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regularly to him throughout the month and made strenuous efforts to prove that she spent her days in worthwhile occupation. From nine until ten she had a singing lesson, from ten until twelve she was sitting for a portrait for Constanza Coltellini, from twelve to one she took lessons in Italian, then she had lunch from two to three. After one similarly exhausting day, she collapsed into bed at eight. She was particularly pleased with Coltellini's portrait, noting that it will not "be two naked," for then "those beautys that only you can see shall not be exposed to the common eyes of all, and wile you can even more than see the originals, others may gess at them, for they are sacred to all but you." In her letters, as she confessed, "everything flows from my heart, and I cannot stop it."

Affection for Sir William spills from her letters. She teased him that she "will bite your lips nor fingers no more," and promised, "How I wish'd to give you some warm punch, and settle you in my arms all night, to make up for your bad day." She even made a joke about playing on "all fours."10 When she received a kind letter from him, she was thrilled: "Oh, what a happy creature is your Emma!—me that had no friend, no protector, no body that I could trust, and now to be the friend, the Emma, of Sir William Hamilton!" "One hour's absence is a year, and I shall count the hours and moments till Saturday, when I shall find myself once more in your kind dear arms." "I owe everything to you," she declared.

Gossip about the new relationship reached London. One of Sir William's dealers was telling anyone who would listen that the envoy had "lately got a piece of modernity from England which I am afraid will fatigue and exhaust him more than all the volcanoes and antiquities in the Kingdom of Naples." Emma was being approached for favors. Even though the relationship had only just begun, she, as the Neapolitans and the visiting English could see, had influence over Sir William.

Sir William had forgotten his plans to take Mrs. Hart only as a temporary mistress. "His domestic hours have many charms to interest him," joked his niece. He had become so lackadaisical about writing to the Foreign Office that he had to dash off an apology to the foreign secretary in November, lying that he had "rather chosen to be silent than take up your time relating the trifling intrigue of this Court."11 He loved Emma's enthusiasm for new experiences and interest in the court gossip Catherine had reviled. Most pleasingly of all, she seemed to appreciate his love of hunting. Sir William considered almost daily bouts of slaughter as essential to maintaining relations with the court, and he reported the catches to the Foreign Office. Emma's time at Uppark had taught her that a man's love of hunting could never be overestimated, and she was careful always to praise her new lover's haul.

Delighted by her efforts to please and by her maturity, he lavished praise on his mistress. All things considered, the "experiment" had worked out rather well. Emma, he wrote to Greville in February, "improves daily, & is universally beloved. She is wonderfull considering her youth and beauty."

CHAPTER 21

Sparing No Expense

Even though Greville had discarded her, Emma continued to write C_^ to him, anxious to prove to him how successful she was in her new home. "Sir Wm says he loves nothing but me, likes no person to sing but me and takes delight in all I do and all I say so we are happy," she enthused. As well as devoting herself to being his perfect helpmate, she was practicing her music. A scurrilous memoir later gossiped that Greville had sent her to Sir William to put her to the opera. Emma was still hungry for stardom, and she had dreams of becoming a singer.

Emma spent the first months of 1787 in Sir William's drafty, fifty-room hunting lodge at Caserta, twelve miles outside Naples. There she dwelled on her good fortune. Only six months earlier, she had thought that her happiness had ended, but now she found herself more contented and more secure than she could have ever