England's Mistress_ The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton - Kate Williams [180]
After advertising for owners of suitable estates, the government became hopelessly caught up in debating which house would best honor Nelson.7 In the Public Record Office at Kew are dozens of heavy books full of doclamentation on the purchase of Earl Nelson's Trafalgar. All the while, Merton was devouring money. The popular press weighed in on Emma's side, and even the morally conservative Lady's Magazine published an unctuous reminder that his home was Lord Nelson's greatest love. Readers were treated to a lavish depiction of Merton as a haphazard collection of towers and hexagonal buildings, as the journalist praised the "elegant and convenient house," its "delightful situation," and the tasteful grounds. The piece pointedly concludes, "It was at this seat that the gallant admiral, before he sailed on his last expedition, took leave of his friends, among whom were some of the most worthy, and also some of the most illustrious persons in the kingdom."8
Furious at the government's dismissive treatment of her, Emma threatened public vengeance. "Let them refuse me all reward! I will go with this paper fixed to my breast and beg through the streets of London, and every barrow-woman shall say, ‘Nelson bequeathed her, to us.’ "9 But the love of the ordinary people was worth nothing: the government had made its decision, and it wanted Emma to disappear.
Nelson had seen many women, including his first love, Mary Moutray refused pensions, and he knew that the government would not give Emma one for being an envoy's wife. Yet he seemed to think she would be given money for being his mistress. In the same codicil he had written, "My relations it is needless to mention; they will of course be amply provided for." Really, he knew in his heart how the government would distribute the honors. The situation might have been different if Horatia had been a boy, for the government would have been nervous that a little Horatio Nelson would become a focus for oppositional sentiment and a force to reckon with as a future political leader. Daughters were usually disinherited, for they were expected to make their fortunes by marriage. Always a dreamer, Nelson had believed that he was so great that the government would break all precedent and shower honors on his illegitimate daughter, elevating her as the inheritor of his blood.
Nelson should have predicted Emma's fate. He had left her a house, but £500 a year was not enough to maintain it, as well as a child, even if Emma had been a skilled and frugal housekeeper. A man, when he died, usually impoverished his wife and daughters by willing his property to his closest male relation, but then asked in his will that his heir care for them. Usually, the heir gave them little, an outcome scathingly laid bare by Jane Austen when she described the penurious state of the Dashwood sisters in Sense and Sensibility.10 Now that he was the heir, William, Earl Nelson, wanted every penny of Nelson's estate for his son. Nelson's vision of Emma after his death, singing at his funeral, happy with his family, bringing up Horada in security, may have comforted him as he faced death, but it was a fantasy.
Inspired by the torrent of gossip and scandalous novels, would-be writers and biographers were demanding to read Emma's letters. William Nelson was the most pressing of all. Intending to commission a biography that would outsell all the others being discussed, he wanted the whole cache, even the most explicit. In between sending her cheering verses, her old friend, the poet William Hayley expressly told her "as your very sincere friend, I should advise you to retain these Letters in your own Custody, & not suffer even me, your old and faithful Friend,