The Washington herald., 1916-07-15
YOUR WEDDING DAY
The Famous Men and Women Who
Have Shared II.
July l5-Mary Boyle and Charles
Rich.
BY MARY MARSHALL.

July Is ought to be an auspicious day
for runaway matches.
At least one runaway match that oc-
CURED two hundred and seventy-fve
years ago proved to be exceedingly
happy. and was the starting point for
one of the most contented OF married
lives
CURED before the wedding the observer
surely would have predicted anything
but happiness. Mary Boyle was the
youngest of the seven beautiful daugh-
ters Of the Earl of Cork. The six older
ones had all been married brilliantly,
and it was the ambition of the earl to
finish up his fatherly duties by seeing
that Mary made as brilliant a match as
any of the rest. So. when she was about
fourteen, he selected an only son of a
viscount James Hamilton. with whose
father he was acquainted. The young
people were introduced, and quite prop
erly the viscounts son fell very much in
love with Mary. But her young heart
was hard and though she could not ac-
count for her aversion. she refused point
blank to have anything to do with young
Hamilton. The earl stormed and ragged.
entreated. bribed and threatened. But
all to no avail. In the meantime. a GER
tain Charles Rich, second son OF an earl
of Warwick, appeared on the scene a. a
friend of Mrs. Francis Boyle. Mary's
newly married sister-in-lsw Charles had
figured In a bloodless duel with Mary's
brother. He was without prospects,
since he was a second son, and from the
point OF view OF the Earl OF Cork there
was not the slightest reason why he
should be desirable as a husband. How
ever, as Mary has put 1t in her diary,
he was "a very cheerful and handsome.
well bred and fashioned person-good
company and very acceptable to us all :"
Mrs Francis Boyle was as good
matchmaker as ever lived. and while
Charles Rich was all the while becoming
more and more deeply in love with
Mary, to all intents and purposes his
calls at the home of the Earl of Cork
were inspired by young Mrs. Boyle. Hav-
ing finally received Mary's consent to
the marriage, young Rich did the hon
orable thing and declared his love for
Mary to her father. Like the stubborn
Briton that he was the Earl OF Cork
flew into a rage and. seeing that there
was no use in arguing with Mary, ban
ished her to a little country house near
Hampton. This was exactly what Mary
and Charles liked the best. and. still
aided by Mrs. Francis Boyle, the young
suitor paid his court. And Charles and
the girl he loved were married, at the
village church nearest to the seat of
Marys Punishment. As Mary wrote
later. 1t was very happy occurrence,
since she herself had always been a
great enemy TO a public marriage" In
the village register Charles age is put
down correctly as twenty-five. Mary
gave her age as eighteen, although she
was in fact still under sixteen. The rec
ord states that she was married In free
hand indicating that she was not given
in marriage by her father.
AS events turned out the Earl of Cork
II / had married him 1t must have been
got his will in spite of himself, for James
Hamilton, the rejected suitor. soon lost
his estates, which" writes Mary in her
diary. II should have liked very ILL., For
for his estates sake, not for his own his
person being highly disagreeable to me.
And Charles Rich. younger son though
he was at the time of his marriage, be-
came, at the death of his brother. the
Earl Of Warwick. This little romance
stands out in English biography not only
because Charles Rich was an influential
noble, but because Mary Rich, his wife,
the Countess of Warwick. became in
mature years decidedly religious, and
her house became the resort Of the great
divines OF her day Her diary and me-
moirs, still read at this date contribute
an interesting light on the life of her
time.
Copyright. 1871