160 A Century of Family Letters [CHAP, xn 



back on every time I saw her after her sixteenth year, I 

 see that she was ripening constantly for her work, and that 

 her mind was dwelling on the painful difference of man and 

 man in this life, and the trap that a luxurious life laid for 

 the affluent. A conversation on this subject between the 

 father and daughter made me laugh at the time, the contrast 

 was so striking, but now as I remember it, it was the divine 

 spirit breathing in her. . . . 



During a visit to the Hensleigh Wedgwoods, Fanny Allen 

 attended the wedding of a grand-niece, Isabella Alderson. 



Fanny Allen to her sister Emma Allen. 



Wednesday, Oct. 29th [1856]. 



. . . Yesterday we were performing " wedding guests " 

 from ten in the morning till three in the afternoon. It was 

 impossible for any marriage to be better " got up ' in an 

 artistic point of view, and certainly the ceremony was very 

 impressive. Over the altar was a large cross formed of white 

 flowers. The whole church lighted with large wax lights in 

 high candlesticks, and incense burning, and the organ playing 

 all the time. I had no idea that so entirely catholic a 

 ceremony would have touched me so much. When forms 

 are new they are certainly effective, but when they are 

 used for a little time they wear out the soul within. 



It was very operatic when they all ascended in two files 

 the steps of the altar, where the married pair took the 

 sacrament, and the music and voices pealed in in the singing 

 parts of the Sacramental Service, and sounded very fine. 

 Isabella looked nice, and calm. The breakfast was crowded. 

 I got a seat in the corner, Hensleigh, my faithful guardian, 

 securing it for me. Lord Robert Cecil was down in our 

 corner, and Georgy 1 came down more than once to take her 

 seat there, but I do not think there can be anything else 

 than conversation and amusement between them. She was 



1 Lord Robert Cecil (afterwards Lord Salisbury) married Georgiua 

 Alderson in 1857. 



