Nelson's Lady Hamilton by Meynell, Esther (cheapest way to read ebooks .txt) 📗

and then to the Bush Inn at Staines, which Emma called "a delightful place, well situated, and a

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good garden on the Thames."Nelson and the Hamiltons were accompanied by the Reverend William Nelson, with his wife and daughter Charlotte, and "the brave little Parker, wh< afterwards lost his life in that bold, excellent anc vigorous attack at Boulogne, where such unexampled bravery was shown by our brav Nelson's followers"—to use Emma's wordj The Duke of Queensberry and Lord Williai Gordon had been invited to join the party, but were unable to do so.Lord William Gordon, in reply, wrote Emma some very indifferent verses, in which he took off the characteristics of all the little company—with the exception of herself and Nelson, who went under the name of " Henry"—

" For thee and Henry, silent are our lays ; Thy beauty and his valour mock all praise."

Verse-making seemed to be a popular pastime with the Hamilton-Nelson circle. Miss Cornelia Knight, it will be remembered, had written many songs in praise of the admiral, while Emma, 'in later years, wrote little poems about him. But the odd, the incongruous thing is that Nelson himself took to making verses. Love plays many strange pranks, but surely never a stranger one than this which set the great admiral hunting for rhymes instead of for the ships of the enemy. Quite early in 1801, shortly after the birth of Horatia, he sent to Lady Hamilton, " a few lines, wrote in

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the late gale : which I think, you will not disapprove/' The best of these verses is perhaps the following :—

" A heart susceptible, sincere, and true ; A heart, by fate, and nature, torn in two : One half to duty and his country due ; The other better half to love and you ! "

But this is not the aspect of Nelson's character upon which his country most loves to dwell. And he was soon called back to the sterner side of life. There was a sudden panic fear of a French invasion, and Nelson had to take the command of the coast, from Beachy Head to Orford Ness. As Captain Mahan says—

" Reputation such as his bears its own penalty. There was no other man in whose name England could find the calm certainty of safety, which popular apprehension demanded in the new emergency, that had arisen while he was upholding her cause in the northern seas. Nelson repined, but he submitted. Within four weeks his flag was flying again, and himself immersed in professional anxieties."

Invasion in 1801 was not the real danger it was in 1803-1805. It was a somewhat idle threat of Buonaparte's, who was puzzled how to strike effectively at England, and found himself constantly baffled by the slow but irresistible workings of the English sea-power. That, as Nelson so fully recognized, was " literally the

foundation of our fabric of defence." He was little troubled by the invasion scare, though quite ready to take all reasonable precautions. " I agree perfectly with you," he wrote to St. Vincent, "that we must keep the enemy as far from our own coasts as possible, and be able t< attack them the moment they come out of theii ports." Indeed, he did not wait for the French to come out of their ports ; instead of waiting he planned and carried out the attack on the Boulogne flotilla, which ended in such a disastrous repulse. But Nelson could be as great in failure as in success, as he proved in the night-attack on Teneriffe years before. Professor Knox Laugh ton says of the Boulogne failure, " There was no petty grumbling, no attempt to shirk the responsibility. What had been done was his; his the blame, if there were any ; to his followers the credit of unflinching bravery and devotion."

But through all these excitements and dangers Nelson's thoughts were constantly with Emma, who seems to have been capable of expressing jealousy, in spite of the admiral's whole-hearted devotion. " You need not fear all the women in this world," he assures her, " for all others, except yourself, are pests to me. I know but one; for, who can be like my Emma ? I am confident, you will do nothing which can hurt my feelings." He was willing to make himself a hermit in his shi] so that her suspicions might be soothed. In on<

letter he tells her, " The Mayor and Corporation of Sandwich, when they came on board to present me the Freedom of that ancient Town, requested me to dine with them. I put them off for the moment, but they would not be let off. Therefore, this business, dreadful to me, stands over, and I shall be attacked again when I get to the Downs. But I will not dine there, without you say, approve; nor, perhaps, then, if I can get off. Oh ! how I hate to be stared at! "

His chivalry towards one woman apparently drove him into being rude to all others. From the Medusa in the Downs, he wrote to Lady Hamilton, on the 3ist of August—

" Oh ! how bad the weather is ! The devils, here, wanted to plague my soul out, yesterday, just after dinner; but I would have seen them damned, before