England's Mistress_ The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton - Kate Williams [157]
On October 23, Nelson arrived at dawn in a post chaise drawn by four horses, through a triumphal arch erected by the villagers at the front of the house. Emma had encouraged them to welcome her lover in style by setting off fireworks, illuminating their houses and lining the road to cheer. Delighted by his new home, Nelson was quick to take on the role of village squire by instructing Emma to use only local tradesmen and planning to patronize the parish church. “We are all so joyous today, we do not know what to do,” Emma gloried. She arranged for him to meet Horatia at 23 Piccadilly. It was ten o'clock on a Monday, and Sir William tactfully arranged to pay a visit to his dealers. Now a sturdy ten months old, Horatia was not shy. Father and daughter were immediate friends.
The bustle of Merton made Sir William feel old. He knew he was too infirm to return to his beloved Naples, so he instructed his agent in the city to discharge the servants still waiting for him at the Palazzo Sessa. Vincenzo, his valet, was devastated that Hamilton had not offered him a pension or a lump sum for years of faithful service. He was soon, as the agent pleaded, struggling “in very narrow Circumstances, with a large family,” but Sir William ignored his plight. Neapolitan tradesmen tried to call in their debts from him.10 The government had awarded him a pension of just over £1,000 a year, but he still owed more than £12,000 (over $1 million in today's money). Fortunately for him, Nelson was adamant that Emma's husband would not own a single item in the house, although they split the day-to-day expenses of the house. Despite his debts, Sir William was a spendthrift and too old to change. Freed from the bother of having to buy new furniture, still convinced that the government would compensate him for the loss of his possessions in Naples, and confident that Nelson would secure a big prize at sea, he spent wildly on food, clothes, and antiques.
At Merton, Emma addressed herself to winning over Nelson's elderly father, inviting him to stay for ten days in November. The visit went off perfectly. Ill and weak, eighty-year-old Edmund welcomed Emma's tender nursing, falling head over heels in love with her. He was tempted to move in full time, but he could not bear to leave his beloved Norfolk. Emma tried to mold Nelson's greedy relations into the loving, unselfish, worshiping family he desired. His sisters, Kitty and Susanna, had married George Matcham and Thomas Bolton, respectively, men of energy but not much money, and they were always looking for help for their packs of children. Susanna had twin girls in their early twenties, a young son, and two pre-teenage daughters, and Kitty had five children under the age of twelve, and gave birth to another girl in 1801, naming her Horatia as a tribute to Emma's daughter. Kitty was almost constantly breast-feeding or pregnant throughout the early 1800s, and she relied on her brother and his mistress to help her make ends meet.
Emma entertained the Matchams and Boltons to lavish dinners at Mer-ton and 23 Piccadilly and tried to mediate the demands of his brother, William, and his wife, Sarah, who wanted money and a promotion for her husband. "If we could but get some little addition to our Income, we should be more independent & be in Town whenever you liked," pressed Sarah Nelson. She extracted favors from Emma by promising to win Nelson's sister Susanna Bolton over to her side by telling her "howpleasant & good you are & that I loved you dearly, & tell them every thing you gave me. I did bring down one of Charlotte's Frocks, which you gave her, which they shall see I Love."11 Nelson paid the fees at Eton for their son, Horace, and she wanted Emma to transform her lumpy daughter into a society debutante. Emma, presumably using