1830-1831] Edward and Adlle Drewe 233 



ment. They now talk of taking a furnished house for a year, 

 and I hope they will not launch out too much at first, as 

 considering the ' ( alacrity in sinking ' ' that the Whigs pos- 

 sess, another turn of the wheel may again put them at 

 the bottom. 



My coming here was a start of my own. Caroline [Drewe] 

 is in good spirits for her. She has been much gratified by 

 Edward's affectionate and really proper behaviour on many 

 occasions, and I am sure it will be a very great increase to 

 her happiness to have him and his children and Adele at 

 Grange. Edward is quite adored (Car. says) in the neigh- 

 bourhood by all his poor tenants and neighbours, from his 

 gracious manners, shaking hands with them after Church, 

 &c. In short he seems to have done all he had to do in the 

 best possible way. . . . 



He had recently inherited the Grange estate. Apropos 

 to some trouble he got into from following his brother-in- 

 law Baron Alderson's advice, Bessy wrote (27 Dec., 1830): 

 " I have more than once observed that advice does mis- 

 chief, I suppose because the adviser feels no responsibility 

 and therefore shabby feelings operate without the drawback 

 of self-reproach." 



In 1831 Hensleigh became formally engaged to his cousin 

 Fanny Mackintosh. The following letter from Elizabeth 

 was written during a visit to the Mackintoshes. Mrs Rich, 

 a daughter of Mackintosh by his first wife, was now a widow 

 and lived with him. Her husband had died at Shiraz, and 

 Mrs Rich's hair went snowy white, it was said, the night 

 after his death. 



Elizabeth Wedgwood to her aunt Madame Sismondi. 



/ 14, GREAT CUMBERLAND STREET, 

 MY DEAR JESSIE, March 27 183L 



I have been here enjoying myself very much these 

 last five weeks. It has been a most interesting time to be 

 at head quarters, and very pleasant quarters they are. 

 Sir James, in spite of being up almost every night till near 

 4 o'clock, looks quite a different man from what he was 



