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scalloped at the bottom without any flounces," with flat slippers like those for dancing. The ensemble was topped with a cap similar to that worn by Emma in the Town and Country Magazine caricature of 1790: small, set low on the forehead, and short at the ears, with narrow borders of fine edging. The journalist sternly instructed readers that the Emma dress "has already been adopted by the Duchess of Rutland, Lady Anne Fitzroy, Lady Smith, Mrs Robinson, Lady Charlotte Lennox, and many other elegant women, and it is to be hoped, will abolish the enormous headdresses of the last three winters. "2 A style Emma had developed to flatter her taller figure and wide hips became modish for women of all sizes. The fashion frenzy struck even Charles Greville. In June 1793, he reported to Sir William that all the dresses at the king's birthday gala in the same month "had been evidently an imitation of her." He declared his ex-mistress's style as the first and the most superior: "far more adorning than all the trappings of French milliners on awkward inanimate damsels." Emma's portraits, her performances, and her appearances in London had turned her into a fashion leader, even though she was many miles away. Some reports were more salacious. The Times declared Emma had begun a fashion for padding the bosom that had "lowered the character of many young ladies," for it was thought that they stuffed their cleavages to confuse suitors during heavy petting. Soon, the journalist joked, the Lady Hamilton vogue for "pads will not leave an unsullied female, married or unmarried, reputation in the circle of fashion."3

The English gossip columnists used Emma to sell papers, snickering about her friendship with Maria Carolina and her influence over her husband. Only one aspect of Emma's life remained a secret. Little Emma, known as Miss Carew, now a young lady of twelve, was still living in Manchester. Greville transferred the cost of her upkeep for six months, just over £32, to his uncle. The money was a trifle to a man of Sir William's expenditures, and Greville gently suggested he might move the girl to an establishment befitting the stepdaughter of an envoy. She was already learning French, music, and dancing and had a maid, and he knew that the more education she received, the more likely William would be to bring her to Naples and the better were her chances of a good marriage. But Sir William preferred to forget about her, and she remained at the Blackburns'.

Visitors flocked to see the new ambassadress. As Emma sighed, "Our house at Caserta as been like an inn this winter, as we have partys, that have come either to see the environs, or have been invited to court." In the winter of 1792, Sir William collapsed with exhaustion and stomach fever, the first of his severe bouts of dysentery, although he did not know the cause of his illness. As one traveler reported, he had "been in some danger." Emma nursed him with the help of her mother. She declared, "I have been almost as ill as him with anxiety, apprehension, & fatigue," and was "eight days without undressing, eating or sleeping." She was "in hopes he will be better than ever he was in his life, for his disorder has been long gathering."

In the hours of sitting by his bedside, Emma had dwelt on her good fortune. "What cou'd console me for the loss of such a husband, friend, & protecter," she wrote to Greville. "We live but for one another, but I was to happy, I had imagined I was never more to be unhappy, all is right, I now know myself again & I shall not easily fall in to the same error again, for every moment I feel what I felt when I thought I was losing him for ever." She gloated that Lady Plymouth, Lady Dunmore, Lady Webster, and others had offered to assist her, and even the "King & Queen sent constantly, morning and evening, the most flattering messages."4 The Hamiltons ended their first year of marriage with their bond sealed by a shared aim to gain influence at the Neapolitan court. Anxious to claim that Emma was worthy of her position and to ensure his friends knew she was