40 A Century of Family Letters [CHAP, n 



Mr Sedgwick 1 called and was very pleasant; there is some- 

 thing remarkably fresh and odd about him. The Hens- 

 lows 2 come on Monday, and Charles is much more alarmed 

 at the thought of them than I am. On Monday the Lyells 

 dine with us; Tuesday we shall leave open for any public 

 amusement they may like to go to; Wednesday they dine 

 at the Lyells; and Thursday we all dine at Dr Fitton's, if 

 they stay so long, so we have plenty of things cut out for 

 them. The cook is pretty good so I am not afraid about 

 the dinners. 



Snow was rather naughty one day here, so after they 

 were gone to bed and she had been repentant, Fanny heard 

 her say to Bro., " Oh Bro., I can't bear it, turn your face 

 towards me, kiss me, Bro." So Bro. cautiously asked, "Is 

 your face wet with tears ?" However he turned and kissed 

 her which seemed to give her great comfort. 



Emma Darwin to her sister Elizabeth Wedgwood. 



UPPER GOWER STREET, Tuesday, April 2, 1839. 



... I must tell you how our learned party went off 

 yesterday. Mr and Mrs Henslow came at four o'clock and 

 she, like a discreet woman, went up to her room till dinner. 

 The rest of the company consisted of Mr and Mrs Lyell and 

 Leonora Homer, Dr Fitton and Mr Robert Brown. 3 We 

 had some time to wait before dinner for Dr Fitton, which 

 is always awful, and, in my opinion, Mr Lyell is enough to 

 flatten a party, as he never speaks above his breath, so 

 that everybody keeps lowering their tone to his. Mr 



1 Rev. Adam Sedgwick (17851873), Fellow of Trinity College, 

 Cambridge, Woodwardian Professor of Geology and afterwards Canon 

 of Norwich. My father was taken by him on a geological tour. He 

 tells how Sedgwick sent him to make independent observations, and 

 adds: " I have little doubt he did this for my good, as I was too 

 ignorant to have aided him." 



The Eev. John Stevens Henslow (17961861), Professor of 

 "Botany at Cambridge. My father, who was* one of his favourite 

 pupils, tells how, as an undergraduate, he was awestruck at the 

 amount of his knowledge, and yet perfectly at ease with him, owing 

 to his transparent sincerity of character and kindness of heart. 



3 W. II. Fitton (1780 1861), physician and geologist. Robert 

 Brown (17731858), botanist. 



