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Roche, Sophie von la. “Diary for 1786.” In Sophie in London, edited by Clare Williams. London: Cape, 1933.

Romney John. Memoirs of the Life and Works of George Romney. London: Baldwin and Cradock, 1830.

Rose, George. The Diaries and Correspondence of the Rt. Hon. George Rose. Edited by Leveson Vernon Harcourt. 2 vols. London: R. Bentley 1860.

Russell, Jack. Nelson and the Hamiltons. London: Blond, 1969.

Rymer, John. A Description of the Island of Nevis. London: T. Evans, 1775.

Scott, A. J. Recollections of the life of the Rev. A. J. Scott. London: Saunders and Otley, 1842.

Sharp, Samuel. Letters from Italy in the Years 1765 and 1766. London: R. Cave, 1767.

Sichel, Walter. Emma Lady Hamilton. London: Constable, 1905.

Smith, James Edward. A Sketch of a Tour on the Continent in the Years 1786 and 1787. 3 vols. London: B. & J. White, 1793.

Southey, Robert. The Life of Nelson. London: John Murray, 1813.

Spencer, Nathaniel. The Complete English Traveller. London: J. Cooke, 1771.

Steele, Elizabeth. Memoirs of Mrs. Sophia Baddeley. London: Printed for the author, 1787.

Stendhal, Marie Henri Beyle. Rome, Naples and Florence. Edited by Henri Martineau. Paris: Le Divan, 1927.

Swinburne, Henry. Travels in the Two Sicilies. 4 vols. London: T. Cadell and P. Elmsly 1783.

Testar, Carmel. The French in Malta 1798-1800. Valetta, Malta: Midsea Books, 1997.

Thrale, Hester. Observations and Reflections Made in the Course of a Journey Through France, Italy and Germany. London: A. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1789.

Tillyard, Stella. Aristocrats. London: Chatto and Windus, 1994.

Vickery Amanda. The Gentleman's Daughter: Women's Lives in Georgian England. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1998.

Vigée-Lebrun, Elisabeth. Memoirs. Translated by Siân Evans. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989.

Watkins, Thomas. Travels Through Swisserland, Italy, Sicily. 2 vols. London: T. Cadell, 1792.

White, Colin. The Nelson Encyclopedia. London: Chatham, 2002. ed. Nelson: The New Letters. London: Stroud: Sutton, 2005.

Wilkie, David. “Journal.” In The Life of David Wilkie, edited by Allan Cunningham. 3 vols. London: John Murray, 1843.

Williams, Kate. “Nelson and Women: Marketing Representations and the Female Consumer.” In Admiral Lord Nelson: Context and Legacy. Edited by David Cannadine, 67-89. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2005.

Wraxall, Sir Nathaniel. Historical Memoirs of My Own Time. London: Kegan, Paul Trench, 1904.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I think of Emma now, with the completion of this book, and I wonder if I'll ever find such a gripping subject for a biography again. No other woman in history, it seems to me, could cram as much into her short life as she did. Living at the high watermark of celebrity for most of her life, Emma traveled all over Europe, met and impressed nearly every significant politician, writer, artist, and actor of the time, and she was personally significant to dozens of people. Most eighteenth-century Englishwomen—and men— stayed in the same place, socialized with the same people, and mattered to the same small group.

Emma began at the bottom of society and clawed her way to the top, determined, from the very beginning, to find fame. When she achieved it, she revelled in it—planting stories about herself, always making sure she caught the limelight and that every journal-ist saw her in her fabulous new outfits. Emma lived intensely, seizing every opportunity, driven forward by sheer energy and a refusal to be daunted. Neglected as a child, she was hungry for love and recognition. Her search for passion led her into the arms of Lord Nelson, and to what would become one of the greatest love stories in history.

When I first stumbled upon a letter by Emma in the British Library, it quite literally changed my life. I was a graduate student, looking in the archive for something else entirely. I couldn't believe what I was reading. Unlike the usual decorous letters by eighteenth-century aristocratic ladies, Emma's was striking in its honesty. A torrent of emotion streamed off the