England's Mistress_ The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton - Kate Williams [151]
Although Horatia had secured her position in Nelson's heart, Emma felt vulnerable. Her lover hated to hear even the mention of his wife's name, so she kept her jealousy secret and plunged her energies into trying to fulfill his dream of a home filled with his family and friends. She infuriated Fanny by attempting to employ Nelson's French butler from Roundwood, and trying to win over his siblings. Nelson's clergyman brother William wrote to Emma unctuously, "Your image and voice are constantly before my imagination, and I can think of nothing else…. It is no wonder that my good, my great, my virtuous, my beloved brother should be so attached to your ladyship." Nelson's family had read the news (William had seen it for himself) about Emma's pregnancy and they knew it meant he had transferred his loyalties for good, and they were fully prepared to follow.
Emma's lifestyle was ruinously expensive. She and Sir William had chosen one of London's premium rental properties. The lease for a year cost £1,000, and Emma had spent over £2,000 furnishing the house, including £300 on repairing the coach, £300 on wine and coal, and £28 on employing an exquisitely fashionable French cook. The named staff included Oliver, Emma's maids Fatima, Julia, and Marianne, a valet and butler, coachmen, footmen and housemaids, scullery maids, and kitchen maids. Hiring singers and musicians for evening parties sent costs soaring. Emma opened a bank account with Thomas Coutts, a social climber, known for his generous terms to the Prince of Wales and the aristocracy, although he would not give her a loan. Believing he would soon return to Naples, Sir William was still renting the Palazzo Sessa and the Villa Emma, and paying his staff. He owed more than £6,000 to his bankers there. He also had belongings and a coach waiting for him in Palermo. At the end of 1800, no longer able to hide from his debts, he instructed his agent in Naples to give notice on the lease for the Posillipo house and to sell the furniture and effects from the Palazzo Sessa.
Sir William still hoped for compensation from the British government for his losses at Naples, estimated at around £13,000. Beckford instructed Emma to "pursue your object with those omnipotent looks, words and gestures with which Heaven has gifted you. By such persevering Efforts, and by such alone, we shall obtain justice."4 Emma's flirtatious smiles were hardly going to sway the Foreign Office, however, and they resolutely refused to pay out. The bills for setting up 23 Piccadilly had to be paid, and so Emma agreed to sell most of her diamonds, beginning probably with those Maria Carolina had given her in Naples. She rewarded her husband for his supportive behavior over the birth of Horatia with jewels they believed were worth £30,000, and in return Sir William allowed her to bring Horatia to Piccadilly for a visit. The press were always watching the house, and Emma warned Mrs. Gibson to ensure Horatia was "well covered getting in and out of the coach."5 In the event, the diamonds were sold for only £2,500 (presumably they were not quite as precious as Maria Carolina had implied), and the Hamiltons soon fell into debt again. Sir William heard that the coach he had bought just before they fled Naples was "so heavy no tolerable offer was ever made for it," and the furniture from the Palazzo Sessa was equally unsaleable.6 They hoped Nelson would capture enemy ships in the North Sea and return with prize money, but in the meantime Sir