Amid strife, love
Reviewer Ned Crabb provides the details -
When Dorothy and William met by chance on the Isle of Wight in 1648, they were the daughter and son of two families violently divided by England's Civil War. He was 20. She was 21. Despite the efforts of their families to separate them, and despite the war, Cromwell's regime, the bubonic plague, the Great Fire of London and a smallpox epidemic that Dorothy barely survived, they remained in communication for six years, and finally married on Christmas Day 1654."Read my heart," Dorothy wrote, and they remained optimistically married for decades. Regarded by Charles II as the one honest man in his court, Sir William Temple negotiated the Triple Alliance in 1668 between England, Holland and Sweden.
Their letters to each other became famous in the 19th century and have proved a rich lode for Jane Dunn, who has written Read My Heart.
Corrections: Plus, thanks to a reader, 1648, not 2648. What will the world be like in 2648?
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Comments (1)
I enjoy your website very much. Your analysis in another post of American views on taxation was right on.
Just a minor correction with the above post: the reviewer must have meant 1648, not 2648.
maria horvath | October 18, 2008 10:24 AM
Posted on October 18, 2008 10:24