siduity as if he had been in the prime of his days. At Merton and in Piccadilly, this silly old man was quite delighted with the enchanting attitudes and vocal powers of the lively widow, who on her part was not backward in using every art of pleasing the amorous dotard. Nelson, however, had discernment enough left not to be much afraid of any serious proposal coming from that quarter, for he knew that the duke, whatever might be his propensities, was a determined enemy to matrimony, of which institution he generally spoke with contempt. But the presents which were made to this nobleman, with the express view of propitiating his good graces in behalf of lady Hamilton, and to secure the remembrance of her in his will, did little honour to the persons from whom they came, and who, in their private conversation and correspondence, treated him with unmeasured ridicule.

While Nelson was in the Mediterranean, he discovered what he might have found out long before, if his passion had not blinded his judgment, that there was no real principle of friendship in the queen of Naples for his beloved Emma, though her majesty had vowed towards that lady "eternal gratitude." To all his letters on the subject of the necessities of lady Hamilton, and the strong claims which he urged on her behalf, the queen returned very ambiguous and cool answers, which drew from his lordship some very severe observations on her character and conduct; while lady Hamilton avenged herself by relations of the queen's amours, in doing which she had not wit enough to perceive that she was at the same instant bringing her own reputation completely under suspicion for having been so long associated with a personage of that description.

But, during this year, she had various causes of vexation, and multiplied evidences, that the esteem of Nelson could not secure the attachment of her old friends; for a

violent quarrel arose between her ladyship and Mr. Greville, about the construction of his uncle's will, and the payment of her annuity. The business was indeed settled, but not much to the satisfaction of her ladyship; and the admiral was so greatly provoked at the intelligence, that he was almost tempted to urge a suit at law.

One of the most extraordinary instances of human weakness appears in the following letter, which Nelson wrote to his child, who was then only three years old:

"I send you twelve books of Spanish dresses, which you will let your guardian angel, lady Hamilton, keep for you, when you are tired of looking at them. I am very glad to hear that you are perfectly recovered, and that you are a very good child. I beg, my dear Horatia, that you will always continue so; which will be a great comfort to your most affectionate

NELSON AND BRONTE."

:

At the same time he sent a very singular letter to his niece, in which he mentions this child in the following manner:-" I feel truly sensible of your kind regard for that dear little orphan, Horatia. Although her parents are lost, yet she is not without a fortune and I shall cherish her to the last moment of my life; and curse them who curse her, and Heaven bless them who bless her! Dear innocent! she can have injured no one. I am glad to hear that she is attached to you; and, if she takes after her parents, so she will to those who are kind to her."

There was a degree of duplicity in writing thus to a female relation, on a subject which did not require any correspondence at all; but there was a much greater meanness in suffering this young lady to reside in a de

pendent capacity with lady Hamilton, whose dissipated turn of mind was well known to all who were admitted at Merton on a familiar footing. Whatever were the accomplishments of her ladyship in other respects, few persons, who had any regard for the substantial attainments which constitute the great excellence of the female character, would for any consideration have placed a favourite daughter in such a family.

The company at Merton was certainly far from that cast to which any parent of elevated sentiments would be inclined to introduce his child. Here might be found Italian singers and English performers, newspaper editors, and miserable poetasters, adventurers without character, and ladies whose names were no recommendation at court. Much has been said of the exuberant loyalty of lady Hamilton, and her advocates have dwelt very much on this brilliant feature in her disposition, but if she really merited the encomiums which have been so extravagantly paid her on this account, she would hardly have encouraged the most rancorous party writers, virulent satirists, and determined republicans, at her table. The names of these persons could easily be mentioned, and the author of these memoirs is not unacquainted with the freedom of the conversation which took place at these entertainments, and the communications there made on political subjects.

At the beginning of the year 1805, this woman had the vanity and assurance, when writing to Mr. Alexander Davidson, to subjoin, what she properly enough called,

some of her bad verses on her soul's idol!" Disagreeable as it is to dwell upon this shocking connexion, to which so many persons gave their countenance, whose situations in life called for another line of behaviour, the present volume would be incomplete without this specimen of lady Hamilton's poetical talents, and of the deli

cacy of her moral principles, both of which have been celebrated by her flatterers:

EMMA TO NELSON.

I think I have not lost my heart,
Since I with truth can swear;
At every moment of my life,
I feel my Nelson there!

If from thine Emma's breast her heart
Were stolen, or flown away,

Where, where should she my Nelson's love
Record, each happy day?

If from thine Emma's breast her heart
Were stolen, or flown away,

Where, where should she engrave, my love!
Each tender word you say?

Where, where should Emma treasure up.
Her Nelson's smiles and sighs?

Where, mark with joy, each secret look
Of love from Nelson's eyes?

Then do not rob me of my heart,
Unless you first forsake it:
And then so wretched it would be,
Despair alone will take it.

CHAPTER XV.

Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows,
While proudly riding o'er the azure realm,
In gallant trim the gilded vessel goes;

Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm;
Regardless of the sweeping whirlwind's sway,

That hush'd in grim repose, expects his coming prey...Gray.

WHEN lord Nelson arrived at Portsmouth, after his unsuccessful pursuit of the combined French and Spanish fleet, in August, 1805, lady Hamilton was at Southend with Mrs. Billington and Horatia; but on receiving the agreeable intelligence, she hastened to. Merton, where the rest of his lordship's family also assembled to welcome the hero. One person indeed was wanting; nor did any mediating voice offer a soothing word to induce the gallant admiral to see his lady, even as an old acquaintance; and it is a melancholy fact, that she never had a single interview with him during his last residence in England. But at Merton all was gayety on this joyous occasion, and crowds of visiters went thither every day to pay their respects to his lordship, and the fair ascendant who ruled his affec tions. Such was the morality which distinguished the zealous admirers of this great man, that they appeared to have laid aside, in his presence, all those feelings which usually actuate honourable minds, when they are obliged to witness scenes of impurity, and to endure, though but for a moment, the company of women who have lost all sense of shame. That any of the persons thus admitted to a familiar intercourse with the noble owner of Merton-place, and the lady who presided at his table, could be ignorant of the attachment which subsisted between them, cannot be supposed, since it is well known that neither of the parties took the precaution of casting the slightest veil over their connexion. On the contrary, they both gloried in it, and