Hamilton (Emma),- Wade (Matteo) 2 Autograph Letters signed to Lady Hamilton, on the situation in Naples and anticipating the arrival of Lord Nelson, 1799.

Hamilton (Emma, Lady Hamilton, mistress of Lord Nelson, wife of Sir William Hamilton, bap. 1765, d. 1815).- Wade (Matthew or Matteo, Irish expatriate soldier in the army of the Kingdom of Naples) 2 Autograph Letters signed to Emma Hamilton, together 8pp., folio & sm. 4to, 10th August - 14th September 1799, in the aftermath of the collapse of the Parthenopean Republic of Naples and the counter revolution of the exiled king, and the subsequent treatment of political prisoners, "Everything here is held in suspense. The great question is, who is to be hanged, and who is to be beheaded", and the anticipated advent of Lord Nelson to Naples, "I have been told that Lord Nelson is expected here every moment in a Frigate, and from then to take the Command of the grand Fleet, then it seems he is destined to destroy the French. I am very sorry he quits these seas, as his name alone was of consiquence [sic]... this Juncto of state proceeds so slowly, in not hanging the guilty, nor freeing the innocent...", folds, browned.

⁂ Emma Hamilton and Lord Nelson in Naples.

Matteo Wade was an Irish expatriate and soldier who served in Italy, as an officer in the army of the Kingdom of Naples. It seems that in 1799 he owed his position of authority to Emma Hamilton, wife of Sir William Hamilton, British minister to Naples, hence his long letters of explanation to her. In 1806 he was in charge of the Civitella del Tronto fortress, besieged by Murat's army, and against huge odds held out for several months.Wade is commemorated with a monumental tomb in Largo Rosati in the town of Civitella erected in 1829.