A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Hutchinson, Lucy
HUTCHINSON, LUCY,
Daughter of Sir Allan Aspley, was born in 1624. At the ago of eighteen she was married to Colonel John Hutchinson, who tinguished himself as one of the most efficient among the Puritan leailcrs in the war between Charles the First and the Parliament. Their courtship was a very romantic one, as it is given by the lady in her "Memoir" of her husband. She says—"Never was there a passion more ardent and less idolatrous; he loved her better than his life; with inexpressible tenderness and kindness; had a most high, obliging esteem of her; yet still considered honour, religion, and duty above her; nor ever suffered the intrusion of such a dotage as should blind him from marking her imperfections." That it was "not her face he loved," but "her honour and her virtue were his mistresses," he abundantly proved; for, "on the day fixed for the marriage, when the friends of both parties were assembled, and all were waiting the appearance of the bride, she was suddenly seized with an illness, at that time often the most fatal to life and beauty. She was taken ill of small-pox; was for some time in imminent danger; and, at last, when her recovery was assured, the return of her personal attractions was considered more than doubtful. She says, indeed, herself, that her illness made her, for a long time after she had regained her health, 'the most deformed person that could be seen.'" But Mr. Hutchinson's affection was as strong as his honour. He neither doubted nor delayed to prosecute his suit; but, thankful to God for her preservation, he claimed her hand as soon as she was able to quit her chamber; and when the clergyman who performed the service, and the friends who witnessed it, were afraid to look at the wreck of her beauty. He was rewarded; for her features were restored, unblemished as before; and her form, when he presented her as his wife, justified his taste as much as her more intrinsic qualities did his judgment. They were united to each other on the 3rd. of July, 1638.
Their union was an example of the happiness which marriage confers on those who fulfil its duties in holy truth and faithful love. In the perils of war Mrs. Hutchinson was an attendant on her beloved husband; and when, after the restoration of Charles the Second, Colonel Hutchinson was imprisoned in the Tower, she followed him. and never ceased her exertions and importunities till she was permitted to visit him. When her husband was removed to Sandown Castle, in Kent, she, with some of her children, went also, and used every entreaty to be permitted to reside in the castle with him. This was refused; but she took lodgings in Deal, and walked every day to Sandown to see and cheer the prisoner. All that could be done to obtain his pardon or liberation, she did; but as Colonel Hutchinson was a Puritan and a republican on principle, and would not disclaim his opinions, though he would promise to live in quiet, his enemies listened to no pleadings for mercy. What was to have been his ultimate punishment will never be known; the damp and miserable apartment in which he was confined, brought on an illness which ended his life, September 11th., 1664, leaving his wife with eight children and an embarrassed estate to mourn his irreparable loss. Mrs. Hutchinson was not with him at his death; she had gone to their home to obtain supplies and bring away the children left there.
As he grew worse, the doctor feared delirium, and advised his brother and daughter not to defer anything they wished to say to him. Being informed of his condition, he replied with much composure, "The will of the Lord be done; I am ready." He then gave directions concerning the disposal of his fortune, and left strict injunctions that his children should be guided in all things by their mother; "And tell her," said he, "that as she is above other women, so must she on this occasion show herself a good Christian, and above the pitch of ordinary minds."
Faithfully she fulfilled these injunctions; evincing her sorrow and her love, not by useless repinings, but by training up her children to be like their father, and employing her talents in constructing a monument to his fame. For this purpose she undertook her great work, "The Life of Colonel Hutchinson, by his widow Lucy." This has been republished in several forms, and has taken its place as an English classic.
Mrs. Hutchinson brought up her children and lived to see some of them married. The time of her decease is not known.