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 loses much of its gilt by too critical an examination. The lovely and loving Countess was the Lord's second wife, he having married another lady from whom he was divorced. After the separation, acting upon the advice of his uncle, and having lost all his own fortune, he retired into the country and eventually took lodgings with a farmer named Thomas Hoggins at Bolas in Shropshire, giving himself out to be a certain Mr. Jones, not an uncommon name. Here "Mr. Jones," possibly finding time hanging heavily on his hands, promptly made love to his landlord's daughter Sarah, the village beauty, and eventually married her. It was not till after the death of his uncle that he became "Lord of Burleigh," all of which is a matter of history. It was after this event, when he succeeded to the Earldom and estates, that his rank was revealed, much in the romantic manner that Tennyson relates. Then the new "Lord of Burleigh" took his innocent and loving wife by easy stages to her home, pointing out all the country sights and mansions on the way, she dreaming all the while of the little cottage he so long had promised her—

All he shows her makes him dearer: Evermore she seems to gaze On that cottage growing nearer, Where they twain will spend their days.

Thus her heart rejoices greatly, Till a gateway she discerns With armorial bearings stately, And beneath the gate she turns; Sees a mansion more majestic Than all those she saw before: