CHRISTIAN, COUNTESS OF DEVONSHIRE

Summary

The daughter of Edward, Lord Bruce, of Kinloss, has been introduced before, in the life of Arabella Stuart, who was present at her marriage with her cousin, “poor Wylkyn;” and is named as a little red-haired girl, by the letter-waiter who relates the event.

The marriage was one purely of convenience, and the inclinations of the parties most concerned were not consulted; indeed, as the bride was only twelve years old, her consent was of little consequence; and the young bridegroom, quite against his will, was made to go through the ceremony.

When the virtues and worth of the wife thus chosen for him came to be known, it would seem natural that the Earl of Devonshire, as her husband afterwards became, would have valued them as they deserved, but there is little evidence to prove this to be the case. His extraordinary generosity and profusion impoverished his estate to such a degree, that at his death, which happened when his son was but ten years old, his property was deeply involved, and his widow had a hard task to disentangle the difficulties thrown in her way.