Memoirs of Emma, lady Hamilton, the friend of Lord Nelson and the court of Naples; by 1855-1933 Walter Sydney Sichel Read Free Book Online Page A

greedy earth her buried spoil Of antique entablature; and from the toil
    Of time restoring some fair form, acquire A fancied jewel, know 'tis but a foil
    To this superior gem of richer fire. In Romney's tints behold the Trojan maid,
    See beauty blazing in prophetic ire. From palaces engulphed could earth retire,
    And show thy works, Apelles, undecay'd, E'en thy Campaspe would not dare to vie With the wild splendour of Cassandra's eye."
    In a late letter to Lady Hamilton the poet assures her that an unpublished ode was wholly inspired by her, and there are traces of her influence even in his poor tragedies. But since " Serena " influenced her often, it may be of interest to single out a few lines from the Triumphs of Temper (composed some years before its author first met her) as likelier to have arrested her attention than his triter commonplaces about " spleen " and " cheerfulness " :
    " Free from ambitious pride and envious care, To love and to be loved was all her prayer."

    " Th' imperishable wealth of sterling love."
    " . . . She's everything by starts and nothing long, But in the space of one revolving hour Flies thro all states of poverty and power, All forms on whom her veering mind can pitch, Sultana, Gipsy, Goddess, nymph, and witch. At length, her soul with Shakespeare's magic fraught, The wand of Ariel fixed her roving thought."
    And
    " But mild Serena scorn'd the prudish play To wound warm love with frivolous delay; Nature's chaste child, not Affection's slave, The heart she meant to give, she frankly gave."
    The August of 1782 brought about an event decisive for Emma's future—the death of the first Lady Hamilton, the Ambassador's marriage with whom in 1757 had been mainly one of convenience, though it had proved one also of comfort and esteem. She was a sweet, tranquil soul of rapt holiness, what the Germans call " Eine schone Seele," and she worshipped the very earth that her light-hearted husband, far nearer to it than she was, trod on. He had set out as a young captain of foot, who, in his own words, had " known the pinch of poverty "; but during the whole twenty-five years of their union she had never once reproached him, and had dedicated to him all " that long disease " she called " her life." So far, though intimate with the young Sicilian King and friendly with the Queen, Hamilton had weighed little in diplomacy. In a sprightly letter to the Earl of Dartmouth some six years earlier, he observes: " It is singular but certainly true that I am become more a ministre de farnille at this court than ever were the ministers of France, Spain, and Vienna. Whenever there is a good shooting-party H.S. Majesty is pleased to send for me, and for some months past I have had the honour of dining

    with him twice or three times a week, nay sometimes I have breakfasted, dined, and supped ... in their private party without any other minister." He next descants on his exceptional opportunities of helping the English in Naples. He hits off a certain Lady Boyd among them as " Like Mr. Wilkes, but she has [such] a way of pushing forward that face of hers and filling every muscle of it with good humour, that her homeliness is forgot in a moment "; and he concludes with the usual complaint that—unlike his predecessor, Sir William Lynch—he has not yet been made " Privy Councillor." So dissatisfied was he that in 1774 he had tried hard on one of his periodical home visits to exchange his ambassadorship at Naples for one at Madrid; and hitherto science, music, pictures, archaeology, sport, and gallantry had occupied his constant leisure—indeed he was more of a Consul than of an Ambassador. General Acton's advent, however, as Minister of War and Marine in 1779 proved a passing stimulus to his dormant energy. If a dawdler, he was never a trifler; and he was uniformly courteous and kind-hearted. His frank geniality recommended him as bear-leader to the many English visitors who flocked annually to Naples, often stumbled