England's Mistress_ The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton - Kate Williams [105]
Nelson, like all the English, believed the white inhabitants of the Caribbean to be wildly rich, as well as more sexual, thanks to their acquaintance with the black arts of witchcraft and the torrid climate. Prime Minister Pitt declared that four-fifths of Great Britain's overseas wealth came from the West Indies, but the income of the Nevisian planters was actually in decline because the soil was losing its fertility through overcul-tivation. Herbert hid his worsening fortunes and let Nelson believe that he would "provide handsomely" for Fanny: a large gift on marriage, £300 a year, and £20,000 on his death.6 Nelson also anticipated that she would inherit the bulk of Herbert's estate.
Tempted by the prospect of catching an heiress to millions, Nelson began to imagine himself a husband. After all, he was of an age to be married, and he longed to start a family. Most importantly, while every other woman had turned him down, Fanny was a sure thing. Although she was no beauty and could never be called vivacious, she was wealthy, fertile, and seemingly possessed of the self-control, poise, and maturity vital for a navy wife. Nelson was very much in the dark. He had no idea that Fanny and her uncle were engaged in an effort to show her off as independent— in reality, she was tremulous and nervous. Neither did he realize that she was no longer fertile, her womb wrecked, probably by an infection contracted from syphilitic Josiah Nisbet. He was also utterly ignorant that Herbert's famed riches were a lie.
Once they were engaged, Herbert offered nowhere near the money he had promised. Breaking an engagement was always reviled as a dishonorable act, so Nelson could only complain—and anyway, he had high hopes that Fanny's uncle would shower money on her in the future. Their marriage took place on March 11, 1787, in Montpelier House, across the road from the sugar plantation where the slaves still toiled. The hell-raising twenty-two-year-old Prince William Henry, the future King William TV, was visiting and agreed to give away the bride. The wedding was celebrated in his honor, and a hundred dined on the island's best produce and watched cockfighting and horse racing while toasting the prince with gallons of wine and imported rum.
The bridal couple returned to London to begin their life together. Disaster struck almost immediately. Nelson was retired and put on half pay of eight shillings a week. In Nevis, he had leapfrogged over his superior's head to request that the Admiralty uphold the law and prevent the islands from trading with America. His fault as a subordinate was what later made him great: convinced he was right, he refused to conciliate. Nelson's tactless accusations of fraud (to the extent of writing to the prime minister) had annoyed the Admiralty. Even worse, King George blamed him for failing to stop Prince William's irresponsible behavior and ludicrous spending in the West Indies. Nelson was firmly out of favor. As it was a period of peace, there were not many ships available, and he had no chance at the few that came up.
Fanny had believed that her acquaintance with the prince would give her an inroad into a position in the queen's household. It was an outlandish idea: Queen Charlotte despaired of her wild son and wanted nothing to do with those he had befriended on his travels. Fanny was marooned in Norfolk, far from London and the fashionable life she had dreamed about. To her distress, Josiah was sent away to school, and the couple moved in with Nelson's father, Edmund, still the rector at Burn-ham Thorpe. As the weather turned cold, she was entirely debilitated by the Norfolk damp and mud. Racked by chills, rheumatism, and