Evening star., 1923-11-30
BY THE MARaUIsE DE FoNTENoY.

That number Of the love letters
Of England's great naval hero, Ad-
miral Lord Nelson. addressed to
Emma Lady Hamilton. who exercised
such an extraordinary influence on
his career, should have turned up. the
other day. among the effects of the
late Mrs. Phoebe Boyle of II Lefferts
avenue, Brooklyn, at the Anderson
Galleries, on Park avenue, New York,
is. to say the least. remarkable. and
one wonders by what series of ad-
ventures these letters, illustrative of
a romance that had it's principal
scene at Palermo and at Naples, more
than century ago, managed to reach,
in 1923, an auction counter in New
York.
One Of the letters that figured in
the sale the other day shows Nelson's
efforts to make provision, after his
death, for. Lady Hamilton and for
their daughter Honoria, He had es-
tablished fund calculated to yield
an income of $4,000 a year for Lady
Hamilton and of $4,000 year for
Honorfa. But he had the worry of
knowing that. at the time of his
death at the battle of Trafalgar the
beautiful and fascinating, but yeck-
less and extravagant, beauty had
managed to get hold of and sQuander
most of the capital which he had
thus invested, and this was the rea-
son why, with almost his dying
breath at Trafalgar, he entreated the
for SO many glorious naval victories.
to make some provision for her and
for that daughter of hers of which
he was the devoted father.
Il
England ignored this request. Tt
bestowed an earldom and an hered-
itary pension. OF $4,000 a year upon
his parson elder brother, with whom
he was not on speaking terms, and
also devoted a sum of over $1,000
900, obtained through parliamentary
grants, to the purchase of the estate
named Trafalgar, which Is entailed in
perpetuity on the earldom. But Emma
Lady Hamilton was denied all assist
ance by the British government and
the nation and by the members Of the
Nelson family. and died In the utmost
penury at Calais. while Honoria, on
growing up. married, in February,
1922, an impoverished country clergy
man of the name of Philip Ward, rec
tor OF the parish OF Burnham, in Nor
folkshire. The nation affected to ig
more her existence in the same way
that It had spurned her mother after
Nelson's death. Eventually the cler-
gyman died, leaving his widow and
her Ward daughter entirely destitute.
Finally. some of the admirers Of the
great admiral got together and sub
scribed enough money to enable Hon
oria, that is to say. Mrs. Ward, to
start q ohildren's school in the Bays
water district OF London. After her
death this school was carried on by
her daughter. and It was there, by the
way, that Sir Edward Cooper, the in
London in 1920. received his element
ary education as small boy.
The present Earl Nelson, whose
elder brother. was killed by a fall
Of the hero Of Trafalgar. being de-
scended from the latter's sister, Mrs.
Bolton, by a special provision in the
patent of the earldom. He is a man
Of considerably over sixty. and un-
married. His next heir is his young
er brother Edward, who has no less
than five sons, so that there Is no i'm
mediate prospect OF the name and
title becoming extinct, or OF the per-
ing. The pension. like the Trafalgar
estate, near Salisbury, are entailed
upon every heir to the earldom of Nell
son.
4 4 X X
It is to Prince Sergius Wolkonsky.
who has jus. published two most
interesting volumes of his "RecolIec-
tions." that the western world, and
especially Paris, London and New
York, are indebted for the Russian
ballets of Diaghileff. The prince
first came to America in 1898 to Of
fciaiiy represent Russia at the