LADY HAMILTON.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5306, 30 July 1928, Page 4

LADY HAMILTON.

FAVOURITE OF LORD NEESON’S. STORY OF HER CAREER. The story of Emily Lyon is, one of the most romantic f the world s stories, if you arte willing to admit that sordidpess may come into romance. This poor little girl, the. daughter of an illiterate blacksmith, was born in 1765. Soon after; her birth her father died, and heir mother took her .to Hawarden, hfer nativ® village, where she lived a hard I'fe in the cottage of hen grandmother till She was fifteen. Then came' a •change; to London, where she also changed her .name—for no discoverable reason —to Emma Hart She became servant in the house of a well-known doctor. Her kitchen, companion was Jane Powell, who rose to be a famous actress. What an amazing kitchen that must have been ! Why has no writer of plays jumped at the possibilities ? (says an English reviewer!. HER first ESCAPADE. There- is a considerable literature concerning' Emma (mainly dealing with her association with Nbls.on), but th&t’e was room for such a book as Mr 0. A. Shenrardfs "A Life of Emma Hamilton.” Mr Sherrard lias gone to original documents, reconstructed the period, and presented us with a vivid, pespicacious, and extremely well-written study. Ther® is a good deal of mystery about' Emma’s" first London experiences. Unsupported gossip has veiled her, in a cloud of slander. But it is certain that in 1780 she became the mistress of Sir, Harry Fetherstonehaugh, a rich and worthless baronet, who carried her off to Up Park,"in Sussex, but-not before she had met the Honourable Charles Gfeville, who was, a little later, to control her destiny for some y'ea.rs and sell her to h's uncle, Sir William Hamilton. .At, Up Park, crowded with hard-dlrinking men and very shady women, she led a hectic life for six months. When she was about to become a mother Feherstonehaugh ’ kicked her out, and she appealed to Greville.. A PITEOUS LETTER. All Emma’s letters have an extraordinary fascination, ungrammatical and ill-spelt as they were to the end. After various fruitless appeals to Fetherstonehaugh, sire wrote to Greville :— “I have never hard from Sir H • • g.ood God what, shall I do,w .... I cant come to town for want of money, I have not a far,tiring to bless myself with and 1 think my friends look cooly on m®, I thihk so. ,0 G that I was in your posesion as 1 was in Sir H. What a happey girl I would have been, a girl indead, for what else am I but a girl in distress, in reall distress, for God’s sake G utrtte the minet you get this and only tell mewhat I ham to dow ... I am almost mad.”

This was exactly w4iat Greville had bee.n waiting for. He wrote her a pompous moral lecture, but at the same time sent, her money and promised) to provide for the child. “This,” remarks Mr Sheruard, “seems to thli’ow light on Greville’s intimacy with Emma . . ■ And why was Greville prepared to provide, for the child without the least effort to fix the Jtespon.sibility in the obvious quarter ?” At any rate, she' passed 'Under the protection of Greville, who taught hen what ‘he called philosophy, kept her secluded and short of funds, but was, apparently, kind to her, until the abominable idea, of trading her off to his uncle,/oil some' ready money and the promise of testamentary benefactions. So Emma much against her will, for .really loved Greville, was shipped off to Naples where Si r William was English Ambassador/. ENTER NELSON. Emma was an immense success. Sir William was intimate with the King, she' became intimate with the Queen. Emma became ambitious and induced Sir Will' am to maiH'y her in London. They returned! to Naples.;— and the beginning or revolution. After England had joined the great coalition against France, an,d Toulon had been surrendered! to Lotfd Hood, Nelson .was sent to Naples to negotiate for troops to act as garrison. Naturally, he went straight to S*r William, Avhd invited him to at the Embassy. “The captain I am about to introduce you,” he told Emma, “is a little man and far from handsome, but he will live to be a great man- I know it from the talks I have had with him.” And so the sded of Emma's h lia l tragedy was sown. The rest of the qtory is wellknown. No doubt Emma recognised the greatness of Nelson —she was singularly astute —and her ambition rose to greater, heights; Nelson was fascinated, as all men were, by her beauty, but it was a long time before he could ,make up lids mind to betray his Mend and host. Nelson did the. meanest thing it is possible for. one man to do to another/. I.t seems doubtful whether Hamilton ever really knew of • the conn'ection,, though they lived together—an extraordinary trio—in the great house that Nelson when he had become the most famous man in England, bought at Mertens After Hamilton’s death Nelson'would! have married heH", but Lady -Nelgccn/,. a vague and obdurate person, stood in the way. • THE DEBIT SIDE. The end came with disastrous swiftness for; Emma. Nelson was killed in the hour of victory at Trafalgar, and Emma became as derelict as an abandoned ship. The gteat admiral left, her £2OOO, and an. allowance of £soo' a year from his( Bronte estate, which was never paid. Emma sold the place, and might have lived quite comfortably on the prodeeds if sjie had not already acquired a passion for gambling and a taste for drink. The strange codicil to Nelson’s will, “I leave Emma Lady Hamilton • • • a legacy to my King and country, that they will give her ample! provision to maintain her hank in life,” was disregarded by King and couniUW. After all, the Treasury can hardly be expected to look after, tihe mistresses of great men ; though the Privy Piifise might have done something.