prevailed, such as his report that Digby was supposed to have replied to concerns over Venetia's virtue with the comment that "A handsome lusty man that was discreet might make a virtuous wife out of a brothel-house." Venetia also had an important relationship with Richard Sackville's younger brother Edward Sackville, who fought a notable duel over her, yet seems to have remained friends with both her and Kenelm Digby after their marriage. A.D. Hope's lengthy epistolary poem "Edward Sackville to Venetia Digby" imagines Edward's love for Venetia as an exemplar of what the novelist and literary critic Kerry Greenwood calls, "unrequitable love at its most piercing". The poem opens with Edward addressing the married Venetia: "First, last and always dearest, closest, best,/Source of my travail and my rest,/The letter which I shall not send, I write/To cheer my more than arctic night". Edward Sackville appears as "Mardonius" in Kenelm Digby's fictionalized account of his and Venetia's marriage. Digby’s return did not immediately mend the breach caused (on Venetia’s side) by Digby’s lack of communication, and (on Digby’s), by rumours of Dorset’s supposed pursuit of Venetia. It was only in 1624, when Digby was attached to the delegation to France, to make arrangements for the soon-to-be King Charles I of England to Henrietta Maria, that Venetia sold her jewellery for Digby to use as living expenses, and Digby understood the depth of her feeling for him. Digby and Venetia married, most likely in January 1625, in his mother’s absence – she was quarrelling with Lord Stanley, and fears for Venetia’s inheritance may have been at the root of the need for secrecy. In another of Digby’s absences on diplomatic missions, in October 1625, Venetia gave birth to their first child, Kenelm, still in secret, with a single servant to attend her. She later bore Digby another three sons, John, George and Everard, the latter of whom died in infancy; she also miscarried twins. Venetia was a devout Catholic. According to her husband, who insisted that she conducted herself "blamelessly" throughout their marriage, she heard Mass daily and prayed for at least several hours a day. She also joined a lay Franciscan group and visited the poor in London. She founded her charity work through a gambling habit, with unusually good luck at the card table and a scheme to save up her profits. She was painted at least three times by