Then, Lady, while we honour thee,
And to thy faith and chivalry
Give high and honourable fame,
We wish no rival to thy name.
"The story of this illustrious Lady," remarks Mr. Lodge, "exhibits a character so abounding in sagacity, prudence, loyalty, grandeur of spirit, and active heroism, as to beguile us for a moment into a feeling of regret, that the social policy of all climates and ages should have agreed to restrict the amiable sex to the power of pleasing, and to repress those energies which, in spite of its regulations, occasionally burst forth, and always with a degree of splendour, which is rarely found to adorn even the finest of masculine sentiments or actions.
During the absence of the Earl of Derby in the Isle of Man, Lathom was invested by the parliamentary forces in 1644. Sir Thomas Fairfax offered them honourable terms of surrender—the terms, however, to be adjusted by himself. These the Countess indignantly rejected, and forthwith prepared for every extremity, saying, "That though a woman, and a stranger, divorced from her friends, and robbed of her estate, she was ready to receive their utmost vyolence, trusting in God both for protection and deliverance." Ill supplied with provisions, she yet continued to hold out, though the walls were nearly battered to pieces about her ears. On one occasion, a ball entered into her ladyship’s chamber, where she and the children were at breakfast. With as little emotion as Charles the Twelfth on a like occasion, she merely remarked, that "since they were likely to have disagreeable intruders, she must even seek a new lodging, but I will keep my house while a building is left above my head." A MS. journal of the time quaintly states, "The litle ladyes had stomack to digest cannon." At length her constancy was rewarded; for on the approach of Prince Rupert, after his victory at Newark, the siege was raised, and the enemy retreated upon Bolton. Twenty-two of the colours, which three days before had been displayed against the castle, were presented to her from his Highness, by Sir Richard Crane, as a memorial of her deliverance, and "a happy remembrance of God's mercy and goodness to her and her family."Vide Roby's Traditions of Lancashire.
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