Memoirs of Emma, lady Hamilton, the friend of Lord Nelson and the court of Naples; by 1855-1933 Walter Sydney Sichel

upon existence are well outlined in a letter to Emma of 1792 which deserves attention. " My study of antiquities has kept me in constant thought of the perpetual fluctuation of everything. The whole art is, really, to live all the days of our life; and not, with anxious care, disturb the sweetest hour that life affords—which is,

    the present. Admire the Creator, and all His works to us incomprehensible; and do all the good you can upon earth; and take the chance of eternity without dismay."
    Absent since 1778, he came over at the close of 1782 to bury his wife. It is just possible that even then he may have caught a flying glimpse of the girl whom he was to style two years later " the fair tea-maker of Edgware Row." Greville, of course, was punctual in condolence: " You have no idea how shocked I was. . . . Yet when I consider the long period of her indisposition and the weakness of her frame, I ought to have been prepared to hear it. I am glad that her last illness was not attended with extraordinary suffering, and I know you so well that I am sure you will think with affection and regret, as often as the blank which must be felt after 25 years society shall call her to your memory, and it will not be a small consolation that to the last you shew'd that kindness and attention to her which she deserved. / have often quoted you for that conduct which few have goodness of heart or principle to imitate." He had hoped to hasten to his dearest Hamilton's side in the crisis of affliction, but his brother's affairs, the troubles of trusteeships, and the bequest by Lord Sea forth of a rare cameo, alas! intervened, and therefore he could not come. So Mount Vesuvius-Hamilton hurried to Mahomet-Greville, and doubtless, after a little virtu and more business, returned for the autumn season at Naples and his winter sport at Caserta.
    But meanwhile Greville grew ruffled and out-at-elbows. He was once more member for his family borough. He needed larger emolument, yet the coalition was on the wane. For a brief interval it returned, and Greville breathed again, pocketing a small promotion in the general scramble for office. In 1783, how-

    ever, the great Pitt entered on his long reign, and Grev-ille's heart sank once more. His post, however, was confirmed, despite his conscientious disapproval of reforms for England and for Ireland, and new India bills in the interval. Still, his tastes were so various that even now he pondered if, after all, an heiress of ton (none of your parvenues} were not the only way out; and, pending decision, he went on collecting crystals, exchanging pictures of saints, and lecturing Emma on the convenances —perhaps the least extravagant and most edifying pastime of all. Every August he toured in Warwickshire after his own, and to Milford and Pembrokeshire after his uncle's affairs (for Milford was being " developed "); nor was he the man to begrudge his eleve a few weeks' change in the dull season during his absence. In 1784 she was to require it more than usual, for sea-baths had been ordered, while her first thought was then to be for her " little Emma," now being tended at Hawarden.
    In the early summer of this very year Sir William Hamilton had reappeared as widower, and crossed the threshold of Edgware Row to the flurry, doubtless, of the little handmaidens, whose successors, " Molly Dring" and " Nelly Gray," were so regularly paid their scanty wages, as registered in the surviving accounts.
    The courtly connoisseur was enraptured. Never had he beheld anything more Greek, any one more naturally accomplished, more uncommon. What an old slyboots had this young nephew been these last two years, to have concealed this hidden treasure while he detailed everything else in his letters ! The demure rogue, then, was a suburban amateur with a vengeance! The antiquarian-Apollo, carrying with him a new work on Etruscan vases, and a new tract on volcanic phenomena, flattered himself that here were volcanoes

    and