The Washington herald., 1916-06-09
YOUR WEDDING DAY.
AND
The Famous Men and Women Who
Have Shared Ii.
June 9-Joseph and Elizabeth Inch
bald.

In spite OF your eloquent pen. matri-
mony still appears to me with less
charms than terror" wrote the eighteen
year-old Eliza beth to her thirty-six-year-
old suitor. Joseph InChbald. whom she
later married.
At this time Joseph Inchbald was a
fairly successful actor and Elizabeth one
/ of the most stagestruCk young women in
! England. Her hearts desire was to be-
come an actress. in spite Of the fact that
She had an impediment in speech which
made clear enunciation almost impos-
sible. Had Inchbald not been an actor
and therefore able to aid her in her am
bition. she would never have married
! him.
! As a girl she was brought up in mod
crate circumstances by her widowed
mother, not far from London. And it is
a well-known fact that when she was
seventeen or eighteen she ran of to Lon
don TO seek her fortune" leaving a note
| for her mother 10 find after she had gone,
explaining that her move was taken
simply as part of her scheme OF success.
| She was beautiful. or at least strikingly
attractive, and it is no wonder that, in
experienced as she was with London life,
she should have mad many strange expert
ences in the great city. She went from
one lodging-house to another, and seems
D
thering her ambitions. But she had mar
ried sisters living in the great city. and
/ before long she was under their protec-
! tion. Almost from the first Inchbald had
known and loved her And doubtless he
knew that. in spite of her repeated re-
fusals to marry him. the young girl found
much in him to admire. Unprotected as
she was and with an ambition that was
ioverweeninE. her married sister was as
anxious as Inchbald for the marriage to
take place. So a hundred and thirty
| nine wears ago. in a little house in Lon
CON Elizabeth was married. Her sister
had summoned a Catholic priest. for the
! bride and bridegroom were both of that
denomination, and the next day the cere-
mony was repeated according to the pre-
sCribed English form.
| lnChbald remained entirely devoted to
his wife throughout their six years Of
married life and proved to be Of all the
assistance that any one could possibly
: have been. Although he even undertook
! the rather difficult task of playing with
! her, In spite OF her impediment he grad
ually turned her thoughts from acting to
play writing. The result was that after
| his death Elizabeth InChbald became one
| of the foremost of English dramatists.
From commonplace book kept by
Elizabeth Inchbald, we find a record OF
!
comment Is to the happiness OF each.
The first was happy, the next two mid
! ding. as she put it, then came one un-
happy year and one that was mot
| happy" This was the year that her hus-
! band died. Another not happy year
! followed, then four that were described as
| mot happy" neither" unhappy and
mostly unhappy" Then we suddenly
burst upon the one described as very
happy" This was the year of the be-
ginning Of her literary success.
Seldom have women writers been more
completely bound up with their work.
Personal trials and tribulations were as
nothing compared to the interest she took
! in her dramatic writing. Eliza beth Inch
/ bald is described as one of the most
charming women of her day. From one
pen VIC learn that she was tall. slender,
straight, of the purest complexion and
most beautiful features. her hair of a
| golden auburn. eyes full at once of spirit
and sweetness From another we
learn that she was fair but a little
| freckled with a tinGe of sand. which is
the color of her eyelashes-no bosom. hair
sandy auburn and dress seldom worth
as much as eightpence."
! Apparently there was diversity of opin-
ion as to the charms of this distinguished
woman.
(CoryTight 1876