The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-02
NELSON'S ONE WEAKNESS
EACH SWEETHEART COMPLETELY
Cultivated THE FIGHTER.
His Last Grand Passion for Lady
Hamilton Continued TIL the End,
and She Died in Poverty.

besides others of less note. 1t is so faSc1-
mating in itself that it requires no pen craft
to make it popular; the story tells itself
and holds the reader with a grasp which
cannot be shaken off. Southey put his soul
into his volume, and it is probably his
masterpiece. Sir Harris Nicolas let the adj
miral paint himself in his dispatches. An
excellent biography by the Frenchman,
De Forgues, who had access to private pa
pers and letters, was published in Paris
thirty-fve years ago. And now Captain
Mahan, whose reputation as a writer on
naval topics was long since established,
supplements his volumes on The Infiu-
ence of Sea Power with a Life of Mel
son." which is given TO the world in two
well-printed and handsomely illustrated
volumes by Little, Brown 81 Co., of Boston.
Nelson can hardly be considered an En-
glishman. He belongs to the world, like
Shakespeare and Michael Angelo. He is the
worlds idol, because he combined the shin
ing qualities of the hero with the infirmi-
ties of the man. What was demigod in
him does not obscure that which was NOR
tai. We feel that he was one of us. His
glory teaches US that we, too, can make
our lives sublime, yet the stains which tar
nish his record warn us that, sublime
though we may be in our higher flights,
we may occasionally grovel on the dusty
bosom of Mother Earth. Nelson was the
exact opposite of the little S~unday-school
angel who always does what he is told,
never gets his hands dirty or his clothes
torn, and is ticketed from his cradle for
the happy land, far, far away. According
to the rules laid down In AbbottS Young
Christian" Nelson was a son of Belial, but
It was a mighty good thing for England
that he was.
Na1confS IOvas which parhanG oven
more interesting than his battles, remain
to be narrated. His heart was so big and
so warm that no man could make ms az
quaintance without falling IN love with
him.. From his boyhood to his death his
regard for the other sex was so intense
that it was said there never was a day in
his life when he was not ready to go to
the devil for a woman. He showed it at
Quebec, when he was twenty-four, by actu-
ally attempting to leave his ship to espouSe
a pretty Canadian girl to whose faScina-
tons he had fallen a victim.
A TICKLE LOVER.
Being rescued in time by &, brother Off
Ger, he found a new divinity in the daugh-
ter of a clergyman at st. Omer, who lis
the most accomplished woman my eyes
ever beheld. Had 1 a million l would lay
it at her feet" He wrote to his uncle to
ask for an allowance which would enable
him to marry, and foreseeing a refusal he
closed his letter with the melting words:
Il pray you may never know the pangs
which at this moment tear my heart"
A gifted feminine writer. who lately made
Nelson's youth the topic of a romance, fur
nishes details of firtations in England
which go to show that the heart recovered
from its tearing passion; in fact, in 1887
he married a, young widow named Nisbet.
No pangs preceded the alliance. Nelson
wrote to his lady love: NJ greatest wish
Of all conjugal happiness, real love and
esteem, is, | trust, what possess; in the
was equally calm and philosophic. Her
sense, polite manners and measured re-
serve commanded the sailors respect, if
they did not stir his blood. He paints her
with a touch when he writes, five months
after marriage: Il am fonder of the sea
than ever
Just at that time Charles Greville. a
young man about town in London, rescued
from the streets a girl named Amy Lyon,
who. was astonishingly beautiful and re-
markedly Vivacious, and made her his eX-
elusive property. He had her educated,
and noticed with pleasure how her natu-
rally fine voice responded to culture, and
that she possessed a rare gift for acting.
With a simple scarf she could transform
herself into any of the stage heroines of
the day, and melt an audience to tears or
convulse them with laughter. She was af-
fectionate and impulSive. good-natured and
generous, and she made Mr.. Greville happy,
though no clergyman had sanctified the tie
between them. One evening Mr.. GreVille's
uncle, Sir William Hamilton, met her at
the U6pu6W > mousse, l6Il III IONG WIN ner,
and, with Greville's consent, assumed the
responsibility of her future. Mr.. Phillips
says that a round sum of money was
transferred from the uncle's to the
nephew's bank account. OF this there is no
actual proof: 1t may be enough to say
that she accompanied Sir William to Ma
pies, where he became British minister, and
set herself straight with the world by
marrying him.
SLEPT WITH THE QUEEN.
Sir William was a man of taste, who
liked his ease. The kingdom of Naples was
then ruled by Queen Caroline, Maria The
resa's daughter. Her prime minister was
an Englishman, Sir John Acton. Between
her majesty and Lady Hamilton a warm
friendship sprang up-so warm that the
ladies frequently shared the royal bed
chamber, leaving the King to occupy a
dressing room. Sir Gilbert Eliot wrote that
Lady Hamilton's manners were perfectly
unpublished, OF course very easy, though
not with the ease of good breeding, but
of a barmaid; excessively good-humored,
and wishing to please and be admired"
inquire is colossal, but excepting her feet,
which are hideous, is well shaped. Her
bones are large, and she is stout. The
shape of her features is fine, and so is the
form of her head. Her eyebrows and hair
are dark, and her complexion coarse. She
Is a devil in temper"
Those were the days when Nelson was
roaming the Mediterranean in search Of
BrueyS's fleet, before the battle of the Nile
On one of his visits to Naples he met Lady
Hamilton, and at once became infatuated
with her. She felt, or professed to feel.
the most intense sympathy for the English
cause and the bittereSt antipathy against
Napoleon. France and Naples were allied
by a treaty, which stipulated that the lat
ter should not victual or water the English
fleet. To Nelson the stipulation was fatal
Without water he could not pursue Bruevs
He cont1ded his ~perpleXity to Lady Hamil-
ton.
queen, and when she arose in the morning
she bore away from the royal chamber an
order, written with her own hand and
signed by Caroline, ordering all harbor
masters and port captains to supply the
vessels or Nelson's fleet with water. That
paper was in Nelson's hands before the dav
was far spent, and before night every En-
glsh ship that could be reached was filling
lis water casks. No one dared to disobey
the Queens direct orders, though the sight
of her autograph at the foot of an official
ocumen was a novelty.
II was the aid thus obtained which en-
abled Nelson to win the battle of the Nile.
When he returned to Naples Lady Hamil-
bandeau on her hat bearing the words.
Nelson and victory" He wrote to his
wife: The scene on landing was affecting
Up flew her ladyship. and exclaiming on
God. is it poSsible!' fell into my arm more
dead than alive"
LADY HAMILTON IN lis ARMS.
She fell into his arm in more ways than
one. She aattered him. worshiped him.
knelt at his feet, held his single hand in
her two. and basked in his smiles. He had
never been loved in that way before. nor
had he ever realized the wealth of his
own heart. Lady Hamilton he wrote.