Nelson could only hope he might not be witness to a renewal of
it, but which so impressed him that he quoted it at length to Lady
Nelson. When the "Vanguard" approached the town, crowds of boats went
out to meet her, and His Sicilian Majesty himself came on board when
she was still a league from the anchorage. He had been preceded by the
British ambassador with Lady Hamilton. The latter, having had only
three weeks to recover from the first shock of the news, was greatly
overcome, and dropped her lovely face and by no means slender figure
into the arms of the admiral, who, on his part, could scarcely fail to
be struck with the pose of one whose attitudes compelled the
admiration of the most exacting critics. "The scene in the boat was
terribly affecting," he wrote to his wife. "Up flew her ladyship, and
exclaiming, 'O God, is it possible?' she fell into my arm more dead
than alive. Tears, however, soon set matters to rights."

This was the beginning of an intimacy destined, in the end, to affect
profoundly and unhappily the future of Nelson. Although Sir William
Hamilton, in his own congratulatory letter by the "Mutine," called him
"our bosom friend," they do not seem to have met since the summer of
1793, when the young captain carried Hood's despatches from Toulon to
Naples; and Nelson, while acknowledging on the present occasion the
kindness of an invitation to take up his quarters at the embassy, had
expressed a preference for rooms at a hotel, on account of the
business to be transacted. This reluctance, however, was easily and
properly overruled, and immediately after anchoring he went to live at
the ambassador's house, which, under the management of the celebrated
woman who presided there, became the social centre of the welcomes
lavished not only upon himself, but upon all the officers of the
ships.

Emma, Lady Hamilton, the second wife of Sir William, was at this time
thirty-three years old, her husband being sixty-eight. Her name, when
first entering the world, was Amy Lyon. Born in Cheshire of extremely
poor parents, in the humblest walk of life, she had found her way up
to London, while yet little more than a child, and there, having a
beautiful face, much natural charm of manner and disposition, utterly
inexperienced, and with scarcely any moral standards,--of which her
life throughout shows but little trace,--she was speedily ruined, fell
so far, in fact, that even with all her attractions it seemed doubt