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Here's a press release from BNPN Bonham's Press Agency - updated with new information just come to light from Mark Barrett
A mysterious riddle contained in a four line verse in the handwriting of Emma Hamilton and sent to her lover Lord Nelson has been solved.
The cryptic quatrain had baffled experts until it was seen by an author who is writing a book about the famous lovers.
Jacqui Livesey has uncovered that Emma was being a tease and using puns in the ditty that only Nelson would understand.
The previously unknown verse was penned following Nelson's victory at the Battle of Copenhagen and is titled Veni Vidi Vici - I came, I saw, I conquered.
After the battle, Emma wrote to Nelson, including a few lines of verse sent to her by a well-wisher. She and Nelson occasionally adapted the poetic effusions of friends and admirers for their own personal use. Classical allusions, laurel wreaths and the conquering Caesar were a favourite refrain of hers and this poem appears to be a typical example. Replicating the words written across Nelson's birthday column, it reads:
"Two thirds of Cesars boasted-Fame
Thou Nelson must Resign
to Come & see was parkers Claim
to conquer only Thine"
The hand-written note is part of Roy Davids' collection of manuscripts which he is selling at Bonhams later this month.
He was curious to unravel the meaning of the mysterious lines and now the truth of the touching verse has been revealed and also the equally moving reply from Nelson.
The title is a reference to the party Emma threw for Nelson's 40th birthday in which she erected a rostral column decorated with flowers and the words 'Veni, Vidi, Vici."
The "parker" is a reference to Edward Thornbrough Parker, a struggling young officer who Nelson had met in Italy and taken under his wing.
He sailed between Nelson and Emma delivering their letters.
Emma and Nelson soon dubbed him 'little Parker' and the young man quickly gained the confidence and friendship of the couple
Emma's poem was a typical paen to Nelson's glory, but also - using a small 'p' - hid a double pun.
It was a flattering, teasing reference to "Little Parker's" good fortune in being in her presence.
She had driven Nelson wild with jealousy in the previous months, when rumours reached him that the Prince of Wales wished to make her his mistress, and this was a teasing reassurance.
"Little parker" was welcome to 'come and see' her, but only the absent Nelson could claim the conquest.
She also cleverly linked the "parker" of the poem with Nelson's compromised Commander-in-Chief at the Battle of Copenhagen, Sir Hyde Parker.
It was he whose order to break off from battle was famously ignored by Nelson who put a telescope to his blind eye so he couldn't see the signal.
The little 'p' gives away the real identity of the "parker" in Emma's poem.
Jacqui Livesey who is writing the book about Lady Hamilton and Nelson has even discovered the reply that Nelson sent Emma after receiving her verse.
It reads:
"My dearest beloved Friend, - Yesterday I joined Adml. Totty, when I found little Parker with all my treasures, your dear kind friendly letters, your picture as Santa Emma, for a Santa you are if ever there was one in this world to Mrs. Denis say every kind thing you please for her letter. Tell her I want not to conquer any heart if that which I have conquered is happy in its lot. I am confident, for the conqueror is become the Conquered. I want but one true heart. There can be but one love, although many real well-wishers."
Little Parker and Nelson returned to England at the end of June, 1801.
By the end of September Parker was dead, shot high up in the thigh during a night-raid on Boulogne in one of Nelson's rare defeats.
His death, after lingering in agony for more than a month and suffering the amputation of his shattered leg, devastated Nelson who had grown to regard Parker as a surrogate son.
Nelson asked that a lock of Parker's hair be cut off to be buried with him when his own time came.
Four years later, following the Battle of Trafalgar, as the coffin lid was finally closed prior to Nelson's lying in state and funeral, it was.
Mrs Livesey said: "Emma and Nelson spent a great deal of time apart. So writing to each other was very important. There are hundreds of letters from Nelson to Emma, which she kept.
"But very few remain of those that she sent to him. He always burned them and advised her to do the same, but she ignored his advice and kept them.
"Some of those letters she sent to him we only have because either they didn't reach him or were sent before news of his death reached Emma and they were returned to her.
"So this letter is very rare. It is clear the relationship was very intense and they idealised each other because they spent so much time apart.
"Emma deliberately wrote the verse as a riddle, using puns, and she knew that Nelson would understand what she meant.
"And he replied in a similar fashion. It is a fascinating insight into the relationship between the famous lovers."
The sale of the note is taking place at Bonhams on March 29 and is expected to fetch 1,200 pounds.
ends
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Jacqui
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