CHAPTER VI
DOMESTIC AFFAIRS
1667-1678
In 1667 Sir William, who was now forty-four years of age, married Lady Fenton, the widow of Sir Maurice Fenton, and daughter of Sir Hardress Waller, one of the most distinguished of the Parliamentary officers. Sir Hardress, as already seen, had materially assisted Dr. Petty at the time of the survey, by becoming one of the securities in a bond for the punctual execution of the contract. His signature appears to the warrant for the execution of Charles I. At the Restoration he suffered for his opinions. Narrowly escaping the death penalty, he was imprisoned for life in the Tower, and appears to have died there.[1]Aubrey describes Lady Fenton as 'a very beautiful and ingenious lady, browne, with glorious eyes.' Her tastes, combined with a certain love of splendour, are contrasted by Evelyn with the simple habits of Sir William. 'When I,' he says, 'who have knowne him in meane circumstances, have been in his splendid palace, he would himself be in admiration how he arrived at it; nor was it his admiration for splendid furniture or the curiosities of the age; but his elegant lady could endure nothing mean, or that was not magnificent. He was very negligent himself, and rather so of his own person, and of a philosophic temper. "What a to-do is here," would he say; "I can lie in straw with as
- ↑ Noble, Lives of the Regicides, ii. 285.
