Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1886-06-25
How Henry Cecil, Earl of Exeter.
Found His Wife. 81 =

In the year 1791, Henry Cecil, then0
man OF seven or eight and thirty.
nephew and heir to the Earl OF Exets4
and Lord Burghley ofthose days; cams
to live in the quiet Village of Bolas, on
the River Tern, in remote corner o.
Shropshire. While young, he had bee1
led into a marriage which had proves
unhappy, and when he came to Shror-
shire had recently divorced his wife.
In a melancholy mood he resolved to
hide himself from the world, and con-
ceal!ng his birth and rank, he assumed
the name of Jones and the profession
of a travelling artist, and lodged dur
ing some months in the house of a
farmer called Thomas Higgins. Here
he fell in love with the farmers fair
young daughter, Sarah, and, with her
parents consent, made her his wife.
The names Of the contracting parties
may still be read in the parish register
of the Shropshire village, where the
wedding took place on the 3rd OF Oc-
tober. 1871. Upon his uncle's death,
a year afterward, Mr.. Cecil succeeded
to the earldom, and without tell
ing his secret he brought his bride
home to Burghley, where she learned
it for the first time.
For this and all the rest we may go
to the Laureate. 1t is true that tho
village maiden made g. "noble lady,
and the people loved her much," for
M
living in Stamford more than one aged
inhabitant who remembered the boun-
ty and kindness Of the Cottage Count
ess, and spoke with warm affection
and gratitude of her charity. 1t is al
so true that from the time of her mar
riage she seemed melancholy and op-
pressed, and several who where per-
| sonally acquainted with her bore wit
ness to the unspoken sadness which
| seemed to bow down her spirit.
But a trouble weigh'd upon her,
And perplex'd her night and morn
With the burthen OF an honor
Unto which she was not born.
! OF the three fair children which she
bore her husband, the second was
! Brownlow, who was born in 1895, be-
came the second marquis OF Exeter,
and lived till 1867. The eldest,
Sophia-the graceful child OF Sir
| Thomas Lawrence's picture-grew up
also and married the Right Honorable
| Henry Manners Pierrepont, but died
! young, like her mother, in the year
| 1928. She left an only daughter, who
married Lord Charles Wellesley, and
was the mother OF the present Duke OF
! Wellington, SO that the blood OF the
Cottage Countess runs in the veins OF
two OF our most illustrious families at
this moment. In January, 1897, she
gave birth to a third child, Thomas
Cecil, and in the Autumn Of the fol-
lowing year died, to the deep grief of
her husband, who, all the same, con-
soled himself before long and married
q third wife, the Duchess OF Hamilton.
This lady, however: left no children,
ana the earl, after being advanced in
1901 to the rank Of marquis, died in
1904, at the age OF fifty, and Was sue
ceeded by Countess Sarah's youthful
son, the last Lord Exeter.
Tradition says that the Cottage
Countess was, by her Lord S command
and in fultillnent of her own last wish,
borne TO her grave in the lowly village
lnaiden's dress she had worn on her
wedding day, "that her spirit might
have rest" So they buried her on an
Autumn day in St. Martin, OF Siam
ford-the old church on the North
championships side OF the river, where
the Cecils Of many generations sleep.
Here, too, in seven years, her lord was
| laid beside her under flat tombstone
in dark corner of the church.
The Lord Treasurer, we know, rests
under q stately tomb of marble and
alabaster, with a richly carve: cano~
ply and an effigy OF himself in armor,
| wearing the red mantle and. star of the
| Garter. Other monuments there are,
too, Of various date and form; but no
splendid tomb or elegant inscription
marks the resting place OF the Cottage
| Countess. Nor is there any need of
such cmorial Her memory is fresh
in the hearts Of the Stamford people,
while her face lives in glorious colors
on the painters canvas. and her story
is enshrined in Tennyson's immortal
verse.-Magazine Of Art.
They Want to Go Home.