and that the
world had never lost a more upright and accomplished gentleman";[5]
which, be it said, is rather a stagey performance of his wife's lover.
But the mistress excels her lover in the record of the death-bed
drama. "Unhappy day," says she in profusion of tears, "for the forlorn
Emma. Ten minutes past ten dear beloved Sir William left me." Emma was
poorly provided for; only L700 a year jointure and L100 a year for her
mother for life. She and Nelson appealed to Lord Minto to urge on Mr.
Addington her claim for a pension, and she vowed to Minto that her
connection with Nelson was pure, and he says he can believe it, which
is hardly consistent with the description he gives his wife as to
"their open and disgusting proceedings," or with his comments on a
visit paid to the Duke of Marlborough at Blenheim, where the Duke had
treated the gallant naval chief and his party as though they were mere
ordinary trippers who had come to see the wonders of his possessions.
He condescendingly ordered refreshments to be given to them, which
sent Nelson into a fury of indignation, and Minto excuses the Duke by
stating that Nelson persuaded himself that all the world should be
blind because he chose to extol Emma's "virtues." Obviously, Minto was
not firmly convinced of her chastity.

Nelson, with his heart full of blind adoration, had quite a simple,
sailorly conviction that no one ought to question the innocence of his
attachment to Emma, since he called Hamilton her "Uncle"; and, because
he wished the public to believe in his innocence, he took it for
granted that they would believe it. The Duke of Marlborough evidently
had heard and believed in the impure tale, but that did not justify
him in treating his noble guest and his friends in the snobbish and
ill-mannered way he did. It is hardly likely that Nelson would have
paid the visit without being asked, and in ordinary decency he should
have been received or not asked at all. He was a greater figure and
public servant than the Duke, and His Grace would not have suffered in
dignity had he met Nelson on terms of equality. He could not have done
less, at all events. On the other hand, the great Admiral showed a
peevishness at the treatment which was unworthy of his fame and
position; he could well afford to ignore the affront, more especially
as he prided himself that the lady the Duke took exception to was "in
the sight of Heaven his wife," and no one had any right to question