England's Mistress_ The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton - Kate Williams [188]
Emma was clutching at straws: the duke was nearly ninety, and the prince, captivated by the sophisticated Lady Hertford, shut his ears to depressing pleas for money. Emma made one final attempt to beg the help of the state.
I have done my King and Country some service but as they were ungrateful enough to neglect the request of the virtuous Nelson in providing for me I do not expect they will do any thing for his child but if there should be any administration in at my death who have hearts and feelings I beg they will provide for Horatia Nelson the child who would have a father if he had not gone forth to fight his country's battles therefore she has a claim on them.
In early November, Emma was subjected to a barrage of letters and even worse, visits from hired toughs. "Lady Hamilton has been harassed and grievously insulted by her creditors," wrote George Matcham in shock to his parents.8 Emma was on the brink of being arrested for debt.
CHAPTER 52
The Friends of Lady Hamilton
Goldsmid has been an angel to me and his bounty shall never be abused,” Emma rejoiced to Charles Greville in November. Shocked by the news that she faced arrest for debt, her neighbors had exerted themselves to save her. “When I thought they neglected me, Goldsmid and my Citty friends came forward, and they have rescued me from destruction.”
On November 25, 1808, her friend Sir John Perring, banker and former lord mayor of London, hosted a “meeting of the friends of Lady Hamilton,” a group of influential financiers largely organized by Abraham Goldsmid. The solicitor had advertised for all her creditors to contact him, and he estimated her debts stood at £8,000, with another £10,000 needed to pay off loans. The party decided to appoint trustees for the sale of Merton, judging the house and grounds to be worth £11,000. They also came up with a generous estimate of the contents at £6,500 (including £2,000 for wine), which gave Emma £3,700 to pay off her most pressing creditors, and pledged to form a “Committee to follow up the claim on Government.” Emma was ebullient.
All these things and papers of my services and my ill treatment I have laid before my trustees; they are paying my debts. I live in retirement, and the citty are going to bring forward my claims; in short, I have put myself under their protection, and nothing, no power on earth shall make me deviate from my present system.1
Emma's promises to reform were sincerely meant but futile. Her "Citty friends" persuaded her to sell her beloved horses, but they could do nothing about her fondness for throwing lavish parties, determination to retain her troupe of elderly servants, and her preoccupation with using her position to help poverty-stricken old friends and distant relations of Nelson's siblings. Emma beseeched so often on behalf of others that she destroyed any chance of attracting favor for herself
In spring 1809, the Mary Ann Clarke scandal broke. For Emma, it was an object lesson in how to make money out of a famous lover—which she had conspicuously failed to do. Clarke, a witty courtesan, captured the king's second son, the Duke of'York, commander in chief of the army. When he set her up in 1803 in a large Mayfair house, she spent thousands on exquisite furniture, china and glass, and expensive dinners. The delighted duke had no idea that his allowance of £1,000 a year hardly covered the coal bill. Like Emma, Mary Ann lived on credit, but she added to her income by taking bribes from those seeking army commissions or trade contracts from the duke. When the duke abandoned her and failed to pay her an allowance, Mary Ann embarked on her revenge. Summoned to testify about whether the duke had any knowledge of the bribes, she refused to take the blame, electrifying the stuffy lawyers with smart answers. The humiliated duke hung his head as his love letters were read aloud and the lurid details of his domestic life were bandied