England's Mistress_ The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton - Kate Williams [130]
Caricatures began to appear in the print shops. In the eyes of eighteenth-century satirists, mistresses and courtesans could do as they pleased, but a wife who was unfaithful was beyond the pale. Emma received some harsh treatment. One of the most scabrous depictions of Emma and Nelson ever produced appeared at some point in late 1798 or early 1799. The Night Mare on the Source of the Nile is a parody of The Nightmare, the famous gothic work by Swiss painter Henry Fuseli, in which a woman lies on a bed, a small demon balanced over her. Emma is shown in the same position on a large round bed (perhaps an allusion to James Graham's Celestial Bed) and Nelson, as a crook-nosed little demon, perches on her midriff and pulls up her skirt. The affair between Nelson and Emma sold newspapers and prints, and few missed the chance to exploit it.∗
The ordinary seamen adored Emma, and begged her to intercede in disputes. Nelson's officers, however, began to fret. Admiral Goodall branded Emma an "enchantress." Captain Troubridge warned Emma that her "enemies" in London were whispering about her unseemly influence over Nelson, and he implored Nelson to stop gambling at "nocturnal parties," for "Lady Hamilton's character will suffer; nothing can prevent people from talking." Lord Elgin was traveling through Palermo on his way to take up a position as ambassador to Constantinople, and the new Lady Elgin, just twenty-one, judged Emma according to the gossip columns: she decided Emma managed Nelson entirely, while he behaved "as if he had no other thought than her." She derided "the fuss the Queen made with Lady H." She thought Emma buxom, described her dress as showy and revealing, and decided she would be just her father's type: a "fine Woman" of "good flesh and blood," a phrase used at the time to imply sexual susceptibility3
∗ As pornographic cartoons tend not to survive (they are hardly items people treasure for their relations), it is very likely that dozens of similar cartoons appeared.
By January, Lord Keith, the commander of the British fleet in the Mediterranean, was sick of the antics of the "silly pair of sentimental fools" and ordered Nelson to meet him in Leghorn. Emma clung to him before they parted, no doubt aware that he had conducted an affair there with the singer Adelaide Correglia, and begged him not to sleep off ship or to socialize, for "there is no comfort their for you." She had no need to worry. He wrote the earliest of his love letters to her that survives:
Last night I did nothing but dream of you altho' I woke twenty times in the night, in one of my dreams I thought I was at a large table you was not present, sitting between a Princess who I detest and another, they both tried to seduce me and the first wanted to take those liberties with me which no Woman in this World but yourself ever did, the consequence was I knocked her down and in the moment of bustle you came in and taking me to your embrace wispered I love nothing but you my Nelson, I kissed you fervently and we enjoy'd the height of love. Ah Emma I pour out my soul to you. If you love any thing but me you love those who feel not like your N….
No separation no time my only beloved Emma can alter my love and affection for you, it is founded on the truest principles of honor, and it only remains for us to regret which I do with the bitterest anguish that there are any obstacles to our being united in the closest ties of this Worlds rigid rules, as we are in those of real love. Continue only to love your faithful Nelson, as he loves his Emma, you are my guide I submit to you.
The "Princesses" are probably Maria Carolina's daughters, Amelia and Antoinette, young, single, and teasing (future