96 SIR PHILIP SIDNEY CHAP.

It is also possible, but not probable, that, while Philip
was away in Wiltshire, his half-affiancod bride, the
daughter of the Earl of Essex, gave her hand to another
suitor. Her guardian, the Earl of Huntingdon, wrote
upon the 10th of March, in 1580, to Lord Burleigh,
that he considered Lord Uich "a proper gentleman, and
one in years very fit for my Lady Penelope Devoreux,
if, with the favour and liking of her Majesty, the matter
might be brought to pass." Lord Rich certainly married
Penelope Dovereux; but whether it was in 1580, or
rather in 1581, admits of discussion. To lix the exact
date of her betrothal is a matter of some moment, I
must therefore point out that, at that time in England,
the commencement of the year dated officially from
March 25. In private correspondence, however, the 1 nt
of January had already begun to mark the opening of a
new year. Privately, then, Lord Huntingdon's letter
may have carried the date, 1580, as wo understand it;
but, officially, it must have been reckoned into the year
which we call 1581. Now this letter is endorsed by
Burleigh or his secretary, officially, under the year
1580; and, therefore, we have a strong presumption in
favour of Penelope's not having been engaged to Lord
Eich until 1581, seeing that the month of March in 1580
counted then for our month of March in 1581, When
I review Astrophel and tiMltt it will appear that I do not
attach very great importance to this question of dates,
But I think it safer, on the evidence, to place Mtella'n
marriage in the spring or summer of 1581.

Lord Eich was the son of the Lord Chancellor of
England, who had lately died, bequeathing to his heir a
very substantial estate, and a large portion of his owncal disputes between the shepherds of the happym good unto Thee, vex