England's Mistress: The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton (73 page)

Fanmakers, haberdashers, fashion designers, and dress makers were just a few of the manufacturers cashing in on the wild craze for Nelson goods.

Paradise Merton; Emma's beloved home with Nelson

Horatia Nelson, Emma's daughter with her lover, aged about four

Emma covered Merton with representations of Nelson and herself—such as the embroidery of the two of them as the famous sentimental lovers from Laurence Sterne's novel, A Sentimental Journey, Yorick and Maria.

The Death of Admiral Lord Nelson—in the Moment of Victory, by James Gillray. The nation's artists drew Emma into the scene of Nelson's death.

Horatia's copy of Moral Maxims, a popular eighteenth-century children's book, inscribed with her mother's hope that her daughter would be, “good, virtuous and love wisdom, knowledge and understanding.”

When Romney painted Emma as a nun, he was making a joke about her earlier life as a courtesan. By 1814, she was living right opposite the Magdalen House, the home for penitent prostitutes.

The King's Bench Prison in London, depicted by Thomas Rowlandson in 1808, not long before Emma arrived there

Copyright © 2006 by Kate Williams

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Ballantine Books,
an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division
of Random House, Inc., New York. Published in Great Britain by Hutchinson,
an imprint of Random House Group, Ltd.

BALLANTINE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Williams, Kate.

England's mistress: the infamous life of Emma Hamilton/Kate Williams.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
eISBN: 978-0-307-48429-1
1. Hamilton, Emma, Lady, 1761?–1815. 2. Nelson, Horatio Nelson, Viscount,
1758-1805—Relations with women. 3. British—Italy—Naples—History—18th century.
4. Hamilton, William, Sir, 1730-1803—Marriage. 5. Ambassadors' spouses—Great Britain—
Biography. 6. Mistresses—Great Britain—Biography. I. Title.
DA483.H3W55 2006
941.07′3092—dc22
[B]        2006049881

www.ballantinebooks.com

v3.0