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LADY PENELOPE RICH (c. 1562–1607)

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 293 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LADY See also:PENELOPE See also:RICH (c. 1562–1607)  , the Stella of See also:Sir remayned 42 See also:weeks, and builded two Pynaces, in which they See also:Philip See also:Sidney's Astrophel and Stella, was the daughter of See also:Walter Devereux, 1st See also:Earl of See also:Essex . She was a See also:child of fourteen when Sir Philip Sidney accompanied the See also:queen on a visit to See also:Lady Essex in 1576, on her way from See also:Kenilworth, and must have been frequently thrown into the society of Sidney, in consequence of the many ties between the two families . Essex died at See also:Dublin in See also:September 1 576 . He had sent a See also:message ' to Philip Sidney from his See also:death-See also:bed expressing his See also:desire that he should marry his daughter, and later his secretary wrote to the See also:young See also:man's See also:father, Sir See also:Henry Sidney, in words which seem to point to the existence of a very definite understanding . Pertelope's See also:great-grandmother was a See also:sister of See also:Anne See also:Boleyn, and she and her See also:brother See also:Robert were therefore distantly connected with See also:Elizabeth . Perhaps the See also:marriage of Lady Essex with the earl of See also:Leicester, which destroyed Sidney's prospects as his See also:uncle's See also:heir, had something to do with the breaking off of the proposed match ' with See also:Penelope . Her relative and See also:guardian, Henry See also:Hastings, earl of See also:Huntingdon, secured See also:Burghley's assent in See also:March 1581 for her marriage with Robert See also:Rich, 3rd See also:Baron Rich . Penelope is said to have protested in vain against the See also:alliance with Rich, who is represented as a rough and overbearing See also:husband . The See also:evidence against him is, however, chiefly derived from See also:sources as interested as Sir Philip Sidney's violent denunciation in the twenty-See also:fourth See also:sonnet of Astrophel and Stella, " Rich fooles there be whose See also:base and filthy See also:hart." . Sidney's serious love for Penelope appears to date from her marriage with Rich . The earlier sonnets are in praise of her beauty, or treat of the conventional topic of the struggle between See also:reason and love, while the later ones are marked by unmistakable See also:passion . The eighth See also:song of Astrophel and Stella {narrates Stella's refusal to accept Sidney as a' See also:lover .

Lady Rich was the See also:

mother of six See also:children by her husband when she contracted in 1595 all open liaison with See also:Charles See also:Blount, 8th See also:Lord See also:Mountjoy, a brilliant courtier and favourite of Elizabeth, to whom she had See also:long been attached . Rich took no steps against his wife during ; her brother's lifetime, and she nursed him through an illness in 1600, but they obtained a legal separation in 16or, and Mountjoy acknowledged her five children See also:born after 1595 . Mountjoy was created earl of See also:Devonshire on the See also:accession of See also:James I., and Lady Rich was in high favour at See also:court . In 16o5, however, they legitimized their connexion by a marriage celebrated by See also:William See also:Laud, the earl's See also:chaplain . This proceeding, carried out in See also:defiance of See also:canon See also:law, was followed by the disgrace of both parties, who were banished from court . Devonshire died on the 3rd of See also:April x6o6, and his wife within a See also:year of that date . Her eldest son by Lord Rich, who became earl of See also:Warwick in 1618, was Robert Rich, 2nd earl of Warwick (1587-1658) . The second, Henry Rich, earl of See also:Holland, was beheaded in 1649 for his See also:share in the second See also:Civil See also:War., Her eldest son by Mountjoy,Mountjoy'Blount, Baron Mountjoy and earl of See also:Newport (c . 1597-1665) also figured in the Civil War . See the See also:editions of Astrophel and Stella by Dr A . B . See also:Grosart, E .

' See also:

Arber and A . W . See also:Pollard ; also the various lives of Sir Philip Sidney, and Mrs See also:Aubrey See also:Richardson's Famous Ladies of the See also:English Court (See also:London, 1899) . See also:John See also:Ford's Broken See also:Heart has been alleged to have been founded on the See also:history of Lady Rich . See also:Richard See also:Barn-See also:field dedicated his Affectionate Shepherd (1594) to her; See also:Bartholomew See also:Yonge his See also:Diana of See also:George of See also:Montemayor (1598) ; and sonnets are addressed to her by John See also:Davies of See also:Hereford and by Henry See also:Constable . returned into See also:Virginia . By R . Rich, Gent., one of the Voyage (16ro)." The only known copy of this See also:tract is in the Huth Library . A reprint edited by J . O . Halliwell-See also:Phillips appeared in 1865 (another ed., 1874) . The adventures related by Rich are supposed to have been in See also:Shakespeare's mind when he wrote The See also:Tempest .

Another tract by Rich mentioned in the Stationers' See also:

Register, See also:Good See also:Speed to Virginia, is unknown .

End of Article: LADY PENELOPE RICH (c. 1562–1607)
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