Some Old Time Beauties | Page 5

barmaid in a tavern much frequented by actors and artists. She
formed the acquaintance of a Welsh youth, on whose being impressed
into the navy, she went to the captain to intercede for him. The boy was
liberated, but the comely intercessor was impressed into the service of
the captain. From him she went to live with a man of wealth; but her
extravagance and wilfulness induced him to forego her company. Then
followed a period of the lowest street degradation. From this state she
was taken by a Dr. Graham, who was a lecturer upon health, and
exhibited the finely-formed Emma as a perfect specimen of female
symmetry. She became the topic of the town. Painters, sculptors, and
others came to admire the shapely limbs shown under but a thin veil of
gauze. The young bloods of the time worshipped,--some not afar off;
and one of them, Charles Greville, of the Warwick family, who had
essayed to educate her to become a fit companion for his elevated
existence, maintained her for about four years. It is recorded, that when
he took her to Ranelagh's the sensation was greater than had ever been
produced by any other beauty there. Not the winsome and witty Mrs.
Crewe, nor her friend Mrs. Bouverie; not that first flame of the
amorous Prince of Wales, Mrs. Robinson, nor Anne Luttrell, also
beloved of royalty; not the Marchioness of Tavistock, whose loveliness
has been preserved to us by Sir Joshua, nor the delightful Duchess of
Buccleugh; not Lady Cadogan, and not even the dashing Duchess of
Devonshire herself,--caused the comment and admiration this low-born
unprincipled young woman now excited. Mr. Greville would have
married her had not his uncle, Sir William Hamilton, interfered. It is
variously stated that Sir William agreed to pay his nephew's debts if he
would yield up his mistress; and also that, in endeavoring to free the
young man, the old gentleman himself fell into the snare of her charms.
"She is better than anything in Nature. In her own particular way she is
finer than anything that is to be found in Greek art," exclaimed this
savant on first seeing her. She was a most enchanting deceiver, and a
finished actress in the parts of candor and simplicity, so succeeded in
marrying Sir William, in 1791. He was over sixty years of age, a man
of much classical and 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 of
character. She had great loveliness of person; but physical beauty alone
is ineffectual to charm such as these. Though not regularly educated,
she acquired much general knowledge, and was tactful in the display
and use of it.
It was during the period of her