Read Online Memoirs of Emma, lady Hamilton, the friend of Lord Nelson and the court of Naples; by 1855-1933 Walter Sydney Sichel - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: 1855-1933 Walter Sydney Sichel
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ship bears the unwedded uncle to softer climes and laxer standards, while Greville, with a sigh of relief,, pores over his accounts, we may well exclaim of these two knowing and obliging materialists, par nobile fratrum — a noble brace of brothers indeed!
CHAPTER III
" WHAT GOD, AND GREVILLE, PLEASES "
To March, 1786
*'"¥" REALY do not feel myself in a situation to accept favours." " I depend on you for some
-*• cristals in lavas, etc., from Sicily." These sentences from two long epistles to his uncle at the close of 1784 are keynotes to Greville's tune of mind. With the new year he became rather more explicit:—• " Emma is very grateful for your remembrance. Her picture shall be sent by the first ship—I wish Romney yet to mend the dog. 1 She certainly is much improved since she has been with me. She has none of the bad habits which giddiness and inexperience encouraged, and which bad choice of company introduced. ... I am sure she is attached to me, or she would not have refused the offers which I know have been great; and such is her spirit that on the least slight or expression of my being tired or burthened by her, I am sure she would not only give up the connexion, but would not even accept a farthing for future assistance."
Here let us pause a moment. In the " honest bargain " shortly to be struck after much obliquity, Greville's shabbiness consists, if we reflect on the prevailing tone of his age and set, not so much in the disguised transfer—a mean trick in itself—as in the fact
1 In the first picture of the " Bacchante." Some trace of a goat as well as of a dog figures in all the known versions.
that, while he had no reproach to make and was avowedly more attached to her than ever, he practised upon the very disinterestedness and fondness that he praised. Had he been unable to rely on them with absolute confidence, so wary a strategist would scarcely have ventured on the attempt, since his future prospects largely depended on her never disadvantaging him with Sir William. That she never did so, even in the first burst of bitter disillusion; that she always, and zealously, advocated his interests, redounds to her credit and proves her magnanimity. A revengeful woman, whose love and self-love had been wounded to the quick, might have ruined him, as the censor of Paddington was well aware. That he continued to approve his part in these delicate negotiations is shown by the fact of preserving these letters after they came into his possession as his uncle's executor. He never ceased to protest that his motives in the transaction were for her own ultimate good. He was not callous, but he was Jesuitical. Let him pursue his scattered hints further:—
" This is another part of my situation. If I was independent I should think so little of any other connexion that I never would marry. I have not an idea of it at present, but if any proper opportunity offer'd I shou'd be much harassed, not know how to manage, or how to fix Emma to her satisfaction; and to forego the reasonable plan which you and my friends advised is not right. I am not quite of an age to retire from bustle, and to retire into distress and poverty is worse. I can keep on here creditably this winter. The offer I made of my pictures is to get rid of the Humberston engagements which I told you of. I have a £1000 ready and 1000 to provide. I therefore am making money. If Ross will take in payment from me my bond with your security, I shall get free from Humberston affairs entirely, and be able to give them
up. It is indifferent to me whether what I value is in your keeping or mine. I will deposit with you gems which you shall value at above that sum. ... It will be on that condition I will involve you, for favor I take as favor, and business as business."
His subsequent communications dole out the growing plot by degrees and approaches; he works by sap and mine. In March, 1785, after discussing politics at large, he doubts if his
CHAPTER III
" WHAT GOD, AND GREVILLE, PLEASES "
To March, 1786
*'"¥" REALY do not feel myself in a situation to accept favours." " I depend on you for some
-*• cristals in lavas, etc., from Sicily." These sentences from two long epistles to his uncle at the close of 1784 are keynotes to Greville's tune of mind. With the new year he became rather more explicit:—• " Emma is very grateful for your remembrance. Her picture shall be sent by the first ship—I wish Romney yet to mend the dog. 1 She certainly is much improved since she has been with me. She has none of the bad habits which giddiness and inexperience encouraged, and which bad choice of company introduced. ... I am sure she is attached to me, or she would not have refused the offers which I know have been great; and such is her spirit that on the least slight or expression of my being tired or burthened by her, I am sure she would not only give up the connexion, but would not even accept a farthing for future assistance."
Here let us pause a moment. In the " honest bargain " shortly to be struck after much obliquity, Greville's shabbiness consists, if we reflect on the prevailing tone of his age and set, not so much in the disguised transfer—a mean trick in itself—as in the fact
1 In the first picture of the " Bacchante." Some trace of a goat as well as of a dog figures in all the known versions.
that, while he had no reproach to make and was avowedly more attached to her than ever, he practised upon the very disinterestedness and fondness that he praised. Had he been unable to rely on them with absolute confidence, so wary a strategist would scarcely have ventured on the attempt, since his future prospects largely depended on her never disadvantaging him with Sir William. That she never did so, even in the first burst of bitter disillusion; that she always, and zealously, advocated his interests, redounds to her credit and proves her magnanimity. A revengeful woman, whose love and self-love had been wounded to the quick, might have ruined him, as the censor of Paddington was well aware. That he continued to approve his part in these delicate negotiations is shown by the fact of preserving these letters after they came into his possession as his uncle's executor. He never ceased to protest that his motives in the transaction were for her own ultimate good. He was not callous, but he was Jesuitical. Let him pursue his scattered hints further:—
" This is another part of my situation. If I was independent I should think so little of any other connexion that I never would marry. I have not an idea of it at present, but if any proper opportunity offer'd I shou'd be much harassed, not know how to manage, or how to fix Emma to her satisfaction; and to forego the reasonable plan which you and my friends advised is not right. I am not quite of an age to retire from bustle, and to retire into distress and poverty is worse. I can keep on here creditably this winter. The offer I made of my pictures is to get rid of the Humberston engagements which I told you of. I have a £1000 ready and 1000 to provide. I therefore am making money. If Ross will take in payment from me my bond with your security, I shall get free from Humberston affairs entirely, and be able to give them
up. It is indifferent to me whether what I value is in your keeping or mine. I will deposit with you gems which you shall value at above that sum. ... It will be on that condition I will involve you, for favor I take as favor, and business as business."
His subsequent communications dole out the growing plot by degrees and approaches; he works by sap and mine. In March, 1785, after discussing politics at large, he doubts if his
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