Wilton Women: Chatelaines, Saints and Pioneers

'It is a truth universally acknowledged', wrote Jane Austen, 'that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife'. How much more urgent a requirement, then, if that man is possessed of an enormous fortune and an hereditary title? Few have been as vexed by this question than the Herbert Earls of Pembroke. In addressing it, the authors relate the tale of the womenfolk who have helped support, sustain, and supply the answer for approaching five centuries. But this is a...