Beschreibung:

NELSON, William, 1st Earl Nelson (clergyman, 1757-1835). Two autograph letters signed ('Wm. Nelson') to [Emma], Lady Hamilton, n.p. [outside London] and Hilborough, 19 February and 27 March 1801, 3 pages , 4to (240 x 188mm) and 3 pages , 4to (245 x 195mm) , pencil markings, apparently editorial, to second letter (splits to the central fold of the first letter, both bifolia with repaired losses to the second page sustained during seal removal).
NELSON, William, 1st Earl Nelson (clergyman, 1757-1835). Two autograph letters signed ('Wm. Nelson') to [Emma], Lady Hamilton, n.p. [outside London] and Hilborough, 19 February and 27 March 1801, 3 pages , 4to (240 x 188mm) and 3 pages , 4to (245 x 195mm) , pencil markings, apparently editorial, to second letter (splits to the central fold of the first letter, both bifolia with repaired losses to the second page sustained during seal removal). Apparently bowled over after first meeting Lady Hamilton, lover of his younger brother Horatio, before even arriving home William Nelson writes: 'I have been scarce able to speak a word the whole journey, your image & voice are constantly before my imagination & I can think of nothing else ... it is no wonder that my good, my great, my virtuous, my beloved Brother should be so much attached to your Ladyship ... had Tom Tit done half as much he might have insured the blessing of the whole family instead of the curses'. The second appears to compare unfavourably a letter from his wife with one of Emma's, writing of his longing for a time when 'pennance & pilgrimage will be at an end, when I shall make up for all my present mortifications during my widowhood', before going on to warn of events at Rathbone Place: 'poor blind Cupid ... is very crabbed at times & I doubt false, they must be attended to a little by our jewel [?his daughter, Charlotte Nelson] but not trusted with any thing important, for if she does, Tom Tit will certainly get at it'. These fawning letters from William Nelson stand as clear testament to the persuasive power of Emma Hamilton's charms, particularly in his cruel words for 'Tom Tit', as Emma referred to Fanny Nelson. The mention of Rathbone Place, residence of his brother Maurice, and the troubles within relate to the rift in the Nelson family caused by Nelson and Emma's affair; whilst William and his wife Sarah took up Emma's part against Fanny Nelson, the estranged wife of the Admiral, the Reverend Edmund Nelson – father to William and Horatio – was to take Fanny Nelson in after her husband abandoned her.