The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-24
A REMARKABLE WOMAN.
Lady Married Thrice Before She Was
I6-NOther of I3 Children


From the New Illustrated Magazine.
The world is full of wonderful women
nowadays, but not one of them compares
to a certain little maid who lived two CEN
turtles ago in Merrie England.
She held six barones in her own right
before she was IS.
She was the richest woman in the coun-
try at the same age.
She might have become a kings daugn-
ter-in-law when she was r.
She married a dukes heir when she
was r.
She became a widow When she was 10.
She married the richest commoner in
England when she was A.
He was murdered in Pail Mall when
she was 10.
She married a duke when she was 10.
She brought thirteen children into the
world.
She was lampooned by the creator of
CULVER.
And died before she was Sc.
This marvellous woman was Lady Eliz-
abeth Percy, daughter of Joceline, elev-
enth Earl Of Northumberland, who died
as the Duchess of Somerset. When she
came into six of his titles; the ancient
baronies of Percy, Lucy, Poynings Fitz-
Payne, Bryn and Latimer, to say nothing
of an enormous fortune and historic
heritage, dating back TO the conquest.
The scramble for her honors and hand
soon began. The king himself, Charles III,
entered the running by offering her the
hand of one of his natural progeny, the
Duke of Richmond, who was just years
rl,o INF orr n H.
err who was a daughter of the Earl of
Suffolk, and who brought her up, made
her decline the duke and few weeks
later she married Henry Cavendish, Earl
of Ogle, a puny boy of l6, who died a
year later, leaving Lady Elizabeth Wild
ow for the first time
She had not to wait long for another
partner Six months afterward her grand
mother bestowed her hand on Thomas
Thyme, a young gentleman of notoriety,
who was probably the weaithiest common
err of his time. He was known everywhere
as tom of Ten Thousands" and nobody
short of princes were his friends.
Thyme was married 10 Lady Elizabeth
in the summer of 1881. As she was just IA,
the ceremony, as in the case of the for
mer marriage, was simply formal and
when il was celebrated the girl went
across to her friend, Lady Temple, at The
Hague, 10 wait ulllii ilcA dSN PSAhiiltCd
her to take her position as hostess at
Longleat. She had barely landed in Hol-
land when a notorious rake, Count Ko-
niugsmark skilled in amours," became
prodigiousy enamored of her. He was
young-only 22-and handsome and daring,
and the fact that she was married added
an additional reason for his pursuing her.
The girl was firm, and finally the Count
resolved to get rid of her husband. He
IL ,,11r1
rope could offer, a Pomeranian highway
man named Vratz, who went TO England,
and. i'm company with two accomplces,
shot Thyme to death on Feb Y, 1851,
the latter was riding along Pail Mail in
his gorgeous coach early in the evening.
The three assassins were captured con-
victed and hung, but Count KOningsmark,
although arrested, was acquitted, contem-
porary gossip declaring that the court had
been bribed.
NV Lady Elizabeth was by no means
incohsolable, though she had buried two
husbands already. She was barely 1914
when. in May, 1862, four months after
Thynn's death, she espoused a third
Charles Seymour, sixth Duke of Somerset,
who was compelled to take the name or
Percy until she came of age. The duke
was FIVE years his wife's senior, and sur
vived her more than a quarter century.
He was an exceedingly ndnuSOHle man.
and was always a prominent figure AT
state functions. He appeared as CHIEF
mourner at the funerals of three sover>
eigns-Charles II, Mary II and William
III-and he bore the orb at the corona
tons of James II, William and Mary, Anne,
George / and George II, while his wife
was chief moutner at Mary's funeral. The
career OF the pair Is largely a matter OF
imperial history, Somerset held the high
est offices in the state. and when his
spouse succeeded the Duchess of Mari
borough as mistress of the robes In iii,
Swift caricatured her in his windsor
Prophecy" lampooning her beautiful red
hair in the line
beware of carrots from Northumber-
land"
Despite the fact that she bore her last
husband thirteen children, the duchess
long remained beauty. She died on Nov.
%, 1722. at the age Of So.
-e-~e-s-
Spiritual Adviser: You have a trust in
the future life?
Dying Financier; No. no. mol Merely
a ranruapi1a ffon / assure ynu