The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-26

Cherished companion Of royalty;
inspiration and model for artists;
entertainer for society; patriotic in
trigante for warriors. It is as Lord
Nelson's love that she wrote her
name in history. She was the idol
and the idyll of his life. That legal
barriers prevented their marriage
was the defeat of his career. Theirs
was one of the epics Of recorded ro-
nance.
When the victorious hero of Ira
falgar was dying, shot down on his
own ship, he cried: Il leave Lady
Hamilton and my daughter to my
country. Thank God, I have done
my duty"
But his country did not accept
them and Lady Hamilton, beloved
of England's great hero, died for
gotten in Calais ten years after Mel
sons death.
WET she had done her bit for
l. England In 1893, when Sir
William Hamilton was ambassador
at the court of Naples, the lovely
Emma was the intimate friend of
Queen Caroline. In spite of an
agreement with France not to pro-
vision ships from that port, some
one" gained the kings consent for
Admiral Nelson to provision his en-
tire fleet! After the battle of the
Nile, Nelson returned to Naples,
where the charming Lady Hamilton
nursed him back to health.
The primrose path which led
Emma Lyon, known as Emma Hart,
from the servant quarters of Sheri-
dams mother, Mrs. Linley, to the
ambassadorial drawing rooms of Sir
William Hamilton was unusual. She
was ignorant but clever and am
bilious enough to improve herself.
Turned adrift in London she did the
best she could which was not so bad
from a material point of view. Ad-
mirers of beauty in distress, among
them, George. Greville we're eager to
help her.
When Greville, nephew and ex-
pectant heir of Sir William Hamil-
ton, tired of the beautiful Emma,
he packed her off to Naples to en-
liven his elderly relatives lonely
state. She succeeded better than
the nephew desired. Sir William
married her!
1t was Greville who first intro
duced Emma Lyon to Romney. The
artist found in her infinite inspira-
ton. He portrayed her as every
conceivable subject from a thorn
crowned Magdalen to a Bacchante
He called her "the divine lady" ano
he painted her more than one hun
dred times.
WHETHER her love for postur.
w ing was the result or the
cause of her success as an artist:
inspiration. she was an addict Il
became quite the vogue to see hel
''postures" which she called tab
leau vivants. She was a sort Of
DelSarte forerunner. But, alas, she
kept it up even after the flowing
white draperies accentuated Jumps
not lines.
Many a more beautiful woman has
missed the immortality that is Lady
Hamilton's. Romney and Nelson
Art and Love-have raised to her ar
imperishable memorial. Her long
eyes, with their great dark pupils
her long lashes, her auburn hair
her delicately curving, inviting lips
her lovely figure, her gayety, in
spired artistic and romantic de-
votion
George Romney, whose senti-
ments for Lady Hamilton have
been the subject of conjectures, was
an eccentric. When Sir Joshua
Reynolds told him that no artist
should marry, he promptly left his
newly-wed wife He saw her but
rarely and returned to her only
when he was old and i'll and no
longer able to paint his divine
lady"