Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/293

 27r LOVI^ I On April 30th, she wrote to Grevell : " . . . I love you to that degree that at this time there is not a hardship upon hearth, either of poverty, hunger, cold, death, or even to walk barefooted to Scotland to see you, but what I would undergo. ... I respect Sir William, I have a very great regard for him. But he can never be anything nearer to me than your uncle and my sincere friend. He can never be my lover." Later she writes : "I have had a conver- sation this morning with Sir William that has made me mad. He speaks — no, I do not know what to make of it." Again, still later, she writes : " You advise me to . . . Nothing can express my rage ! I am all madness ! Grevell to advise me — you that used to envy my smiles . . . If you affront me, I will make him marry me." And she did. In 1 79 1 Sir William took another holiday, and returned to Italy with a wife, his " be- loved Emma." Emma always had been popular among the Neapolitans, but now she became not only popular, but also important. As Lady Hamilton she was given the entree where previously it had been denied her. She was received officially in court circles, and soon became on terms of closest intimacy with the queen. These were troublous times in Europe. The spirit of the French Revolution, which had pervaded every country, had made its influence to be felt very strongly in the kingdom of the two Sicilies. Ferdinand was a fain [ant king. The preservation of the monarchy, therefore, was a task which devolved upon the queen, a brilliant, resourceful woman and a sister to the unfortunate Marie Antoinette. England alone had had the courage to breathe defiance against the eagle of all- conquering France ; but for Maria Caroline to appeal openly to England, or even to negotiate with the English embassy, would have spelt ruin, for French influence was strong in Naples. Through the ambassador's wife, however, the queen was able to negotiate and to gauge exactly the feelings of the English Court towards Naples. To what extent, however, Lady Hamilton contributed towards the salvation of Naples is impossible to determine, but undoubtedly she did much. Indeed, without her skill and help, Nelson has assured the world that never could he have effected the rescue. Nelson first met Lady Hamilton in 1793, when, as a young naval officer, he was sent to Naples, with despatches to the ambassador. The next meeting took place five years later, when wild — nay, mad — with excitement, Lady Hamilton greeted her hero after the glorious victory of the Nile. Nelson has left on record a description of this meeting. " She fell," he wrote in a Ltter to his wife, " into my arm 3 more dead than alive." And from that m::ment he loved her. In 1800 Sir William Hamilton was re- called, and Nelson, whose work in the Medi- terranean was now completed, decided to travel in the company of his friends to England, and to the faithful wife who was there awaiting him. The journey was a long, intoxicating triumph, and to Nelson it must have been particularly sweet, since all the many honours which were showered upon him he was able to share with the woman whom he loved. Whatever may have been the nature of the relations between them during their residence at Naples, there can be no doubt but that, long before their arrival in England, Nelson and Lady Hamilton were deeply attached to each other. The evidence of reason, if not of fact, is indisputable. Sir William must have been blind, but Lady Nelson was less easily deceived. No sooner had she met her husband than she saw written on his face the confirmation of her fears. Perhaps even then this honest little woman recognised as inevitable the separation which was consummated later. Towards the end of the year 1800 Sir William, it is true, contemplated a separation from his " beloved Emma." This, however, he did from quite unselfish motives. In his old age he felt incapable of living in such a whirl of social gaiety as was necessitated by the friendship between his wife and Nelson. He did not take the step, however, because, as he himself remarked, " I well know the purity of Lord Nelson's friendship for Emma and me. And I know how very uncomfortable it would make his lordship, our best friend, if such a separation should take place." Moreover, in 1803, when he died, he was still without suspicion, and he died clasping in his the hands of his beloved wife. There was a pathos about the old man's blind devotion which was wasted neither on Emma nor on Nelson. To the end they loved and ministered to him as would have a daughter and a son. Although basking in the sunshine of a brilliant and ardent love. Lady Hamilton now was- burdened with remorse. She was conscious of having descended " the primrose path " which once she had found so difficult to climb. She resented finding herself once again the subject of malicious paragraphs in papers, gossipped about in clubs, and the centre of vulgar curiosity in every drawing-room. She resorted to all manner of subterfuges to conceal her secret, and at the time of the birth of her daughter, Horatia — that much- discussed infant — Nelson in his letters always refers to himself and Emma as Mr. and Mrs. Thomson. In the spring of 1801, however, he threw oft this feeble and transparent mask, and wrote : " Now, my dear wife, for such you are in my eyes and in the face of heaven . there is nothing in this world I would not do for us to live together and to have our