Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1854-08-30
NELSON'S LOVE.


Characters, has. in the memoir Of Nelson.
an episode concerning the famed beauty
that once enchanted him, Tracing Nell
son through the early stages Of Of his ra.
pid aud signal success. the author leads
us to the contemplation Of his "fatal at.
tatchment," to Lady Hamilton-who was
eat first the Aspasia, and afterwards the
Herodias Of her age" Here is descrip.
ton how this wonderful woman emerged
from obscurity. and blazed upon the
world.
LADY HAAILToN's YOUTH AND FORTUNES.
Her only name was Emma, for her ia.
ther remained always unknown. Sho
was one Of the children Of love, OF crimo,
of mystery, whom nature delights to over
whelm with gifts in compensation for the
loss Of hereditary claims. Her mother
-vaa a poor farmers servant in the coun-
ty Of Chester. Whether she had lost her
husband by death, or, like Hsgar, had
been abandoned by her seducer, she ar
rived, unknown and reduced to begg0ry,
at village in Wales, the Switzerland Of
England. She carried in her arms fe-
male infant Of few months old. The
beauty of both attracted the simple noun
taineers of the village Of Hawerden /; the
stranger picked up livelihood by work
ing for the farmers and cleaning in the
fields. The marked and noble features
Of the child served to propagate tho ru'
NOR that her birth was iilustrious and
mysterious she was said to be the child
of Lord Halifax. Nothing Afterwards,
either in her fortune or education gRvo
color to the report. At the age of twelve
she was received into aneighboring fam
ily as children's servant. The frequent
visits Of her master and mistress 10 Lon
don, where they resided in the house Of
their relative, the celebrate engravcr,
Bovdell, gave her the first idea of the i'm.
preston her figure produced on the
crowd in public places, and vague pre-
sentiment Of the high fortune to which
her beauty would exalt her. At sixteen
she made her escape from T1awarden, a
field too obscure and circumscribed for
her expanded dreams, and engaged her
self in the household Of respectable
tradesmNn in London. A lady of superb
or rank, struck By her appearance in the
shop, elevated her to higher position in
serVitude,
Almost without employment in that
opulent family, Emma gave herself up TO
the perusaI of those fascinating romances
which create an imaginary world for the
love or ambition Of youthful minds she
frcquented the theatres, and imbibed
there the first inspirations Of the genius OF
dramatic expression, Of action, and atti-
tude, which she embodied afterwards in
a new art, when she became the anima'
ted statue of beauty and passion. Being
discharged by her mistress for some
household negligence, her growing taste
for the theatre induced her to seek Il sit
uatiou in the family of one Of the mana
gers. The irregularity and freedom of
that establishment. the constant inter
course with actors, musicians and dan
GERS, initiated her in the subordinate me.
chanism Of the dramatic art. She was
then in the flower Of her youth, and the
. full perfection of her beauty. Her tall
and elegant igure equalled in natural
grace the studied attitudes Of the most
practical 6gurantes. Her voice was soft,
mellow, and capable of expressing deep
tragic emotion. Her countenance. en-
doWed with susceptibility as delicate and
VARYING as the first feelings of virgin
mind, was, at the same time' Pensive and
dazzling. All who saw her at that peri
cd of her life agreed in describing her as
a resusication of Psyche. Purity of soul,
transparent GllIOuSu IuS ISSauSC Vi lCo
ture, surrounded her, even in her depen-
dent position, with respect which admi,
ration dare not overleap. She spread
FIRE without being entangled in the flame
herself: her innocence found safeguard
even in the excess of her beauty. Her
first fall was not descent to vice, but q
Gliding into imprudence, arising from q
Yielding nature. A young countrymau
of the village of Hawarden, son Of the
farmer who had first given an asylum to
her mother. was seized by a press-gangr
and carried in letters to the feet at an.
chor in the Thames. Emma, at the en-
treaty of the prisoners sister, accompa-
MED her to the captain of the ship to i'm
. plore the liberation of her brother. Won
By the beauty of the fair suppliant. he
listened to her prayers and tears, remov'
ed her from her low though honest sta
ton, overwhelmed her with shameful lux
ury, furnished house for her, supplied
her with masters in every ornamental &C
eomplishment, boastfully displayed his
conquest in public, and left her when the
squadron sailed, exposed without safe
guard to new seductions.
One Of his friends, bearing a noble
name, and possessed of large fortune,
carried off the faithless Emma to an es-
tate in the country, treated her as his
wife, made her the queen Of the hunting