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Details
HORATIO, VISCOUNT NELSON (1758-1805)
Autograph letter signed (twice, 'Nelson & Bronte') to Lady Hamilton, St George [Yarmouth], 'March 7, 9 o'clock' n.y. [1801], including a postscript dated 'Sunday morning', 3 ½ pages, 4to, integral address panel signed ('Nelson') and dated ('Yarmouth March Eighth'), remains of red wax seal (the two leaves separated at central fold, small splits in outer edges of horizontal folds, seal tears, old professional repairs, a few phrases underlined in pencil). Provenance: Edwin Wolff 2nd Collection; Christie's sale, 20 June 1990 (lot 236)
A LOVE LETTER REFERRING TO 'MRS THOMSON' AND NELSON'S 'GODCHILD' (THE THREE MONTH OLD HORATIA), WRITTEN FIVE DAYS BEFORE NELSON SAILED FOR THE BALTIC. 'Never my Dearest only friend say do my letters bore me, no they are the comfort of my life, the only real comfort I feel seperated [sic] as I am from all I hold dear ... My Dear dear friend, You are present wheresoever I go, all my prayers and vows are for our happy meeting and when we are to part no more. Remember me most affectionately to Mrs Thomson, Tell her her dear friend is as well as can be expected and has a comfort in firmly believing her constant. He desires me to say he burns all her letters although it goes to his heart'.
The letter is characteristic of Nelson's mood at this time. An account of [Alexander] Davison's visit, when Nelson authorised Captain Hardy to show Mrs Davison and her niece the St George while he himself was on shore, refers to his promise to Emma never to receive other women on board ('I saw her for a moment, she is skinny and may be called ugly, certainly very plain'). Declarations of love are interspersed with expressions of jealousy ('That fellow how I hate him ... that bitch Miss Sligo ... she be damned'), thinly veiled references to Sir William and Lady Nelson ('[Thomson] is all astonishent at the Conduct of her uncle how very extraordinary, as to his aunt he dont care a fig for her') and a mocking reference to the purchase by a fellow admiral of 'an estate in Norfolk ... I suppose it is for his new Miss of a wife', while some misunderstanding about 'little Parker' is corrected for 'He knows my love for you ... to serve you I am sure he would run barefoot to London'.
The postscript refers to Nelson's favourite portrait of Emma, 'Shall I offer Sir William a sum of money for Madam Le Brun's picture of you', one of a number of references in early March to his wish to buy it lest it fall into other hands at Christie's sale of Sir William Hamilton's pictures later in the month (see also lot 20).
Early in 1801 Nelson gave way to fits of jealous passion, centred particularly on the attentions paid to Emma by the Prince of Wales, and on the evening before the present letter was written he dashed off a furious denunciation of the men whom he believed planned to betray her. Despite the relatively calm note struck in the present letter, an even more frantic one followed shortly afterwards, accusing Sir William of placing her 'at auction'.
Autograph letter signed (twice, 'Nelson & Bronte') to Lady Hamilton, St George [Yarmouth], 'March 7, 9 o'clock' n.y. [1801], including a postscript dated 'Sunday morning', 3 ½ pages, 4to, integral address panel signed ('Nelson') and dated ('Yarmouth March Eighth'), remains of red wax seal (the two leaves separated at central fold, small splits in outer edges of horizontal folds, seal tears, old professional repairs, a few phrases underlined in pencil). Provenance: Edwin Wolff 2nd Collection; Christie's sale, 20 June 1990 (lot 236)
A LOVE LETTER REFERRING TO 'MRS THOMSON' AND NELSON'S 'GODCHILD' (THE THREE MONTH OLD HORATIA), WRITTEN FIVE DAYS BEFORE NELSON SAILED FOR THE BALTIC. 'Never my Dearest only friend say do my letters bore me, no they are the comfort of my life, the only real comfort I feel seperated [sic] as I am from all I hold dear ... My Dear dear friend, You are present wheresoever I go, all my prayers and vows are for our happy meeting and when we are to part no more. Remember me most affectionately to Mrs Thomson, Tell her her dear friend is as well as can be expected and has a comfort in firmly believing her constant. He desires me to say he burns all her letters although it goes to his heart'.
The letter is characteristic of Nelson's mood at this time. An account of [Alexander] Davison's visit, when Nelson authorised Captain Hardy to show Mrs Davison and her niece the St George while he himself was on shore, refers to his promise to Emma never to receive other women on board ('I saw her for a moment, she is skinny and may be called ugly, certainly very plain'). Declarations of love are interspersed with expressions of jealousy ('That fellow how I hate him ... that bitch Miss Sligo ... she be damned'), thinly veiled references to Sir William and Lady Nelson ('[Thomson] is all astonishent at the Conduct of her uncle how very extraordinary, as to his aunt he dont care a fig for her') and a mocking reference to the purchase by a fellow admiral of 'an estate in Norfolk ... I suppose it is for his new Miss of a wife', while some misunderstanding about 'little Parker' is corrected for 'He knows my love for you ... to serve you I am sure he would run barefoot to London'.
The postscript refers to Nelson's favourite portrait of Emma, 'Shall I offer Sir William a sum of money for Madam Le Brun's picture of you', one of a number of references in early March to his wish to buy it lest it fall into other hands at Christie's sale of Sir William Hamilton's pictures later in the month (see also lot 20).
Early in 1801 Nelson gave way to fits of jealous passion, centred particularly on the attentions paid to Emma by the Prince of Wales, and on the evening before the present letter was written he dashed off a furious denunciation of the men whom he believed planned to betray her. Despite the relatively calm note struck in the present letter, an even more frantic one followed shortly afterwards, accusing Sir William of placing her 'at auction'.
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