the Admiral did not live to open them, (f) Emma Hamilton's copy of the letter (of 11th August, 1795) from Spain, showing how strangely she mis-remembered in her later time the contents of the Spanish king's letter, referred to by Nelson in the famous socalled 8th codicil, and (g) Emma Hamilton's signed 'Statement' (1811) of the services and losses on which she based her claims to a pension,-the curious composition, which shows how large a part of what biographers have heretofore told us about Lady Hamilton consisted of her own ex parte misrepresentations.
The hitherto unpublished writings, set forth in the present work, surpass in number, volume and interest the letters published for the first time in Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson.'
For displaying the nature and extent of Emma Hamilton's irregularities and offences I was visited with censure in some quarters and rewarded with approval in other quarters. Thankful for the approval, I have no disposition to complain of the censure. this time of democratic ferment I cannot hope to be universally commended for showing that, instead of being the supremely wicked woman that malicious libellers and misguided historians have declared her, Maria Caroline was a virtuous Queen, whose actions in her earlier and brighter time entitle her to admiration, and whose subsequent misfortunes entitle her to chivalric compassion. But it can scarcely be questioned that the extravagances and success of Monsieur Gagnière's 'La Reine Marie-Caroline De Naples, Lady Hamilton Et Nelson' justify the pains I have taken to portray the adventuress with realistic exactness, to discredit the Queen's defamers, and to close certain Nelsonian controversies for ever.