Nelson's Lady Hamilton by Meynell, Esther (surface ebook reader txt) 📕

remove ; but with that curious moral perversion of which the human mind is capable he asked Emma the question, which, seen truly, is really pathetic, " Have we a nice church at Merton ? We will set an example of goodness to the under parishioners."

When at length he reached Merton he found it all his hopes had pictured, and soon his

•

"MEDITATION"

ENGRAVED BY S. 1'HII.LIPS FROM A DRAWING BY R. WESTAI.L, R. A.

relations were gathered round his hospitable hearth. Lady Hamilton wrote to Mrs. William Nelson within a week or two of the admiral's arrival—

" He has been very, very happy since he arrived, and Charlotte [Nelson's niece] has been very attentive to him. Indeed we all make it our constant business to make him happy. Sir William is fonder than ever, and we manage very well in regard to our establishment, pay share and share alike, so it comes easy to booth partys. . . . We were all at church, and Charlotte turned over the prayers for her uncle. As to Sir William, they are the greatest friends in the world. ... Sir William and Charlotte caught 3 large pike. She helps him and milord with their great coats on; so now I have nothing to do."

This is an idyllic picture of country peace and an united household. The impression is further heightened by a simple old-world letter from Nelson's father to Lady Hamilton, written in January, 1802—

"MADAM, —Your polite congratulations upon the entrance of a new year, I return seven-fold to you, and the whole of the party now under the hospitable roof of Merton Place. Time is a sacred deposit committed to our trust; and, hereafter, we must account for the use we have

318 NELSON'S LADY HAMILTON

made of it. To me, a large portion of this treasure has already been granted, even seventy-nine years. The complaint my dear son has felt is, I know, very, very painful: and can be removed, only, with much care and caution; not venturing, without a thick covering, both head and feet, even to admire your parterres of snowdrops, which now appear in all their splendour. The white robe which January wears, bespangled with ice, is handsome to look at; but we must not approach too near her. I shall be very glad to know the Lord of Merton is recovered. I am, Madam, your most humble servant. EDM. NELSON"

Just before Nelson first came to Merton he wrote to Emma, begging that he might not be " annoyed " on his arrival with visitors and strangers; " it is retirement with my friends, that I wish for/ 7 That was a genuine expression of his wishes and feelings ; all his life he was well content with the dinner of herbs where love is— but not so Emma. In the simple old Edgware Row days, when one man's approval had made up the sum of her happiness, she had found content in small things ; but Italy and the atmosphere of a Court had spoiled her. She had grown to like a lavish show, an exuberant and expensive hospitality. Nelson had assured her, in the blindness of his heart, during the purchase

TO THE LAST BATTLE 819

and preparation of Merton, "You will make us rich with your economies." But economy and Emma—after her early days—were barely on speaking terms. Like most women, she enjoyed

'i planning and contriving something out of nothing,

;!and she was always ready to work with her hands; but any saving she effected thereby was erased by some lavish expenditure soon afterwards. At Merton, in Nelson's name, she kept a most liberal table, as the heavy weekly bills show, and she was not satisfied lest many guests

] graced the well-provided board. So expenses grew, and the quiet country home became as full of noise and society as any town house. Nelson yielded his wishes to hers without a murmur— apparently all was well so long as the " Lady Paramount" was happy.

But Sir William was not so well pleased. Old age had crept fast upon him; he began to feel that his days were numbered, and he wished to spend the few remaining to him in the ways and pursuits for which he most cared. "It is but reasonable," he wrote to his nephew, Charles

j Greville, in January, 1802, " after having fagged all my life, that my last days should pass off comfortably and quietly." The reasonableness of this desire Emma apparently could not see : she was so wrapped up in herself and in Nelson, she was so eminently satisfied with the large and easy way of living at Merton, that she ignored

her husband's growing dissatisfaction. At last Sir William was driven to put the case before her in writing, which he did with great restraint and kind feeling ; nevertheless, the document is illuminating, and it is particularly interesting as being practically the last time in which the old diplomatist emerges from the background to which he had been tacitly relegated by his wife and his " best friend "—

" I have passed the last 40 years of my life in the hurry and bustle that must necessarily be ! attendant on a publick character. I am arrived at the age when some repose is really necessary, and I promised myself a quiet home, and altho' I was sensible, and said so