When the Vanguard arrived at Naples, Nelson invited Lady Hamilton on board and she was no sooner on the deck than she made one dramatic plunge at him, and proceeded to faint on the poor shattered man’s breast.  Nelson, whose besetting weakness was love of approbation, became intoxicated with the lady’s method of making love.  Poor gallant fellow!  He was, like many another, the victim of human weakness.  He immediately believed that he and Emma had “found each other,” and allowed himself to be flattered with refined delicacy into a liaison which became a fierce passion, and tested the loyalty of his closest friends to breaking-point.  How infinitely pathetic is this piteous story from beginning to end!

Like most sailors, Nelson had a fervent, religious belief in the Eternal, and never went to battle without casting himself on the mercy of the Infinite Pity which alone can give solace.  He was fearless and strong in the affairs of his profession, and it may be safely assumed that, even if it went no deeper, he had a mystic fear of God, and was lost to all other fear.

I think it was Carlyle who said, “God save us from the madness of popularity.  It invariably injures those who get it.”  There never was a truer thing said, and it is sadly true of our great national hero.  Not many months had passed before the dispenser of his praises had become his proprietor.  It is doubtful whether Emma ever loved him, but that does not concern any one.  What does concern us is the imperious domination she exercised over him.  No flighty absurdities of fiction can equal the extravagance of his devotion to her, and his unchecked desire to let every one know it.  He even informs Lady Nelson that Lady Hamilton is the very best woman in the world and an honour to her sex, and that he had a pride in having her as a friend.  He writes to Lord St. Vincent that she is “an angel,” and has honoured him in being his Ambassadress to the Queen and is worthy of his confidence.  Again he writes, “Our dear Lady Hamilton, whom to see is to admire, but to know are to be added honour and respect; her head and heart surpass her beauty, which cannot be equalled by anything I have seen.”

It is impossible to suppose that a man could fall so violently in love with this extraordinary creature and permit her to come so intimately into his life without injury to his judgment and to those keen mental qualities which were needed at that time in the service of his country.  Such loss of control must surely have been followed by mental and intellectual deterioration.  This lady of varied antecedents was the intermediary between the Court of Naples and himself, and it is now an authentic fact that it was on the advice of the Queen and Emma that Naples entered into a war, the result of which was the complete defeat of the Neapolitans; the Court and the Hamiltons had to fly to Palermo and Nelson again lived with the Minister and his wife.  He again pours out the virtues