and enduringly grateful : — an expectation 
 in respect to which she was in due course signally 
 disappointed. 
 
 Of the evil effects of absolutism on the throne, 
 none is perhaps more hurtful to the entire communit}'- 
 than the despotic spirit, which animates the otficial 
 classes from the despotic chief ministers down to the 
 lowest clerks of departments. Whilst ministers of 
 departments are despotic in proportion to their 
 power, the insolence of understrappers is often 
 ludicrously disproportionate to their authority. The 
 despotic temper of the official classes generates 
 servility in the people, from the poor who cringe 
 before the magistrates placed immediately over them, 
 up to the courtiers who fawn with politer forms of 
 obsequiousness before the supreme autocrat. One 
 offspring of all this insolence and servility is corrup- 
 tion. Whilst the officials are dishonest from greed, 
 the people submit to extortion from fear, and some- 
 times even conciliate the subordinate tyrants with 
 gifts, in order to escape punishment for peculation 
 committed by themselves. 
 
 Though he erred in suggesting tliat Maria Caro- 
 line's government was more corrupt than other 
 absolute governments, Southey could have justified 
 himself for declaring to its discredit that ' the vilest 
 and most impudent corruption prevailed in every 
 department of the state, and in every branch of 
 the administration, from the highest to the lowest.' 
 No blame, however, attaches to the reforming Queen, 
 because her absolute government resembled all other
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 211 
 
 absolute governments, in generating insolence in 
 the officials, servility in the people, and corruption 
 in both. She did her best to purge the departments 
 of abuses. But the conditions of her rule defeated 
 her good intentions. To govern the Sicilies, she was 
 compelled to delegate authority to multitudinous 
 servants, whilst it surpassed her ingenuity to devise 
 any adequate means for keeping the agents under 
 sufficient control. 
 
 For some of the faults of her sway, however, she 
 must be held personally accoimtable. Lacking the 
 discretion that is so desirable in a social innovator, 
 she did not take due account of the irritations 
 occasioned by her reforms in those who suffered 
 from them. Instead of conciliating her adversaries, 
 as she could have conciliated them so easily with 
 gi-acious words, Maria Theresa's haughty and imperi- 
 ous daughter treated them disdainfully. On observ- 
 ing the disfavour with which her earliest essays in 
 practical politics were regarded by certain of her 
 8ubjoctR, she should have been less hasty with her 
 subsequent innovations. It was disadvantageous to 
 the good cause for which she laboured, and very 
 injurious to her influence and intereKts that, after fhc 
 wont of young reformers, she tried to accomplish in 
 a few years the work which should have been spread 
 over twice, or even thrice the time. Before entering 
 on another work for the better government of the 
 country, she should have allowed hernelf and her 
 subjects a brief period of repose, during which the 
 irritations consequent on the last change Avould have 
 subsided in some degi-ee. But instead of proceeding 
 
 1'2
 
 212 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 thus deliberately, she launched her benevolent pro- 
 jects on society one after another, — ay, launched 
 them two, three, or four at a time. Educating her 
 people to be revolutionary by her own restlessness, 
 she, at the same time, caused the number of her 
 enemies to grow with perilous rapidity. 
 
 On reviewing the changeful policies of her reign 
 up to 1790, readers will observe that they must have 
 irritated many more or less powerful individuals. 
 The openness and energy with which she acted for 
 the disposal of the property of the Jesuits necessarily 
 offended those of the ecclesiastics who sympathized 
 with the despoiled and banished order, and the still 
 larger number of ecclesiastics who, without com- 
 passionating tlie exiles, were of opinion that far too 
 large a proportion of the confiscated property was 
 assigned to secular uses. By covering the country 
 with normal schools, over which the church had 
 no authority, Maria Caroline caused many a pious 
 village-priest to regard her as the incarnate evil 
 principle in human affairs. Her whole scheme of 
 higher education, from the university of Naples to 
 the provincial colleges, was one grand outrage to 
 clerical sentiment. By flouting the Pope, she in- 
 censed the higher clergy still more fiercely, and 
 alarmed a considerable proportion of the pious laity 
 of her kingdom. In breaking with Spain, she took 
 a step that was cordially disapproved by the many 
 Neapolitan nobles who regarded Charles III. with 
 admiration, and even with affectionate reverence. In 
 proportion as they benefited the treasury and light- 
 ened the burden on trades, the redemption of the
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 213 
 
 arrendamenti, and the consequent re-arrangements of 
 taxation, had been injurious to particular individuals, 
 who were far from powerless in the state. The new- 
 regulations for the coral fisheries, though distinctly 
 beneficial to the many, were no less distinctly dis- 
 advantageous to the few. The Queen's activity in 
 dividing lands and reclaiming waste lands, and her 
 other efforts for increasing the number of the peasant 
 proprietors caused most of the great land-owners 
 to think her a meddlesome and dangerous woman. 
 Even in the districts for whose especial advantages 
 they were constructed, her new roads were deemed 
 perilous novelties, just as railroads were disesteemed 
 and opposed in England some fifty or sixty years 
 since. The restoration of the ports of Miseno, Brin- 
 disi, and Baia caused people living at other points 
 of the coast to murmur from envy against the pre- 
 ference shown to the favoured ports. 
 
 Maria Caroline's regulations for the better ordering 
 of marriage were decried as vexatious and insulting, 
 just as Lord Ilardwicke's marriage-act had been 
 decried in England. By reducing tlie privileges of 
 the barons, tlie Queen made herself (h'.stasteful to 
 them. The hiwyers detested her for making judicial 
 corruption less easy and safe by requiring judges to 
 state the reasons of their decrees, and for reducing 
 their gains by registrations of title and mortgage in 
 the public archives, (yornq)t magistrates did not 
 love her for having strengthened the or(liiiaiu;es for 
 their exposure and punishment. Although sin; liad 
 re-organized it for the sole purpose of raising tlio 
 Two Sicihes from a position of abject dependence
 
 214 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 on Spain, and giving the kingdom an honourable 
 place amongst the powers of Southern Europe, the 
 restoration of the army had provoked the degenerate 
 Neapolitan nobles to murmur against the Queen for 
 emploj'ing foreign officers, when she had not a single 
 subject who was competent to command a battalion, 
 or form a corps of artillery. Without even gratifying 
 their national vanity, Maria Caroline's magnificent 
 fleet was murmured against by her people as a use- 
 less and wasteful contrivance that had well-nigh 
 exhausted the treasury, which ere long they would 
 be required to replenish. 
 
 At the close of 1790, Maria Caroline had for more 
 than twenty years been carrying out her ' laudable 
 schemes for the welfare of her people.' In the 
 execution of these schemes, she had (to use one of 
 Lord Beaconsfield's many felicitous expressions) 
 spent some twenty years in ' harassing interests.' No 
 wonder then, that by the end of 1790 Naples 
 abounded with people who thought and spoke ill of 
 the meddlesome Queen, and were ready to believe 
 tales to her discredit. Amongst the people thus 
 ready to believe defamatory tales of Maria Caroline, 
 there were equally furious and credulous simpletons, 
 who would have swallowed the monstrous invention, 
 had any mahcious gossip accused the Queen of 
 having poisoned her own mother. I am not aware 
 that this particular charge was ever made against 
 Maria Caroline by her calumniators. But at the 
 close of 1790, the time was approaching, when quite 
 as wild and hideous things began to bo whispered of
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 215 
 
 her by the revohitionary fanatics, whose monstrous 
 and utterly baseless slanders found their way to the 
 pages of deplorably indiscreet, but not intentionally 
 wicked, writers of history.
 
 216 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE SAME AND YET ANOTHER QUEEN. 
 
 The French Revolution — Was it inevitable ? — Its Consequences 
 to France — Its Results on Europe — What it did for the 
 Two Sicilies — Change in ^laria Caroline — Her Re-Appear- 
 ance in Naples — Preparations for War — Philosophers out of 
 Favour — Re-Organization of the Police — Luigi de Medici — 
 Secret Agents — Fabrizio Ruffo, Prince of Castelcicala — 
 Honour to Spies — The ' Oscura ' Salon — Pilnitz and Pavia 
 — Emperor Leopold's Death — Death of Gustavus III. of 
 Sweden — Emma Hamilton's Trip to England — Her Mar- 
 riage in September, 1791 — Her Return to Italy — Com- 
 mencement of Her Intimacy with Maria Caroline — Growth 
 of the Queen's Troubles — Her Precautions against Disorder 
 in Naples — Worse News from France — Emplojnuent of 
 Spies — Maria Caroline's Cry for 'an united Italy!' — Her 
 brave Note to Sardinia and Venice — La Touchc in Naples 
 Bay — The French Admiral's Demands — The Queen's 
 Submission. 
 
 1791—1792 A.D. 
 
 It is the fashion to speak of the great French revolu- 
 tion as the natural and necessary consequence of a 
 long period of bad government, and also to palliate 
 its atrocities by urging that, though it was fruitful of 
 enormous crimes and much transient misery, this 
 violent convulsion, so needful for sweeping away 
 rotten institutions and a vicious aristocracy, has in 
 the long run proved unspeakably beneficial to 
 France by increasing her material prosperity, by 
 dividing her wealth with an approach to equality,
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 217 
 
 iinknoAvn to her people in previous times, and by en- 
 dowing her citizens with pohtical freedom and the 
 sacred rights of self-government. That the convul- 
 sion was necessar}^ in the sense of inevitable, mav be 
 questioned ; for every thoughtful student of the 
 national disturbances from 1788 to tlie end of 1792 
 can point to moments when the agitation niiglit have 
 been stayed by a controlhng and resolute mind, and 
 at least to one moment when the revolution would 
 most prol)ably have been strangled at its birth, had 
 it not been for the accident of a woman's pride. Had 
 Marie-Antoinette accepted Mirabeau's offer, the ' in- 
 evitable ' might have been avoided. In truth, the 
 whole movement from its inception to its accomplish- 
 ment was one long affair of accidents. 
 
 It is bootless to conjecture what iniglit have 
 followed, if things which took place had not happened. 
 But it is well for students to consider what France 
 has gained and lost, and how much Europe has 
 suffered from tlio great revolution, before tliey give 
 in to the prevailing fasliion, which requires them to 
 mistake a curse for a blessing, and to thank Provi- 
 dence for the supremo disaster of modern history. It 
 cannot bo gainsaid that Franco is richer and more 
 powerful tlian she was imder Louis the Fifteenth and 
 Louis the Sixteenth, that her multitudes are some- 
 thing better fed and clothed jiow-a-days than her 
 multitudes wen; under those sovereigns, that even 
 the meanest wretches of Iki- rities would have fared 
 even worse liad they lived a hnndrod years since, 
 that her citij^ens arc, as the phrase goes, a free people, 
 whereas before the French revolution two-thirds of
 
 218 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 the French populace were wretches whose only 
 privileges were to toil, suffer and die. But in these 
 respects France has not improved, during the last 
 three generations, faster or more substantially, than 
 the nations Avho stolidly refused to follow her revolu- 
 tionaiy example. At the most, she has only achieved 
 by violent and superlatively painful measures, what 
 England and the Germanic peoples have achieved by 
 peaceful and far less painful processes. All the 
 advantages, which distinguish France of the present 
 century from France under Madame Pompadour's 
 patron and i\Iarie-Antoinette's husband, the French 
 would have gained quite as quickly and in quite as 
 large a measure, had they denied themselves the 
 violent delights of revolutionary excitement and for- 
 borne from their carnival of blood. 
 
 Gaining nothing but the shame accruing to them 
 from its atrocities, the French have lost much by the 
 grand revolution, — much that they can never recover. 
 The nation has lost those elements of honour and 
 prestige and influence, that come to nations from the 
 venerable oldness and known stability of their insti- 
 tutions, and can come to them from no other sources. 
 In losing these most precious elements of national 
 gi'andeur and dignity and power, France lost posses- 
 sions that are largely and always beneficially effective 
 in the formation of individual character. Of all the 
 good and true Frenchmen now living, the best would 
 be something better in his moral nature, had he 
 derived from his ancestors the sentitnental inheritance, 
 of which he was deprived by the violent convulsion 
 which broke tlie continuity of his historic traditions.
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 219 
 
 and had he enjoyed in his youth and cherished from 
 his earliest time the pocuhar sense of personal 
 dignity and the invigorating sense of social steadfast- 
 ness, that are unknown to the citizens of countries, 
 whose poHtical institutions are of recent birth or 
 have been often shaken by civil commotions. 
 
 In regarding the evil consequences of the French 
 revolution, we must consider its effect on other nations 
 as well as its effect on the French people. In Eng- 
 land and Germany it checked the course of social 
 reform for a long generation, by causing men of light 
 and leading to revolt from hberal ideas and suspect 
 treason in eveiy popular demand. In England 
 causing the generous and enhghtened to join hands 
 with the selfish and stupid, the revolution produced 
 in France the military adventurer, whose restlessness 
 and ambition gave us the wars, that were so fruitful 
 of tlie transient troubles and losses by death and dis- 
 ease, from whi(;h the recovery Avas quick, and of the 
 financial embarrassments from Avliioli the recovery 
 was slow. To this hour we suffer from debts con- 
 tracted in those wars. 
 
 No part oi" Europe suffered more severely than 
 Italy, and no part of Italy suffered more severely 
 than the Two Sicilies, from tlio French revolution. 
 Two-thirds of the pohlical troubles and misery, en- 
 dured by the Neapolifans from 17!)() to 18(10, ure 
 directly or indirectly referable to that revolution, 
 which we are now-a-days required to regard as having 
 prov(.-d in the long run beneficial to humanity. Had it 
 not been for the French movement, Maria CaroHne 
 would have continued to occupy herself with ' laud-
 
 220 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 al)le schemes for the welfare of her people.' Under 
 her sway, Avhich even by her severe censor, Colletta, 
 is allowed to have been praiseworthy and beneficent 
 up to 1790, education would have advanced, industrial 
 arts would have made steadyprogress, commerce would 
 have flourished, laws would have grown more and 
 more equitable and favourable to the multitude, and 
 in respect to the general prosperity of the people her 
 kingdom would have become an example to the 
 nations of the earth. It was never Maria Caroline's 
 design to endow her people with political liberty ; 
 but it is conceivable that, had the course of affairs 
 satisfied the hopes and humane aspirations, with 
 which she governed the Sicilies up to 1790, this 
 Queen, who did so much for fraternitS and ^galiU, 
 and was in other respects in remarkable harmony 
 with the spirit of the age, would in her later time 
 have modified the absolutism of her sway with such 
 concessions as are the first steps from personal rule 
 to constitutional government. But this fair prospect 
 for Italy closed with the progress of the agitations in 
 France, which, first filling Maria Caroline with alarm 
 for her sister, and then with alarm for her own safety, 
 for the interests of her children, the interests of her 
 people, and the interests of all civilization, changed 
 her nature for the worse. 
 
 On her return to Naples in 1791, Maria Caroline 
 was welcomed home by the people of her capital 
 witli loyal acclamations and all the usual signs of 
 popular delight and devotion. In recording that, 
 even during the pubHc festivities that celebrated her 
 re-appearance amongst her subjects, the more critical
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 221 
 
 Neapolitans discovered a novel and significant 
 severity in her beautiful face, historians possibly 
 describe what they would have failed to detect in her 
 countenance, had they been eye-witnesses of the 
 celebrations, and enjoyed personal opportunities for 
 studying her looks and demeanour. For Maria 
 Caroline was no woman to tell the multitude the 
 secrets of her breast, and was, at tliis time, well alile 
 to control and conceal her emotions. But that the 
 Queen was meditating a stern enterprise there Avere 
 sure signs, in the activity of her arsenals and dock- 
 yards, the enrolment of new regiments for her army, 
 and tlie arrival of the corps of iSwiss and Dalmatian 
 soldiers who hastened to her service. War was in 
 the air breathed by the Neapolitans, and they sniffed 
 its scent and savour for some weeks before aught 
 more was revealed to them of their Queen's martial 
 purpose. When pnests had begun to speak of wicked 
 France in the confessionals, and friars to denounce 
 the impious revolution from the pulpit, the Nea- 
 politans knew that the Two Sicilies were moving 
 onwards to war against France, 
 
 At tin; Ram(r time, there were signs (jf the change 
 in ^Maria Caroline's disposition towards men of learn- 
 ing, — signs of the suspicion, that had suddenly re- 
 placed her former confidence in those clicpu'S of the 
 educated classes, whom she ha' I i'"i- twenty yeai's fa- 
 voured so especially. The savans of the univtjrsities 
 soon discovered themselves to be out of Iler Majesty's 
 favour. The ' coteries ' were not renewed. A few 
 weeks later, the men of learning inferred, from the 
 neglect with which they Avcre treated, that the
 
 222 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 Queen had done with them. Soon fear seized them 
 that, together with her ' coteries,' Maria CaroHnc's 
 ^ laudable schemes ' for the country's better govern- 
 ment had come to an end. This fear was followed 
 by conviction, when bishoprics were conferred on 
 priests who had distinguished themselves by sacer- 
 dotal narrowness, and when the church, which had 
 for so many years been depressed by the crown, re- 
 gained its authority over the national education. As 
 the ecclesiastics became more powerful and openly 
 jubilant, the men of secular light and leading grew 
 apprehensive of still greater misfortune, and began 
 to hold private meetings for the consideration of 
 their political affairs. Besides conferring Avith oue 
 another at these private meetings on such questions 
 ■of political science, as had been ordinary topics of 
 conversation at the Queen's coteries, the philosophers 
 ■exchanged views with one another on the new turns 
 and aspects of Neapolitan politics. What was done 
 in this respect by the chief men of letters and science, 
 was done also by the youthful students of the inii- 
 versity. 
 
 AVithdrawing her patronage from the men of light 
 and leading, as persons akin by nature and spirit to 
 the philoso})hers who had brought about the French 
 revolution, Maria Caroline provided for the better or 
 worse government of the capital, by placing each of 
 its twelve wards under a chief officer of the police, 
 who acting as inspector or judge was responsible for 
 the order of his district. No longer ruled by alder- 
 men elected by the inhabitants of their respective 
 districts, the twelve wards were now governed by
 
 AND LORD NELSOX. 223 
 
 police-magistrates, in the immediate service of the 
 crown, each of whom was placed under the particular 
 authority of a chief commissioner, who together with 
 his new office received the old title of Regent of the 
 Vicaria ; the first holder of this important post being 
 the Chevalier Luigi do Medici, a young man of noble 
 family and noble presence, whose energy, ambitious 
 temper, and resoluteness had raised him to a high 
 place in the Queen's esteem. For no one of these 
 particulars does the Queen appear blameworthy. 
 Knowing that the people of her capital comprised a 
 considerable number of ardent sympathizers with the 
 French revolutionists, who would seize every oppor- 
 tunity for spreadingrevolutiouary disaffection amongst 
 the Neapolitans, she saw the necessity for re-organiz- 
 ing the metropolitan police and taking them more 
 directly into her own hands. Seeing this necessity, 
 she determined to put tlic police under officers on 
 whose loyalty she could rely, and under a chief com- 
 missioner, whoso social quality and courtly status 
 would tend to raise the whole police force in social 
 esteem. 
 
 Whilst re-organiziug lier nK'tropoJitan police, she 
 said to lierself, * The lesson lA' Paris shall not be 
 thrown away upon me. This capital is already in- 
 fected with the French fever. Soon it will be labour- 
 ing the birth of a revolution. Good! I will bo 
 present at the birth. I will bo the midwife, and 
 strangle the infant, ere it has raised its first cry. I 
 am of sterner stuff than my brother-in-law of Paris. 
 I am a woman !' 
 
 Her next step was to form, within the lines of the
 
 224 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 department of police, a corps of secret agents, who 
 should give her sure information respecting all that 
 was said on political matters by her subjects, — not 
 only by haunters of the wine-shops, the dwellers in 
 obscure quarters, and followers of humble industries 
 or no calHng in particular, but by persons of educa- 
 tion and credit in the higher circles, including the 
 circles of the finest fashion. To get this information, 
 the Queen determined she would have as little as possi- 
 ble to do with such base and necessitous individuals 
 as are wont to follow the calling of 'spies.' If 
 they could not be all of good birth and quality, her 
 spies should at least comprise gentlemen of honour 
 and women of public rank and private worth. To 
 bring to her aid seci-et servants, in whom she could 
 confide without a sense of shame at employing such 
 instruments, Maria Caroline designed to destroy the 
 old prejudice against spies by employing a class of 
 secret agents, whose domestic condition and dignity 
 should make ' the service ' rank as an honourable 
 profession. She would not be misled by the lies of 
 such mere caitiffs as flocked to ' the secret service ' 
 of other governments, but would learn the truth of 
 things — truth which she ought to have — from the 
 lips of gentlemen and gentlewomen fit in every way 
 to approach their sovereign and speak confidentially 
 to her. 
 
 For this purpose she appointed so bright and dis- 
 tinguished a young noble as Luigi de Medici to be 
 her chief police-commissioner for the twelve wards 
 of the capital, — an office that placed him in au- 
 thority over the ordinary metropolitan spies. That
 
 AXD LORD NELSON. 225 
 
 she had no great difficulty in drawing men of fair 
 social credit into her secret police may be inferred 
 from the fact that Fabrizio Ruffo, Prince of Castel- 
 cicala, served Maiia Caroline as a spy in the highest 
 circles of Neapolitan .society, before she appointed 
 him to represent her at the Court of London. In like 
 manner she found ladies of the highest quality at 
 Naples to supply her with intelligence respecting the 
 political sentiments of the people with whom they 
 spoke in private houses ' under the rose.' Whether 
 it was good or ill, when Maria Caroline undertook to 
 do a thing, she did it thoroughly. Instead of re- 
 quiring her principal spies to give their intelligence 
 to the chief of their department, she instructed them 
 to come to her presence and tell it into her own ear. 
 hi thus coustituting herself her own Chief Conuuis- 
 sioner of the Secret Department, the Queen aimed 
 at making her superior spies feel more proud than 
 ashamed of work which she luade her own work 1 »y 
 taking a personal part in it. The salon of the palace 
 in which the Queen received her ai-istocratic spies at 
 Naples was appropriately designated 'Oscura' (the 
 dark salon) ; and to the salo7i tiius fitly named priests 
 and nobles, grave magistrates and elegant women 
 of fashion came on appointed niglits with information 
 for Iler Majesty's private car. 
 
 W'ithout closing our eyes to the evils Ihal result 
 from the employment of spies for govermnental ends, 
 we may admire the moral courage «hsplayed by 
 Maria Caroline in putting the services of her principal 
 spies on the right footing, and in receiving their state- 
 ments personally, instead of requiring them to make 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 22G THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 reports to a minister from whom she would receive 
 the intelHgeuce at second hand. To her own con- 
 science she put the case thus, — ' The safety and 
 welfare of the state require this service from indi- 
 viduals. It follows that, instead of being shameful, 
 the service is virtuous, and that, instead of deserving 
 ignominy, the renderers of the service should be 
 treated with respect and personal confidence. In- 
 stead of refusing them admission to my presence, as 
 persons who gather shame by doing their country 
 good service, 1 am bound in honour to make myself 
 as far as possible a principal actor in what they do 
 for me and for the state.' 
 
 Maria Caroline did not, at this period of her career, 
 employ spies in order to gratify her resentments or 
 compass her ambitious designs. She employed them 
 as needful instruments for her kingdom's good. This 
 is admitted even by so severe a judge of her charac- 
 ter and career as Colletta. Speaking of her disposi- 
 tion and conduct up to a much later date of her story, 
 viz. up to 1798, Colletta, who certainly Avould have 
 made no such admission on insufficient testimony, 
 remarks, ' Inflexible towards crime/ {vide, ' Horner's 
 Translation,' vol. i, p. 242), ' she had no desire to 
 persecute the innocent, differing in this respect from 
 her agents, who derived their power and influence 
 from the general misery. Ferdinand and Caroline 
 sincerely believed those Avho had been arrested were 
 traitors, and could not at this period be charged with 
 injustice.' 
 
 Had all the sovereigns, whose interests were 
 menaceil by the French movement, been as eager
 
 AND LOUD NELSON. 221 
 
 as Maria Caroline for united military action against 
 Louis XVI.'s rebellious subjects, the great revolution 
 would perhaps have been defeated, notwithstanding- 
 all that can be urged in support of the contrary 
 opinion. But the ruling men, who favoured the enter- 
 prise, proved lukewarm supporters of the ruling 
 woman, who was yearning to save her sister. Plans 
 were laid onl}- to fall through. Averse to Avar by 
 nature, Leopold had scarcely parted from his fav- 
 ourite sister, when he survived his fiercest indignation 
 at the insults offered to his sister in France. Louis 
 had no sooner stirred his well-wishers to preliminary 
 action by pathetic appeals for help, than he implored 
 them to do nothing that Avould exasperate his 
 enemies at Paris. The Convention of Pilnitz and 
 the Treaty of Pavia — the treaty which was to 
 have done and divided so much — effected nothing 
 for the achievement of Maria Caroline's chief pur- 
 pose ; and, on the Ist of Marcli, 1702, Leopold 
 l)reathed his last breath, being followed in the same 
 month to the unseen world by Gustavus of Sweden. 
 The month, that deprived her of the brother on 
 whom she chiefly relied for success in Franco, and 
 of the king who had burned for months U) manh 
 on Paris, saw ^laria Caroline shaken and ahnost 
 broken with despair. 
 
 Whilst things went ill for I\Iaria Caroline from 
 the spring to the autumn of 1791, fortune was benig- 
 nant to the beautiful Emma Hart, whoso visit to Eng- 
 land was snccessful in every particular, with tho 
 exception of Queen Cliarlotte's refusal to admit tlio 
 adventuress to her presence. She restored transient 
 
 q2
 
 228 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 gladness to her old friend Romney, received the 
 homage of royal princes, shone as the first beanty 
 of the London season, won the applause of musical 
 critics and connoisseurs, stayed with people far more 
 pleasant than precise at Fonthill, and became the 
 wife of Sir William Hamilton. On her way back 
 to Italy she was admitted to the presence of poor 
 ]\Iarie-Antoinette at Paris. "Within a fortnight of her 
 return to Naples, she dined with Lady Malmesbury 
 at the royal palace of Caserta. 
 
 ' The Queen,' Lady Malmesbury wrote to her sister, 
 Lady Elliott, ' has received her veiy kindl}^ as Lady 
 Hamilton, though not as the English minister's wife ; 
 and I believe all the English here mean to be civil 
 to her, which is quite right.' 
 
 The Cheshire blacksmith's daughter having been 
 openly received into relations of personal friendship 
 with the Queen of Naples, it is well to say a few 
 words respecting the previous intercourse of the two 
 women. That Maria Caroline had shown herself 
 interested in the adventuress so early as July, 1786, 
 when the latter had been barely three months in 
 Italy, and had condescended to speak with her 
 privately at least on two or three occasions, shortly 
 before she went to England to be married, I have 
 already remarked. But I am not aware of the 
 existence of any document justifying the words in 
 which Mr. Paget (vide, 'Blackwood's Magazine,' of 
 May, 1888) has recently written of Emma Hamilton 
 as having enjoyed the Queen's close friendship for 
 some time before her marriage. Mr. Paget's words 
 are :
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 229 
 
 *0n her return to Naples' {i.e., in October, 1791), 
 ' with a legal right to the name of Lady Hamilton, 
 she was warmly welcomed by the Queen, loith whom 
 she had long enjoyed a close personal intimacy, and was 
 publicly recognized at Court as the wife of the 
 English ambassador.' 
 
 The Monison MSS. contain no scrap of writing 
 in support of this strong statement. On the contrary, 
 they comprise writings that are not easily recon- 
 cilable with it. On the 20th of December, 1791, just 
 two months after her first appearance at Naples, 
 as a manned woman, Lady Hamilton wrote to her 
 friend Romney, 'I have been presented to the Queen 
 of Naples by her own desire. She [h]as shown 
 me all sorts of kind and affectionate attentions. Li 
 short, I am the happiest woman in the world,' — words 
 which, written as they were to so close and con- 
 fidential a friend as Romney, certainly imply that 
 it was a now thing for li^rnma to receive kind and 
 affectionate attentions from the Queen. Again, just 
 three years later (on the l-Sth of December, 1791), 
 P^mina Hamilton wrote to ]\Ir. Charles Greville — 
 whom she knew to be fully informed of the particu- 
 lars of her intercourse with Maria Caroline, — 
 
 'No person can bo so charnn'ng as the Queen. She 
 is everytin'ng one can wish, — the best mc^ther, wife, 
 and friend in the world. 1 live constantly with her, 
 and have done intimately so for 2 years, and I never 
 have in all that time seen anything but goodness and 
 sincerity in her ' 
 
 Emma Hamilton often over-stated periods of time, 
 and seldom under-stated them. Yet, in December,
 
 230 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 1794, when she bad a manifest motive for making 
 the most of her intimacy Avith the Queen, she did 
 not venture to represent that the intimacy of which 
 she was boasting had existed for more than two 
 years. It is manifest that, at this point of her career, 
 she did not think her intimacy with Maria Carohne 
 began further back than December, 1792, though 
 she had been admitted to the Court more than a year 
 earher, and had from the beginningof November, 1791, 
 received flattering signs of Her Majesty's approval. 
 
 On the other hand, it is certain that Lady Hamil- 
 ton had not enjoyed the Queen's personal friendship 
 for any long time, when she used to magnify the 
 duration of the singular friendship in her gossip with 
 acquaintances, who could not check and test the 
 accuracy of her statements, as she knew Mr. Charles 
 Greville could test them. Long before she had survived 
 her early truthfulness, so as to have become distinctly 
 un veracious Avhenever she had a motive for fibbing, 
 the loquacious adventuress used to ' romance,' both 
 in spoken and written words ; and one of her favourite 
 fields for ' romancing ' was her pre-matrimonial inter- 
 course with her royal friend. 
 
 To find a good example of the way in which the 
 married Emma Hamilton could sometimes romance 
 about her pre-matrimonial intercourse with the Queen, 
 there is no need to search packets of unpublished 
 letters. Readers need only refer to Madame Solari's 
 ' Venice under the Yoke of France and Austria,' vol. 
 ii, pp. G6 to 70, for the good example. According 
 to this essay in romancing, Emma won the Queen's 
 fiiendship, and compassed her long-desired marriage
 
 AXD LORD NELSON. 231 
 
 Avith Sir William Hamilton, by waj-laying Her Majesty, 
 and putting her in possession of the written proposal 
 for a liaison, which the King had just made her. This 
 marvellous piece of fiction first came in 1795 to the 
 Marchioness from Mrs. Cadogan's lips, but (says the 
 Marchioness) it was ' frequently confirmed by Lady 
 Hamilton herself, as well as part of it by Sir William 
 Hamilton.' The diplomatist's confirmation of a part 
 (only a jyart !) oi the humorous fable probably certi- 
 fied nothing more than that the Queen had formed a 
 high opinion of the English beauty, from the feminine 
 propriety of her demeanour to Ferdinand. 
 
 In seeking the commencement of Maria Caroline's 
 intimacy with the blacksmith's daughter, inquirers 
 should of course assign greater evidential value to 
 what Emma Hamilton wrote or said on the matter to 
 such confidential and well-informed friends as Roni- 
 ney and Mr. Grevilh-, than to what she said or wrote 
 in later time to people, less qualified to check and 
 test her statements. The evidence being super- 
 abundant, that Emma Hamilton had good reason, in 
 December, 17114, for regarding the winter of 17^2-3 
 (the time when the Queen showed so much concern 
 for Sir William and Lady Hamilton during his illness) 
 as the time when she first became reall\' intimate 
 with Her I\Iajesty, readers may disreganl what the 
 adventuress said and wrote to the contrary, in later 
 time. It follows, therefore, fh.it instead of coming 
 straight from the London Ktrccts to Maria Caroline's 
 arms, eleven entire years had passcjfl Kince Amy Lyon's 
 brief term of flagi'ant jianghtincsH, before she became 
 the familiar associate of the Queen of Naples.
 
 232 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 Whilst Emma Hamilton was g-rowing steadily in 
 the Queou's good opinion, the mouths of 1792 were 
 fruitful of troubles to Maria Caroline, whose appre- 
 hensions were confirmed by the reports of her secret 
 agents. Each succeeding month showed an increase 
 in the number of Neapolitans who sympathized with 
 the Parisian revolutionists. They were still few in 
 comparison with those inhabitants of the capital, who 
 showed no signs of disaffection ; but they were 
 a party, and a steadily-growing party, — stronger 
 amongst the professors and students of the university 
 than in any other class, but having adherents amongst 
 the commercial people, and amongst the youth of the 
 noble families who had disliked the Queen from the 
 hour when she took measures for restoring the army. 
 It was a French party that looked hopefully to the 
 French movement for liberty, and would not fail to 
 gi'ow in favour with the aristocratic malcontents, 
 should the fortune of war go against the Anstrians 
 and Prussians who were moving slowly, and all too 
 late for the impatient Queen, to battle. 
 
 Whilst the police relieved Naples of several thou- 
 sands of her lowest and most dangerous population, 
 by seizing thera for trivial irregularities, and de- 
 spatching them to Lampedusa and Tremiti, with less 
 regard to their suspected opinions than to their 
 known disposition for crime and disorder, numer- 
 ous persons of better condition and no general ill- 
 repute disappeared from the capital under circum- 
 stances, which rendered their disappearance especially 
 suspicious and alarming to citizens of decent but 
 lowly degree, who had distinguished themselves iu
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 233 
 
 their humble coteries by declaring that, instead of 
 being governed by kings and queens, people "svould 
 soon win the right of governing themselves. So long 
 as they carried off mere rabble and vagabonds and 
 suspected thieves, the pohce were generally applauded 
 for their vigilance and energy. But as mysterious 
 disappearances of outwardly inoffensive folk became 
 more frequent, the bolder of the populace began to 
 scowl at the servants of order, who became more and 
 more suspected of spiriting people out of the way, for 
 no sufficient cause. Even amongst people of the 
 borirt/eoisie, who had not acquired a repute for dis- 
 affection, but were on the contrary known for quiet 
 and honest persons, it was whispered that, though 
 precautions against disorder Avere needful, they miglit 
 be excessive. 
 
 As 1792 moved on from midsummer to mid-winter, 
 European affairs grew gloomier and Parisian affairs 
 more alarming to Maria Caroline. The fall of Longwy 
 gave her short-lived hope for the Austrians and 
 Prussians, but the success at Longwy was followed 
 quickly by the crushing defeat at Valmy. The 
 raassaf-rc of the Swiss guards in August was suc- 
 ceeded by the massacre of Septcunbcr. ' Of course I' 
 the Queen observed, on hearing that the National 
 Convention had established the republic of France. 
 Two months later, the Queen, who had so long fore- 
 seen the course of events, said '()(' course!' with 
 deeper l>itterness, on hearing that the French had 
 entered on the crusade of universal rev(dution, by 
 declaring their fraternity with all nations, who 
 desired to l)e free, and offering help to all nations
 
 231 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 who would strive to win freedom. On the Christmas 
 Day of 1792 there was small hope that Louis would 
 hve to see another Christmas. 
 
 Upon the whole, Maria Caroline was re-assured by 
 what she learnt from her secret servants about the 
 lazzaroni, the industrious artisans, and the petty 
 trades-people of Naples. Bat she was deeply troubled 
 by the intelligence she received about the temper of 
 the students, for whose university she had done so 
 mucli, and about the French spirit that animated a 
 minority of the noble families. It pained her even more 
 acutely to discover how greatly she was disliked in 
 palaces, where she had imagined herself without an 
 enemy. It was a cruel mortification to the proud 
 and flensitive woman, to discover how many of the 
 higher Neapolitans thought her a meddlesome, mis- 
 chievous, oppressive, tyrannical ruler, after all her 
 endeavours to do justice and achieve a reputation for 
 queenly goodness. Hitherto she had imagined her 
 unpopularity was confined to a few classes, or 
 sections of classes, — the lawyers of whose hatred 
 she was proud, the clergy whom she was now 
 doing her utmost to conciliate, the degenerate nobles 
 whom she had offended by re-organizing the army, 
 the feeders on abuses whom she had harassed for the 
 good of her people. It was a painful surprise to her 
 to learn how universally unpopular she had made 
 herself by trying to improve the country, whilst Fer- 
 dinand retained the good-will of his subjects, because 
 they acquitted him of approving her ' laudable 
 schemes ' for the general good. 
 
 Powerless in 1792 to injure the French revolution-
 
 AND LORD NELSOX. 235 
 
 ists with her arinj, she did her best to bring about a 
 corabiiiatiou for protecting Italy from their legions. 
 Writing under Ferdinand's name to the governments 
 of Sardinia and Venice, she invited them to join the 
 Two Sicilies in a confederation, to preserve Italy 
 from the calamity of a French invasion. If they 
 would unite with the Sicilies in the defensive league, 
 the Pope would be a partner to the enterprise, from 
 which the minor Italian powers Avould not dare to 
 hold aloof. In case of a French invasion, the King 
 of the Two Sicilies, the least exposed to the common 
 danger, would be the first to move against the com- 
 mon enemy. United, the Italian powers could defy 
 the invader. Divided, they would court disaster and 
 win it. ' The hope of escaping singly,' urged the 
 writer, ' has ever been the ruin of Italy.' 
 
 The daring and energy of Maria Theresa animate 
 these words by her daughter, who thus anticipated 
 the Garibaldiau cry for an united Italy. Had Venice 
 assented to the proposal, the last decade of the eigh- 
 teenth century might have seen the Italian powers 
 drawn into one pcoj)lo, under a woman capable of 
 raising it to glory. IJui IVdin I'uar and selfishness, 
 Venice declined the invitation wiiich the King of 
 Sardinia accepted with chivalrous alacrity. Fortune 
 refused to favour the Avoman's project; and Maria 
 Caroline had barely recognized her impotence to 
 execute her scheme without the co-operation of Venice, 
 when Naples was threatened by La Toucho's fleet of 
 fourteen men-of-war. 
 
 Dropping the anchors of his largest vessel within 
 half a gun-shot from the Castle Uovo, the French
 
 236 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 admiral drew his other ships in line of battle across 
 the port and lost no time in declaring the purpose of 
 his sudden appearance. He had come to demand 
 reparation for two wrongs done to the French re- 
 public. The King of Naples had refused to receive 
 the citizen Mackau, who had been appointed to repre- 
 sent the French republic at the Sicilian Court. It was 
 due to Naples that the Ottoman Court had declined 
 to receive the citizen Semonville as ambassador from 
 the republic. For these injuries the French admiral 
 required apology and reparation. 
 
 As she had a superior force at hand, Maria Caroline 
 has been too generally charged with cowardice in 
 yielding to La Touche's demands. The Queen for- 
 bore to answer the French admiral with her guns, 
 because she suspected that the Jacobins of her 
 capital were ready to co-operate with the repub- 
 lican armament. Colletta says that her fears were 
 gi'oundless ; but it is indisputable that the historian 
 undervalued the strength and spirit of the French 
 party in Naples — i.e., the Neapolitan sympathizers with 
 the republic, who had come to be styled Jacobins by 
 their fellow -citizens. 
 
 Possibly the Queen over-rated the number of the 
 Neapolitan Jacobins and exaggerated their capacity 
 for mischief. It is conceivable that she erred in sus- 
 pecting a conspiracy between the French fleet and 
 the revolutionists of her capital, and in attributing 
 La Touche's boldness to confidence in the number 
 and capacity of his friends witliin the city. But as 
 she took this view of her position, and believed that 
 by resisting the French admiral with force she would
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 237 
 
 provoke a revolt in her capital, she must be acquitted 
 of pusillanimity in yielding for the moment to what 
 she had reason to regard as a superior enemy. Nor 
 was she solely accountable for the submission. The 
 decision to comply with La Touche's demands was 
 the unanimous decision of the Council of State. 
 Pusillanimity was not one of General Acton's failings; 
 yet he concurred with Maria Caroline's view of her 
 position and its necessities. The French admiral gained 
 all that he demanded. Promising to receive Mackau, 
 to recall the ambassador who had influenced the 
 Porte against Semonville, and to send an ambassador 
 to Paris, Ferdinand also pronnsed to remain neutral 
 in the wars of p]urope, — which last promise, it is need- 
 less to observe, Maria Caroline had no intention of 
 keeping. Weighing anchor, as soon as he had re- 
 ceived these answers to his overbearing challenge, 
 La Touche went off with his fleet, almost before the 
 result of his mission was generally known in the 
 capital, which he hud thrown into sudden panic.
 
 238 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 LA TOUCHE'S return AND RECOVERY OF TOULON. 
 
 La Touche returns — His Petition and Its Consequences — His 
 Intercourse with the Neapolitan Jacobins — Wearers of ' the 
 redcap' — Maria Caroline's Coup (TEtat — Leaders of 'the 
 French Party ' in Prison — Consternation of the Sympathizers 
 — Search for further Evidence — Luigi Custode — Maria 
 Caroline's greater Liking for Emma Hamilton — Their In- 
 timacy — Its Commencement — Sir William Hamilton's serious 
 Illness — Louis the Sixteenth's Death — Maria Caroline's 
 Letter on that Event to Emma Hamilton — Her secret Treaty 
 with Great Britain — Toulon surrenders to Lord Hood — 
 Starvation the Cause of the Surrender — General Count 
 Maudet— Nelson"s first Visit to Naples — Nelson and Maria 
 Caroline — Marie-Antoinette's Execution — The Effect on the 
 Queen of Naples — The Marchioness Solari's Interview with 
 Maria Caroline — Toulon recovered by the French. 
 
 1792—1793 A.D. 
 
 Naples had not seen the last of La Toiiche. The 
 court and capital had barely recovered from the sur- 
 prise of his flying visit, when the French admiral was 
 back again with his fourteen men-of-war, but strange- 
 ly altered for the worse. On their first appearance, the 
 French ships were ready for immediate battle. Now 
 they were fit only for the nearest ship-yard, in which 
 they could be repaired. The state of the case was 
 manifest at a glance to every sailor, and indeed to 
 every landsman who regarded the condition of the 
 vessels, that had been rudely handled by just such a
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 239 
 
 storm as the tempest which a few years later, on 
 Sunday 20th to 21st of May, 1798, dispersed Nelson's 
 fleet, and dismasted his flagship ofi" Sardinia, shortly 
 before his first run to Egypt. 
 
 The position of affairs was curiously altered in 
 another respect. On the former visit La Touche had 
 approached the Neapolitan government as a hostile 
 po\vei\ Now he addressed the Sicilian minister as a 
 friend, in the language suitable for the representative 
 of a great nation, appeah ng to the generosity of an 
 ally. The repubHcan admiral asked permission to 
 repair, water, victual, aud manoeuvre his shattered 
 Bhips in the very port, which he had so lately 
 menaced. Though Maria Caroline was sorry the 
 French ships had survived the storm, and wished 
 their admiral at the bottom of the sea, she was con- 
 strained by humanity aud prudence to help the 
 distressed fleet of liur dear ally, tin- repubHc of 
 France. Bidding Acton afford tlie Frenchmen every 
 assistance, so as to get them out of the country in the 
 shortest posHil)le time, Maria Caroline nursed a bitter 
 souse of humiliation, whilst succouring her sister's 
 oppressors, hi spite of Acton's effcjrts to sliorten the 
 Queen's term of suffuring, the iniwelcome guests re- 
 mained some considcraljlo time at Naples, and during 
 theirstayreceived significant demonstrations of respect 
 from the more impulsive of clieir Neap(jlitan admirers, 
 — cadets of noble lunises, students of tlio universities, 
 and other sul)ject8 of tlieir Sicih'an Majesties, wlio 
 visited La Touche and his captains on board their 
 ships. Of courst' th<'. repul)lican adiiiiral seijicd tlie 
 opportunity for extolling sacred Liberty, and repaid
 
 240 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 the courtesy of his visitors b}' coramendiup; to their 
 admiration the latest discoveries in pohtical science. 
 Advising his young friends to form themselves into 
 secret societies for the diffusion of the new philosophy, 
 La Touche was good enough to inform them how 
 they coukl act upon his ad^^cc with the smallest 
 possible risk of detection. La Touche's young friends 
 had not time to act upon his precepts, when Maria 
 Caroline heard from her nocturnal visitors what was 
 taking place between the Neapolitan Jacobins and 
 the officers of the French fleet. 
 
 It may be imagined how Her Majesty's features 
 flushed and whitened, and how her lips closed tightly 
 over her teeth, when it was told to her that her 
 subjects wore the red cap on their breasts at a supper 
 where Neapolitan .Jacobins and officers of the French 
 fleet made speeches on the beauty of republican 
 principles and institutions. This display of disaffection 
 touched Maria Caroline the more acutely, because 
 she knew the wearers of the Jacobin symbol were 
 fully informed of Marie-Antoinette's distress and dan- 
 ger. Colletta speaks of this wearing of the red cap 
 as though it were nothing more than a trivial and 
 rather picturesque accident. ' It liapimied^ he re- 
 marks lightly, ' that, at a supper given on this occa- 
 sion, amidst the intoxication of hopes and wishes, the 
 Neapolitans hung at their breasts a little red cap, at 
 that time the symbol of the Jacobins in France.^ It 
 only ' happened ' ! The red cap was quite a ' little ' 
 cap. The suggestion is that the Queen should not 
 have been offended by this display of a mere toy. It 
 mattered nothing to the historian of Naples that the
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 241 
 
 wealing of a badge — whether it be a rose or a violet, 
 a bee or a butterfly, a feather or a tuft of fur, a green 
 twig or a red cap — was the boldest and most em- 
 phatic, as well as the easiest way of declaring one's 
 political sentiment to the whole world. 
 
 Some short time before La Touche's appearance 
 in Naples, a secret club of Neapolitan Jacobins had 
 caused two thousand copies of the French statute of 
 1791 to be struck off, for the purpose of distributing 
 them among the favourers of the new political doc- 
 trinea At the last moment, the young men lacked 
 the courage to do what they intended, and instead of 
 dispersing the copies, put most of them into two 
 sacks, and threw them into the sea amongst the rocks 
 of Chiatamone. Two of the copies, that were not 
 destroyed in this manner, came under Maria Caroline's 
 eye, after they had been dropped in her apartments 
 in order to alarm and insult her. Since that affair 
 the Jacobins liad gi-own bolder. They now ven- 
 tured to wear the symbol of red republicanism at a 
 social gathering. As Colletta admits that such 
 tilings were being done in Naples, he should have 
 forborne to deride the Queen's fear of the Neapolitan 
 Jacobins. The French jiarty in Naples was grow- 
 ing fast, and daily growing bolder, when La Toucho 
 dropped auclior before the Uovo castle. 
 
 Wbilsl, tlio French ships were being repaired ajid 
 victualled, Maria Caroline was maturing a coup d'etat 
 that should render the position less dangerous, and 
 inspire her loyal Neapolitans with confidence in her 
 ability to maintain order in her capital. Kiiowing 
 more of the actual state of affairs than her hostile 
 
 VOL. I. R
 
 242 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 historians knew in later time, ]\Iaria Caroline was of 
 opinion that Naples was labounng the birth of a 
 revolution, and that the moment had arrived for her 
 to execute her design of strangling the revolution, 
 which, if she allowed it to live, would do for Naples 
 find the Sicilies what the French revolution had 
 done for Paris and France. 
 
 Having re-organized her police so as to make it an 
 effective force, she was now determined to use it 
 effectually. She did not excite the people with false 
 rumours, draw them in large numbers into the streets, 
 and then cause her troops to fire upon the agitated 
 crowds. This method of maintaining order and get- 
 ting the upper hand of ' the reds ' was the invention of 
 a later time and another country. Maria Caroline 
 struck no individual without having reason to believe 
 him guilty of treason. She wished to terrorize only 
 the disaffected people of the capital, and to effect this 
 in a way that should afford the loyal a stronger sense 
 of social security. Her design was to arrest, during 
 a particular night, the individuals who had held 
 treasonable intercourse with the oflScers of La 
 Touche's ships, and all other persons within the 
 capital, of whose treasonable aims and practices she 
 believed herself to have sure proof. Well arranged, 
 her plan was well executed. 
 
 In the morning, it was whispered about Naples 
 how the police had last night visited many houses 
 and carried off many people. There was no ofiicial 
 announcement of what had taken place. It was 
 left to private tongues and general rumour to 
 Bay what had been done. The arrested persons
 
 AXD LORD NELSON. 243 
 
 * were all of them nobles or men of learning' (vide, 
 Horner's ' Colletta,' vol. i, p. 198), that is to say, 
 members of noble families, or persons who either be- 
 longed to the learned professions or to the university. 
 There was no need to make arrests among the lower 
 orders, for they had been already relieved of their 
 distinctly dangerous members. No one could tell or 
 discover the exact number of the arrests, for fear and 
 shame caused some people to be silent about arrests 
 made in their palaces. No one could say what had 
 become of the arrested persons. They might have 
 been lodged in the cells of the Uovo and Nuovo cas- 
 tles, or shipped off to the island of Sicily, or it was 
 even possible that . . . The fact was that these dan- 
 gerous gentlemen of the higher classes — these nobles, 
 professors, students — had been lodged in the under- 
 ground cells of the fortress of Sant' Elmo, there to 
 remain till they should be brought to trial, before the 
 special tribunal, the Junta of State, that would in due 
 course be appointed to try them. 
 
 All this was j^ainful and alarming to the French 
 party of Naples, — the people who wci'o known in the 
 republican coteries for resolute Jacobins, and the 
 people who, without having committed themselves to 
 the Jacobinical programme, were known in the same 
 coteries to be reasonable politicians, and in a fair way 
 to become zealous Jac(jbinR. Maria Caroline had 
 achieved her purpose of striking terror into this party. 
 Treated in the usual manner, the prisoners fared 
 hardly at St. Elujo. l>uf, as some of them survived the 
 imprisonment with unbroken constitutions, Colletta 
 seems to have exaggerated the severity with which 
 
 r2
 
 244 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 tliey were treated by the ' inhuman men,' who, accord- 
 ing to the historian, ' executed ferocious orders with 
 most ferocious zeal.' 
 
 Headers may not imagine that the measures by 
 which ]\Iaria Carohne sought to kill revolution at its 
 birth, and even in the womb, and struck all favourers 
 of the Neapolitan ' French party ' with consternation, 
 distressed her loyal subjects or threw an air of gloom 
 over the capital. On the contrary, those measures 
 afforded a sense of relief to a large majority of the 
 Neapolitans, and enabled them to follow their affairs 
 of business or pleasure with light hearts and happy 
 faces. 
 
 The leaders of the French party having been put 
 into close quarters, the Queen's spies and other 
 secret agents busied themselves in gathering evi- 
 dence against the imprisoned Jacobins, and also in 
 tracing out the ramifications of the Jacobin plot. 
 During the citizen Mackau's absence at Rome, one of 
 these agents, a man named Luigi Custode, contrived 
 to get possession of certain of the ambassador's papers, 
 and brought them to Maria Caroline, who very pro- 
 perly protected her subordinate from punishment, 
 when he was prosecuted by the ambassador Mackau 
 in the Neapolitan courts for the theft of the 
 documents. Her Majesty's action in thus seeking 
 information from papers belonging to the French 
 ambassador is of course open to censure ; though it 
 may be urged in her defence that, instead of re- 
 ceiving Mackau of her own free will, she had been 
 constrained to tolerate his presence in Naples by a 
 threat of its immediate bombardment, and also that.
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 215 
 
 by inciting her subjects to turn republicans, Mackau 
 had forfeited the privileges of an ambassador. She 
 would have been more blameworthy had she for- 
 borne to protect her own agent from the French 
 citizen's vengeance. 
 
 Towards the close of 1792, when Valmy had 
 plunged her in despair, and the news from Paris 
 grew more alarming with every fresh budget, Maria 
 Caroline felt more and more acutely her need of a 
 closer alliance with England. To weather the great 
 European storm, she must have the good-will of the 
 northern Court that was mistress of the seas. Pain- 
 fully sensible of this need, the Queen of Naples would 
 from mere policy have become more gracious to 
 Emma Hamilton, even if she had conceived a secret 
 dislike for the British ministei-'s enchantress. Asso- 
 ciation with the young Englishwoman having con- 
 firmed Maria Caroline in her disposition to think well 
 of her, it is not surprising that the proud Queen by 
 this time cherished a sentiment of womanly aflection 
 for the advcntiu'ess whom she had jjcfriendcd. 
 
 Like the majority of supremely beautiful women, 
 Maria Caroline admired feminine beauty, and ceteris 
 jparihns was disposed to prefer women who Avere 
 lovely in a high degi-eo to women wanting iji per- 
 sonal attractiveness. Lady Hamilton was also com- 
 mended by her charming Tiaturalness and gcncrnlly 
 gleeful vivaciousnesB to the Queen, who, as troubles 
 thickened and darkened about her, required the 
 solace and cheering influence of a sympathetic and 
 constitutionally joyful companion of her own sex. 
 Enthusiastically grateful for * the Queen's goodness '
 
 246 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 to her, Emma Hamilton seized every occasion for 
 making the Queen sensible of the gratitude. More- 
 over, Emma Hamilton's letters, and the memoranda 
 she put on the Queen's letters to her, and the terms 
 in which she habitually spoke of Her Majesty, afford 
 conclusive testimony that, whilst honom-ing the Queen 
 for her wisdom and womanly virtue, Henry Lyon's 
 daughter habitually approached her royal patroness 
 with words and looks of admiration. 
 
 Never presuming on the Queen's manifold com- 
 plaisances, Emma in the earlier years of their intimacy 
 was careful to withhold from general observation the 
 full extent of Maria Caroline's condescension. ' I had,' 
 Emma Hamilton wrote to Mr. Greville on June 2nd, 
 1793, 'been with the Queen the night before alone 
 en famille, laughing and singing, etc., but at the 
 drawing-room I kept my distance, and paid 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.' 
 These words are a good example of the superabun- 
 dant evidence that, instead of associating from the 
 first hour of their intimacy (as the French libellers 
 represent) on terms of scandalous equality, Maria 
 Caroline and Emma Hamilton persisted in maintaining, 
 under the world's eye, and also in their privacy, the 
 relations of a great princess benignly condescending to 
 a social inferior, and a grateful protegee bearing herself 
 with proper deference to an exalted patroness. How 
 do these facts affect Monsieur Gagniere's account of the 
 friendship of these two women from October, 1791?
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 247 
 
 The intercourse of these two women, which has 
 been so fruitful of revolting calumny on both of 
 them, became a close and cordial intimacy during 
 and immediately after the severe illness which, strik- 
 ing Sir William Hamilton down in the November of 
 1792, put his life in jeopardy for several days. Whilst 
 he was lying in danger at his Caserta villa, Maria 
 Caroline sent a messenger every morning and evening 
 for news of the British minister, whose recovery she 
 desired so strongly, for political reasons as well as 
 from personal considerations. The principal ladies 
 of the English visitors and ' colony ' also showed deep 
 concern for the ambassador's danger and his wife's 
 trouble. Lady Plymouth, Lady Webster, and other 
 English ladies, besides sending from Naples to Caserta 
 (sixteen miles) twice a day for intelligence of the 
 invahd's state, offered to help Lady Hamilton to nurse 
 him. The sympathy shown by the Queen for Lady 
 Hamilton in her aflUction necessarily affected their 
 feelings for one another. From being mere acquaint- 
 ances the generous princess and thi; grateful adven- 
 turess became intimate friends. 
 
 About two mouths later (7th of February, 171)3) tho 
 news of Louis XVl.'s execution, on the twenty-first 
 of the previous month, reached Naples ; — intclligenco 
 that threw the Court into mourning, and moved 
 Maria Caroline to forbid her subjects to celebrate 
 tho carnival. Whilst all the loyal Neapolitans hast- 
 ened to put themselves into black, tho Jacobins 
 had tho prudence to assume a show of grief. That 
 Emma Hamilton was quick to wiite words of con- 
 dolence to her exemplary Queen appears from the
 
 248 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 fact that, on the 9th of February, 1703, the Queen 
 Avi'ote, ^\nth her own hand, in French, the following 
 letter to her sjTnpathetic protegee : 
 
 Maria Caroline to Lady Hamilton* 
 
 [9th February, 1793.] 
 ' Mt dear Miledy, 
 
 ' I have been greatly touched by the concern 
 you take in respect to the execrable catastrophe with which 
 the infamous French are stained. I send you the portrait of 
 this innocent infant, who implores vengeance, succour, or, if 
 he is also sacrificed, his ashes, united to those of his parents, 
 cry before the Eternal for quick and signal vengeance. I 
 rely the most on your generous nation to accomplish this 
 object. Pardon my torn heart its sentiments. Your attached 
 friend, 
 
 ' Charlotte.' 
 
 On the envelope of this letter, Lady Hamilton 
 Avrote, ' To Lady Hamilton from the Queen of Naples 
 
 * The French original of this letter (Egerton MSS., Brit. Mus.) 
 runs thus : — ' IMa chere Miledy, — J'ai ete bien louche de I'interet 
 que reus prenez a I'execrable catastrofe dent ce sent souillda les 
 infames fran^ois, Je vous envois le portrait de cet inocent enfant, 
 qui implore Vengeance, Secours ou, s'il est aussy imole, ses 
 Cendres unis a ceux de ses infortunes Parens, crieut avant 
 L'Eternel pour une Eclatante Vengeance, Je compte Ic plus 
 sur votre Genereuse Kation, pour reniplir cet objet, et pardonez 
 a mon coeur dcchire ses sentimens, Votre attachee amie, — 
 Chaiilotte.' Using two languages, French and Italian, for cor- 
 respondence, Maria Caroline signed her French epistles ' Char- 
 lotte,' and her Italian letters ' Carolina.' Like Emma Hamilton, 
 the Queen of Naples in her letters spelt ill, seldom made use of 
 accents, sometimes dispensed altogether with marks of punctua- 
 tion, an(l often wrote ungrammatically. She sometimes showed 
 the slightness of her knowledge of French by using a wrong word 
 for the expression of her meaning, as in writing ' avant ' where 
 she should have written ' devant ' in the present letter. Seldom 
 failing to express the writer's meaning, Maria Caroline's letters 
 bristle with minute details, that occasion difficulties to the trans- 
 lator, and sometimes compel him to translate with objectionable 
 freedom.
 
 AND LORD NELSOy. 249 
 
 the 9th of February 1793 2 days after she had 
 receved the news of the horrid execution of the 
 King of France her brother-in-law.' 
 
 The portrait of the dauphin, aUuded to in the note, 
 was a well-known engraving by one of Bartolozzi's 
 pupils. Observe how this letter, alike devoid of enthu- 
 siasm and disdain for the person to whom it was ad- 
 dressed, accords neither with General CoUetta's nor 
 \\'ith Monsieur Gagniere's account of the opening term 
 of the Queen's intimacy with the ambassadress. Too 
 cold for the Queen, who, according to Monsieur Gag- 
 ni^re, delighted passionately in Emma Hamilton from 
 the first hour of their acquaintance, and too cordial 
 for the Queen, who, according to General Colletta, 
 treated the adventuress haughtily till after the autumn 
 of '98, it is the letter of a princess who regarded 
 her protSgh with kindliness, whilst condescending to 
 use her as a political instrument. 
 
 Having relieved Naples of a large number of its 
 habitual thieves and doers of violence, by transport- 
 ing them to Lampedusa and 'I'n'nniti, thrown the 
 more active Jacobins into prison, recruited her array 
 up to thf^ fnll number of thirty-six thousand soldiers, 
 and raised her fleet to a iinndrcd and two vessels 
 of various dimensions, carrying six hundred and 
 eighteen cannon, and eight thousand nix hundred 
 sailors, Maria Caroline afhicved her desire for a closer 
 alliance with England, already in arms against France. 
 The compact by which she undertook, on the 2()th 
 of July, 1793, to contribute four men-of-war, four 
 frigates, and four smaller vessels, and six thousand 
 soldiers, to the Anglo-Neapolitan armament, for secur-
 
 250 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES. 
 
 ing the Mediterrauean and protecting the commerce 
 of the Two Sicilies, was a secret alliance ; for the 
 Treaty of Neutrahty between Naples and France — 
 which had been forced on Maria Caroline by La 
 Touche's high-handed boldness — was still in appar- 
 ent operation. The Queen has been severely cen- 
 sured for her duplicity in making this secret arrange- 
 ment with Great Britain against her dear and faithful 
 ally at Paris, who had just put her brother-in-law to 
 an ignominious death. Buonaparte, himself so nicely 
 conscientious in the observance of treaties, was no 
 less astounded than incensed by Fredegonda's pei-fidy 
 in this matter. In Maria Caroline's defence, it is 
 enough to m-ge that promises extorted from fear by 
 sudden violence are allowed by all moralists to want 
 binding force ; that new emergencies may justify 
 rulers in setting aside new treaties, even though the 
 rulers were not driven by a military surprise into 
 making them ; and that the worthy gentlemen at the 
 head of the brand-new French Republic never sup- 
 posed for an instant that the Court of the Two Sicilies 
 meant to stand by the promises extorted by La 
 Touche. 
 
 Maria Caroline's duplicity in this affair was of no 
 long duration. There was no lack of candour in 
 the Queen Avheu, just one month and four days 
 after the execution of her secret treaty with Great 
 Britain, Toulon was surrendered by the French 
 General Maudet to Lord Hood, on the 24th of 
 August, 1793. Whenever they come to grief in a 
 military affair, the French are the victims of treason. 
 According to their historians, the Republic would
 
 AI^D LORD NELSON. 251 
 
 not have lost Toulon, had it not been for ' la trahison ' 
 of the General Count Maudet, who delivered the 
 fortress to the enemies of France for gold. The 
 statement is absurd. Toulon, no doubt, passed into 
 the hands of Great Britain through treason ; but the 
 traitor in the affair was the Republican government, 
 who, though well-informed of Toulon's need of pro- 
 visions, neglected to throw supplies into the strong- 
 hold when it could have been easily provisioned. It 
 is notonoue and indisputable that Maiidet was starved 
 into surrendering through the Republic's neglect to 
 victual the place. 'Famine,' Nelson wrote from Naples 
 to his uncle Suckling, just three weeks (14th of Sep- 
 tember, 1793) after the fall of the fortress, ' has accom- 
 plished what force could not have done : not a boat 
 has got into Toulon since our arrival, and we literally 
 starved them into a surrender.' No doubt General 
 Maudet was more prudent than heroic in arranging 
 with the English admiral for the bare means of future 
 subsistence for himself and his family ; but the poor 
 man had reasons for thinking that the Republican 
 government would conceal its own nn'sconduct under 
 vehement denunciations of his incapacity and ' tra- 
 hison,' and would offer him as a scapegoat to the fury 
 of the Parisians. 
 
 Fortunately for Nelson, and most likely to the 
 good-fortime of the country he served, Toulon was 
 recovered by the French in December, 1703, after it 
 had been held for just four months by a ludicrously 
 insufficient force of British, Spaniards, Sardinians, 
 and Neapolitans, whose brief tenure of the stronghold 
 is at the present date chiefly memorable for covering
 
 252 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 the point of time, when the four powers first stood out 
 before the world as allies against France, and also 
 for marking the period of Nelson's first brief personal 
 intercourse with the Hamiltons and Maria Caroline at 
 Naples. 
 
 On the surrender of Toulon to the British on 24th of 
 August, 1793, Captain Nelson (still in his thirty-fifth 
 yeai-, still looking forth boldly from Loth eyes, and 
 Btill owning the right arm which he lost a few years 
 later at Santa Cruz) was despatched with H.M.S. 
 Agamemnon (64 guns), to carry despatches to Oncgha 
 for the British minister at Turin, and thence to sail 
 on a mission to Naples. The principal business of 
 Nelson's mission to Maria Caroline's capital was to 
 arrange for the prompt dispatch of a Neapohtan 
 force, to enable Lord Hood to hold the stronghold 
 which starvation had put into his keeping. In this 
 matter, as well as every other point of his mission, 
 the captain of the Agamemnon was, of course, suc- 
 cessful; for whilst Ite was Nelson, Maria Caroline was 
 only too glad to do whatever England required of 
 her. 
 
 Nelson's stay at Naples on this occasion was in 
 every respect delightful to him, — all the more so 
 because, though the Duke of Clarence had attended 
 his wedding five years since in the West Indies, the 
 captain of the Agamemnon was now for the first time 
 a witness of the pomp and elegance of courtly 
 grandeur. Never was a British man-of-war so feted 
 as the Agamemnon in a gay capital and lieautiful 
 port. Wherever they appeared — at San Carlo's or 
 tlie minor theatres, at the banquets to which they
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 2b'd 
 
 were invited by Italian princes and by the leading 
 people of the English colony, or at the balls where 
 the loveliest women of Southern Italy accorded them 
 the homage due to heroes — the officers of Nelson's 
 ship were greeted as the saviours of society. The 
 mere appearance of the uniform of King George's 
 navy in a street caused the public Avay to resound 
 with acclamations. 
 
 The captain of these ' saviours of society ' waS' 
 treated as though he were one of earth's choicest 
 and inost celebrated men. Lodging at the British 
 Embassy, where he occupied a suite of apartments 
 that had been recently furnished and decorated for 
 the entertainment of a prince, Nelson was charmed 
 with his host's cordiality, diverted by Lady Hamilton'* 
 hearty gossip, and grateful to hur for the attentions 
 she lavished on his stepson Josiali Nisbct, a midship- 
 man of the Agamemnon. Seeing Ferdinand three 
 days out of f(mr, Nelson received from Maria Caroline 
 such attentions as she seldom rendered to visitors of 
 less than royal quality. Tlirough Lady Hamilton, who 
 acted as interpreter between the Queen, incapable of 
 carrying on a conversation in English, and the sailor, 
 unable to talk in any language but his mother tongue^ 
 Nelson received Her Majesty's assurances that all 
 her hopes for Europe's future rested on the British 
 navy. It was her hope, her confidence, hor convic- 
 tion, that the sailors of England, who had already 
 dashed the insolence of the wicked and execrable 
 French, would speedily avenge the murder of Louis, 
 and even yet restore Mario-Antoiuutte — her dear, 
 dear Antoinette — to liberty, and place her sou on the
 
 254 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 throne of his ancestors. At the great dinner, to 
 which he was invited at the Royal Palace, this still 
 obscure captain of a sixty-four-gun ship was placed 
 at the king's right hand, above all the ambassadors 
 and nobles who were present. When she did a 
 thing, good or bad, it was Maria Caroline's practice 
 to do it thoroughly. Nelson had reason to chirp, in 
 his letters to Norfolk, of the way in which the British 
 navy was honoured at the Neapolitan Court. 
 
 That Nelson's monument stands high in Trafalgar 
 Square is not more certain, than that the passion for 
 Lady Hamilton, which five years later quickened the 
 hero's pulses, did not originate during his three weeks' 
 stay at Naples in the early autumn of 1793. What 
 was unfortunate in 1798 and regrettable in 1799 
 would have been shameful in 1793; and though 
 Nelson had his failings, there was no single weak 
 point in his nature, to which shame could attach. 
 Moreover, the captain of the Agamemnon during this 
 brief sojourn at Naples was too fully occupied with 
 affairs to glide so quickly into a liaison with his 
 hostess. The interests and projects, that held his 
 attention at the opening of his first term of service in 
 the Mediterranean, would of themselves have pre- 
 served him from the imbecility and sentimental fickle- 
 ness of which he is accused by the writers, who 
 maintain that he regarded Lady Hamilton with 
 affection during his first stay at Naples. It is certain 
 that, in 1793, he no more loved, thought of loving, or 
 was capable of loving Lady Hamilton, than he was 
 capable of advising his stepson Josiah to run away 
 with her. During his next five years of hard fight-
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 255 
 
 ing and incessant dangers at places remote from 
 Naples, there was no passage of time, in which he 
 could have prosecuted a guilty suit to the famous 
 beauty by personal addresses. Lastly, extant docu- 
 ments prove conclusively, that the passion had its 
 birth no earlier than the moment of his departure 
 from Sicilian waters in July, 1798, for his second ex- 
 pedition to Egypt, and that the grievous and repre- 
 hensible part of the entanglement did not begin 
 before the year 1800. These facts sweep away all 
 the baseless statements, that the brightest hero of 
 the British navy was engaged in one long intrigue 
 with Emma Hamilton, from tlic September of 1703. 
 
 Nelson's sojourn at Naples ended abruptly. lie 
 was entertaining the chief Englisli residents and 
 visitors of Naples with a grand farewell breakfast on 
 board his sliip, and was expecting to see Ferdinand 
 on the vessel at one o'clock, p.m., when intelligence 
 arrived that a French man-of-war with tlirce ships 
 under convoy had anchored off Sardinia. In a trice 
 the captain gave orders for sailing, and went off after 
 the possible prize without tarrying for the King's 
 adieus. 
 
 Nelson's departure was followed at an interval of 
 a few weeks l)y iloleful news for ^Mari.i Caroline. 
 Carried on the \\\\\ of October, 171)3, befon^ the 
 tribunal that had pre-ordained lier death, Marie- 
 Antoinetto was oxccntofl on tlio IfWh of the same 
 month. 
 
 Wlicn the MarcliionesH Solari rspproaelicd Naples 
 in the autumn of 1793, she was douljtful whether the 
 news of this monstrous judicial murder had come to
 
 256 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 the Queen's knowledge ; but the doubt ended wlien 
 the lady of English birth, who had in former time been 
 Marie-Antoinette's faithful attendant and confidential 
 messenger, saw the deep mourning worn by Sir 
 William and Lady Hamilton, who had driven some 
 miles out from the capital to give her doleful wel- 
 come. Towards the close of 1791, after Emma 
 Hamilton's first appearance at court, the Marchioness 
 had brought letters from the Queen of France to the 
 Queen of Naples. On the present occasion she came 
 only as a tourist seeking better health, not as a mes- 
 senger from the dead. But on learning from Sir 
 William Hamilton that her sister's Avhilom servant 
 had come to Naples, Maria Caroline requested him 
 to bring the lady to her witliout delay. The inter- 
 view between the Queen and the visitor was afflict- 
 ing to both, before it afforded some slight consolation 
 to the murdered queen's sister. Overpowered for 
 the moment by the aspect of the Queen, who bore so 
 strong a resemblance to Marie-Antoinette, the Mar- 
 chioness Solan faltered as she approached the princess, 
 whose visage was painfully expressive of mental tor- 
 ture. Uttering 'a tremendous shriek,' as she con- 
 strained herself to speak, the Queen exclaimed, ' Good 
 God ! did you ever think the French would have 
 treated my sister and her husband in so horrible a 
 way?' To these first words Madame Solari was reply- 
 ing in French, when the overwrought Maria Caroline 
 cried out "svith passionate fierceness, ' For God's sake, 
 do not, I beseech you, let me hear any of that mur- 
 derous language ! You speak German and Italian, 
 pray addi'ess me, for the future, in either of those
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 257 
 
 lauguag-es.' But the words were the mere petulance 
 of anguish. A few minutes later, when she had 
 grown calmer, and recovered something of her cus- 
 tomaiy fortitude, the Queen ' continued the conver- 
 sation in French, which seemed her habitual language.* 
 
 Striking her with dismay, the French revolution 
 deadened Maria Caroline's finest sensibilities. Ken- 
 dering licr selfish towards the whole world, with the 
 exception of her husband, her children, their children, 
 and a few favourites of her entourage, it extinguished 
 the benevolence to mankind, the love of humanity, 
 that liad co-existed with her ambition and hunger for 
 power. The murder of Marie-Antoinette maddened 
 the surviving sister. From tlio hour in Avhich that 
 appalling atrocity came to her knowledge, till she 
 had dwindled to a broken wreck of her earlier and 
 noble self, Maria Caroline was possessed by fierce 
 resentments. For years the supreme passion of her 
 breast was a desire for vengeance on tlie French, 
 who had slain her sister brutally. The strongest cry 
 of her heart was ' Vengeance !' If she still hungered 
 for gi-eater power, she desired it as an instrument 
 for wreaking her wrath on the enemies of her house 
 and honour. 
 
 No wonder that under tlio fire of Ihis passion, 
 which preyed incessantly on her better nature, sho 
 deteriorated steadily. J3ut let it not bo imagined 
 that the change for the worse was so visible in tlif 
 world as to her own troubled conscience, or that it 
 ever debased her into the repulsively wicked woman 
 historians have wrongfully dcclareil her, or tliat sho 
 ever wholly survived all the finer quahties of her 
 
 VOL. I. a
 
 258 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 originally noble disposition. On ceasing to influence 
 her conduct towards the world outside her domestic 
 circle, her benevolence was no less active within 
 the narrow limits of her private life. In her letters 
 to Emma Hamilton she shows forth as an affectionate 
 wife, loving mother, and staunch friend. After the 
 wont of women, however self-sufficient by nature, 
 when they fall into grievous trouble, she became 
 more punctiliously observant of her religious duties 
 as she grew sadder at heart and more sensible of her 
 dependence on the Almighty. Never sinking so low 
 as to be priest-ridden, she found consolation in the 
 spiritual services of priests. Even when he assailed 
 her womanly honour with vile suggestions, Baron 
 Alquier admitted sueeringly that she was ' devote.'
 
 A\D LORD NELSOX. 259 
 
 CHAPTER Xir. 
 
 CONFLICT AND CALUMNY. 
 
 Rumours of the Recoveryof Toulon— Letter from Maria Caroline 
 to Lady Hamilton— Return of the Toulon Expedition — The 
 Queen's Martial Temper — Cavalry sent to Lombardy — Ships 
 sent to the English Fleet — Expenditure and Taxation — 
 Indefensible Finance — Outcry against the Queen— Her 
 Letter on George the Third's Birthday— Sir William Hamil- 
 
 ipita ^..j,. 
 
 — Trial and P^xecution of Tommaso Amato — Trials of 
 Jacobins — Vincenzo Vitaliano — Emanuolu di Deo — 
 Vincenzo Galliaiii — Pietro di Falco — Duke d'Accadia— 
 Professor Annibale Giordano — Three capital Executions — 
 Ages and Quality of Sufferers — Conduct of the Junta — 
 Proportion of Acquittals to Convictions — Consolations for 
 Maria Caroline — French Feeling against the Queen of 
 Naples — The Book of Slander. 
 
 17'J4 A.D. 
 
 Whilst she was agitated l)y ilir vague rumours dl" 
 misadventures at Toulon, which readied Naples some 
 weeks befin-e the arrival of sure intelh'gcnce of tlie 
 evacuation o^ the stronghold ]>y iho alhcs, ]\Iaiia 
 Caroline wrote in French the f(illn\viu;r note to L.idv 
 Hamilton : 
 
 Maria Caroline to TmcIi/ ILaniUon* 
 
 [January 7fh, 17'J4.] 
 ' Having learnt of the arrival at Leghorn of several Eng- 
 
 * The Queen's unpunctuated and unaccentuatcd note runs 
 
 s2
 
 260 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 lisli ships from the Ilieres Islands, I should very much wish 
 to know if they have sent any news by the post from Tou- 
 lon to the Chevalier Hamilton to-day. My interest in 
 regard to everything which relates to this expedition being 
 infinite, I pray you, uiy lady, to have the goodness to infornx 
 me on matters so interesting of what may satisfy my heart 
 and general eagerness, and to believe me with much friend- 
 ship to be 
 
 ' Your devoted 
 
 ' Charlotte.' 
 
 Three weeks and five days later (2iid February, 
 1794), the expedition, which Maria Caroline had sent 
 to aid in holding Toulon, returned to Naples in dimin-r 
 ished numbers and a sorry plight. Two hundred 
 Neapolitans were missing, dead or wounded, and 
 four hundred of the Sicilian force had been captured 
 by the French, together with all the horses of the 
 expedition. Naples had also lost heavily in pro- 
 visions, tents, arms and standards. The Queen's sense 
 of the calamity was expressed in the order, that 
 stayed the celebration of the carnival and directed 
 that prayers should be offered in the churches for the 
 divine protection and guidance. But this reverse did 
 not dash Maria Caroline's martial enthusiasm. Rais- 
 ing new conscripts and civic guards in the capital, 
 
 thus in the original : — ' Ayant scue I'arrivee a Livourne de plus- 
 ieurs batimens Anglois des lies d'Hieres Je desirerois bien 
 vivement savoir si ellos ont mande des nouvelles de Toulon au 
 Chevalier Hamilton par la poste d'aujourdhui mon intoretatout 
 ce qui a rapport a cette Expedition etant infinie Je prie Miledy 
 de vouloir bien m'eclaircir sur dos objets aussy interessant ce qui 
 peut satisfaire mon coeur ot remprcssemcnt General et de me 
 croire avec bien ile rAniitie Votre devoue Charlotte.' — Thus 
 early in their friendship, whilst using her as a channel of commu- 
 nication with the British minister, Maria Caroline is asking Lady 
 Hamilton to transmit her intelligence from the British embassy.
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 261 
 
 she collected at Sessa twenty battalions of infantry, 
 thirteen squadrons of cavalry, and a train of artillery, 
 for the purpose of assisting the German armies in 
 Lombardy. Sending ships, arms and soldiers to co- 
 operate with the English in attacking Corsica, she 
 dispatched the Prince di Cuto to Lombardy, with a 
 command of three regiments of cavalry. "Whilst the 
 Neapohtan fleet at this time comprised forty gun-boats 
 or bomb-ketches and forty larger vessels, Maria Caro- 
 line had forty-two thousand troops of the line under 
 arms, and a reserve of militia even more numerous; — 
 an enormous armament for her far from wealthy people. 
 To provide for the maintenance of these forces on 
 land and sea, she was under the necessity of imposing 
 heavy taxes on all orders and classes of her subjects; 
 and, when tlie increased taxes proved inadequate to 
 her expenditure, she liad recourse to the desperate 
 expedient of issuing fictitious paper money, in the 
 form of notes on the seven national banks. In doing 
 so, without taking tlie (Ii-positors into her (confidence 
 on the subject, the ruHng woman ilcalt with the 
 property of private individuals in a way that may 
 1)0 fairly described as 'secret despoliation.' Review- 
 ing her action in this iiiatt(n' with mingled censure 
 and apology, Colletta reniarlvH that ' state necessity, the 
 instincts of despotism, the ease with which the money 
 could be obtained, and the hope of rei)laeing the miss- 
 ing sum befon; it could bo discovered, and finally, the 
 belief entertained by all absolute monarchs that the 
 property as well as the lives of subjects belongs to 
 them, were reasons enough for extending a rapacious 
 hand towards the deposits/
 
 262 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 In the Queen's behalf, it may also be urged that the 
 wealth thus taken by her ministers was spent on what 
 she believed to be needful for the good of the kingdom 
 and of all European society. Still it cannot be gain- 
 said, that at tliis crisis of her career she had recourse 
 to wholly indefensible measures of finance. The case 
 against her would be still worse, could it be proved 
 that, whilst the costs of her government were to her 
 knowledge being paid with the money drawn thus 
 surreptitiously from her subjects, she caused it to be 
 understood by the public, that the excess of her ex- 
 penditure over her revenue was met by the private 
 wealth of the crown. It has been alleged that she 
 told people about her, how she had sold or pawned 
 her jewels for the necessities of the country, and 
 shone with paste at the court-galas. 
 
 For gambling in this fashion with the resources of 
 her subjects, Maria Caroline was severely punished. 
 On discovering how the money had been raised for the 
 excesses of expenditure, the people exclaimed bitterly 
 against her deceit, hypocrisy and rapaciousness. In 
 their rage, the defrauded depositors even spoke of the 
 Queen, the King and Acton, as having robbed the 
 banks for their own private enrichment. The 
 financial policy, which brought countless people to 
 poverty, made the Queen a score of enemies for every 
 person, whose hatred she had earned by her previous 
 policies. 
 
 Whilst Maria Caroline was tln'owing herself thus 
 heartily into her alliance with England, and lavish- 
 ing the wealth of her subjects as well as the resources 
 of the Neapolitan treasury on operations against
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 263 
 
 the wicked French people, she wrote in French the 
 following characteristic letter to Lady Hamilton on 
 the anniversary of George the Third's birthday : — 
 
 Maria Caroline to Lady Hamilton. 
 
 [June 4tb, 1794.] 
 
 'I beg you to do me the kindness to make my compliments 
 this evening to all the company assembled with you, and to 
 tell them that 1 would fain begin first and from my heart 
 the song of '' Good save great George our king!" that I wish 
 and desire all happiness to the King, to whom I have vowed 
 a friendship without limits, as well as the highest esteem 
 and confidence in the brave loyal English nation, who will 
 save Europe from this scourge which menaces it. I am 
 delighted that the alliance, wiiich the King my Husband 
 has formed with your Court and Nation, permits me to ex- 
 press the sentiments which I have always cherished in my 
 heart towards her. I pray you therefore to be so good as to 
 give utterance to my feelings to-day, when you celebrate 
 your King'.s birthday with ailccting and honourable loyalty 
 (avec unc fidelite touchante et respectable). 1 beg you to 
 make my most sincere compliments to I\Iadam North and all 
 her family. If in leaving she passes near Caserta, 1 hope to 
 sec her again even if only for a moment. I have been much 
 grieved at the frightful misfortune of tlie poor Bilingston 
 {BiUinQton) and 1 lament the alarm you have all undergone. 
 Adieu, I pray you again to act for me and to express in my 
 name all liiat my heart feels for your King and your brave 
 loyal nation, and l)elicve me with much gratitude to be, 
 
 ' Your sincere frioiul, 
 
 ' Chaim-otte. 
 
 ' [^•^•] ^ thousand compliments to the Chevalier Ham- 
 ilton.' 
 
 On the envelope of tlu- copy of this letter (preserv- 
 ed in the UritiHli MuHcuin), Lady Hamilton wrote, 
 ' ^^oppy of a Letter from the Queen of Naples to Lady 
 Hamilton on the 4tli (jf Juno 1794 the King of
 
 2Gi THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 England's birthday. Sir William sent the original to 
 England.' The last seven words of the memorandum 
 point to Sir William Hamilton's zeal in the Queen's 
 cause. The first part of the letter was of course 
 written in order that it should be read by Sir William 
 Hamilton to the English, assembled at the minister's 
 table for the birthday celebration. Had Her Majesty 
 written it for Lord Grenville's eye and possibly 
 King George's perusal, she would scarcely have 
 expressed so strongly her concern for Elizabeth 
 Billinffton's misadventure. That touch was thrown 
 in to please Lady Hamilton, Avho in her two-fold 
 character of English adventuress and whilom aspirant 
 for operatic distinction had taken the English singer 
 to her heart. 
 
 Never in her brightest time did Maria Caroline 
 malv-e a more splendid show to the world, never had 
 she been at gi-eater pains to dazzle and charm the 
 people Avho thronged her salons than in these days, 
 when she had so many causes for keen anxiety and 
 secret gloom,— in the successes of the French re- 
 public, the resentments she knew herself to be pro- 
 voking at Paris, the growth of disaffection amongst 
 her own people, and the financial embarrassments 
 that were winding strong coils around her ; in her 
 prescience of the disasters which would befall her 
 should she and her friends fail to get the upper hand 
 of the French repubhc, in her frequent visions of her 
 Bister's face, dropping from the cniel knife into the 
 sawdust, and in her gnawing regi'cts for her baffled 
 endeavours and extinguished desire to be and do 
 good.
 
 AyD LORD XELSOX. 265 
 
 Passages ia the letters of Eug-lish tourists reflect 
 the brilHauce and gaiety that prevailed iu the Queeu's 
 palaces during this troublous time ; and in this 
 respect all Naples— that is to sa}-, the Naples of 
 ' society ' — resembled the Court. Closiug their eyes 
 to perils of the future and to the misery near at hand, 
 the higher of the loyal Neapolitans caught the plea- 
 sures of the passing hour, and hunted merrily after 
 trifles as though they were the happiest people on 
 the earth's surface. Elizabeth Billiugton (one of the 
 earliest, if not the first, of English siugers to draw as 
 much money from foreign as from London theatres) 
 found Naples a delightful place, and sang to over- 
 flowing houses at San Carlo, whilst the Two Sicihes 
 were going at full speed to wild disorder. 
 
 Nature dealt sternly with these gay Neapolitans in 
 1794. The year of war was a year of scarcity that 
 in some parts of tlie country and to some classes of 
 the capital fell little short of famine. It was also a 
 year of earthquake and Vesuvian eruption. Only 
 eight days had passed since thu I'rilish minister's 
 guests ciieered prodigiously on liearing how much 
 Maria Caroline would have liked to be the leading 
 singer of 'Good save great George our King,' when, 
 on the night of June 12tli, 17114, Naples was sliaken 
 by earthquake, and its inhal»it;ints heard the awful 
 rumbling that precedes the fury of Vesuvius. From 
 dawn till <vc fhf nioiuitain's noise grew steadier, 
 deeper, more terrifying througliouf lli<' following day. 
 On the niglits of the IJtIi, If^th, and ICthof Juno, 
 the mf)untain bellowed forth its rage, louder than a 
 hundred pieces of ordnance. Darkness brooded over
 
 2G6 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 the city by day as well as night, whilst clouds of 
 ashes fell upon the buildiugs and ways. Seizing 
 people of every grade, panic caused them to move in 
 penitential processions from the city to the statue 
 of St. Januarius at the Maddalena bridge. A droll 
 feature of these processions was, that in going forth 
 to conciliate their one creator the supplicants dis- 
 played a striking regard for distinctions of class. 
 Whilst the gentle went together, saying the custom- 
 ary prayers in a low voice, the simple and base walked 
 in another procession, shouting out a hymn especially 
 composed for their use in the Neapolitan dialect. 
 
 Followed by a long train of priests in their sacer- 
 dotal vestments and surpliced choristers and acolytes 
 swinging censers, the Cardinal Archbishop of Naples 
 went to the Maddalena bridge, and officiated as 
 chief celebrant at the rites, that failed to do much 
 for the common weal. The phial of St. Jauuarius's 
 blood and the golden statue of the saint had no 
 visible effect on nature's doings. Taking little by 
 their muttered prayers and shouted hymn and chanted 
 psalms, the people turned to work at the bidding of 
 the magistrates, and cleared the roofs and terraces 
 of the fallen ashes. On the return of sunlight after 
 three days of darkness, the people were astonished to 
 see Mount Somma higher than Mount Vesuvius. 
 Why had Vesuvius been thus lowered ? What did 
 the portent signify? Was it favourable to the wicked 
 Parisians ? Was it ominous of social conflict 'i Did 
 it point to the doings of the Neapolitan Jacobins ? 
 
 Whilst the capital was possessed by panic during 
 the eruption, and by subsequent mourning for the
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 2G7 
 
 loss of life and property, the royal family aud the 
 piime miuister stayed at the Sessa camp. The 
 theatres and ordinary tribunals of Naples were closed. 
 But the Junta of State, instituted for the trial of 
 persons accused of treason, persisted in itspreliminai-y 
 labour of gathering evidence, taking depositions, 
 examining Avitnesses by written interrogatories, and 
 settling the process, that on their completion filled no 
 fewer than four hiindred and twenty-four volumes. 
 The first culprit to be tried by this special court, 
 composed of seven judges and a procurator-fiscal, 
 was Toraraaso Amato, a native of Messina, who had 
 caused commotion and grave scandal in Naples by 
 forcing his way on a feast-day to the sanctuary of 
 the Church del Carmiue, overpowering the friar who 
 essayed to stop him, and then loudly cursing God 
 and the king, to the horror of assembled worshippers. 
 This wretched man died on the gallows, but from 
 evidence, which did not arrive from Messina till after 
 hia executiou, it soon appeared that, iustead of being 
 dealt with as a criminal, he should have been restored 
 to the mad-house from which he had escaped. One of 
 those ghastly misadventures which disfigure the social 
 annals of every country, this miscan-iage of justice 
 reflects no discredit on Maria Caroline, though it has 
 often been mentioned by her defamers as an incident 
 for which she shouM ]>e blamed. At the time of thcj 
 execution, Amato's fate adde*! nothing to the Queen's 
 quickly growing unpopularity, ibr the Neapolitans 
 regarded him as rcHponsible for his actions, ami li.id 
 been profoundly shocked by liis blasplienjy. 
 
 After spending much time on tluir preliminary
 
 268 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 iuvestigations and labour of settling the 2^'>'occs, the 
 Juuta of State proceeded on September l()th, 1794, 
 to deal judicially with the fifty individuals, the minutes 
 o^ proces against whom filled one hundred and twenty- 
 four volumes. Of the fifty persons thus arraigned for 
 treasonable practices, forty were convicted and ten 
 were acquitted. Of the forty persons whose guilt 
 was established, three were condemned to deatb, one 
 was sentenced to confinement for life in Tremiti, 
 three were sentenced to the galleys, twenty to im- 
 prisonment, thirteen to smaller punishments. The 
 three persons condemned to death were Vincenzo 
 Vitaliano, Emanuele di Deo, and Vincenzo Galliani. 
 The one man sentenced to confinement for life in 
 the island of Tremiti was Pietro di Falco, the leader 
 of the plot, who saved his wretched existence from 
 immediate extinction by revealing the names of the 
 members of the secret societies, and giving other 
 evidence against his confederates in revolutionary 
 designs. Of the culprits condemned to imprison- 
 ment, one was the Duke d'Accadia, at whose trial 
 two nobles assisted at the King's order, as peers of 
 the prisoner on trial. Another of the fifty to be 
 especially noticed was Annibalo Giordano, a professor 
 of mathematics, who is described by Colletta as a 
 ' man of great talents, though of low moral character.' 
 That this man was a scoundrel is admitted even by 
 writers, quick to discover virtue in a revolutionist. 
 Something more will be said of him in the next 
 chapter. 
 
 Vincenzo Vitaliano, Emanuele di Deo, and Vincenzo 
 Galliani, the three conspirators sentenced to death,
 
 AND LORD nelson: 269 
 
 ■were yoiing men of gentle birth, members of the 
 University of Naples, and students who had proved 
 their intellectual capacity in the schools. As it has 
 been the fashion of the revolutionary apologists to 
 speak of these men as mere youths, in order to 
 provoke sympathy for the culprits on false gi-ounds, 
 readers should observe the ages of these striplings. 
 Vincenzo Galliani was nineteen, Emanuele di Deo 
 twenty, and Vincenzo Vitahano twenty-two years old. 
 These ages are given on the authority of Colletta, 
 who was more likely to understate than to overstate 
 the ages. Leaders of the university-students, these 
 young men had visited La Touche, worn the 'red 
 cap,' declared themselves republicans, joined secret 
 societies, and used all their exceptionally great 
 powers of mind to win converts to the revolutionary 
 party. All three Avere Jacobins. That they were 
 guilty of the offences laid to their charge has never 
 been questioned. Instead of denying their guilt, tliey 
 were proud of it. All died like honest and resolute 
 men. Worthy of the gentle stocks from which they 
 had sprung, they lived frankly, and died bravely. 
 After his sentence to death, Emaiuielo di Deo was 
 offered a free pardon by Maria Caroline, if ho would 
 reveal the names of his fellow-conspirators. How- 
 did he reply to this offer, brought tf» him by his own 
 father straight from the Qucjen ? Di<l he deny the 
 existraicc of a conspiracy? On the contrary, admit- 
 ting that he had at least a thousand comrades in 
 treason, ho declare-d ho would not name them. 
 
 '^ly father,' said this noble, though lamentably 
 misguided young man, * the tjTant ' {i.e., Maria Caro-
 
 i>70 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 line) ' in whose name you come, not satisfied "with 
 having thus afflicted us, hopes to add infamy to 
 our grief, by now offering me a disgi'aceful Hfe at 
 the price of a thousand honourable lives ; suflfer me 
 to die. Liberty demands much blood, but the first 
 shed is the pui'est !' 
 
 It was nobly spoken, and it was far better for 
 Guiseppo Deo to moiu-n for the son who perished 
 honourably than to live a few years longer with a 
 son who had avoided death by an act of shame. 
 
 Emanuele di Deo, cetat 20, Vincenzo Galliani, cBtat 
 19, and Vincenzo Vitahano, cetat 22, were of the sort of 
 young men who are especially powerful in compass- 
 ing revolutions. Of the best stuff and finest temper, 
 they were also of the happiest age for revolutionary 
 efibrt. It is, therefore, unreasonable to argue that 
 they should have been exempted from the appointed 
 doom of unsuccessful revolutionary leaders, because 
 Vincenzo Galliani had lived only two years longer 
 than Arthur Wellesley had lived on joining the 73rd 
 Foot, because Emanuele di Deo was no older than 
 Captain Arthur \Vellesley of the 58th Regiment, and 
 because Vincenzo Vitaliano was only one year over 
 the age at which Arthur Wellesley became a member 
 of the Irish Parliament. On attaining to the age 
 at which young Englishmen hold commissions in 
 the army or navy, revolutionary leaders must be 
 held responsible for their political actions ; and com- 
 jiassion has no right to insist, on the score of their 
 youth, that they are treated with peculiar hardship 
 b}'' the sovereign who calls them to account for acts 
 •of treason.
 
 AND LOUD yELSOX. 271 
 
 It cannot be fairly represented that these victims 
 of justice were either charged with trivial offences 
 or prosecuted for serious offences on trivial grounds. 
 The laws, under which they suffered, were known 
 laws ; and, though much has been urged against 
 the harshness of the tribunal, there is no lack of 
 evidence that the judges displayed a desire to act 
 fairly to the prisoners. The time and labour ex- 
 pended on the minutes for the proces indicate judicial 
 conscientiousness. In each case the proces was 
 handed to advocates, appointed by the Crown, for 
 the prisoner's defence. That twenty per cent, of 
 the trials resulted in a decree of acquittal shows 
 that the judges gave some amount of consideration 
 to the evidence and written defences for the culprits 
 on trial. That only three of the fifty cases tried 
 between the Kith of September, 1794, and the 3rd of 
 October, 1794, resulted in capital sentences, shows that 
 the proceedings should not be stigmatized as sangui- 
 nary. It cannot be questioned that the proportion 
 of capital sentences would have been liiglier, had 
 the Queen hinted to the Junta that executions were 
 required, in order to terrorize the French party. 
 That she had, in the earlier stages of her war against 
 revolutionary treason, 'no disire to persecute the 
 innoecnt,' is admitted by CoUetta. It must also bo 
 admitted in her favour that, though ' inflexible to- 
 wards crime,' she wished nothing worse for criminals 
 than strict justice. 
 
 For the troubles and mortifications that came to 
 her during 1794, ^laria Caroline found some con- 
 solation in the conduct of the cavalry, whom she
 
 272 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 bad sent to Loiubardy under the Prince di Cuto ; 
 in the praises accorded by Admiral Hotham to the 
 Neapohtan ships that helped him to whip a Frencli 
 squadron in the Gulf of Genoa, and in the martial spirit 
 that seemed to animate her whole army and navy 
 and all her well-affected subjects. She had also 
 been cheered by successes over the French, for which 
 she was in no degree accountable. On hearing of 
 Howe's famous First-of-June victory, she wrote ofi" 
 to her very dear 'Miledy' the jubilant note, given 
 in Pettigi-ew's ' Nelson ' — 'A letter of the 10th of June 
 announces to us that Lord Howe has completely 
 beaten the French fleet; that he has taken seven 
 vessels, one of which afterwards sunk. Admiral 
 Graves was v/ounded in the arm ; Admirals Pasley 
 and Bowyer have each lost a leg, proving their 
 bravery. May God prosper our brave allies as I 
 desire !....' 
 
 But, though they encouraged her to persist boldly 
 in the desperate struggle with an unscrupulous foe, 
 these and other causes for congratulation could not 
 affect her indignation at a blow she received from 
 the enemy in the last month of the year. By this 
 time Maria Caroline had done much to provoke the 
 French republicans. On the establishment of the 
 repubhc, she had refused to receive its ambassador 
 Mackau. After acknowledging him under compulsion, 
 she had persevered in her preparations for war 
 against the republic. In violation of the treaty of 
 neutrality which she never for a moment meant 
 to observe, she had joined hands with England, and 
 sent a force to aid Lord Hood in keeping Toulon.
 
 AXD LORD nelson: 273 
 
 She was justly regarded at Paris as the coutroUing 
 mind that had caused the Germans to take arms 
 against the republic. She had appealed to the lead- 
 ing Italian powers to make common cause against 
 the republic. Her cavaliy had strengthened the 
 Germans in Lombardy. Her ships had helped to 
 drive a French fleet, beaten and broken, back to 
 Toulon. At Naples she had caught the French 
 party with a firm grip, that rendered it for the mo- 
 ment powerless in her capital. From the magnitude 
 of her military preparations and from her previous 
 activity, she seemed to be set, not only on defending 
 the Two Sicihes from invasion, but on fighting 
 France upon French soil. It was manifest to Paris 
 that measures must be taken to discredit this daring 
 and resolute woman — so powerful by sea in her 
 alliance with England, so dangerous on land by her 
 influence in Germany, so prompt in checking the 
 difTusiou of republican sentiment amongst her own 
 subjects, so passionately desirous of avenging her 
 sister's death. By every means, at any cost, this 
 woman must be distn-edited. One of tlie means used 
 by the French republicans to discredit this dangerous 
 woman, tr) make her hateful to her own subjects and 
 contemptible at every European court, was slander 
 against her private life. The same miscreants, who 
 had so recently accused Marie-Antoinetto (jf un- 
 natural viciousness, too loathsora<; and revolting to 
 be set forth precisely on a page designed for general 
 circulation, now accused Marie-Antoinette's sister 
 with being an adulteress and flagrantly wanton 
 woman. Had she been a man, they would have 
 VOL. I. T
 
 27-4 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 called the object of their passionate hate a liar and a 
 coward. As she was a woman, they declared her 
 nnchastc. 
 
 After perusing the poisonous passages, which thus 
 exhibited her to universal infamy, Maria Caroline put 
 them in Lady Hamilton's hands. ' If ever,' Emma 
 Hamilton wrote to Mr. Charles Greville on the 18th 
 December, 1794, 'you hear any lyes about her, con- 
 tradict them ; and if you should see a cursed book 
 •written by a vile french dog with her character in it, 
 don't believe one word. She lent it me last night, 
 and I have by reading the infamous calunniy put 
 myself quite out of humour, that so good and virtus 
 a princess should be so infamously described.'
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 275 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 DIPLOMATIC INTRIGUE AND SECRET INTELLIGENCE. 
 
 Mounted from the royal Stables — Lady Hamilton's Illness — To 
 amuse the Queen's Children — Exchange of Courtesies — 
 Prince Caramanicos Death — Scandalous Rumours — Fury 
 of lying Tongues — Another Plot — Chevalier de !Modici 
 accused of Treason — Annibale Giordano's Information — 
 General Acton's Procedure — Madame Sanimarco's Stories 
 — Xow .Junta of State — Riots in Sicily — Blasi's Execution 
 — Sir William Hamilton's Illness — 'J'he Queen's Concern 
 for the Invalid — Spanish Despatches — ' Another Courier 
 from Spain' — King of Spain's Letters to his Brother of 
 Naples — Despatches in Cyplier — More Correspondence be- 
 tween the Queen and Lady Hamilton — ' One must obey' — 
 'The poor little King's Death' — Sixinish King's Defection 
 from the Coalition — Uc makes Peace with France — Facts to 
 be remcml)ercd — The Intermediary between Maria Caroline 
 an<l the British Emljassj'. 
 
 ] 791— 1795 A.I). 
 
 Maria (Jarolinp:'s tVicudKhip for Liuly H.-miilton 
 grew warmer, ;iti(l more apparent 1o fin; Neapolitan 
 courtiorH throughout IT'.U. In the; September ol" 
 that year, when Sir Wilh'ani Hamilton nc(!cle(l change 
 of air for the recovery ot" liis ntrength after a h'ngor- 
 ing inch'sposition, the Queen entreated lier deai- ' ini- 
 ledy' to cany her husbanrl off to the royal palacu; at 
 Castellamare, and make the place her home ko long 
 as the invalitl kIiouM care to rest there. On her re- 
 tuni from Castellamaro to Caserta, Emma Hamilton 
 
 T 2
 
 276 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 was gladdened by a still more remarkable indication 
 of Her Majesty's regard. Providing her with a 
 riding-horse from the royal stables, the Queen ordered 
 that one of her own equerries and one of her grooms 
 in royal livery should attend ' miledy ' during her 
 daily rides. ' If I was her daughter,' the grateful 
 Emma wrote of her queenly patroness to Mr, Charles 
 Greville on the 18th December, 1794, ' she could not 
 be kinder to me, and I love her with my whole soul.' 
 The words went not a letter beyond the truth. 
 Careful for the happiness of Emma when she was 
 well, Maria Caroline displayed a maternal solicitude 
 for the favourite's state when she caught cold or suf- 
 fered from the slightest indisposition. Emma Hamilton 
 Avas confined to her Caserta house from a feverish 
 cold, when on the 28th of January, 1795, she received 
 a note from the mistress of the neighbouring palace, 
 begging to be informed whether the fever had 
 increased. ' Je desire bieu,' wrote Her Majesty with- 
 out mark of pause or accent, ' savoir coment va votre 
 sante ma chere Miledy coment vous avez passe la 
 nuit si aucune fievre nouvelle est venue enfin tout ce 
 qui vous concerne et me tient bien a coeur et je prie 
 le chevaher de me repondre.' The chevalier's answer 
 failed to soothe the Queen's concern. Possibly he 
 was compelled to admit that there was an accession 
 of fever. He may have hinted that the indisposition 
 resembled marsh-fever, and would require quinine for 
 its treatment. Anyhow on the morrow, a messenger 
 brought some packets of powder from the royal 
 palace to the ambassador's villa, together with this 
 brief but affectionate note from Her Majesty : —
 
 AND LORD KELSON. 277 
 
 Maria Caroline to Lady Hamilton. 
 
 [^9th January, 1795.] 
 
 ' I am uneasy about the health of the dear Miledy and 
 desire the latest intellifi;ence respecting it. Pardon therefore 
 my importunity. I send you the powders, so that you may 
 give them to yourself without trouble (afin que sans vous 
 gener vous vous en serviez). I hope they may be beneficial 
 and quickly. The affair is finished so well that . . . . ; so 
 you have nothing to trouble about. Eely on my eternal 
 friendship.' 
 
 Somewhere about thu same time, probably wlieu 
 she was convalescent, but was compelled to be care- 
 ful of her health and strength, Emma received the 
 Queen's wi-itten entreaty, that she would come in 
 the evening to the palace, to entertain the royal 
 children by singing some of her songs and performing 
 8ome of her attitudes to them. 
 
 Maria Caroline to Lady Hamilton* 
 
 [ 1796?] 
 
 'My dear Mii.edy, 
 
 'Allow me, touched by your <lc;ir friciidsliip and 
 care for me, to iiujuire after your Iicalth and tliat of the 
 Chevalier. If you would come and s<!C me tliis evening at 
 . . . o'clock, and if it wouM not bi' .i rc-d imprudence, I 
 would pray you to .«im; and do some .ittituch-s, if it would not 
 be injurious to your health. You could .send your music 
 
 • Tlic note runs tlma in French : ' Ma riirrr. Mimdv. — Pcr- 
 nicttez quo louche de voire clierc Aniitie el interet jxiur inoi je 
 m'infonue de voire »ante et de celle du Chevalier, Si ce Boir a 
 . . . lieurcs vous voulioz vcmir mo voir ot Ki re no Kcroit pan une 
 ▼raie indi.sorelion je vouh priroin do chanlrr ct fair qudqucH atti- 
 tudes, Si cola MO i)out fairo mall a volro Kantc vouh onveroz voire 
 feme dc chanibro clicz inoi votro nniHiqiic cnfin ponscrez a tout 
 Pardonez rindiscrelion je ic forois voire a mc8 enfans et a>i pauvre 
 Gallo qui pari dornain npoiidcz moi canH vou.s gener en compli- 
 ment et croyez moi voire sincere auiie pour la vie.'
 
 278 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 here by your femme-de-chanibre. You will think of all. 
 Pardon the inconsideration, for I would have my children 
 see them, and the poor Gallo who leaves to-morrow. An- 
 swer without troubling yourself in the way of compliment, 
 and believe mc to be your sincere friend for life.' 
 
 Another undated letter by the Queen, which seems 
 to have been Avritten soon after Emma Hamilton's 
 recovery from the feverish attack of January, 1795, 
 shows that the protegee was no less quick to show 
 concern for the ailments of her patroness than the 
 latter was prompt in sympathising with the adven- 
 turess in her moments of bodily discomfort. 
 
 Maria Caroline to Ladtj Hamilton. 
 
 [ 1795?] 
 
 ' Thank you, my dear Miledy, for your care for my infirm 
 health ; and no word about your own — fresh and lovable, 
 and far more interesting. I have still a little, but less, fever, 
 but my daughter at Vienna causes me uneasiness. Her 
 disorder does not please me at all, and to lose her would 
 be a fearful blow for my heart, which might not kill me, but 
 would leave an incurable wound. Still one must submit. 
 Give me news of your health. Salute the good amiable and 
 beneficent bishop for me. Pitt's speech, they say, is a master- 
 piece of eloquence. Continue your dear friendship to me 
 and rely on the whole of mine. 
 
 ' Charlotte.' 
 
 AVhilst the two friends were exchanging assurances 
 of affection by letters as well as spoken words, their 
 minds were occupied by a series of events that drew 
 them closer together. At the beginning of the year, 
 intelligence came to Naples of the sudden death of 
 the Prince of Caramanico, the Viceroy of Sicily, to 
 whom the minister General Acton was indebted for 
 his introduction, sixteen years since, to Maria Caro-
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 270 
 
 line's service and favonr. Nothing is known clearly 
 of the prince's death, save that it was sudden. It 
 was alleged, like so many other sudden deatlis of 
 exalted persons, to have resulted from poison. In 
 support of the rumours, which alternately charged 
 the prince with committing suicide in order to avoid 
 an accusation of treason which the prime minister Avas 
 concocting against him, and accused Acton of com- 
 passing the prince's death by an agent who adminis- 
 tered the poison, Colletta does not venture to say 
 more than tliat, ' Several occurrences in the prince's 
 household, the precautions which had been used, his 
 sudden death, supposed marks of poison, the circum- 
 stance of the times, his high position, and the jiower 
 of an unscrupulous enemy, streugtliened the belief in 
 these stories,' {vide Horner's ' Colletta,' vol. i, p. 217). 
 In tlie absence of conclusive evideuce that Cara- 
 matiico died of poison, and in the total absence of 
 evidence tliat Acton had anything to do with the 
 prince's death, these rumours must be regarded as 
 idle nunours, and the priiiio )ninister sliould not bo 
 Husp(;cted of tlic assassination. 
 
 IJut, though idle, the rumours were iar IVoiii power- 
 less on social opinion. They gave birth to even 
 wilder and more hideous stories. Seizing tlie (oppor- 
 tunity for defaming tlie Queen, whoso pcjlicics had l)y 
 this time made her countlcHs enemies, and at tlu; same 
 time for defaming the prime minister, who was ab- 
 horred for executing those policies, some ot which 
 were believed to have originate<l in his suggestions, 
 the Jacobins antl other malcontents di<l their best to 
 incense the po[)ulacc against the Queen, minister and
 
 280 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 Ferdinand, by whispering monstrous tales to the 
 infamy of all three. Sixteen and seventeen years 
 since, when Caramanico had personal access to the 
 Queen, whose favom* he never forfeited, no one sus- 
 pected aught evil in the young Queen's relations with 
 the courtly prince who had every honourable claim 
 to Her Majesty's regard and confidence. From that 
 period of his career to the moment of his death, the 
 Queen had honoured him with high employments. 
 He had represented the Two Sicilies at London and 
 Paris, and had died in an office tliat was the ambition 
 of the proudest and wealthiest nobles of his country. 
 
 It was now told about Naples that, sixteen years 
 since, Maria Caroline had lived in adultery with the 
 prince ; that not long after his arrival in Naples the 
 English Acton had supplanted the prince in the 
 Queen's affections; and that whilst contriving to keep 
 the prince at a distance from Her Majesty, so that he 
 might not regain his former influence over her 
 wicked nature, the crafty Englishman had enjoyed a 
 shameful intimacy with Maria Caroline. The minis- 
 ter's motive in poisoning the prince, or concocting the 
 charges which had caused the prince to kill himself, 
 was declared to be jealous fear lest Caramanico should 
 recover his former place in Her Majesty's regard. 
 Whether Ferchnand had connived at these wicked 
 intrigues, or had l)cen blind to what covered him 
 Avith shame, was left an open question ; but, whilst 
 differing on this and other subordinate points, the 
 slanderers agreed in alleging tliat the guilt of the 
 Queen and General Acton was certain. Just as Marie- 
 Antoinette's womanly honour had been the mark of
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 281 
 
 vulgai* calumny at Paris, ]\Iaria Caroline's fame was 
 now assailed by Ijang tongues in Naples. The various 
 stories of these poisonous tongues were in Colletta's 
 mind when, without declaring his opinion of the 
 calumnies, he wrote of the rumours against the 
 King, Queen and minister, that ' tales to the preJTidice 
 of all three were circulated amongst the people, which 
 were derogatory to the royal dignity, and excited a 
 spirit of hatred against those in power.' 
 
 By inducing the people to believe these monstrous 
 stories, the chief slanderers hoped to cause such 
 manifestations of the popular liatred and contempt 
 for Acton as would compel the Queen to dismiss the 
 general and replace him witli a less mischievous 
 adviser. And it is worthy of remark that, whilst 
 desirous of Acton's fall, the Neapolitan malcontents 
 hoped he would be succeeded by the young Cheva- 
 lier do Medici, who is represented by Colletta as 
 lieing, at this point of his story, alike acceptable tt) 
 the Queen and the people. That the young chevalier, 
 wlio hafl distinguished liiinself by his activity in re- 
 <^)rganizing the police, and who, as a member ^d' the 
 State .lunta, had ofliciated as one of the judges at 
 tho recent politif;aI trials, was Ihus acceptablo to 
 Acton's onernies, ;ui<l \'< (lie majority of tho Neai)oli- 
 tans, may certainly bo regarded as ;in indication tliat 
 .Maria Carfth'ne'fi measurefi for maintaining order and 
 checking tli'; French party in the rapital were re- 
 garded with general approval. It jnay also bo 
 regarded as affording some degree of countenance to 
 the charge that was soon made against the Chevalier 
 de Medici by Aunibale Giordano.
 
 282 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 If the Chevalier's hopes and designs coucurred with 
 the popular desire for his elevation to Acton's place, 
 his ambition was rudely traversed by incidents that 
 in a few weeks made a stir in tlie political coteries. 
 The first of these incidents was due to Giordano, the 
 professor of mathematics, who had been condemned 
 by the Junta for co-operating with the revolutionary 
 party. In a letter which Acton promised to keep 
 secret, this clever but immoral man accused Medici 
 (whose friendship he had in former time possessed) 
 of being an accomplice of the very conspirators whom 
 he had tried as a member of the Junta. Accepting 
 the information, Acton rewarded the informer, and 
 went to work gathering evidence in support of the 
 charge. In due course, the nnnister laid Aunibale 
 Giordano's information and the testimony supporting- 
 it before Ferdinand and ]\Iariu Caroline ; and on no 
 better authority than the Marchioness Sammarco 
 (Maria Caroline's false friend, before she became her 
 bitter enemy). General Colletta asks his readers to 
 believe that, after stating the case against the Cheva- 
 lier Medici and other alleged conspirators of noble 
 rank, Acton advised their I\Iajesties to reward the 
 Chevalier's treason and make him their firm friend by 
 admitting him to the cabinet. As it rests on the 
 mere hearsay testimony of Madame Sammarco, so 
 astounding a story may be read for anmsement, but 
 scarcely accepted as sure evidence. 
 
 On hearing of the charges against him, Medici 
 hastened to the palace, where he was refused admit- 
 tance to the Queen, but was allowed an audience 
 with tlic King, to wliom he declared his innocence
 
 AXD LORD NELSON. 283 
 
 in passionate terms, but with no good result. On the 
 following day he was removed from his offices, and 
 sent to the fortress of Gaeta, together with several 
 men of noble rank and lineage, who were accused of 
 being his comrades in treason. In the alarm that 
 seized them on the discovery of this new conspiracy 
 — or at least on this discovery of what appeared to 
 be a plot in the highest ranks of the aristocracy — the 
 King and Queen changed their guards and attend- 
 ants, took measiu-es of precaution against poison, and, 
 altering the arrangements of their household, con- 
 cealed their sleeping-rooms from ordinary servants. 
 Wliilst taking these precautions against assassination, 
 Maria Caroline may have received and accepted from 
 Emma Hamilton an offer to pass the hours of rest in 
 her room. If this took place on a few occasions 
 during the brief period of panic, it would account for 
 the reports that the Queen and her peculiar prote(jt'e 
 used to share the same bed. 
 
 The Chevalier do Medici having been one of the 
 State Junta, it was a matter of necessity that the 
 tribunal for trying charges of treason should bo re- 
 constituted, before ho should be i)iit on trial. And, 
 as the alleged accomplices in flw luvv plot comprised 
 several inembers of the highest families of the no- 
 bility, it appeared well that a now Jmita should be 
 appointc^d of personR whose rank should qualify them 
 to sit in judgment on culprits of Kuch high nol)ility as 
 the Prince di Stigliano, the Duke di (Janzaiu), and 
 the (Jouiit di Rnvo, wIk) were amongst the now batch 
 of alleged eons]»irators. Under these circumstancef=» 
 the existing Junta was dissolved, and replaced by a
 
 284 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 new Junta of state inquisitors. To qualify him to sit 
 in the new, and to reward him for his zeal in the old 
 Junta, Vanni was created a marquis, whilst the 
 Prince of Castelcicala was recalled from London to 
 officiate as president of the new tribunal. 
 
 Whilst the new conspiracy in Naples was engaging 
 Maria Caroline's attention, intelligence reached her of 
 an alarming insurrection in the island of Sicily, where 
 increased taxes and bad harvests had combined to 
 cause misery and discontent. Fomented by a lawyer 
 named Blasi, who held secret meetings with a few 
 confederates at Palermo, in the hope of compassing 
 a revolution by working on the embittered feelings of 
 the poorest people, the disturbances of the island 
 might have had serious consequences had not the 
 government acted with promptitude and decision. 
 But the rising yielded to repression before it assumed 
 the proportions and character of organized revolt. 
 Blasi having been executed, and his chief confeder- 
 ates sent to the galleys or into exile, the populace 
 submitted to the yoke of necessity, and relapsed into 
 their previous state of patient endurance. Tranquil- 
 lity returned to the island sooner than to the breast 
 of the Queen, who had survived her early hope of 
 ruling over a contented and grateful people. 
 
 But the anxiety and apprehensions that came to 
 Maria Caroline in 1795 from disaffection in her capital 
 and insurrection in Sicily were trivial in comparison 
 with the alarm and mortification, that came to her in 
 the same year from the withdrawal of Spain from the 
 combination, by which she hoped to see the French 
 republic crushed and her little nephew Louis raised 
 to the throne of his ancestors.
 
 A^W LORD NELSON. 285 
 
 Before giving due consideratiou to this new cause 
 of alarm and chagrin, let us glance at some particu- 
 lars of the Queen's personal and aflfectionate relations 
 with the Hamiltons, ^yhora she was using so cleverly 
 for the furtherance of her policy against France. In 
 the spring of 1795, Sir William Hamilton suffered 
 from another bilious attack, which, though far less 
 serious than the illness which prostrated him towards 
 the end of 1792, elicited far stronger expressions of 
 coacem from the Queen, who had certainly shown suffi- 
 cient sympathy for the invalid and his nurse during 
 the earUer affliction. Having sent messengers twice 
 a day to the minister's villa in 1792 for intelligence 
 of the invalid's state, the Queen now inquired four 
 and even five times a-day for the condition of her 
 dearest Chevalier Hamilton. Sending him quinine 
 from her own medical stores, she expressed a desire 
 to assist Lady Hamilton in nursing him. ' ]\Iy ever 
 dear Queen,' Emma Hamilton wrote to Mr. Charles 
 Greville on the IDtli April, 1705, ' [hjas been like a 
 mother to me since Sir William [h]as been ill. Sho 
 writes to me four and five times a d;iy and ofrcril to 
 come and assist me. This is friondship.' Two il lys 
 before writing those words to Jlr. Greville, Emma 
 had received this note (Brit. Mue. MSS.) from Her 
 Majesty : 
 
 Maria Caroline to Lad'/ Uamillon. 
 
 [I7th April, 17:tr>.] 
 
 ' My dear Milkdt, 
 
 ' I am very unc.isy nnd eager for IntelliL^oncc of 
 your husband's hcaUh, how he \\:i^ paaaed the iii^Iit, and 
 how you feci yourself in the midst of auch troubles and
 
 286 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 anxieties. I am in pain from my sincere friendship for 
 you. But trust in God who never abandons anyone, who 
 commends himself to him, and rely on the sincere friendship 
 and concern of your attached friend, 
 
 ' Charlotte.' 
 
 Oil the envelope of the original French letter, pre- 
 served in the Egcvton M!SS., Lady Hamilton wrote, 
 ' From my dear dear Queen April 17th 1795 when I 
 was in great affliction for my much loved husband 
 who is ill of a billions fever — Emma Hamilton.' 
 
 Later on the same day the invalid's nurse received 
 another letter (Brit. Mus. MSS.), together with a 
 present of quinine, from her ' dear dear Queen.' 
 
 Maria Caroline to Lady Hamilton. 
 
 [17th April, 1795.] 
 ' My dear Friend, 
 
 ' I send you the Quinine (Je vous envois le chin 
 china) and I will do willingly everything in my power to be 
 useful to you and soothe the worthy Chevalier. I am much 
 troubled by his illness and your sufferings. Bruno the courier 
 has arrived from London. The letters are of the 27th of 
 March. No bad news ; perfect harmony ; nothing extra- 
 ordinarily bad from Ireland. Adieu ! Take note if your 
 husband has red spots on his face and if his lips and tongue 
 are dry with great thirst. I would fain keep you company. 
 My friendship might comfort you .... Trust in God 
 who directs everything. Tell me how I can be useful, and 
 rely on my sincere eternal friendship.' 
 
 Observe the religious tone of these notes. Had 
 the intimacy of tlie two women justified Monsieur 
 Gagnierc's suggestion, had it been any such league 
 of sin as the earlier defamers declare, could the 
 Queen have thus admonished her confederate to 
 « trust in God who directs everything,' and never
 
 AXD LORD XELSON. 287 
 
 abandons those who confide in His beneficence ? Had 
 she been the guilty wretch her Hbellers declared her, 
 is it in human nature that she could have written in 
 this strain to her companion in wickedness ? 
 
 Emma Hamilton had now ' got into politicks,' and 
 in her desire to make some poor return for the Queen's 
 gooduess to her, she entreated Mr. Charles Greville 
 to send her news, that might be acceptable to Maria 
 Caroline (vide, Letter in ' Lady Hamilton and Lord 
 Nelson,' vol. i, pp. 303, 304). It was in this letter, 
 (dated from Cascrta on 19th April, 1795), that she 
 wrote to Mr. Greville: 
 
 ' Send mc some news, political and private ; for, against 
 my will, owing to my situation here, I am got into politicks, 
 and I wish to have news for our dear much-loved Queen 
 whom I adore. Nor can I live without her, for she is to me 
 another [? mother] friend .unl everytiiing. If you cou'd 
 know her as I do, how you wou'd adore her. For she is 
 tlic first womi'.n in the world ; her talents are superior to 
 every woman's in the world ; and her heart is most excellent 
 
 and strictly good and upright She loves England 
 
 and is attached to our l\Iinistry, ;ind wishes the continuHtion 
 of the war as the only means to ruin that abominable- 
 French council.* 
 
 The first iiidicatif)n of tho Spanish king's disposi- 
 tion to make peace with flu's ' .lixniiiiiabh' French 
 council' Hcems, from one of her undated letters to 
 Lad}- Hann'lton, to have fonif fn .Maria Caroline in 
 Apn'l, ITy."). 
 
 Maria Caroline to Lady IIamillo)i. 
 
 [ . . . . 1795.] 
 
 'Dear Mi led y, 
 
 ' Another courier from Spain of the 28th. If 
 makes no mention of Pain (?). — Bilbao has capitulated, all
 
 288 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 Biscaye is ■with the French : but the court, the ministry is 
 tranquil (hi cour ministere et tranquille). Alcudia said to 
 our minister " that this loss was only for a little while and 
 that soon one would see all change for the better." — This is 
 incomprehensible. The French general Monceny (Moncey) 
 pays compliments to Spanish couriers, gives them passports, 
 compliments. Saint Simon has been sent to look after 
 Pancorvo, to enter Castille. I am at a loss Avhat to think 
 of all that (que croire de tout cela, je m'y perds). A person 
 is decyphering the cypher. If I know anything more you 
 shall know it. But this turn of affairs is inconceivable. 
 Adieu, a thousand compliments to the Chevalier. Wholly 
 yours for life. 
 
 ' Charlotte.' 
 
 The opening words of this letter (iiu autre courrier 
 d'Espagne) imply that the Queen was not now for 
 the first time sending Lady Hamilton particulars of 
 despatches from Spain, but was already in the habit 
 of sending the British minister's wife intelligence, 
 brought to Naples by Spanish couriers. Let it also 
 be observed that the hasty note Avas written and sent 
 oiFto Lady Hamilton, before the Queen had mastered 
 all the contents of the despatch, which was still being 
 decypherod in respect to its later passages, when 
 Her Majesty sent off the particulars of the early 
 passages to the British embassy. This shows how 
 prompt the Queen was in transmitting news through 
 her protegee to the British minister, and how little 
 need or opportunity Lady Hamilton had to use 
 artifice or entreaty, in order to extract from Maria 
 Caroline the secret intelligence, which Her Majesty 
 was so glad to communicate to our government. 
 
 The last letter was followed (at what interval, one 
 cannot say) by another and even more remarkable
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 289 
 
 letter from the Queen to Emma Hamilton, together 
 with a despatch from Spain in cvpher, which last- 
 named secret document was thus sent to Sir Wilham 
 Hamilton, for him to do his pleasure with it, so long 
 as he was careful not to compromise the sender. In 
 his 'Life of Nelson,' vol. ii, pp. 610 — 11, Pettigrew 
 published the English translation of a copy of the 
 Queen's note to Lady Hamilton, which may be 
 found in ' Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson,' vol. i, 
 p. 305. For the reader's convenience a shghtly 
 amended translation of the note is here given. 
 
 Maria Caroline to Lady Hamilton* 
 ' April 29th {sic, but probably an error for 28th), 1795. 
 
 ' My very dear Miledy, 
 
 ' My head is so confused and soul 
 80 shaken that I know not what to do. I hope to see you to- 
 morrow morning towards ten o'clock. I send you a letter 
 in cypher come from Spain, from Galatone, which you must 
 return to me before twenty-four hours ' (qu' avant 24 heures 
 vous me devez rendre, rendered by Pettigrcw ' which must 
 be returned before twelve o'clock') 'so that the King may 
 
 •The copy {'Rrit. Mus. MSS.) from which this translation is 
 made runs thus, ' Ma bicii chore i\Iile<ly, .J'ai ma tcte kI confuse ct 
 I'ame si agite que jc nc saia que fairc, J'cspere dcmain matin vers 
 dix hourcs Tons voire. — Jo vou« envois un Cliifre vcnui" d'Kspagne 
 de (Jalatono qu' avant 21 heures vuuh mc dovez rendre afm quo 
 le Roi le retrouve. II y a dcs clioscs trea intcressantes jxjur le 
 gouvernement angloia et quo j'ainio a l(!ur comunifjucr ct inontrer 
 mon attacliment pour oux ot ma con fiance on (.'iV) dijjno ("lievalier 
 auquel Je pric seulemcnt do me fairo \>as coniproniettro. Villars 
 a Genes a montrc publiquemcnt et nomeincnt a I^'nasia Scrra 
 frere de Capano un plcin pouvoir <lc fairo la paix avoc toutes lea 
 puissances d'ltalic qui la voiidront et nomement k-s deux Siciles. 
 Cella montre lour bosoin. Adit-u ! combien do choses nous parler- 
 ons demain. Adieu, croyez moi, 
 
 * Votre sincere amie. 
 
 '29d'aTril, 1795.' 
 
 VOL. I. U
 
 290 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 find it again. There are some very interesting facts for the 
 English government, which I am delighted to communicate to 
 them, to show my attachment to them and my confidence in 
 the Avorthy Chevalier, whom I only beg not to compromise 
 me. Yillars has at Genoa shown publicly, and especially 
 (nomement) to Ignasia Serra, Capano's brother, a full power 
 to make peace with all the Italian powers who wish it, and 
 especially with the two Sicilies. That shows their need. 
 Adieu ! How many things we shall speak of to-morrow. 
 Adieu ! 
 
 * Believe me to be 
 
 ' Your sincere friend.' 
 
 That the Queen's original French letter was sent to 
 London together with a copy of the writing in cypher, 
 appears from this endorsement, put by Lady Hamilton's 
 pen on the papei', from which the foregoing translation 
 was made, ' A Coppy of the Queen's Letter April 28th 
 (sic), 1795, Sir William was obliged to send the 
 original with the cifre her Majesty mentions.' It has 
 not escaped the careful reader that, whilst the letter 
 is here dated 29th April, Lady Hamilton's endorse- 
 ment gives the letter an earlier date (April 28th). The 
 probable explanation of this discrepancy is that the 
 letter's right date is given in the endorsement, but that, 
 whilst acting as a mere copyist, Lady Hamilton made 
 a common slip in dating the latter with the day on 
 which she made the copy. The original letter and 
 composition in cypher may be assumed to have come 
 to Lady Hamilton on the 28th of Apiil, 1795. In 
 accordance with this assumption, I shall speak of the 
 letter as the Queens letter of 2Sth April, 1795, to Lady 
 Hamilton. 
 
 Two days later (30th April, 1795), Emma Hamilton 
 received from the Queen a letter, that was offered to
 
 AND LORD nelson: 291 
 
 the readers of Pettigrew's ' Nelsou ' in the following 
 worda : 
 
 Maria Caroline to Lady Hamilton* 
 
 [30th April, 1795] 
 ' My dear Miledy, 
 
 ' I must go for the whole day to Car- 
 dltello. My health and feeble frame are unsuited for these 
 long journeys, but one must obey. You will be very much 
 occupied for me ; rely on my sincerely felt gratitude. 
 I have received my letters and seen all that you sent me 
 yesterday. I hope that so much application will not be in- 
 jurious to the Chevalier. I observe what you say of Gallo. 
 I think him honest and attached, but still young. Adieu ! 
 a thousand compliments to the Chevalier.' 
 
 The Casino Reale di Cavditello — the royal farm witli 
 its wild-boar chase — was a favourite resort with 
 Ferdinand, and in his visits to it he liked to have 
 Maria Caroline for a companion; and now, no less 
 than in her earlier time, it was the Queen's policy and 
 practice to study her husband's wishes and humours, 
 and acquiesce in them with an appearance of the 
 liveliest enjoyment. A delicate Avoman even in her 
 strongest time, Maria Caroline was often an invalid, 
 and on the present occasion would fain have remained 
 at home, instead of going to Carditello to see her 
 
 * The French ori(,'inal of thin note rung thus : — ' Ma chcro 
 Miledy, Je dois partii- jionr toutc la journce pnur Carditello nia 
 Santc ct ma frt-lc maoliino n'aiinent pa.s ccs longucs gitc (sic) 
 mala il faut obeir vous Hurez bion occupc jtour mf)i Contoz BUr ma 
 Sincere ct Sentie rccconoiRsance .I'ai rocuc inea hjttres et viio tout 
 cc que voiiH in'avfz niando liicr .rcaporo que la f,'rando aplicatiou 
 ne fera pas mall an (licvalier Jc voia ce que vous me ditcs de 
 Gallo Jo le croia honeto Attachco maia jetme encore Adieu 
 croyez moi pour la vie Milles ConiplimcnR au CJu'valier Aflicu!' — 
 The envelope of tlie epiatle cxliihita in I>«'i<ly Hamilton's hand- 
 writing the memorandum, 'April 30th, the Queen to Lady II.' 
 
 u2
 
 292 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 husbaod stick ferocious pigs. But the ruling woman 
 could not afford to disappoint the sovereign lord, on 
 whose favour she depended for her tenure of almost 
 absolute authority over the two Sicilies. Power is 
 usually bought with a piice, and there were times 
 when Maria Caroline paid a heavy price for her great- 
 ness. Above all things studious to prevent Ferdinand 
 from falHng under any influence but her own, she 
 went with him to Carditello with a smiling face, but 
 with a heart that kept on saying the whole day 
 through, ' One must obey.' 
 
 Assiduous in pleasing her husband, this queen, who 
 from the outset of her queenly career had charmed 
 the few in order to extend and confirm her power 
 over the many, was a nice student and clever flatterer 
 of the foibles of her courtiers. How she fed Lady 
 Hamilton with praise, that was peculiarly delightful 
 to her vanity, is indicated by the following free trans- 
 lation of an Itahan* note that is preserved, together 
 with the free translation, in the Egerton MSS. : 
 
 Maria Caroline to Lady Hamilton. 
 
 [4th June, 1795] 
 ' My dear Miledv, 
 
 ' I -will see your Lady Dionisio at Caserta when- 
 ever it may be convenient to you. It {^ave me much pleasure 
 to see you at the theatre yesterday, but it is wearisome to hear 
 Nina sung by another after your expressive performance of 
 it. Adieu! to-morrow I return to my tranquil sojourn at 
 Caserta. I have great need of rest. I hope oftener to enjoy 
 your amiable company there. Believe me your faithful and 
 constant friend.' 
 
 No wonder that Emma prided herself on her 
 * The six opening words of this Italian note are in French.
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 293 
 
 rendering of ' Nina ' (a perfonnance, by the way, that 
 appeared far from faultless to some of her fastidious 
 critics), when the Queen of Naples had declared, in 
 enduring letters, that her friend's 'Nina' surpassed 
 the ' Nina ' of every other cantatrice. 
 
 Towards the close of the same month, Emma 
 Hamilton had occasion to write words of condolence 
 to the Queen on an incident, that must have touched 
 Maria Carohne's heart profoundly. The httle boy, 
 whom the Queen had hoped to see raised to his 
 father's throne, had passed from the miserylof his prison 
 to the peace of death. 
 
 Maria Caroline to Lady Hamilton. 
 
 [ . . . 1795.] 
 ' My dear Miledy, 
 
 ' I am fully sensible of all you have said 
 to me. I acknowledge the poor little King's death has 
 affected me, and re-opened wounds that will never heal (des 
 plaies qui ne se cicatriseront jamais). I desire that the 
 result may be for the general good. But I fear, if one knows 
 not how to turn it to good account, that it will i)ut crime 
 upon the throne, and that I shall be inconsolable. I cheer 
 myself, my dear friend, with the hope of being able to see 
 you for a moment in tlie nc.vt three day.s, and of assuring 
 you of my sincere fricndsliij) and gratitude. I return the 
 letter of Dom Cresccnjiou, whom I will m.ikt; an effort to 
 sec one of these days. — Adieu ! A thousand compliments to 
 the Chevalier.' 
 
 l\Iuch romaiiiH to be discovered respecting the 
 King of Spain's witlidrawal from tlio cr)alition against 
 France, respecting the circumstances whicli gave 
 Maria Caroline information of her Ijrother-in-iaw's 
 change of policy towards France, and also respecting 
 the circumstances under which she transmitted the 
 information to the English government. But the
 
 29 i THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 ■uncertainty which sun'onnded these matters of his- 
 toric moment when I was writing ' Lady Hamilton 
 and Lord Nelson ' has been greatly lessened by the 
 appearance, amongst Mr. Morrison's recently-acquired 
 Nelson-Hamilton MSS., of a copy in Lady Hamilton's 
 handwriting of a very interesting and significant 
 letter from Charles IV. of Spain to his brother 
 Ferdinand of Naples. Whilst suspecting a more 
 important inaccuracy than a single day in the date 
 assigned by Pettigrew to Maria Caroline's letter of 
 28th of Apiil, 1795, to Lady Hamilton, I wrote of 
 the accompanying letter in cypher {vide, 'Lady 
 Hamilton and Lord Nelson,' vol. i, p. 305). ' What 
 was the purport of this epistle from Spain does not 
 appear,' and {vide, ' Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson,' 
 vol. i, p. 311) 'It is difficult to conceive what news, 
 likely to agitate her so greatly, can have come to 
 Her Majesty from Spain in 1795.' All doubt con- 
 cerning the purport of the epistle is dispelled by the 
 coming to light of Lady Hamilton's copy (in Italian) 
 of the following letter, transmitted to her (probably in 
 cypher) in August or September, 1795, by the Queen 
 of Naples, the copy being endorsed by Sir William 
 Hamilton's pen with this note, 'Copy of the King 
 of Spain's Letter to the K. of Naples Aug*- ll***- 1795, 
 having made Peace with the F. Rep.' 
 
 Charles IV. of Spain to his brother Ferdinand IV. of 
 
 Naples.* 
 
 [' S. Idelfonso: 11th August, 1795.] 
 ' Dkauest Brotiip:k, 
 
 ' In my letter of 2 April I wrote to you that 
 
 * ' Fratello Carissimo,— Nella mia lettera dei 2 Aj^rile vi
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 295 
 
 I was thinking of doing what would be possible for me to 
 hasten on a solid and permanent peace which might enable 
 mankind to pause from the horrors of a war so cruel and 
 devastating as the present. The sad experience of three 
 campaigns totally fruitless ; the utter ruin of the Jacobins, 
 the su'orn foes of God and of all sovereigns, to whose fury 
 has succeeded the moderate system of the actual government 
 of France ; the superiority which her arms everywhere main- 
 tain ; the disunion and want of suite generally but too much 
 displayed among those powers which at first appeared the most 
 interested in restoring in France good faith, order, wor- 
 ship, and the throne ; the treaties of peace and amity made 
 by some of them with the Convention ; the loss of some 
 fortresses, and of a considerable portion of my frontier- 
 provinces ; and lastly (what weighs with me most of all), 
 the desire of sparing the blood spent as yet so vainly by 
 my faitliful people — these are motives, dear Brother, which 
 have induced me finally to abandon the hostile system whicli 
 1 accurately followed so long as 1 could employ and uphold 
 
 Bcrissi pensava fare quanto mi fosse possibile per accelerare una 
 pace solida e perrnenmite che potesso lasciare re.sj)iriire I'umanita 
 degli orrori d' una Guerra cosi crudelo e devastatrice come la 
 presente. La triste esperienza di tro caini)ague intoraniunte 
 iiifruttuose, la ruina totale dei Giacobiiii nemici Giurati di 
 dio o di tutti i sovrani al furore dei quali lia succeduto II sistema 
 mofluratfj dell' attnalc goveruo dulla francia La superiorita 
 che da pur tutto ottengono le sue aniii la disuiiionu e puca con- 
 Hegucnza pur tro[ipo geiieralmeiito osservata fra di quelle poteuzo 
 chu parovano al principio le i)iii interesKate per ristabilire di 
 buona fedu in francia ronliiu.', Jl ciilto cd II trono, i trattati di 
 pacu e di Iiuoiia aiiiicizia 'li aloiuii di l(;ro colla coiivuiizioiic, la 
 perdita iH alcune fortezze e di una buona parte dellc mie provincie 
 frontiere, ed iiltitnaiiiente quelchn jiiii m'intert'Rsa II desiderio 
 di ri.spariiiiar<; 11 saiiguc cosi iiiutiliiifiitc Kparso fin (pii del niici 
 fedeli poj)f)li, hoiio iiiotivi fratullo caro cliu mi liaiiiio obligato 
 a rennuiiziare finalnioiitc al Hi.stfiiia hostile, clic lio csattainento 
 Heguitato fa* tanto che lio potuto inii)iegaro c sostenere le inio 
 annate con alcuna Hjicratiza ili riinrdiare per la forza dellc arm!, 
 i uiali flella francia ma avendo veduto cliiarainente cIm; ropinioiio 
 non si puol cambiar per la for7a e coiiHiderando d' altra parte 
 che la tjicurczzat c tranquillita <lel inio Regno, c il jirimo ilci 
 
 • OuKht to bo ' dft ' or ' fin" a." 
 t Tbls word Is anbHtltatoU by Sir William Uamilton for 'saviczza.'
 
 296 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 my armies with any hope of remedying, by force of arms, 
 the evils of France. But, having clearly discerned that 
 opinion cannot be altered by force, and considering on the 
 other hand that the security and tranquillity of my kingdom 
 are the first of my duties, I have begun to treat with the 
 French for peace — which, though not yet concluded, will I 
 hope not delay long in being settled to the full satisfaction of 
 the two nations, and above all to the advantage of my own, 
 so far as can be hoped from the circumstances, critical 
 enough, in which we find ourselves. "Whatever may be the 
 result of the negociation on foot, you may rest assured that I 
 shall never be forgetful of Italy, and far less of your own 
 states, and that you will always find me ready to obtain for 
 you the same benefit of the peace which I so much desire, 
 proportionate to my own. As to which object, I have al- 
 ready made some proposals in your behalf, which 1 appre- 
 hend will be Avell received. God send that it may be for us 
 a means more to the purpose for sparing the blood of the rest 
 of our ill-fated family than war has hitherto been. 
 
 ' Here, thanks to God, we are all well. I trust that you 
 also enjoy the same blessing, with all your family, and that 
 you will be convinced of the tender love with which I am, 
 and shall always be, 
 
 ' Ever your most affectionate brother ' Charles. 
 
 ' S. Idelfonso, 11th August, 1795.' 
 
 miei doveri ho incorainci.ato a trattare di pace coi francesi la 
 quale beuche non sia ancora conchiusa, spero che non tarderd 
 a farsi a piena sodisfazione delle due nazioni, e sopra di tutto 
 air vantaggio della mia quanto lasciano sperare le circostanze 
 assai critiche nelle quali ci troviamo qualunque sia I'esito dell 
 intrapresa negoziazione potete essere sicuro che raai mi dimen- 
 tichero dell' Italia e molto meno dei vostri stati, e che mi 
 troverete sempre pronto a procurarvi I'istesso beneficio della pace 
 che tanto desidero proporzionata al mio. Sul quale oggetto ho 
 gia fatto qualche proposizione in vostro favore che nii sembra 
 Sard ben ricevuta voglia Iddio ch'ella possa essere per noi un 
 mezzo piu approposito per risparmiare il sangue del resto della 
 nostra famiglia disgraziata clie non e state fin adesso la guerra. 
 Qui grazia a dio stiamo tutti bene spero anche che voi anche 
 godete deir stesso benefizio con tutta la vostra famigUa e che 
 sarete persuaso del tenero amor mio col quale sono e sar6 sempre 
 vostro afiFezztao- 
 
 ' Fratello, ' Carlo. 
 
 ' S Idelfonso 11 Agosto 1795.'
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 297 
 
 The evidential value of this remarkable document 
 is, of course, heightened by the fact that, besides 
 being endorsed, the transcript was amended by Sir 
 William Hamilton himself. 
 
 The day on which this remarkable letter came to 
 Maria Caroline's hands does not appear. But it may 
 be assumed to have reached Naples on an early day 
 of September, 1795, if not on one of the closing days 
 of the previous month. One needs no evidence to 
 show how the letter came to the British embassy at 
 Naples. "Whether Maria Caroline sent the original 
 letter in cypher to Sir William Hamilton (familiar, by 
 this time, with Spanish cyphers) or only a dccyphcred 
 transcript of the \vi-itiug ; whether she sent the writ- 
 ing to the British minister under cover of a letter to 
 his wife, or put it into Emma Hamilton's hand at one 
 of their frequent interviews, with a request that she 
 would lose no time in taking it to her husband, are 
 questions of no moment. It is enough to know that 
 Sir William Hamilton received the letter from the 
 Queen, and in some form or other transmitted tlie 
 contents of the epistle to Lord Grenville, for the 
 information of our govornmont. 
 
 That the matters set fortli in the last few pages 
 may live without confusion in the reader's nu'nd, I 
 give a n'sumd of the facts, touching Her Majesty's 
 clandestine intercourse with the British minister, that 
 are most worthy of remembrance : — 
 
 (a) In the spring of 1705, prior to the 28th of 
 April, Maria Caroline appears (from the words ' an- 
 other com-ier from Spain,' vide p. 287) to have been 
 in tlie habit of giving Sir William Hamilton par-
 
 298 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 ticulars of intelligeuce brought to Naples by couriers 
 from Spain. 
 
 (/>) On some day of the spring of 1795, prior to 
 the 28th of April, Maria Caroline sent to Sir William, 
 under cover of a private note to Lady Hamilton, early 
 intelligence of the suspicious civilities shown by the 
 French general, Moncey, to Spanish couriers, and 
 other infomiation of the 28th (? March) from Spain. 
 
 (c) On the 28th of April, 1795, immediately after 
 reading dispatches from Spain, Maria Caroline sent, 
 under cover of a note for Lady Hamilton, early intel- 
 ligence to the British ambassador of the Spanish 
 king's disposition to makepeace with France, and (in 
 order to transmit this intelligence in the most impres- 
 sive form) sent to Lady Hamilton (for her husband 
 to use at his discretion) the actual cypher of the let- 
 ter, dated the 2nd of April, 1795, in which the Span- 
 ish king communicated to his brother Ferdinand that 
 ' he was thinking of doing his utmost to hasten on a 
 solid and permanent peace ' with France. 
 
 (c?) That Maria Caroline sent the actual cypher of 
 the Spanish king's letter to Sir William Hamilton, is 
 especially worthy of attention, because whilst show- 
 ing that the Queen knew the British minister would 
 have no difficulty in decyphering the cypher. Her 
 Majesty's action in this particular affords presumptive 
 evidence that she had given him the key to the 
 cypher. 
 
 (e) At the end of August, or in the following 
 month, Maria Caroline sent to Sir Wilham Hamilton 
 the letter (either the original or a copy of the docu- 
 ment) which Charles IV. of Spain wrote on the 11th
 
 AXD LORD NELSON. 299 
 
 of August, 1795, to his brother Ferdinand of Naples, 
 respecting his uegociatious for a treaty of peace with 
 France. 
 
 As Maria Caroline and Lady Hamilton had frequent 
 conferences, sometimes seeing one another twice or 
 thrice a-week, and even daily throughout successive 
 Aveeks, when they were both at Caserta or in Naples, 
 the occasions on which the Queen in her own person 
 gave her protegie political messages or papers for the 
 British minister's guidance, were of course much 
 more numerous than the occasions on which Her 
 Majesty wrote or sent papers to Emma Hamilton for 
 the same pui*pose. For the sake of greater security 
 the Queen of course preferred to instruct Emma by 
 word of mouth, and ouly xorote to her on matters of 
 secret and high politics, Avhen she wished her news 
 to reach Sir William Hamilton as quickly as possible, 
 and had no certainty that Lady Hamilton would visit 
 her in the course of the day. Thougli the extant 
 written evidences of the Queen's communicativeness 
 to Lady Hamilton about Spanish affairs in 17'.)') and 
 I79f) are few, they are of themselves sufiiciently 
 numerous and significant to justify what I said in 
 'Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson ' (ri(A', vol. i, pp. 
 267, 26Hj, of the way in which Maria Caroline 'used 
 Lady Hamilton as a safe and secret channel of com- 
 municaticjn with the British ambassador.'
 
 300 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 WAR AGAINST AND PEACE WITH FRANCE. 
 
 Lady Hamilton's two Invalids — Maria Caroline's Sympathy — Her 
 Message to Mrs. Cadoga,n — ' Futile and Weak Spain ' — Maria 
 Caroline nursing her sick Husband and Children — Emma 
 Hamilton's Letters to Lord IVLicartney — The Queen's martial 
 Enthusiasm — Her Measures for making the War Popular — 
 The young Buonaparte — His Successes in Northern Italy — 
 Maria Caroline's Alarm — Honour to her Cavalry — Armistice 
 of Brescia — Queen and Pope — Treaties to be broken — INLaria 
 Caroline sues for Peace — Her Gratitude to the Hamiltons — 
 Spanish- French Treaty of War against Great Britain — Span- 
 ish King's tJiird Letter to the King of Naples — How the Copy 
 of it was sent to Lord Grenvillc — Famous so-called Codicil 
 to Nelson's Will — Emma Hamilton's Letter of 21st Septem- 
 ber, 1796, to Mr. Charles Greville — Maria Caroline's Appre- 
 hensions — 'Lady Hamilton's Statement' — Its curious Mis- 
 statements — Its Misrepresentations adopted by Dr. Pettigrew 
 — And transplanted to ' Blackwood ' by Mr. Paget — Critical 
 Dissection of a Passage of the ' Statement ' — Death and the 
 Hangman — Emma Hamilton curses France. 
 
 1796 A.D. 
 
 At the turu of the year 1795 into 1796, Maria Caro- 
 Hne had another opportunity for showing her affec- 
 tionate sympathy with the domestic distresses of her 
 pecuHar protegee. Lady Hamilton had two invahds on 
 her hands, — her husband and mother, both of whom 
 were ill -with cold and fever. On the first day of the 
 New Year the Queen wrote this brief note of inquiry 
 and counsel :
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 301 
 
 Maria Caroline to Lady Hamilton. 
 
 [1st January, 1796.] 
 ' You will hardly believe, my dear Miledy, how much I 
 am affected by your trouble, and how much from my heart 
 I share it with you. Do not abandon yourself too much to- 
 grief. Trust in God. Use all possible means and Heaven 
 will aid you. Believe that in thought I am always with 
 you. Send me news of everything that concerns the inter- 
 esting invalid. Could I be serviceable in any way, believe 
 that I would do it with pleasure, being your sincere attached 
 friend for life.' 
 
 On the back of this unsigned and undated letter 
 Lady Hamilton wrote these words, — ' Receved Jan^ 
 the first 1796 from my ever dear Queen at Caserta^ 
 Sir William and my mother being ill with colds and 
 fevers ; — a bad beginning of the new year, pazienza I 
 and don't immagine because it begins ill that it will 
 end so.' Observe how in this note the Queen yet again 
 admonishes lier prot/'gie to look to Heaven for help. 
 
 Early on tlio following morning (Jannary 2nd, 
 179Gj, Lady Hamilton received from the Queen a 
 letter of inquiry for both invalids, and of assurance 
 that Mrs. Cadogan might bo confident that, knowing 
 the excellence of Emma's principles and disposition 
 and the faultlessness of her conduct. Her Majesty of 
 the Two Sicilies would under all conceivable circum- 
 stances be the mother as well as the friend of so 
 exemplary a young woman. 
 
 Maria Caroline to Lady flamiVon. 
 
 [2nd January, 179G.] 
 
 ' Mv DEAR Mn.KDY, 
 
 ' Pardon my impatience in troubling you thu3 
 early in the morning with encjuiries respecting your two 
 dear patients and how they have passed the niglit. I pray
 
 302 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 you to give me all particulars, for they are dear and inter- 
 esting to my heart. Your mother's contidencc in me is just. 
 I venture to say she may be sure that, knowing your heart 
 principles and disposition to be good and your conduct to be 
 perfect, I will in all cases and circumstances always be your 
 mother and friend (j'ose le dire elle pent conter que conois- 
 sant votre coeur principcs volonte d'etre bonne et parfaite 
 conduiteje serais toujours et dans tous les cas et circon- 
 stances mere et amie pour vous). Salute the Chevalier ; 
 tell him that he must be patient and docile and think only of 
 getting well again, and that I hope to see him again soon, to 
 comfort me with his restored health. Adieu, my dear Miledy. 
 Rely on my sincere true friendship for proving which I would 
 fain have an opportunity. Adieu !' 
 
 Readers should observe tlie tone of benignant 
 superiority and condescending patronage, which 
 quahfies the Queen's assurance to Mrs. Cadogau (an 
 assurance sent to Mrs. Cadogan through her daughter) 
 that should Emma be left without husband and 
 mother in a foreign country, she should find another 
 mother in the Queen of the Two Sicilies. That, in 
 a letter addressed to Emma, the Queen could base 
 this promise of protection on her royal recognition of 
 the virtue of her protegee is somewhat at conflict with 
 Monsieur Gagniere's suggestion respecting the inti- 
 macy of the two women. 
 
 Oa the morning of the next day (January 3rd, 
 1796), Emma received the following note : 
 
 Maria Caroline to Lady Hamilton* 
 ' My dear Miledy, 
 
 ' How is your health and that of your good 
 husband and of our dear Admiral, who keep me in anxiety. 
 
 * In the original French the unsigned letter runs thus : — ' Ma 
 bien chere Miledy coment va votre sante et celle du digne mary 
 et de notre cher Amiral qui me tient en inquietudes, Je suis
 
 AND LORD NELSOX. 303 
 
 I am wholly tranquil, trusting in the courage and ability of 
 my dear allies ; bat Spain is so futile and Aveak, that were the 
 French to bid them thrust a knife into their brother's bosom, 
 they would do it. I pray you tell me when you send to 
 Troubridge or elsewhere, in order to send you my letter, if I 
 may be able to do so in time, without staying the expedition. 
 Adieu ! So grateful am I for all you do for me, that I can- 
 not express it. But believe me to be for life your attached 
 sincere and grateful friend.' 
 
 The reference to Spaiu in this letter is a note- 
 worthy indication of Maria Caroline's fear that Charles 
 IV.'s treaty of peace with France would soon be 
 followed by an alliance of war with the same power 
 against Naples and her allies in arms. On the even- 
 ing of the same day (January 3rd, 1796), Lady 
 Hamilton received another brief letter from the 
 Queen, who, in her concern for the dear patients, 
 could not go to rest without wishing them a good 
 night. 
 
 I cannot assign a date to the ensuing letter, but 
 am disposed to regard it as having been written in 
 Borao time of 179() or the following year, when flur 
 King and two of his cliildren were being mu-scd 
 through some eruptive illness by the Queen. 
 
 MaHa Caroline to Lady llainilton. 
 
 *Mv DKAl: IMri.EUY, 
 
 ' I know your heart ; I can therefore give you 
 
 entieremciit traiiquillc me fiant a la bravoirc Bcionce do inea 
 fidcllcs Allies mais riOspaj^uc CHt hI nulle foiblu <iuo si lea francois 
 leur ordoneiit di'iifouier le coutfau danH le Huiii de lour frcn; ila le 
 fcront Je voua ]iri<! de inc din- quaml vous (.Mivoyca a Trouliritlgo 
 ou autre part pour voua envoyer mea Icttrca fii jo puia arrivor a 
 temps mala sana aretcr I'Kxpedition Adieus que jc suia reccon- 
 oissaiite a tout cc que \on^ faitca pour moi quo jo ne le jmia 
 exprimer mala croytz luoi pour la vie votre bieu attacbee sincere 
 recconoiasante Auiie.'
 
 304 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 my news from the hospital where I am. Thank God! the 
 King is much better and without fever, the eruption is per- 
 fect and he is in good spirits, at ease, talks and causes me 
 no anxiety. Mimie, who is covered with it, suffers more, 
 but is in no danger. They have put a blister to her. Amelia 
 already writes for herself and is free of the affair. For 
 myself, I have a pain under my arm which I must treat, and 
 I feel wretched. My dear friend, I dare not see you for 
 fear of giving you our infection. The English courier has 
 arrived this morning ; nothing can be fairer and more polite 
 than everything that they write to us from London. That 
 would attach me, were I not so already for life. A thousand 
 compliments for the Chevalier. Pity me, my good friend ! I 
 need it much, but in what a position do I find myself. Your 
 dear friend for life.' 
 
 In 1795, George Macartnej^ Earl Macartney in the 
 peerage of Ireland, the eminent diplomatist, came to 
 Italy on the important mission for which he was reward- 
 ed with a barony of Great Britain on June 8th, 179(i. 
 In the execution of this mission the earl visited Naples 
 in February, 1796, when it devolved on Emma Ham- 
 ilton to introduce the famous envoy and traveller to 
 Maria Caroline, whom the adventuress styles 'her 
 Queen of Hearts ' in the following note : 
 
 Lady Hamilton to Earl Macartney. 
 
 [Naples February, 1796.] 
 
 ' My dear Lord, 
 
 ' I have been with the Queen this morn- 
 ing and she desires so much to see you that I have appointed 
 to carry you to her this evening at half-past seven. She 
 will be alone and you will see her in her family way. You 
 will be in love with her, as I am. Sir William is to go with 
 us. Shall we call on you, or will you drink tea with us? 
 Let me know. What a charming morning I have past, — 
 our discourse was on you, we could not have a better sub- 
 ject. We will go to the opera to-morrow ; but I wou'd give
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 305 
 
 up all operas for my Queen of Hearts. She expects you with 
 impatience. Addio Caro Milord. Yours, 
 
 ' Emma Hamilton.' 
 
 Later in the same month, tlie weather having 
 caused the postponement of a party at which the 
 Queen had arranged to be present, Lady Hamilton 
 dashed off this scrap of a note to the special envoy 
 from Great Britain : 
 
 Lady Hamilton to Lord Macartney. 
 
 [Naples, Feby., 1796.] 
 'My DEAR Lord, 
 
 ' I have just received a letter from the Queen 
 to put of {sic) the party till Sunday next on account of the 
 weather. Therefore, ray dear Lord, you must dine with Sir 
 William and self, pray do, at your hour ; name it, bring 
 your secretary and .... Not a soul more. We will shew 
 you our house and all its fine prospects and all in hand. Ever 
 yours, 
 
 ' EnrMA. 
 ' [P.S.] Go to Portici and send me word what hour you 
 will dine ; — ours is 3 o'clock.' 
 
 On a somewliat later day of his sojourn in Naples, 
 Lord Macartney received a more amusing note from 
 tlio benignant Emma, who, with all her care to avoid 
 ' giving herself airs,' could presume to instruct so 
 great a personage as lu's lordKhip on a point of court 
 etiquette. 
 
 Lady Jlamilton to Lord Macartney. 
 
 r ] 
 
 'You will sec \)y the enclo.scfl 1 luivi-, just received 
 from the Queen, my dear Lord, that their is a fatality about 
 the opera; but I am sure you will think with me our dear 
 Queen is worth all the opcnis in the wf)rld. So we will call 
 on you at half-past seven, for with Royalty one must be 
 
 VOL. I. X
 
 306 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 rather before one's time than after. Send me back my 
 letter when you have read it ; for I never shew Royal letters 
 to anyone, — first for fear of shewing piide, for you know 
 I have none, and last for a many reasons. How could you 
 think we should be angry with you [who] are soe amiable ? 
 
 ' Ever yours sincerely, 
 
 ' Emma.' 
 
 Whilst giviug audieuces to Lord Macartney, the 
 Queen of Naples was chiefly desirous of a vigorous 
 prosecution of the war against France. The defec- 
 tion of Spain had oul}'- quickened her zeal for the 
 cause, which her husband's faint-hearted brother had 
 abandoned from fear and selfishness. From tlie first 
 day of the New Year, she had bestirred herself to 
 draw recruits to her army, to strengthen her fron- 
 tier, and to stimulate the martial fervour of her 
 subjects. To accomplish this last object, she had 
 appealed to their loyalty, their patriotism, their super- 
 stition, and their self-interest. Special services had 
 been celebrated in the churches of her two kingdoms 
 for the purpose of winning the Divine favour to 
 her anns, and leading the people to imagine that 
 the war against France was a war against the ene- 
 mies of religion. AVhilst the pulpits denounced the 
 Satanic wickedness of the French people, the confes- 
 sionals had taught, less noisily but more efiectually, 
 that the surest way of winning heaven was to further 
 the war against the servants of hell. Greater pay 
 bad been promised to the military volunteers, and 
 an edict had declared, that by exceptional gal- 
 lantry in the field the humblest soldier might win 
 exemption for ten years from the fiscal taxes. Higher 
 rewards had, at the same time, been ofiFered to the
 
 AND LORD NELSON. y07 
 
 barons and nobles who should take arms in the good 
 cause, or raise strong- bodies of volunteers from their 
 vassals. All this was done by the resolute Queen 
 at a time when she was so distrustful of the loyalty 
 of her capital that, a few weeks later, in apprehension 
 of a sudden visit from the young Buonaparte with 
 his victorious legions, she deemed it necessary to 
 proclaim all Neapolitans worthy of death who, on the 
 approach of the enemy, should receive him, or in 
 any way correspond Avith him, and also to declare 
 all Neapolitans liable to punishment who should 
 assemble at their own mere motion in any number 
 exceeding nine persons. 
 
 They were cruel days and nights for JIaria Caro- 
 line in the spring and early sunnner of ITOH, when 
 couriers and messengers came in quick succession 
 from Northern Italy, with tidings of the marvellous 
 successes of the great captain, who was still only 
 twenty-seven years old. The Queen bit her lips 
 till they ];led, in the effort to coiitn)! her fctilingn, 
 as she perused the despatch which told her how 
 Gcn'jriil licaulien, with his command of /irr four 
 regiments of cavalry, as well as his (Ti'rmans, had 
 been beaten badly on the Mincio, and e-ompclled to 
 retreat into the passes of the Tyrol. She would 
 have swooned from tlie agony «»f In)- kouI, even as 
 she did swoon, just four years hiter, on l(j(jking over 
 the second Marengo desp;itch, had it not been for 
 what was said of her fonr regiments of cavulry. It 
 was to them that Px^anlieu owed his refuge in the 
 Tj'rol defiles. Officers .iikI mm hud ;ill fought 
 superbly. Many iiad died like jjcroes; the siu'vivors 
 
 x2
 
 308 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 were covered with gloiy. The Prince di Cuto had 
 been badly wounded before he was taken prisoner. 
 The Prince di Mohterno had been cut across the 
 face and had lost an eye. There is evidence that the 
 yonng- Buonaparte was deeply impressed by the con- 
 duct of the Neapolitan cavalry on this occasion, and 
 deferred to a more convenient season his project 
 of marching upon Naples, because he mistook the 
 Neapolitan cavalry for an average sample of the 
 military valour and address of the Southern Italians. 
 The Corsican offered Ferdinand of Naples an armis- 
 tice, which Maria Carohne thought it best to accept. 
 Consequently, the terms of the agreement having 
 been settled at Brescia, Ferdinand, doing his wife's 
 will, recalled his soldiers from Lombardy and his 
 ships from the Anglo-Sicilian fleet. 
 
 Not that Maria Caroline had any pui-pose of desist- 
 ing from her design to kill the republic, which had 
 murdered her sister. Faint-hearted Spain might sub- 
 mit on the first reverse. V>\\t the Two Sicilies were 
 ruled by a woman who had inherited her mother's 
 resolute temper and tenacity of purpose. For the 
 moment, however, she needed repose till she should 
 have taken measure of this General Buonaparte's 
 successes, and come to a clearer understanding on 
 certain matters with Great Britain. At one moment 
 the armistice did not seem likely to result in a treaty, 
 or even to last for many days. News coming to 
 her from the north that Marshal Wurmser was al- 
 ready moving down into Italy with another army, 
 to tiy conclusions with the French under more 
 favourable conditions, Maria Caroline renewed her
 
 AXD LORD NELSON. 309 
 
 preparations for war, and garrisoned the Papal city 
 of Pontecorvo with the secret approval of Pius VI., 
 who, notwithstanding his recent treaty of peace with 
 France, was already settling a scheme with Austria 
 and Naples for humiliating the wicked republic. In 
 truth, on hearing how the French had raised the 
 siege of Mantua, the Pope and Queen were on the 
 point of throwing aside all disguise, and playuig 
 their cards with open hands, when intelligence arrived 
 that General Buonaparte had again got the better 
 of Wurmser, and beaten the Austrians in tlirce 
 battles. Under these circumstances, Maria Caroline 
 thought it well to affect a desire for repose, and 
 move the French Directory for a treaty of peace, 
 based on the terms of the Brescia armistice. 
 
 Precisely informed of all that had been going on 
 between the Pope, Queen and Emperor, France stood 
 out for better terms, and had her way. On the 11th 
 of October, 179G, it was agreed and promised by the 
 Prince di Belmonte, acting for the King of the Two 
 Sicilies, that 'Naples, Hc})arating from her allies, 
 would remain neutral; that slie would forbid more 
 than four vessels belonging to the iiowers engaged 
 against France to enter her ports; tliat she would 
 liberate all Frenchmen accused of, and imi)risoned 
 witliin her <lominionH for, treason; tliat siie would 
 try to discover and punish tlie pcrsoiiK who stole the 
 papers of Mackaii, when he was French ambassador 
 at Naples ; that she would allow Frenchmen freedom 
 in religious worship ; that slie would grant such privi- 
 leges as should give to Franco in the ports of the 
 Two Sicihes, benefits equal to those enjoyed by the
 
 310 ■ THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 most favoured flags ; and that she Avonld recognize 
 tlie Batavian Republic, and would consider her a 
 party to the present treaty of peace.' It was furtlier 
 arranged by certain conditions, 'that the King of 
 Naples should pay eight milhons of francs (two mil- 
 lions of ducats) to the French Republic, and that the 
 Frencli should not advance beyond the fortress of 
 Ancona, till they should have concluded a truce with 
 the Pontiff, nor second any revolutionary movement 
 in the southern regions of Italy,' {vide, Horner's ' Col- 
 letta,' pp. 230, 231.) 
 
 Certainly the tenns were hard. Compressed into 
 a single sentence, the terras, so far as they relate to 
 Neapohtan gains and concessions, were that Naples 
 should purcliase exemption from an immediate 
 French invasion by paying the French republic 
 eight millions of francs, and doing everything which 
 France for the moment required of her. The exaction 
 of this heavy payment from the Two Sicihes was a 
 monstrous feat of extortion by menace. Even so 
 great a sum failed to satisfy the greed of the Directory, 
 who would have refused to ratify the treaty, had not 
 Buonaparte assured them, that the time was coming 
 when they would bleed Naples far more freely. 'At 
 this moment,' he said, ' we want the power to express 
 our resentment, but tlie day will surely arrive when 
 present and future offences will bo punished.' If 
 Mai-ia Caroline regarded the agTeement as a thing to 
 be broken, as soon as she should see her advantage 
 m breaking it, France signed this precious treaty of 
 peace and perpetual amity with a secret detenniua- 
 tion to tear it to shreds, as soon as she should have
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 811 
 
 driven Austria from the field, and be free to despoil 
 the niling woman, who had ventured to thwart the 
 great republic. The year 1790 belongs to a period, 
 when treaties were valued as mere stop-gap arrange- 
 ments, made only to be set aside. 
 
 On the day before the 11th October, on which 
 these terms were (according to Colletta) settled for a 
 peace between France and the Sicilies, the Queen of 
 Naples wrote the following note, which indicates how 
 the writer was at this troublous moment drawing 
 comfort from the Britisli minister's exertions in her 
 behalf : 
 
 Maria Caroline to Lady Hamilton. 
 
 [10th October, 1796.] 
 
 ' Mv DEAU MiLEDY, 
 
 ' So as not to offend etiquette I have sent my 
 packet to Castelcicahi, in order that he may enclose it to 
 Circello. For myself, then, I have done with it. I am so 
 really touched by all tiie interest you and your worthy hus- 
 banil have shown nic, tiiat it will never pass from iny memory 
 ami my grateful heart. Be assured that 1 count the mo- 
 ments till I shall sec you again and tell you convincingly of 
 my gratitude. From Venice they write to iiie that Ireland 
 is disturl)ed by the infamous Republicans, who have sent 
 two emi.ssarics to the Directory, not for a treaty, but to 
 inform it of their projects and ask for needful help. This 
 may be the motive of what alllicts us. Adieu! I ought to 
 be ofT to Fortici.' 
 
 On tlio back of the Idter, Iwniua ilamiiton wrote, 
 ' From my ever dear rewpectable and adorable Queen 
 of Naples, October lOtli, 17'lG. Oh ! tliat every-one 
 could know her as I rio \ Thoy would love and 
 esteem her as I do from my kouI I ^lay every good 
 attend her ond hcrsfV — a private memorandum, whi(^h
 
 312 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 should be duly considered, as evidence of the writer's 
 regard for and attitude towards her patroness, at this 
 point of her career. 
 
 The point of this personal memoir of Maria Caro- 
 line has now been reached, at wliich readers must be 
 invited to give their best attention to certain equally 
 interesting and perplexing matters, touching (1) the 
 Spanish-French treaty of war against England, (2) 
 the evidence that Charles the Fourth of Spain wrote 
 a letter to his brother Ferdinand, announcing his 
 determination to join with France against England, 
 and (3) the evidence that Emma Hamilton obtained 
 a view of this th{7xl letter from Charles to Ferdinand, 
 touching the writer's negociations with France, and 
 sent a copy of the epistle to Lord Grenville, then our 
 Foreign Secretary. 
 
 This particular Spanish-French treaty of war (vide, 
 Plunkott's ' Last Naval War,' vol. i, p. 132) was rati- 
 fied at Paris on 12th of September, 1796, — ^just about 
 one calendar month before the settlement at Paris of 
 the terms of the already described Franco-Sicihan 
 treaty of peace, on 11th October, 1796. As Charles 
 the Fourth wrote a letter, dated 2ud April, 1795, to his 
 brother Ferdinand, announcing his purpose to make 
 peace with France, and a second letter, dated 11th of 
 August, 1795, touching his actual negociations for 
 peace with France, it seems only natural and con- 
 sistent \vith his previous brotherly communicativeness, 
 for the Spanish king to announce in September, 1796, 
 to his brother in Naples, that he had made an alliance 
 with the French republic, for war against the coali- 
 tion. That he did take this natural step appears from
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 313 
 
 the testimony of Nelson and other witnesses, whose 
 evidence to the point might not be lightly set aside, 
 even if it were not supported by other facts. Readers 
 may take it for certain tliat this third letter, touching 
 Spanish-French treaties, was written by Charles to 
 Ferdinand. ^loreover, as there was no reason for 
 Charles to write to Ferdinand about the treaty long 
 before its ratification, whilst there were several 
 reasons why the Spanish king should think it well 
 to withhold the treaty from his brother's knowledge 
 till it had been ratified, readers may rest on the 
 (•onsiderable but not conclusive evidence, that this 
 letter came to Naples on or about the IStli of 
 September, 171)G, when Sir WiUiam suddenly fell to 
 hard work over official papers, and after labouring in 
 his cabinet for three days, and several luiurs of three 
 nights, despatched a special courier to London. 
 
 In the famous so-called codicil, dated 2l8t of Oc- 
 tober, l'S05, Nelson wrote, 'First, she' (i.e., Lady 
 Hamilton) 'obtained the King of Spain's letter, in 
 17HG, to his brother, the King of Naples, acMiuainting 
 him of his i!itciitioii to declare war against England; 
 from which letter the ]\HniKtry sent out orders to the 
 then Sir John Jorvis to strike a stroke, if opportunity 
 offcrcHl, against, cither the arsenals of Spain or her 
 fleets. That neither of those was done is not the 
 fault of Lad}- Hamilton.' Of cf)iu'so, with all his 
 greatness, Nelson was not inlalliblo, and is not ex- 
 empt from criticism. Ho was sometimes at fault in 
 the dates and minor details of Iuh letters and des- 
 patches. I>ut to me, these words are conclusive that 
 Lady Hamilton did get a view of this letter, .lust
 
 31i THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 as I argued iu 'Lady Hainiltou and Lord Nelson,' 
 that the great Admiral, who died iu the perfcctiou of 
 his ineutal vigour, must have beeu right in thinking 
 Lady Hamilton was greatly serviceable to him at 
 Syracuse, immediately before his second ruu to 
 Egypt, I here urge tliat Nelson cannot have been 
 Avi'ong in thinking she saw and obtained this particu- 
 lar letter from Spain, and was instrumental in the 
 prompt transmission of a copy of it to London. 
 
 On 21st September, 1796, Lady Hamilton {vide 
 ' Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson, vol. i, p. 317) 
 wrote to Mr. Charles Greville, 
 
 ' "We have no time to write to you, as we have been 3 
 (lays and nights writing to send by this courrier letters of 
 consequence for our government. They ought to be gratefull 
 to Sir AVilliam and myself in particular, as my situation at 
 this Court is very extraor dinar y, and Avhat no person [h]as 
 as yet arrived at ; but one [h]as no thanks, and I am allniost 
 sick of grandeur .... Sir William is very well. I am 
 not, but hope, when the cold weather comes on and we go to 
 Caserta, I shall be better .... Pray, settle Hackwood's 
 account. We desire it. And send me by the bearer a 
 Dunstable hat, and some ribbands, or what you think will be 
 acceptable. Pray do you never think on me. He is our 
 courier ; so, pray, do not spare him.' 
 
 On 21st September, 1790, Emma and Sir William 
 Hamilton had been hard at work for three days and 
 nights on 'letters of consequence for our govern- 
 ment ;' a fact pointing to the 18th September as the 
 day on which this third ' Spanish king's letter ' came 
 to Naples. J^mma is swelling and swimming over 
 with a sense of her own importance in getting news 
 ' of consequence ' for our government. The letters 
 are sent to Loudon by ' onr courier,' i.e., by a couiier
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 315 
 
 who received his payment from Sir William Hamil- 
 ton. Observe, also, — obsen-e it particularly — that 
 ' Sir William is very well,' but Lady Hamilton is out 
 of health. 
 
 It appears, therefon.', that Emma Hamilton saw the 
 Spanish letter, and had a hand in trausmittinj:,- it to 
 London. How did she get view of the letter ? Com- 
 mon sense gives this answer : ' She received it from 
 the Queen, who either put it into her hands, saying, 
 " Take this directly to the dear Chevalier," or sent it 
 to her by messenger /or Sir Wilham Hamilton's use.' 
 The Queen had now certainly for a year and a half, 
 probably for much longer, been feeding the J^ritish 
 minister with Spanish intelhgence, scraps of Spanish 
 news, whole letters in cypher. She had scut her dear 
 Chevalier Hamilton the King of Spain's letter, dated 
 2nd Apiil, 17iJo, which had l)i;cii transmitted promptly 
 to London. She had sent him tlio King of Spain's 
 letter, dated 11th August, 17<»."». On the arrival of 
 this third letter from the King of Spain in S( pfcm- 
 ber, 179«i, she was, of course, only too glad to trans- 
 mit the letter to the nu'nistcr, who would decypher it, 
 anfl send it on with all possibb; sp(!od to London. 
 
 It was a critical moment for Maria CaroHiie. She 
 had incensed the; B^rench in vari(jUH ways ; and I'uona- 
 parte had himself threatened her kingdom Avith 
 chastisement. She knew that, unless tlu; Austrian 
 armies should fare much better in \\u- lit M than they 
 had fared of late, and unless Great Britain wonid 
 come to her protection with an ovtrpow ring (hjct, 
 the Two Sicilies nn'ght bo in the young Corsican's 
 grip before two more years had passed. Already the
 
 316 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 French were in the Legations. Six months later they 
 might be estabhshing a repnbhc in Naples, where the 
 French party was daily growing stronger. If, whilst 
 Bnonaparte defeated the Austrians utterly in the 
 north, the allied fleets of France and Spain got the 
 mastery of the Mediterranean, what would, become 
 of her ? her husband ? her children ? What would 
 become of her and them, when an irresistible French 
 army should be marching southward upon Naples, 
 and an irresistible Spanish-French fleet should be 
 holding the Sicilian waters? Is it conceivable that 
 the ruling woman, who was incessantly brooding 
 over these questions, — the Queen, who a month later 
 consented to pay France the monstrous sum of eight 
 millions of francs, under the name of a war indemnity, 
 in order to stave off an immediate French invasion, — 
 hesitated to send to England the startling news, 
 which would inform the great Mistress of Seas that, 
 if she would save the Sicilies and hold her own in the 
 ]\Iediterranean, she must come quickly with yet an- 
 other fleet? Of course, this third letter from the 
 Spanish king was sent to Sir William Hamilton 
 through his wife, just as freely and promptly as the 
 two previous letters from the same king had been 
 sent to the same British minister, through the same 
 channel, by Her Majesty of the Two Sicilies. 
 
 This is the true story of the affair. But in her 
 later time, when she liked to glorify herself as the 
 maker of Nelson's glory, and to imagine herself to 
 iave been the chief director of divers aff'airs of 
 Anglo-Sicilian politics, in which she was concerned 
 merely as an instrument and subordinate agent. Lady
 
 AND LORD NELSON. SIT 
 
 Hamilton was pleased to declare that she had gaiuod 
 views and made a copy of this third Spanish letter 
 through her extraordinary influence over Maria 
 Caroline, who in fact merely sent the letter in the 
 ordinary way to Sir William Hamilton, for the in- 
 formation of the British government, in furtherance 
 of her own policy and interest. What Emma Hamil- 
 ton used to assert on this matter is now known 
 precisely by a document which has recently come to 
 light in Mr. Alfred Morrison's recently-acquired 
 Nelson-Hamilton papers. Entitled 'Lady Hamilton's 
 Statement,' this remarkable paper (which appears at 
 large in the third part of this work) exhibits clear 
 internal evidence of having been composed by Lady 
 Hamilton herself, and is signed by her own hand, 
 ' Emma Hamilton.' 
 
 In this undated ' Statement,' committed to paper 
 in or about the year 1811, Lady Hamilton says, 
 
 ' I liiul by this time induced the King through my iuHu- 
 cnce with tlic Queen to Ijocomc so zealous in the good cause, 
 that both would often nay " I had de-Bour])oniz(;d ' them 
 and made them all I'^ngli.sh." liy unoca.'<ing cultivation of 
 this influence, and watchfulness to turn it to iiiv country's 
 good, it happened that I had di.scover"d - a courier had 
 brought the King of Naples ii jjrivate letter from the King 
 of Spain ; I prevailed^ on the Queen to take it from his 
 pocket^ im5<ren. W*.' found it to contain the Kitig of Spain's 
 re.-<olution to withdraw'' from the coalition, and join'' the 
 French against Englan<!. My husband at this time lay ^ dan- 
 gerously ill ; I prevail'd" on the Queen to allow my taking 
 a copy, whicli I''' immodiatcly dispatch'd by a messenger to 
 my I^ord (ireiivillc, taking all tin- necessary precautions for 
 his safe arrival, then become very difTicult, and altogether cost 
 me about £400, paid'" out of my own private fund.' 
 
 Before we examine this curious complication of
 
 318 
 
 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 misstatcmouts, let us observe how this passage of 
 ' Lad}^ llamiltou's Statemeut ' has been accepted by- 
 biographers. 
 
 Petti(ji'ew, writing the pas- 
 sage into his ' Life of Nel- 
 son' (1849), vol. iif p. 610, 
 sai/s, 
 
 ' The influence of Lady 
 Hamilton with the Queen 
 operated favourably upon the 
 King, who thereby became so 
 opposed to French interests, 
 and so attached to the English, 
 that it was common to them 
 both to say that Lady Hamil- 
 ton had '' De-Bourbonized 
 them, and made them all 
 English." By the cultivation 
 of this influence, and untir- 
 ing Avatchfulness to promote 
 British interests, Lady Hamil- 
 ton ascertained that a courier 
 bad brought to the King of 
 Naples, a private letter from 
 the King of Spain, and such 
 . . . was her power with the 
 Queen, that she absolutely 
 
 Mr. Paget, the '■BlachcootV 
 essayist, writing Pettigreios 
 material into his ' Black- 
 looocV flSGO) ar'ticle, says, 
 
 ' The King of Naples had re- 
 ceived from the King of Spain 
 a private letter, communicat- 
 ing his determination to desert 
 the cause of the Allies, and to 
 join Fi-ance against England. 
 Of this letter the Queen ob- 
 tained possession, and com- 
 municated its contents to Lady 
 Hamilton. Sir William was 
 dangerously ill, and unable 
 to attend to his duties ; but 
 Lady Hamilton immediately 
 despatched a copy of the 
 letter to Lord Grenville, tak- 
 ing the necessary means for 
 insuring its safety — a pre- 
 caution Avhich was attended 
 with the expense of about 
 f-lOU, which she paid out 
 
 prevailed upon Her Majesty of her private purse. — Vide, 
 
 to abstract this communica- 
 tion from the King's posses- 
 sion. Upon examination it 
 was found to contain the King 
 of Spain's determination to 
 withdraw from the coalition 
 into which he had entered, 
 and join the French against 
 England. At this time Sir 
 William Hamilton was lying 
 <langerously ill, and unable 
 
 Paradoxes and Puzzles,' p. 
 23G,by JohnPaget,Barrister- 
 at-law.
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 319 
 
 to attend to his iluties ; but 
 Lady Hamilton prevailed on 
 the Queen to permit her to 
 take a copy of the letter, and 
 she immediately dispatched it 
 by a messenger to Lord Gren- 
 ville, taking the then very 
 necessary precautions to in- 
 sure its safe transit, to effect 
 which cost her about £400, 
 which she paid out of her 
 own private purse.' — Petti- 
 tirew's ' Life of Nelson.' 
 
 B 
 
 Now, let us examine the passai^e of ' Lady Hamil- 
 ton's Statement,' ■which caused Dr. Pettij^rew and 
 Mr. Paget to give us such interesting (-lusters of 
 mistakes in the ' Life of Nelson ' and the ' Black- 
 wood ' essay on ' Lady Hamilton.' 
 
 (1 ) Lady Hamilton takes credit to herself for dc- 
 IJourboni/cing Kerdinaiid and Maria Caroline and 
 making them thoroughly English. It has been alread}' 
 shown {vidc,i)y. VM), 131, l.')2), that Maria Caroline was 
 favourably disposed to the Knglish, made an P^nglisli- 
 man her prime minister, and threw the Bourbons over, 
 years before Emma Hamilton set foot ia Italy, and 
 that the Queen's original motive in recognizing and 
 ])atronizing Emma Hamilton was, that she; iin'ght 
 attach Sir William Hamilton more strongly to her 
 cause, and so cultivate more effeetutdly the friend- 
 ship of the British government. In connection with 
 Lady Hamilton's absm'd boast on this point, readers 
 should observe that, after treating Louis XVI. with 
 coldness and incivility, Maria Caroline had becomo a 
 partisan of the French Bourbon soon after Emma's
 
 320 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 first coming to Naples, that in fighting with the 
 Enghsh against the French repubhc she was fighting 
 for the French Bourbons, and that throughout her 
 intimacy with tlie Enghsh adventuress Her Majesty 
 remained a hearty favourer of the French Bourbons. 
 
 (2) Lady Hamilton claims credit for dUcoverincj 
 that the letter had come from the King of Spain to 
 tlie King of Naples. She ' happened to discover' the 
 fact, because she was told of the matter by Maria 
 Caroline, who was so quick in sending Spanish letters 
 to the British Embassy. 
 
 (3 and 4) Lady Hamilton claims credit for pre- 
 vailing on the Queen to take this letter furtively out 
 of the King's ' pocket ' ! This grotesque touch was 
 too much, even for Petti grew's credulity. So he 
 substituted 'the King's possession' for 'the King's 
 pocket.' The notion that Maria Cai-oline, who had 
 now been ruling the Two Sicilies for some twenty 
 years, and in her capacity of almost absolute ruler of 
 the two kingdoms was the supreme custodian of all her 
 husband's state-letters, could not get possession of the 
 King of Spain's letter without ' taking it from ' Ferdin- 
 and's ' pocket unseen,' is too absurd. 
 
 (5 and 6) In her 'Statement,' Lady Hamilton 
 declares that, on getting view of the epistle in Sep- 
 tember, 1796, she and the Queen found the one letter 
 ' to contain the King of Spain's resolution to with- 
 draw from the coalition, and join the French against 
 England,' Observe the ignorance of facts ! In Sep- 
 tember, 179(3, twelve months had passed, since Charles 
 of Spain ceased to be a member of the coalition. On 
 2nd April, 1795, ho had communicated to Ferdinand
 
 AXD LORD NELSON. 321 
 
 Lis purpose of witlidmwing from the coalition. Ou 
 11 til August, 1795, he had written to his brother 
 Ferchuaud about the negociation, then in progress, 
 for peace between France and Spain. From the first 
 month of 1796, Maria Carohne had been expecting to 
 hear that Spain's treaty of peace with France had 
 been followed by her alhance with France for war. 
 Yet, when composing her authoritative ' Statement,' 
 Lady Hamilton imagined the King of Spain's pur- 
 pose to withdraw from the coalition, and his resolve 
 to fight against the allies, were both communicated to 
 the King of Naples in the same letter. 
 
 (7) In her ' Statement,' speaking of the time when 
 the third royal Spanish letter came to her view, Lady 
 Hamilton says, ' My husband at this time lay danger- 
 ously ill.' On this point, Emma Hamilton's memory 
 was quite at fault. Instead of being dangerously ill. 
 Sir William Hamilton was quite well, — remarkably 
 well. In her letter of September 21st, 1796, to Mr. 
 Charles Grevillo (vide^^p. 314) she says in plain words, 
 ' Sir William is very well. I am not, but hope ... I 
 shall bo better.' Nor was Sir William dangerously 
 ill, when the Spanish despatch cann! to him on April 
 28th, 1795, In the spring of '95 ho had a smart attack 
 of bilious fever. Ou 19th April, 1795, ho had been 
 prostrate for eight days from the attack ; but ho was 
 then out of danger and on the point of convalescence. 
 On the 28th of April, 1795, though still weak, lie was 
 well able to write and do the business of his office. 
 That he worked hard at the Spanish cypher sent him 
 on that day appears from tho letter to Lady Hamilton 
 of April 3Uth, 1795, in which the Queen says, ' I hope 
 
 VOL. I. Y
 
 322 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 that so much application will not be injurious to the 
 Chevalier.' Lady Hamilton, who in her later time 
 displayed a fine faculty for mixing and muddling the 
 facts of her career, may have been thinking of her 
 husband's illness in the spring of '95, when she wrote 
 of him as having been ill in September, '9(5. But her 
 own contemporary letter affords conclusive evidence, 
 that he was in unusually good health, Avhen she, 
 some fifteen years later, imagined him to have been 
 lying ' dangerously ill.' 
 
 (8) ' I prevail'd on the Queen,' says Lady Hamiltou, 
 ' to allow my taking a copy ' of the letter. Emma 
 was not likely to ask permission, nor was the Queen 
 likely to grant her permission, to take a copy of the 
 letter in cypher, wliich was of course sent in the 
 usual way to Sir WiUiam to decypher and use accord- 
 ing to his discretion. 
 
 (9) In the ' Statement,' Lady Hamilton says, that 
 fihe despatched the cypher by a special courier. How 
 strange, that she had the trouble of doing so, when 
 she was out of health, and Sir "William Hamilton was 
 * very well !' 
 
 (10) Lastly, in her * Statement,' Lady Hamilton 
 sa^'s that she paid the courier out of her ' own pri- 
 vate fund.' How strange that the lady, whose whole 
 allowance was £50 a-quarter, and who seldom had 
 more than two or three silver pieces in her pocket 
 during the last ten days of each quarter, should have 
 been the owner of a private fund, out of which she 
 could take about £400 at a single dip. On 18th 
 December, 1794, she wrote from Caserta to Mr. 
 Cliarles Greville, begging him to send her some
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 323 
 
 personal fiuery from London, and admitting that she 
 could barely make two ends meet, with her modest 
 allowance of two hundred a-year, for her own and 
 her mother's personal expenses. ' You know,' she 
 •wi-ote on this occasion, ' how far 2 hundred will go.' 
 The very same courier, who took the 'letters of 
 consequence for our government ' from Naples to Lord 
 Grenville, also carried to London a letter, in which 
 she entreated Mr. Greville to pay her London dress- 
 maker's bill, and to send her another lot of finery. 
 'Pray,' she wrote to her former protector on 21st 
 September, 1796, 'setle Ilackwood's account. We 
 desire it. And send me by the bearer a Dunstable 
 liat and some ribbands, or what you think will be 
 acceptable. Pray do you never think on me. He is 
 our courrier ; so, pray, do not spare him.' The lad}-, 
 who thus sues in forma pauperis for a Dunstable hat 
 and ribands is the lady with a private fund, out ol 
 which she can take twice the amount of her wlioie 
 yearly income. Moreover, if Lady llamiifon paid 
 the courier out of her private purse, how came it that 
 sho — at all timr>s qnick to boast of //t-r doings, and 
 just then in a distinctly boastful humour about the 
 debt of gi'atitudo due to ' w/.^^df in pdrfi'-ular ' — wrote 
 of o«r courier, as though iSir William Hamilton was 
 part-owner of tho jnessongcr ? Had she paid for tho 
 man's services, Emma Hamilton would scarcely have 
 denied herself the pleasiuv; of writing about ' »« v 
 courier.' 
 
 It is thus that popular Ijiography is written. Some- 
 where about I'^ll, Lady Hamilton produced a 
 written ' Statement,' that is from tho first to the last 
 
 y2
 
 S24: THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 line a tissue of misstatements. Accepting some of 
 its misrepresentations for sound items of veracious 
 history, Pettigrew popped them into one of the 
 supplementary chapters of his ' Life of Nelson ' (1849), 
 which he would not have done, had be been sufiSci- 
 ently cautious and discerning. Eleven years later, 
 Mr. Paget transplanted the same unsound statements 
 into ' Blackwood's Magazine.' 
 
 In her letter of the 10th of October, 1796, to Lady 
 Hamilton (vide, p. 311), Maria Caroline says, ' I am so 
 really touched by all the interest you and your 
 woi-thy husband have shown me, that it will never 
 pass from my memory and my grateful heart.' One 
 would like to know certainly to what these words refer. 
 They may have referred to the promptitude with which 
 Sir AVilliam Hamilton had forwarded to London the 
 last budget from Spain. They may have referred to 
 the sympathy the Hamiltons had expressed with Her 
 Majesty's chagrin, at being compelled for the moment 
 to withdraw from the coalition, to which she meant 
 to return at the earliest opportunity. Just then, 
 Maria Carohno was profoundly wretched at being 
 forced to make a hollow peace with France. — How 
 Her Majesty abhorred the hollow and insincere 
 compact, and how Lady Hamilton sympathized with 
 her adorable Queen's futile rage against ' cursed 
 France,' appear from the contents and endorsement 
 of the following letter : 
 
 Maria Caroline to Lady Hamilton. 
 
 [8tla December, 1796.] 
 
 ' Mr DEAR MiLEDY, 
 
 ' My daughters are unable to come to me from
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 325 
 
 Portici, as they are suffering from sore throat and cold. I 
 myself also am troubled with the last. Hence, with much 
 regret on my part, I must deny myself the pleasure of seeing 
 you this evening. TVe have received the courier from Paris 
 of the 28th, and that causes me depression and distress. 
 Hence, my dear friend, there will be yet another day, till I 
 shall have the pleasure of assuring you of the inviolable 
 sentiments which bind me to you. My compliments to your 
 husband and to the Viceroy. I send you a letter for the 
 Chevalier de Belmont. Death and the hangman have done 
 their work (la haute ccuvre avec les executeurs des hautes 
 oeuvres est tcrmine), and that causes me much sadness. 
 Adieu.' 
 
 Onthebackof the original letter (Brit, Miis. MSS.), 
 Lady Plamilton wrote, ' Dec"''- S^^' 1796— the day of 
 the arrival of the news of Peace for Naples \vith 
 cursed France.' 
 
 On hearing tliat the Franco-Sicilian treaty had been 
 ratified, Maria Caroline felt that her life had ended 
 in dishonour. It was a relief to Einiua Hamilton, to 
 curse France. This was tlie treaty, tliat stood for a 
 moment in Nelson's way, wlien ho desired to water 
 and victual in Syracuse, aiifl that was torn to pieces, 
 soon after liis victorious return from Aboukir.
 
 326 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 FROM LEOBEN TO ABOUKIR BAY. 
 
 Negociations of Leoben — ^Treaty of Campo Formio — Marriage of 
 Prince Francis and the Arch-Duchess Clementina — Berthier's 
 Entry into Rome — ]\Iaria Caroline's Alarm — Her Letters to 
 Lady Hamilton — Dell'Caro the Danseuse — The Queen's Im- 
 patience for Nelson's Arrival — Her Correspondence (through 
 Lady Hamilton) with Lord St. Vincent — Buonaparte's Ex- 
 pedition to Egypt — IMaria Caroline's Interest in the Expedi- 
 tion — Her Letters touching the Expedition — Garat's Com- 
 plaints — ' These Rogues of Frenchmen !' — French Occupa- 
 tion of Malta — Nelson's Sf^uadron off Capri — Cai:itain Trou- 
 bridge despatched to Naples by Nelson — Chief Purpose of 
 Troubridge's Mission — Arrangement for Nelson to water and 
 victual at Palermf; — The Vanguard's ' Journal ' — Maria 
 Caroline's Letters of good Wishes for Nelson's Squadron — 
 Nelson's Acknowledgment of the Queen's Letter — His first 
 and futile Voyage to Egypt — His Return to Sicilian Waters 
 in July, 1798 — He waters and victuals at Syracuse — He 
 starts on his second and glorious Expedition to Aboukir Bay. 
 
 1797—1798 A.i». 
 
 The crushing defeat of the Austrians in the first 
 month of 1797 having resulted in the negociations of 
 Leoben, that were followed by the treaty of Carapo 
 Formio in the October of the same year, the courts 
 of Vienna and Naples were at liberty to celebrate the 
 mam'age of Prince Francis of the Two Sicilies with 
 the Archduchess Clementina, which had been ar- 
 ranged seven years ago. Though so long a period 
 had passed since her betrothal, the lovely and ill-
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 827 
 
 fated princess was still all too young for marriage. 
 Like Maria Caroline in 1708, Clementina was only in 
 her sixteenth year, when she left Vienna for Southern 
 Italy, and taking the sea at Trieste sailed to Manfre- 
 donia, where she was met by the heir-apparent to the 
 Sicihan thrones. The rejoicings at Foggia, where 
 the nuptial rite was celebrated, and the subsequent 
 rejoicings at Naples on the arrival of the bride and 
 bride-gi-oom afforded neither an indication of the 
 (h'stresses of the nation, nor a sign of the growing 
 disloyalty of the capital. 
 
 But, though she could find momentary delight in 
 displacing her wasted beauty at the nuptial celebra- 
 tions, Maria Caroline was possessed by forebodings 
 of disaster in the near future, and spi-iit tlie brief 
 respite from war in costly preparations for its renewal. 
 
 The spring of 1798 was fruitful of alarms to Her 
 Majesty. On hearing tliat the French were march- 
 ing on Rome, she trembled for Naples. The news of 
 Berthier's triumphal entry into the sacred eity had 
 Rcareulv rcaehed her, when hIio wrote tliis nndated 
 letter : 
 
 Maria Caroline, to Eiinnn Ihunilton. 
 
 'My dkak Mim;i)Y, 
 
 ' I go on to f^ivo you nml tlio Cliovalicr our sad 
 news after tin-. nw.iWy French had cntcriMl Konio and tlicro 
 become masters of all the jiositif)ns. hti;;Iits, gales, ciistlcs, 
 after plantinj; there three trees of lihcrty, the first in tho 
 Place d'Espa^mc, hut, wliich l'>erfhi<T twenty-four hours later 
 caused to he removed. They have ma dr. their demands : 
 there are nineteen of them, — nothin;^; against religion nor 
 any for cession of territory, hut a perfect despoliation of the. 
 powers, moans of suhsistcncc, and authority of individuals,-
 
 B28 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 all the ricli and well-disposed being either prisoners or hos- 
 tages, the unfortunate banker Jenkins being of the number. 
 All sorts and kinds of British manufactures are prohibited, 
 all monuments are to be removed, and the whole people to 
 be disarmed. In brief, without directly outraging any other 
 power or religion, the effect of which would cause them 
 alarm, they destroy utterly the Roman State. All has been 
 accepted and the hostages are already in custody. Thus, 
 they are the masters. Notwithstanding this, Ney advances 
 with another ten thousand men and a great park of artillery. 
 For what purpose is that? It is easy to divine. Still other 
 troops are coming, which will make more than thirty thousand 
 men, without counting what they will do at Rome, where 
 they have already quailcrod nearly, three thousand horse. All 
 this makes me utterly wretched. This week a courier will 
 be despatched to London, to see if there be any means of 
 reminding that brave nation, that they are losing Italy, her 
 commerce, for ever, and us amongst their most faithful, at- 
 tached, and — one must say it — deserted allies. All this kills 
 me. Adieu ! Believe me to be for life your ever attached 
 friend, 
 
 ' Charlotte.' 
 
 Some days later, a few hom-s before the departure 
 of the courier mentioned in the last note, Maria 
 Caroline wrote : 
 
 Maria Caroline to Lady Hamilton. 
 
 [5th March, 1798.] 
 * My dear Miledv, 
 
 'Attribute it neither to coldness nor to failure 
 of friendship, that I have not answered your dear letters. 
 I am so overwhelmed with worrying affairs that I have had 
 no time for it ; but in spite of that I shall hasten at the first 
 opportunity to see you and your dear husband. Meanwhile 
 I would inform you that a courier starts this evening for 
 London, who will take every care to avoid falling into the 
 hands of those monsters, our neighbours. Therefore, if the 
 Chevalier or you would take advantage of him, you may 
 command him. My heart, my dear Miledy, never changes 
 either for my friends like you or for my opinions. Therefore
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 329 
 
 you will always find me a sincere, true, approving, trustful, 
 affectionate, loyal friend towards those who deserve it for so 
 many reasons. My health suffers much. I even feel broken 
 and look to the moment [ ] without pain, seeing 
 
 all the circumstances of Europe. Do not think our detest- 
 able neighbourhood will change my opinion in anything, 
 either through fear, cowardice, or following the false principles 
 of others. I am always the same, attached to those whom 
 I esteem and in whom I have confidence, and never varying 
 in my opinions. They say that France has declared war 
 on Spain ; that would result in great changes, but I do not 
 believe it. I have many things to talk about which I could 
 not write. Adieu, my dear Friend. A thousand compliments 
 to the Chevalier, and believe both of you that I am very 
 desirous of seeing you and am your sincere friend for life.' 
 
 Three month.s later, the Queen could turn her 
 attention to a trivial matter of amusement, and write 
 the following note about a danseuse, in whom Emma 
 Hamilton was interested : 
 
 Maria Caroline to Jjudy Hamilton. 
 
 [3l6t May, 1798.] 
 
 'Mr DKAR IMlLEDY, 
 
 ' I see how your good heart causes you to be thought- 
 ful for the danseuse dcU'Caro. Uoth from Venice and Florence 
 good reports have come of her, but very bad reports of her 
 husband. One Ptill awaiti that from ]\lilan (([ue nc ])cuvenl. 
 lardcrj and then I shall [)ray tlic King to let her conic without 
 her husband ; but I dare not venture before, as I should fear 
 some misadventure for you an<l fur iiie. In a few days this 
 Bhould be decided. Adieu, my dcu- friend ! My conjpli- 
 ments to the Chevalier. Take care of your health, and 
 believe me to be from my heart and for life 
 
 ' Your sincere Friend.' 
 
 From this brief note the reader may see that, 
 whilst doing her will with lier husltand in momontouB 
 affairs of state, Maria Caroline was careful to main-
 
 330 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 tain an appearance of consulting him and deferring 
 to his judgment, in respect to the most trivial mat- 
 ters. Even to her favourite and most confidential 
 lady-in-attendauce, the Queen affected that, before 
 authorizing a clever danseuse to accept an engage- 
 ment in her capital, she must pray, and select a 
 happy moment for praying, the King to let her do so. 
 A week later, this meekly dutiful wife could cheer 
 Lady Hamilton with an assurance that she might 
 hope soon to have tlie pleasure of watching the 
 deirCaro pirouetting in the theatre of San Carlo. 
 
 Maria Caroline to Lachj Hamilton. 
 
 [7th June, 1798.] 
 
 Mv VEKY DEAR FrIEXD, 
 
 ' I saw you yesterday at a distance in the theatre, 
 I long for the pleasure of seeing and speaking to you soon. 
 Tell me when you will be free, 30 that I may adapt it to my 
 own few hours of liberty, in order to have the pleasure of 
 seeing you and speaking to you freely. La dell'Caro Avill be 
 here soon, I think, all the accounts about her having been 
 favourable. I live in expectancy and impatience, and pray 
 Heaven to bless your honest, loyal, generous [brave] fel- 
 low-countrymen. In sliort, I am anxious. A thousand 
 compliments to your husband whom I esteem so greatly, 
 and believe me, both of you, to be for life 
 
 ' Your sincere attached Friend, 
 
 * Charlotte.* 
 
 Of what was the Queen ' living in expectancy,' 
 and for what Avas she impatient, when she wrote 
 this note 1 And why, whilst thus ' living in expect- 
 ancy and impatience/ was she prayerful to ' Heaven 
 to bless Lady Hamilton's honest, loyal, generous, 
 brave fellow-countrymen ''? This question must be 
 answered.
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 331 
 
 Notwithstanding her treaty of peace with France, 
 Maria CaroHne had been in Hvoly anxiety for the 
 safety of the Two Sicihes ever since Berthier's occu- 
 pation of Rome. In her reasonable alarm, she had 
 done her best to bring a squadron of Lord St. 
 Vincent's fleet to her protection. Sending Avritten 
 entreaties to London, she had, through Lady Hamil- 
 ton, appealed to Earl St. Vincent himself. Using 
 her pen, at the Queen's instigation, Emma Hamilton 
 had, on the loth of April, 1798, written so effectually 
 in Her Majesty's behalf to Lord St. Vincent, that, 
 on the twenty-second of the following month the 
 earl replied to ' the Patroness of the British Navy ' 
 (as he was wont to style the adventuress), bi<ldiiig 
 her tell the Queen to be of good cheer, as ' a knight 
 of superior prowess' (Sir Honitio Nelson) was already 
 charged to preserve her from harm. On the very 
 same day (22nd of May), Lord St. Vincent wrote 
 from before Cadiz to Sir William Hamilton that 
 Nelson Avould soon bo on his way to tiie protection 
 of the Two Sicilies. On the previous day (2lHt of 
 May;, the Commander-in-Chief of the British lleet 
 boforo Cadiz liad dated a 'most secret' letter to 
 Nelson, ordering him to proceetl, with a powerful 
 squadron, ' in quest of the armament preparing at 
 Toulon and Genoa, the object whereof jippears to bo 
 either an attarik upon Naples f)r Sicily; the convey- 
 ance of an anny to some part of the coast of Spain, 
 for the purpose of marcliing towards Portugal ; or to 
 pass through the Straits, with a view of proceeding 
 to Ireland.' Ordered to take, sin/i, hum, and destroy 
 this armament, Sir Horatio Nelson was appointed to
 
 332 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 annihilato the French naval expedition, which ]\lana 
 Carohue had good reason to think would prove an 
 expedition against the Two Sicilies. On 7th June, 
 1798, Maria Caroline had for some time been aware 
 of England's arrangements for her safety, and was 
 therefore impatient for sight or news of Nelson's 
 squadron, and prayerful to Heaven for the success 
 of the admiral and all the gallant fellows under his 
 command. 
 
 It is known to everyone, who knows anything of 
 Nelson and Buonaparte, that instead of being directed 
 against the Two Sicilies, this Toulon expedition had 
 been prepared to convey the French general and his 
 army to Egypt, and that on his way to Egypt with 
 the grand armament Buonaparte took possession of 
 Malta. A heavy weight fell from Maria Caroline's 
 heart when she received sure intelligence that the 
 French armament, which was sighted on the 4th of 
 June, off Trapani in Sicily, had gone for Malta. The 
 news, however, was not in every respect agreeable 
 to Her Majesty, for the island was a dependency of 
 the kingdom of the Two Sicihes, and in French hands 
 it would be a menace and a source of danger to the 
 Sicilian Idngdoms. 
 
 That in June, '98, Maria Caroline was no less quick 
 to send Sir WiUiam Hamilton whatever she heard of 
 the French fleet than she had been quick in former 
 time to transmit Spanish news, appears from the next 
 three letters, which Dr. Pettigrew gave his readers 
 in slightly different EngHsh. The letters should not be 
 overlooked, as they show how little need there was 
 for Emma Hamilton to entreat the Queen to aid the
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 333 
 
 English admiral, whom Her ^lajesty was set on help- 
 ing to the utmost of her ability. 
 
 Maria Caroline to Lady Hamilton. 
 
 [ June, 1798.] 
 
 ' My dear Miledy, 
 
 ' "We have received intelligence that the repub- 
 lican fleet is before Malta, where they have already taken 
 and carried oiF a Maltese polacca, a sign of hostility ; but a 
 more remarkable one is that they have sent a troop and 
 boats to Pantellaria, to ascertain whether this island belongs 
 to Malta or to us. Having learnt the latter, they quitted it. 
 That proves their hostility is directed against Malta, the 
 capture of which would be a great misfortune to us, as it is 
 a stronghold with a port, directly opposite to us, whence no 
 one would be able to dislodge the rogues. They fear the 
 English, and enquire everywhere where they are. They sail 
 ill, being too heavily laden. Perhaps it would be useful to 
 communicate this news to Nelson, our friend and preserver, 
 but it would be Avell for the Chevalier [Ilanulton] to go to 
 the good lioncst General [Acton] who will inform him more 
 fully. Adieu, my dear friend ! Rely on my feelings and 
 gratitude e<iual to every proof.' 
 
 Observe the Queen's suggestion that her iiit(;IH- 
 gencc should be forwarded to Nelson by Sii- William 
 Hamilton, and that before forwarding it the British 
 ambassador should confer witli li<r prinn^ minister, 
 the good, honest general. 
 
 Another letter followed (juiekly iViJui the Queen's 
 
 pen. 
 
 Maria Caroline to Lady ILnnilton. 
 
 [ Fuiu', 1798.] 
 
 ' My dear Mii-edy, 
 
 ' T am very sonsible of your kind altcntioii. T 
 have sent the letter to the General [AcUjuJ to translate it. 
 May God blc3.g, accompany, and give his a'1-powerful might 
 to the brave, honest, loyal English ! Gn the 9th and tlic
 
 334 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 lOth the Frencli disembarked at Malta, The city and port 
 defended themselves. May God frustrate treasons and cause 
 the traitors to perish, Garat has made a written complaint 
 respecting the prises : — worthy of Garat and his employers. 
 But he shall have a fit answer. (Garat a fait un ofice pour le 
 proies (? prises), digne de Garat et de ses cometans, mais 
 qui aura reponse comme il faut.) We send our complaints 
 to Paris respecting " cet ofice " and respecting Malta, and 
 to-morrow we send to London and Vienna to insist on our 
 great gi'ievances. These rogues of Frenchmen pretend to have 
 '* agrets " for burning the English fleet. I hope that it is not 
 true. May the breeze and the good God bless the English 
 and accompany them. My vows and prayers follow them, 
 and I long for the moment, when all our forces and means 
 will help them, and prove that I shall all my life be their sin- 
 cere and grateful friend.' 
 
 The English letter to which the Queen refers was 
 probably Nelson's misdated acknowledgment of the 
 Queen's epistle (vide, p. 339). Observe how Maria 
 Caroline writes of Garat and ' these rogues of French- 
 men,' how she prays 'the good God to bless the 
 English,' and how she is longing for the moment when 
 she will be able to drop the mask, and help the 
 English with all her ' force and means.' Surely 
 Emma Hamilton had no need to fall on her knees and 
 l)eg and implore this Queen for the secret warrant for 
 watering at Syracuse ? 
 
 On receiving news of the fall of Malta, the Queen 
 wrote, 
 
 Maria Caroline to Lady Ilainilton. 
 
 [19th June, 1798.] 
 
 ' I am much concerned for Malta, which has surrendered 
 to the French, almost without firing a gun. They are the 
 masters of everything, and command fortress and port. They 
 have disembarked from ten to fifteen thousand men, and have
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 335 
 
 ■withdra-\vn a part of the fleet in the port. The rest have 
 gone, one knows not whither. Perhaps they will fall into the 
 hands of the brave Nelson. Buonaparte is at Malta, which 
 proves that he will accomplish the rest, and bodes no good for 
 us. The loss of Malta is an incalculable misfortune for our 
 peace. "We protest at Paris, Vienna, London, Russia against 
 this violation of territory. Malta belonging to us. They have 
 driven from it the Knights (les Chevaliers), for whom I have 
 neither esteem nor compassion, as they did not defend them- 
 selves. Tell the Chevalier [Hamilton] that the courier starts 
 to-morrow for Vienna and London. I am sad, troubled, but 
 always your very sincere friend for life.' 
 
 The reader must now retrace his steps for a few 
 days. ^Maria Carohne had not been many days in 
 possession of sure intelligence, that the French arma- 
 ment passing the Sicilies had gone for j\Ialta, when 
 Nelson's squadron passed down the bay of Naples. 
 
 On the 15th of June, when Nelson Avith his squad- 
 ron was off tlie island of Ponza, the Queen of Naples 
 dashed off this brief note : 
 
 Maria Caroline to Lady Hamilton. 
 
 [15th June, 1798.] 
 
 * ]MV DEAR ^IlLEDV, 
 
 ' Thousands and thousands of thanks for the 
 charming drawing, as well as for what you tell me. "With the 
 most lively impatience I see news of our interesting scjuad- 
 ron. ]Makc my compliments to Miss Knight. 1 esteem and 
 respect her for her Uileiits, and sliouM much like to see her 
 for a moment. A(li(!U, my dear Milcdy. IMy compliments 
 to the ChevalifT, and believe me to be from my heart your 
 sincere Friend.' 
 
 Two days later, the British squadron, in which 
 Maria Caroline took so lively and iiii})aticiit an in- 
 terest, anchored off Capri, whence the Admiral de- 
 spatched Captain Troubridgc on a mission to Naples.
 
 336 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 A chief purpose of tliis niissiou was to impress on the 
 British miuister (Sir Wilham Hamilton) that the 
 Admiral must have permission to enter some con- 
 venient Sicihan ports or port, for the purpose of 
 watering and victuaUing his ships, when ho should 
 need to do so. ' Captain Troubridge,' Nelson wrote 
 to Sir William Hamilton, under date of eleven o'clock, 
 June 17th, from ' Fan^ruartZ, Naples Bay,' 'will say 
 everything I could put in a ream of paper .... We 
 must have free use of Sicily to starve the French in 
 ]\Ialta.' These words from the letter, which Trou- 
 bridge carried with him to Naples, tell enough for the 
 reader's immediate purpose respecting the captain's 
 business with Sir William Hamilton. At this time (June 
 17th, 1798), Nelson had no need of fresh supphes for 
 his ships. They were already well provided with water 
 and. victuals for his first run to Egypt. Let readers 
 take good note of this fact I But the Admiral wished 
 to know beforehand to what Sicilian port he should go 
 for water and victuals a month or so later. At this 
 moment (June 17th, 1798), he is not known to have 
 made any demand for leave to water and victual at 
 Syracuse, though it is probable that in conversation 
 Avith Sir Wilham Hamilton the Admiral's envoy 
 (Troubridge) spoke of Syracuse as one of the several 
 ports that would serve Nelson's purpose. One result 
 of Troubridge's application to the British minister at 
 Naples on June 17th, was that (vide, 'Clarke and 
 :\IArthur,' vol. ii, p. 71), Mr. Tough, the British 
 Consul-General in Sicily, wrote to Nelson, on June 
 22nd, ' that any kind of refreshments or provisions 
 which the fleet might stand in need of, he could
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 337 
 
 readily procure at Palermo, and that he ' (J\Ir. Tough) 
 ' only -waited for the honoin- of his commands.' Thus 
 matters stood in June, 1798. 
 
 At this point let it be observed that, when she 
 watered at Syracuse more than a month later (in 
 July, 171)8), the Vanguard had not watered since the 
 0th of May, 1798. The Va^iguard's 'Journal' is 
 precise on this point. ' This,' says the Journal {vide, 
 'Clarke and M'Arthur,' vol. ii, p. 71) 'was the first 
 opportunity that the Vanguard had enjoyed of re- 
 ceiving water on board from the Gth of May, so that 
 not only the stock of that ship, but of several others 
 of the squadron, was very nearly exhausted.' There 
 was no watering of the British fleet at Syracuse in 
 June, 1798. Nor does there appear to have been 
 any an-aiigement made for the fleet watering there 
 till after the middle day of July. 
 
 I am strongly disposed to think tliat Troubridge 
 was still at Naples in June, 1798, when the next 
 letter was received by Lady Hamilton, that she gave 
 it to him to take to Nelson, and further that the 
 Queen wrote the letter, in order that it should be 
 conveyed by Troubridge to the Admiral, who had 
 ontercd Sicilian waters in her interest, and was on 
 the point of leaving them for her advantage. 
 
 Maria Caroline to Lady Ilainilion. 
 
 [ Iiiiu-, 17'J8 V] 
 
 * Mr DEAR MlI.EDT, 
 
 ' I ana movrd to tears by thn lioncsly ;in<l rlclicacy of 
 the faultless English. Our cirniinstanocs, or rather those of 
 the other great powers, do not allow us to open our ports and 
 arms entirely to our brave defenders, butourgi*atitudc is none 
 
 VOL. I. Z
 
 838 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 the less. 1 hope events will soon enable us to see again that 
 brave squadron and officers covered with new victories and 
 to go, myself with all my dear family, on board and drink 
 to the health of the nation that has all my esteem and grati- 
 tude. I should have much liked to see the brave officer, 
 Troubridge, but they said prudence would not permit it. I 
 hope to see them another time, and pray you in the mean 
 time to tell them I wish them good fortune, and that my 
 prayers accompany them for a perfect victory over the 
 monsters, and that I am with eternal gratitude their and 
 your sincere Friend, 
 
 ' Charlotte. 
 
 ' Thousands of compliments to the Chevalier and especially 
 to the brave Nelson. My little naval guard delights to talk 
 only of the English Squadron. My whole family is devoted to 
 them.' 
 
 Ill Her Majesty's ill-spclt, unaccentuatecl, aud iia- 
 puuctuated French, this remarkable epistle runs thus, 
 
 Maria Caroline to Lathj Hamilton. 
 
 [. . . . June, 1798.] 
 
 ' Ma chkre Miledt, 
 
 ' Je suis touche aux larmes de I'honetete deli- 
 catesse des parfaits Anglois nos circonstances ou plutot celles 
 des autres grandes Puissances ne nous permetent point d'ouvrir 
 ports et bras en entier a nos braves Defenseurs mais notre 
 recconoissance n'en est pas moindre j'espere que les Even- 
 cmens seront tels que nous pourions revoire cette brave 
 Escadre Officiers couvert de nouvelles victoires et aller moi 
 avec toute ma chere famille a leur Bord boire a la Sante d'une 
 nation qui a toute mon Estimc et Recconoissance j'aurois 
 bien Souhaite voire le brave oficier Troubridge mais on dit 
 que la prudence ne le veut point j'espere les voire une autre 
 fois et vous prie entre temps de leur dire que je leur souhaite 
 bonheurs que tous mes vocux les accompagnent pour une 
 parfaite Victoire sur les monstres et que Je suis avec une 
 recconoissance Eternelle leur et votre sincere amie 
 
 ' Charlotte.
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 339 
 
 ' Milles compHmens au Chevalier et en particulier au brave 
 Nelson mon petit Garde Marine ne parle et delice qu' Escadre 
 Angloise toute la famille leur est devoue.' 
 
 After Troubridge's return from Naples to the fleet, 
 Nelson, when on the point of sailing for Malta, wrote 
 this curiously misdated note to Lady Hamilton, 
 
 ' Mr DEAR Lady Hamilton, 
 
 ' I have kissed the Queen's letter. Pray say 
 I hope for the honor 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 suiferings 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, 
 
 'Hokatio Nelson.' 
 ' 17th May, 6 p.m. 
 
 I have a strong feeling that the Queen's letter, 
 which Nelson had just kissed, was the letter set forth 
 on pp. 337 and 33H of this volume. Tliis opinion is 
 countenanced by the unusual care tlie writer ex- 
 pended on its penmanship, and also on its composition. 
 On the othi-r hand, tlio opinion is in direct discord 
 with Lady Hamilton's endorsement of Nelson's brief 
 and hasty epistle : ' This letter I receved after I had 
 sent the (Juoen's letter for reccving our ships into 
 their ports; for the (^ueen had decided to ac-t in 
 f)position to til'- King, who would not then break 
 with franco, and our fleet must have gone dow[n] to 
 Giberlter to have watered, ;iiid the Battle of tlio 
 Nile wou'd not have been fought for the IVench 
 fleet wou'd have got Hack To Toulon.' But tins 
 memorandum is shown by its handwriting to liavo 
 
 Z 2
 
 340 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 becu made long after 1798. Had the endorsement 
 been penned in 1798, I sbonld not, on re-considera- 
 tion, have rejected the statement as unevidential.* 
 But the memorandum is in the scratchy and slovenly 
 penmanship of Emma Hamilton's later time, when 
 she had lost all clear recollection of the sequence and 
 relation of the principal facts of her Italian career. 
 
 Troubridge having returned to the squadron lying 
 off Capri, Nelson lost no time in leaving Sicilian 
 waters, and pursuing the French armament. In the 
 middle of July, he was back again in the same 
 waters, after his first and futile voyage to Egypt. 
 He had visited Malta, sailed to Alexandria, touched 
 the fringe of Syria, without coming on the fleet he 
 yearned to take, sink, burn, and destroy. As he lay 
 at anchor off Syracuse, on the 20th of July, 1798, he 
 wi'ote to his wife in England, ' I have not been able 
 to find the French fleet, to my great mortification, or 
 the event I can scarcely doubt. We have been off* 
 Malta, to Alexandria in Egypt, Syria, into Asia, and 
 are returned here without success.' Of course the 
 disappointed admiral intended to renew his search 
 for the hostile fleet as quickly as possible. But, be- 
 fore he could do so, it was needful for him to get 
 fresh supplies of water and light victuals for his ships. 
 AVanting the victuals in some degree, he was in 
 urgent want of water. Both wants were supplied 
 
 * Every endorsement put by Emma on one of the Queen's 
 letters, or on its envelope, to which 1 call attention as evidential 
 of her feelings at the time she received the epistle, is in her con- 
 temporary penmanship. The memoranda she scratched on the 
 backs of letters long after receiving them afford no sure testi- 
 mony as to what she felt or thought at the time when the epistles 
 were written.
 
 Ayn LORD NELSON. Ul 
 
 Avitb remarkable expedition at Syracuse, to which 
 port he applied instead of taking his ships to Palermo, 
 where the British Consul-General was in a position 
 to supply him with whatever he required. After water- 
 ing and victualling his ships, he could write cheerily 
 to Sir William Hamilton, on the 23rd of July, 
 1798, from Syracuse, ' The fleet is unmoored, and the 
 moment the wind comes off the land, shall go out 
 of this delightful harbour, where our present wants 
 have been most amply supplied, and where every 
 attention has been paid to us; but I have been 
 tormented by no private orders being given to the 
 governor for our admission.' 
 
 Even whilst congratulating himself on the ample 
 supply of his ' present wants,' Nelson murmured about 
 the annoyance that had come to him through the 
 neglect of some person or persons to issue ' private 
 orders' for the admission of his ships to the port. 
 On the previous day (22nd of July, 17"J8), ho had 
 wnttcu, in angry discontent, to our ambassador at 
 Naples, ' I uuderstood that private orders, at least, 
 would have been given for our free admission. If 
 we are to be refused suppliew, pray send me by many 
 vessels an account, that I may in good time take tho 
 King's fleet back to Gibraltar.' Notwithstanding 
 the cause for this complaint, the Admiral got tho 
 needful water ami victuals, and started on his second 
 and glorious voyage to Egypt, with tho first breeze 
 that blew from land after the 23rd of July.
 
 342 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 AN AFFAIR OF CONTROVERSY. 
 
 How came Nelson to Water and Victual so Expeditiously at 
 Syracuse ? — Nelson's Answer to the Question — Lady Hamil- 
 ton's alleged Part in the Affair — The ' Fountain-of-Arethusa ' 
 Letter — G. H. D.'s Postcard touching the Fountain — Descrip- 
 tion of the Fountain in Murray's 'Sicily' — Doubts respecting 
 the Authenticity of the ' Arethusa ' Letter — More Mistakes 
 of Lady Hamilton's ' Statement ' — Her Blunders adopted as 
 good History by Dr. Pettigrew and the Blackwood Essayist 
 — Mr. Paget causes Amazement — A startling Confession 
 of Ignorance — Doubters and Disputants — Nelson in the 
 Witness-Box — Matters of Fact and Matters of Opinion — 
 Lady Hamilton's Real Part in the Business. 
 
 1798 A.I). 
 
 How came Nelson to water and victual his fleet so 
 quickly at Syracuse, in tlie absence of private orders 
 for the ' free admission ' of his ships to the harbour ? 
 
 * Free admission ' probably means admission free of 
 the restriction created by the recent Franco-Sicilian 
 treaty, by which the King of Naples had promised 
 not to admit at the same time into any Sicilian port 
 more than four ships of any power at war with 
 France. Nelson seems to have expected that, through 
 
 * private orders,' all his ships would have been allowed 
 to water and victual at the same time. How, in the 
 absence of such orders, did he water and victual with 
 fiuch celerity ?
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 313 
 
 In the famous so-called codicil to bis will, Nelson 
 answers the question thus, ' Secondly, the British fleet, 
 under my command, could never have returned the 
 second time to Egypt,hadnot Lady Hamilton's influence 
 with the Queen of Naples caused letters to be wrote 
 to the Governor of Syracuse, that he was to encour- 
 age the fleet being supplied with everything, should 
 they put into any port in Sicily. Wo put into 
 Syracuse and received every supply, wont to Egypt 
 and destroyed the French fleet/ This remarkable 
 and even solemn testimony, given l)y Nelson himself, 
 accords with the famous Fouutain-of-Arethusa letter, 
 in which he appears to have wiitten to Sir William 
 and Lady Hamilton, on the 22nd of July, 171)8, 
 'My dear Friends, — Thanks to your exertions, we 
 have victualled and Avatered : and surely watering 
 at the fountain of Arethusa, we must have victory. 
 We shall sail with the first breeze, and be assiu'ed 
 I will return either crowned with laurel or covered 
 with cypress.' 
 
 This letter is especially deserving of consideration, 
 because it has hitherto been the <»nly known record 
 of L.'idy Hamilton's action in this matter, apart from 
 the iamous so-called codi(;il. On serious, though 
 Bcarcely conclusive grounds. Sir Harris Nicolas sus- 
 pected the genuineness of the epistle, (ioing further 
 tlum the voluminous editor of Nelson's 'Letters and 
 Despatches,' ]\Ii'. .lolni Knox Laughton, !M.A., IIki 
 well-known Professor of Mfxh^rn History at King's 
 College (London), ;ind f^ecturer on Naval History at 
 Greenwich Coll<'ge, has (hrclared the letter a 'palpable 
 forgery.' In ' Laily Il.inn'ltoii ;mfl Tvord Nelson ' (vol.
 
 344 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 ii, pp. 349 — 35G) I A'entured to .sliow reasons for 
 thiuking Professor Lauglitou scarcely justified in 
 delivering so strong a judgment ; and since publish- 
 ing that book, I have received a piece of information 
 which certainly does aAvay with one of the argu- 
 ments against the letter. To both Sir Harris Nicolas 
 and Professor Laughton, the reference to the Foun- 
 tain of Arethusa seemed so unlike ' Nelson's style ' as 
 to justify suspicion of the epistle's autlienticity. 
 * The classical allusion,' says Sir Harris Nicolas, ' is 
 not in Nelson's style.' Professor Laughton remarks, 
 'The laurel and cypress sentence may possibly be 
 Nelson's ; but assuredly ho never meddled with the 
 fountain of Arethusa.' Dealing in a rather weak way 
 with the ol:»jection, I urged that, though not in Nel- 
 son's style, the allusion was ' in the stylo of the classi- 
 cal archaiologist. Sir William Hamilton, who was at 
 the time corresponding witli Nelson,' and from whom 
 ' Nelson might have cauglit up the allusion.' After 
 all it appears that the expression is a mere matter-of- 
 fact designation, which under the circumstances 
 Nelson could scarcely have avoided using. 
 
 Of the communications made to me through the 
 post by readers of ' Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson,' 
 one was the following post-card dated from Cam- 
 bridge by G. H. D. — ' The Fonte d'Aretusa at Syra- 
 cuse is a fresh-water spring which bubbles up in the 
 sea in the harbour. It is no poetic phrase to speak of 
 watering at it. There is probably no place at which 
 ships can water more easily. G. H. D. — Cambridge.' 
 Thanks to my unknown correspondent I Would that 
 all letters were as worth reading as his post-card ! One
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 845 
 
 consequencG of G. H. D.'s kindly note was that I did 
 what I ought to have done before, — went to ' Murray's 
 Hand-Book on Sicily,' and there read in the pages 
 touching Syracuse, — 
 
 ' Fountain of Arethusa. — This celebrated fountain is on 
 the .... side of the island, close to the port, and it rises 
 in a large semicircular pit lined with masoniy, about 20ft. 
 deep, the chord of the arc, about 50ft. long, being the city 
 wall, which defends the spring from the sea .... Lord 
 Nelson watered the British fleet here on his way to the Nile 
 and victory .... The fountain has very recently been taken 
 under the protection of the authorities.' 
 
 The notion of the fountain, given by the writer of 
 the long article, differs from the conception one gets 
 of the bubbling font from G. H. D's post-card. But 
 the two writers concur in the main point. The 
 fountain is in the liarbour; and, even if it should be 
 shown that Nelson did not water his ships from the 
 spring itself, the conspicuous presence of the fount in 
 the very port would move liim to wviU: in simple na- 
 turalness of ' wateiiug at the fountain of Arethusa.' In 
 doing 80 he only used a coiiimon plnasc of the place. 
 
 Still the epiHtlo remains a mark for just suspicion. 
 It was introduced to readers by Harrison, a writer of 
 no reputatifjii and small capacity, and one of Lady 
 Hamilton's most vehement and least judicious par- 
 tisans, who j)ut together and itublished his hasty and 
 iuHullieient 'Life of Nelson ' (isoiij, in order to get 
 a pul)lic pension for her. Not the least suspicious 
 fact about the epistle is that no one of credit bears 
 evidence to having seen the original MS. What 
 has become of the original document? From 
 the year of his tleath even to this year of grace,
 
 846 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 holders of letters by Nelson have gaiarded them 
 reverentially, or sold them at high prices to persons, 
 no less strongly disposed to take jealous precau- 
 tions for the safety of such precious MSS. It 
 is difficult to imagine a person capable of destroy- 
 ing the letter so much talked about and so often 
 sought for, if it was a genuine writing. Lady Hamil- 
 ton and Mr. Harrison both had the strongest reasons 
 for preser\'ing and producing the epistle, if it was 
 autlieutic ; and they had the strongest reasons for 
 Avithholding and destroying the document, if it was 
 a forgery. Possibly the letter never existed in any 
 manuscript but ' the copy ' of the ' Life of Nelson ' 
 sent by Harrison to the printers. It is conceivable that 
 even yet the letter may come to light in Nelson's 
 handwriting. 
 
 It in some slight degree weakens one's disposition 
 to believe in the ' Arethusa ' letter, to know from an 
 unpubhshed document in the Morrison MSS., that on 
 22nd July, 1798, Nelson resented the difficulty he 
 had experienced in getting supplies at the Sicihan 
 port even more bitterly than his letter of the same 
 date to Sir William Hamilton declares. On the other 
 hand, the Admiral's fierce resentment against the 
 overt action of the Sicilian govcrmnent strengthens 
 one's disposition to believe that he had been aided 
 * under the rose ' by Slaria Caroline. 
 
 In the recently-recovered ' Lady Hamilton's State- 
 ment,' we have yet another record touching that 
 lady's alleged service to Nelson, in respect to the 
 watering of his fleet at Syracuse. Bearing well in 
 mind that Nelson did not return to Sicihan waters
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 
 
 347 
 
 from bis first run to Egj-pt till after the middle day of 
 July, 1798, and did not leave Syracuse for bis second 
 run to Egypt till after the 23rd of July, 1798, let tbe 
 reader now examine wbat Lady Hamilton says about 
 her own action in tbc ' Statement.' 
 
 Editorial Notes on these 
 Passages of ' Lady Hamil- 
 ton'' s Statement.' 
 
 (1) Lady Hamilton states 
 correctly the purpose of Trou- 
 bridge's coining from the fleet 
 off Capri to the ambassador 
 at Naples in June, 1 798 ; but 
 at the time of making the 
 * Statement,' she had so mixed 
 and muddled certain matters 
 of history, as to conceive tliat 
 in June, 1798, when lying 
 with l)i3 fleet off Capri, Nelson 
 liad already returned to Sici- 
 lian waters from his first trip 
 to Egy]tt. whereas the Ad- 
 miral had not as yet started 
 from Sicilian waters ui)on 
 that trip, — J. C. J. 
 
 (2) (a) The number of the 
 Englisli ships to l»e admitted 
 to Sicilian ports was limited 
 by the treaty of j)eace to 
 /our. — J. C. J. 
 
 Ladi/ Hamilton 
 
 in her siijned ' Statement ' 
 
 says this : 
 
 (1) It was at this awful 
 period in June, 1 798, about 
 three days after the French 
 Fleet passed by for Malta, 
 Sir "William and myself were 
 awakcn'd at six o'clock in 
 the morning by Captain 
 Troubridgc witli a letter from 
 .Sir Horatio Nelson tlioii Avith 
 Jiis fleet lying otl' the bay 
 near to Capree, requesting 
 Ihat the amlta-ssador would 
 procure him ])ermission to 
 enter with his fleet into 
 Naples or any of the Sicilian 
 ports to provision, water, &c., 
 as otherwise lie must run 
 for Gibraltar, being in urgent 
 want, and that he conse- 
 quently woidd l)e obligi'd to 
 give over all further |)iirsuit 
 f)f the French tkef, whi<h he 
 had mi«s'd at Kg}'pt on nc- 
 (•ount (if their having put 
 into Malta. 
 
 (2) At that time Naples 
 had made peace with France 
 l»y desire of our Court. T.,c 
 Cointe ]>a MiilieHe wjis 
 French Amba.ssador; one of
 
 348 
 
 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 (b) Lady Hamilton may be 
 credited with general accuracy 
 in Avhat she says of the meas- 
 ures taken by Acton to call a 
 Council, «S:c.; but she was 
 curiously at fault, in imagin- 
 ing that the council, held on 
 IGth or 17th June, 1798, was 
 held after Nelson's return 
 from his first trip to Egypt, 
 on which trip he had not yet 
 set out from Sicilian waters. 
 —J.C.J. 
 
 (c) Previous pages of this 
 book have enabled critical 
 readers to judge how much 
 reliance should be put on 
 Emma Hamilton's egotistical 
 and boastful account of her 
 bed-room interview with 
 Maria Caroline. The account 
 is a good example of the way, 
 in which the adventuress used 
 in her later time to magnify 
 the importance of the part 
 she played in Italian matters, 
 in respect to which she was 
 employed only as a subordin- 
 ate agent and instrument. — 
 J. C. J. 
 
 (d) Whilst Nelson in the 
 famous so - called codicil 
 speaks of ' the Queen of 
 Naples causing letters to be 
 v}rote to the Governor of 
 
 the stipulations was ' that no 
 more than two * English 
 ships should enter into any 
 of the Neapolitan or Sicilian 
 ports !' However, Sir William 
 call'd^ up General Acton 
 the minister, who immediate- 
 ly conven'd a Council, the 
 King being present ; this was 
 about half-past six ; I went 
 to the Queen, who received 
 me in her bed ; I told ° Her 
 Majesty, that now depended 
 on her the safety of the Two 
 Sicilies, should the Council 
 decide on negative or half 
 measures, as I fear' d thajmust 
 do ; I told her the Sicilies 
 must be lost, if Nelson was 
 not supplied, and thereby en- 
 abled to follow the great 
 French force, that had gone 
 by in that direction, but a 
 few days before; nothing 
 could exceed the alarm, with 
 which this communication 
 inspired her, she said the 
 King was in Council and 
 Avould decide with his minis- 
 ters ; I pray'd and implor'd 
 her on my knees ; she could 
 not withstand my entreaties 
 and arguments. I brought 
 her pen, ink and paper to the 
 bed, I dictated and she wrote 
 a positive order directed ' to 
 all Governors ^ of the Two 
 Sicilies to receive with hos- 
 pitality the British fleet to 
 water, victual and aid them ;* 
 in every way this order I was
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 
 
 849 
 
 S}Tacuse,' Emma Hamilton 
 speaks of ' an order ' which 
 the Queen -HTOte with her 
 own hand, and ' directed to 
 all Governors of the Two 
 Sicilies.' — J. C. J. 
 
 (3) (a) If Sir William 
 llainilton wrote these words 
 to Nelson, he wrote tlicm in a 
 letter of which history has 
 no cognizance. — J. C. J. 
 
 (b) TIic letter, wliioh Ernni.i 
 Hamilton represents licrsclf 
 to have written to Nelson, 
 when she sent liim the onlcr, 
 is another episth; of whidi 
 history has no cognizance. — 
 J. C. J. 
 
 (c) Tlic same remark is 
 appropriate to this reply from 
 Nelson to the imu;'inative 
 
 well aware as was the fact 
 would be more respected than 
 even that of the King. At 
 eight o'clock the Council 
 broke up, 1 was called to 
 attend Captain Troubridge 
 and my husband to our house. 
 The faces of the King, of 
 Acton and Sir "William too 
 plainly told the determination 
 that they could not break 
 with France. On our way 
 home, I said I had antici- 
 pated the result, and provided 
 against it ; that, while they 
 were in Council, I had been 
 with the Queen, and had not 
 implored her in vain, pro- 
 ducing the order to their 
 astonishment and delight. 
 They embraced me with pa- 
 triotic joy. ' It will,' said 
 the gallant Troubridge, 'cheer 
 to cxtacy your valiant friend 
 Nelson, otherwise we must 
 have gone for (iibralta.' 
 
 (3) Sir "William Hamilton 
 wrote to Nelson thedccision of 
 tlie Council. Init said " ' You 
 will receive from Emma her- 
 self what will do the business 
 and procure all your wants.' 
 I enclosed the ( )rder to 
 the Admiral, pr.iying that ^ 
 ' the (^ucen may be as little 
 committed in the use of it as 
 the glory ami service of the 
 country would admit of !' 
 The Admiral's risply ^ in 
 my hands Hay.s, ' that he re- 
 ceived the precious order and
 
 350 
 
 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 Emma. The Fountain-of- 
 Arethusa letter, which she 
 probably had in her mind, 
 when composing this piece of 
 her statement, says nothing 
 of the writer's contingent re- 
 solve to name the battle after 
 the Queen and Lady Hamil- 
 ton. — J. C. J. 
 
 (f?) Hence, according to 
 the ' Statement,' Nelson 
 watered and victualled so 
 quickly at S3'racuse, in con- 
 sequence of an order for his 
 admission to the port, which 
 Emma Hamilton obtained 
 for him from the Queen on 
 IGth or 17th of June, 1798, 
 (ifter his first futile trip to 
 Egypt, though at that time 
 he had not even departed from 
 Sicilian waters on that trip ! 
 What a muddle ! — J. C. J. 
 
 that if lie gain'd a battle it 
 should be called mine and 
 the Queen's for to you I will 
 owe my success, without this 
 our returning to Gibraltar 
 was decided, but I will now 
 come back to you crown'd 
 with laurel or covered with 
 Cyprus ;' the former I had 
 the glory to witness after the 
 destruction of the French 
 Fleet at Aboukir, where he 
 found them, ^ after his 
 having been water'd, pro- 
 vision'd and refreslied by 
 virtue of the order I had so 
 procured him. 
 
 Just as the fanciful assertious of ' Lady Hamilton's 
 Statement ' respecting- the King of Spain's letter 
 were adopted by Dr. Pettigrew, and transferred from 
 Pettigrew's ' Life of Nelson ' to ' Blackwood's Maga- 
 zine ' (1860) by Mr. Paget, the fanciful assertions of 
 tlie same ' Statement,' touching the order for water- 
 ing, &c., were offered to the world as good history, 
 first by Dr. Pettigi'ow, and, eleven years later, by Mr, 
 Paget, the ' Blackwood ' essaj-ist. Misled by Emma 
 Hamilton's ' Statement,' Dr. Pettigrew {vide^ ' Life of 
 Nelson,' vol. ii, pp. 612, 613) told how Nelson 
 returned from his fii-st futile trip to Egypt ' in June, 
 1798,' before he had set out for it. Misled by Petti-
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 351 
 
 gi-ew, Mr. Paget, writing Avith the doctor's book at 
 his left hand, transferred the droll error to his 
 'Blackwood ' (18G0) essay on Lady Hamilton. 
 
 The time has long passed for nie to be easily 
 sm-prised by anything that appears in the old- 
 fashioned magazines. But I rubbed my eyes with 
 astonishment, when I read in the ' Blackwood ' of 
 last j\Iay a statement made by Mr. Paget. Speaking 
 of the passage touching the Syracusan business in 
 Nelson's famous so-called codicil, Mr. Paget averred 
 that no one to his knowledge had ever ventured to 
 question, whether Enmia Hamilton really performed 
 the serx-ice for whicli Nelson in that passage com- 
 mended her to the nation's gratitude and munificence. 
 ' We arc not aware,' said j\lr. Paget, ' that the fact so 
 solemnly and conclusiycly stated by Nelson has ever 
 been disputed ' ! I Had I not reason for astonish- 
 ment ? Never disputed t AVhy, no fact of Nelsonian 
 controversy has occasioned more doubt and un- 
 certainty. 
 
 From IHOG to tlic present year there has existed 
 amongst NelKoniaii specialists a disposition to question 
 whether Lady Hamilton really rendered Kiighmd the 
 second of the services for which Nelson thought her 
 entitled to a national reward. At the Foreign OfTico 
 where the Hamiltons' relation to tlie(^)ueeu of Naples, 
 and tlio nature of Lady Hamilton's alKiged 'services,' 
 were best known, and also at the Admiralty, thcro 
 existed in the years closely following Nelson's death a 
 strong opinion that th<; Admiral had over-rated her use- 
 fulness in the Syracusan business. Had the Foreign 
 Office and the Admiralty believed that she rendered
 
 352 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 Nelsou the alleged service, she would have received a 
 pension when, through the exhaustion of the ample 
 provision made for her by Nelson and in former time 
 by Sir William Hamilton, she came to need the natioji's 
 bounty. 
 
 Clarke and M'Arthur, the Admiral's official biogra- 
 phers, must have thought that Nelson's generosity 
 and tenderness for Lady Hamilton had caused him 
 in his later time to make too much of the aid she 
 rendered him in June and July, 171)8; for instead of 
 crediting her with having extorted the secret order 
 from a reluctant Queen, they merely admit, in respect 
 to her exertions for the quick victualling of the ships, 
 that 'every precaution had been taken, which the 
 exertions of our ambassador at Naples and the influ- 
 ence of Lady Hamilton could devise, that no possi- 
 l)ility of delay, through the machinations or threats 
 of the French, might unexpectedly arise.' Sir Harris 
 Nicolas entertained something more than a grave 
 doubt, whether Emma had been greatly serviceable 
 to Nelson at Syracuse, and whether Nelson went off 
 from Syracuse on his second voyage to the Nile 
 with any strong feeling that Emma Hamilton had 
 helped him to victual and water so quickly. Sir Harris's 
 chief reason (vide, ' Letters and Despatches,' vol. iii, 
 pp. 46, 47) for questioning the authenticity of the 
 Fountain-of-Arethusa letter arose from his inability 
 to believe that the Admiral, so annoyed at the non- 
 issue of private orders for his advantage, could on 
 22nd July, 1798, have written to the Hamiltons, ' My 
 dear Friends, Thanks to your exertions we have 
 victualled and watered.' Alison was so uncertain on
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 363 
 
 the point, that he avoided it, and whilst recording 
 that Nelson watered and victualled at Syracuse, was 
 silent about Lady Hamilton's dubious part in the 
 business. Only two or three years have passed since 
 Professor Laughton, the Lecturer on Naval History 
 at Greenwich, and perhaps the highest living au- 
 thonty on Nelsonian matters of controversy, wrote 
 on the question, which according to Mr. Paget has 
 nev^er been disputed, these words, ' That she ' {i.e., 
 Lady Hamilton) * afterwards taught Nelson to believe 
 in her action we know from the solemn expression of 
 his last wishes, but the reality of it seems very 
 doubtful.' 
 
 Mr. Paget lias for many years figured as a man of 
 light and leading on questions of Nelson's history. 
 He has affected to be an authority on those questions 
 ever since he published his essays on Nelson and 
 Lady Hamilton in ' Blackwood,' 1.S60. Yet now ho 
 (jomes forward and confesses to have never known that 
 there was the slightest feeling of uncertainty amongst 
 Nelson's historians and biographers, i-especting the 
 degree in which Emma Hamilton contributed to the 
 admiral's Egyptian victory. The Government depart- 
 ments in times following quickly on Nelson's death, 
 Clarke and M'Artliur, Sir Harris Nicolas, Alison, Tro- 
 fessor Laughtoii, havi; ;ill been doubtful whether 
 Nelson was really indebted to Lady Hamilton for the 
 ease with wliich he got supplies at Syracuse. And 
 here stands forth Mr. Paget, declanng that no 
 one ever expressed a doubt on the matter, until a 
 certain Mr. Ji-affresou liad the 'audacity' to do so. 
 Here is a high Nelsonian authority, the essayist who 
 
 VOL. I. A A
 
 351 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 some years ago required us to rate Lord Macaulay as 
 little more than a literary pretender on some matters, 
 rising up to declare himself absolutely ignorant of an 
 afifair of histoiy, about which our higher school-girls 
 are questioned at Oxford and Cambridge local ex- 
 aminations. 
 
 Mr. Paget speaks disdainfully of my ♦ audacity ' in 
 disputing a fact which, though it has been questioned 
 by such Nelsoniau specialists as Sir Harris Nicolas 
 and Professor Laughton, I accept as certain fact. He 
 throws scorn on me for presuming to think I ' know 
 more about the proceedings of the English fleet in 
 the Mediterranean at that period than Lord Nelson.' 
 Fortunately for my peace of mind, I could enjoy a 
 hearty fit of laughter at finding myself so comically 
 misunderstood and misrepresented. My ' audacity ' 
 displayed itself in a way that should have gained me 
 Mr. Paget's golden opinion. For {vide, ' Lady Hamil- 
 ton and Lord Nelson,' vol. ii, pp. 352 — 356) I had the 
 daring to oppose the eminent men of letters, who 
 have at various times questioned what Mr. Paget 
 declares to have never been questioned by anj'-one but 
 myself. Instead of denying the statements of pure fact 
 in the so-called codicil, I argued in support of them.* 
 
 * Differing from previous writers of high authority, I accept 
 for sound history all the questionable and often questioned state- 
 ments of fact to be found in the clause of the so-called codicil, viz., 
 (a) that the Queen caused letters to be written to the Governor 
 of Syracuse, (6) that by these letters the Governor was directed 
 to afford Nelson exceptional facilities for watering and victualling, 
 and (c) that these letters were greatly serviceable to the Admiral 
 in enabling him to water and victual with singular expedition. 
 But whilst accepting these statements of fact on Nelson's sole 
 and sufficient authority, I venture, for sound and cogent reasons,
 
 AND LORD XELSON. 865 
 
 My case in my former book was, and my case still 
 is, that Nelson must have known the main facts of a 
 most remarkable passage of his own professional story, 
 that he was incapable of stating in so solemn a writ- 
 ing anything that he did not himself believe, that as 
 he died in the perfection of his mental powers, and 
 within so short a time as seven years and three 
 months after watering at Syracuse, he cannot be 
 presumed to have misremembered the circumstances 
 which enabled him to victual so quickly at the Sicilian 
 port, and that therefore he was aided at Syracuse by 
 secret letters, which came to him through Lady 
 Hamilton from the Queen. Whilst daring to say all 
 this in accordance with Mr. Paget's strong opinion, 
 and in opposition to the doubts (tlie reasonable doubts) 
 of Sir Harris Nicolas and Professor Laughton, I also 
 urged with perfect consistency that ' had Lady Ham- 
 ilton never been born. Nelson's ships would have 
 watered and victualled just as readily at Syracuse,' 
 ljecau.se in that case ho would all the same have re- 
 ceived Maria Caroline's secret warrant, though ho 
 would have received it from another instrument and 
 througli anotlior channel. 
 
 lu her later and failing time, Emma llainiltou 
 
 to reject two Btatciiicnts tliat ire of opinion rather than of fact, 
 I'ir., {a) that I^ady Hamilton caused tliu Queen to cause the letters 
 to be written, ami (h), that, had it not hecn for Lady Hamilton's 
 influence over the (iueen, thf lctt<TH would not have been written. 
 Nelson was often Htrangely at fault in his view and opinion of 
 Emma Hamilton ami her doings. In IHOl ho believed thatHoratia 
 was the only child to which she ha<l given birth. Ho was no less 
 at fault in thinking f\\c controlled the imiiorious sovereign who 
 used her as a mere instrument. At this date studcntH know 
 more than Nelson knew of Emma's relation to her royal mistress. 
 —J. C. J. 
 
 A.\ 2
 
 356 THE QUEEN OF NAPLES 
 
 clierishetl the most extravagant notions of her former 
 influence over the exalted persons, whom it had been 
 her singular fortune to serve in the subordinate 
 capacity of a confidential instrument. Imagining 
 that, had it not been for her ' influence,' Nelson 
 would never have won the Battle of the Nile, she 
 could even imagine that, had it not been for her 
 'influence,' he would have turned craven in the last 
 year of his life, and, shirking his duty to his country, 
 would have lived indolently at Merton instead of 
 going to sea for his last battle. In the same way, 
 though she had been an uniformly docile, and obedi- 
 ent, and respectful servant to Maria Caroline in Italy, 
 Emma Hamilton, in her closing years of rapid deterior- 
 ation, imagined herself to have exercised a control- 
 ling ' influence ' over the imperious, resolute, unyield- 
 ing Queen of Naples. According to her extravagant 
 fancy and wild talk after Nelson's death, it was her 
 ' influence ' that caused Maria Caroline to dislike the 
 King of Spain, to abhor France, to send an army 
 against the French in 1798, to retreat at the close of 
 the same year to Palermo, and to act energetically 
 in '99 for the suppression of the Parthenopeian 
 Republic. To this fly, who moved every wheel on 
 which she had been permitted to ride, it became 
 obvious that, had it not been for her 'influence,' 
 Maiia Caroline would never have helped Nelson to 
 thrash the French, whom the Queen regarded as set 
 on destroying herself, her husband and children. 
 
 On the strength of the famous so-called codicil, I 
 ask readers of this memoir of Maria Caroline to place 
 amongst tlie facts of her career that, in the summer
 
 AND LORD NELSON. 357 
 
 of 1798, she, of her own free ■u-ill and for her own 
 ends, sent, through Emma Hamilton, to Nelson a 
 secret waiTant, that aided him in watering and 
 victualling so expeditiously at Syracuse. Fortu- 
 nately, there are three points of this business about 
 which there can be no dispute. Nelson got all he 
 needed at xSyracuse, and got it quickly, and the 
 supplies enabled him to set forth at a happy moment 
 for his second voyage to Egypt. 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 London: Printed by Duncan ilacdonald, Bknheim House.
 
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