scientific erudition, and had been for many years ambassador at the
court of Naples, to which place he was soon accompanied by his bride.
She became a favorite with the queen, and a frequent visitor at the
palace, also somewhat of a social success among the British residents.
She sang well, and made a specialty of showing herself in "attitudes,"
or what we term now "living pictures," for the delectation of her
guests. "You never saw anything so charming as Lady Hamilton's
attitudes," wrote the Countess of Malmesbury to her sister, Lady
Elliot; "the most graceful statues or pictures do not give you an idea
of them. Her dancing the Tarantella is beautiful to a degree." It was
here began that intimacy with Nelson which became the great blot on
his fair fame. He was then commanding the Agamemnon, and she became
his constant companion, and was sometimes useful to him as a political
agent. After the victory of Aboukir Bay, when Naples went wild in its
enthusiastic reception of the naval hero, Lady Hamilton shared the
honors of the pageant. She accompanied him in a tour through Germany;
and most reprehensible was their conduct, at times, in defying the
decencies of polite life. After the Treaty of Amiens, Nelson,
accompanied by Sir William and Lady Hamilton, retired to his seat at
Merton, in Surrey, and on the death of the ambassador, in 1803, he
vainly endeavored to procure an allowance from the government for the
widow, on the pretext of the services she had rendered the fleet in
Sicily. Failing this, he himself granted her an annuity of twelve
hundred pounds. We all know how at Trafalgar, when the hero was dying,
he spoke of "dear Lady Hamilton, his guardian angel," and left to her
all his belongings, and recommended her to the grateful care of his
country. Notwithstanding this, she died almost in poverty, in 1815.
In 1813 she had been imprisoned for debt, and when out on bail she
fled to Calais, and there the career was closed. It was extraordinary
that this woman should subjugate and hold in thrall men of great force