ASHRIDGE 111 



Alas ! the angel died very young, and among the 

 virtues and accomplishments mentioned on her 

 tomb, it is recorded " that she could speak not 

 only English but French " ! 



The Duke soon filled her place by a very different 

 lady, and his second Duchess outlived her husband, 

 making later a marriage which was a nine days' 

 wonder. "We have been entertained," writes 

 Walpole, "with the marriage of the Duchess of 

 Bridge water and Dick Lyttelton she forty, plain, 

 very rich, and with five children, he six-and-twenty, 

 handsome, poor, and proper to get her five more." 

 This strange marriage appears to have proved very 

 happy, possibly owing to the lady's riches and the 

 husband's good-nature. In 1764, when she was a 

 gouty old woman of sixty, he allowed himself to be 

 wheeled everywhere " in a gouty chair," as she was, 

 to prevent remarks upon the disparity of their 

 ages. Certainly such sympathy and tact must have 

 gone far in the making of a happy marriage. 



This charming man was stepfather to the 

 beautiful Di Egerton, who "had her caprices" as 

 to whom she would and would not marry. In the 

 end her choice was not a wise one, and it would 

 perhaps have been better if she had married 

 Mr. Seymour, though he had declared her letters 

 were too affectionate and was " so unsentimental 

 as to talk of desiring to make her happy, instead 

 of being made so by her ! " 



