black cloak, and wearing
no stays. Her mother-in-law sent her, from Paris, cases full of the
most beautiful dresses then made by Mlle. Bertin, Queen Marie
Antoinette's dressmaker. I do not believe that the Countess ever
opened one of them, and when her mother-in-law expressed a wish to see
her in the beautiful gowns and head-dresses contained in the cases,
she answered indifferently: "What for? Why?" She gave me the same
answer when showing me her jewel-case, one of the most splendid I have
ever seen. It contained enormous diamonds given her by Potemkin, but I
never saw them on her. I remember her telling me that in order to go
to sleep she had a slave under her bed who told her the same story
every night. She was utterly idle all day, she had no education, and
her conversation was quite empty. But in spite of all that, thanks to
her lovely face and her angelic sweetness, she had an incomparable
charm.

Count Skavronska had made me promise to do his wife's portrait before
any one else's, and, having agreed, I began this portrait two days
after my arrival. After the first session, Sir William Hamilton, the
British Ambassador at Naples, came to me and begged that my first
portrait in this town should be that of the splendid woman he
presented to me. This was Mme. Harte, who soon after became Lady
Hamilton, and who was famous for her beauty. After the promise to my
amiable neighbours, I could not begin the other portrait until
Countess Skavronska's was well advanced. I then painted Mme. Harte as
a bacchante reclining by the edge of the sea, holding a goblet in her
hand. Her beautiful face had much animation, and was a complete
contrast to the Countess's. She had a great quantity of fine chestnut
hair, sufficient to cover her entirely, and thus, as a bacchante with
flying hair, she was admirable to behold.

The life of Lady Hamilton is a romance. Her maiden name was Emma Lyon.
Her mother, it is said, was a poor servant, and there is some
disagreement as to her birthplace. At the age of thirteen she entered
the service of an honest townsman of Hawarden as a nurse, but, tired
of the dull life she led, and believing that she could obtain a more
agreeable situation in London, she betook herself thither. The Prince
of Wales told me that he had seen her at that time in wooden shoes at
the stall of a fruit vender, and that, although she was very meanly
clad, her pretty face attracted attention. A shopkeeper took her into
his se