EMMA, LADY HAMILTON.
He died on November 15th, 1802, at the age of sixty-eight, passing away in the arms of his wife, who devoted herself entirely to him up to the moment of his death. She survived him for many years.
LADY HAMILTON
In any consideration of the life and art of George Romney, however brief, it is impossible to leave out the name of Lady Hamilton, as she was so constantly painted by him.
It will be well, therefore, for a short section of this little book to be devoted to a story of the life of this fascinating person, who was fated to exercise so strong an influence upon the painter. It is hardly possible for the most imaginative romancer to tell a story more chequered in its events, more thrilling in its emotions, and more sad in its end.
Emma Lyon was the daughter of a smith in Cheshire, a humble man, who died in 1761, after a very short married life, and left his widow and infant daughter wholly without support.
The widow moved at once from Neston, where her husband had died, to Hawarden, her native place, and here by the aid of her relatives, almost equally poor with herself, she managed to bring up her child and send her to a dame's school in the village.