Among them was a
packet of letters, which she had no sooner got but she went forward, the
duke, at the head of the mob, attending and hallooing her a good way out
of the town.'
[Illustration: VILLIERS IN DISGUISE--THE MEETING WITH HIS SISTER.]
A still more daring adventure was contemplated also by this young,
irresistible duke. Bridget Cromwell, the eldest daughter of Oliver, was,
at that time, a bride of twenty-six years of age; having married, in
1647, the saintly Henry Ireton, Lord Deputy of Ireland. Bridget was the
pattern heroine of the '_unco guid_,' the quintessence of all propriety;
the impersonation of sanctity; an ultra republican, who scarcely
accorded to her father the modest title of Protector. She was esteemed
by her party a 'personage of sublime growth:' 'humbled, not exalted,'
according to Mrs. Hutchinson, by her elevation: 'nevertheless,' says
that excellent lady, 'as my Lady Ireton was walking in the St. James's
Park, the Lady Lambert, as proud as her husband, came by where she was,
and as the present princess always hath precedency of the relict of the
dead, so she put by my Lady Ireton, who, notwithstanding her piety and
humility, was a little grieved at the affront.
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