Her brother
William died in consequence of a fall from his horse, which was shot
under him in a skirmish against a party of the Earl of Essex the year
before; and on the 18th of May she became the wife of Mr. Fanshawe, in
Wolvercot Church, two miles from Oxford, being then in her twentieth
year, and her husband about thirty-six. He was at that time Secretary
at War, and was promised promotion the first opportunity. The fortune
of each was in expectation: they were, she says, "truly merchant
adventurers," their whole capital being only twenty pounds; and, to
preserve the simile, that capital was laid out in the articles of his
trade--in pens, ink, and paper. What was wanting in money was amply
supplied by prudence and affection; and there is no difficulty in
believing her assurance, that they lived better than those whose
prospects were much brighter.
Whilst at Oxford, in 1644, the University conferred upon Mr. Fanshawe
the degree of Doctor of Laws. In the beginning of March 1645 he
attended the Prince to Bristol, but in consequence of his wife's
confinement, she did not accompany him; and the circumstances of their
separation are affecting. She joined him in that city in May, at which
time he was appointed Secretary to the Prince of Wales, but in
consequence of the plague they quitted Bristol, in July 1645, and
proceeded with his Royal Highness to Barnstaple, and thence to
Launceston and Truro, in Cornwall.
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