2 A Century of Family Letters [CHAP, i 



family, eleven of whom lived to grow up. His melancholy 

 disposition and arbitrary temper made the home in his old 

 age an unhappy one. 



Sir James Mackintosh, who married Catharine, the second 

 daughter, thus described the life at Cresselly in a letter to 

 Josiah Wedgwood (November 9, 1800): "We left the '2 

 maidens all forlorn at the House that Jack built ' in tolerable 

 good spirits considering the gloomy solitude to which they 

 are condemned. We have heard from good little Emma 

 [Allen] (she really is the best girl in the world), and are happy 

 to hear that the Squire has been pleased to be infinitely 

 more cordial and gracious to his two poor prisoners than he 

 ever was before, so that bating an absolute want of amuse- 

 ment and a perpetual constraint in conversation they may be 

 pretty comfortable. Mme de Maintenon complains of her 

 situation with Louis XIV, ' Quelle triste occupation de 

 ranimer une ame eteinte, et d'amuser un homme qui n'est 

 plus amusable !' 



I remember my father's telling how Mr Allen used to 

 thump his fist on the table, and order his daughters to talk 

 when he wished to be entertained after dinner. They were 

 as a fact remarkably good talkers, and Dr Darwin, of 

 Shrewsbury, thought this was partly owing to their drastic 

 training at home. They formed an interesting group of 

 women, handsome, spirited, clever, and deeply devoted to 

 each other. 



Elizabeth Allen, the eldest of the family, had both charm 

 and beauty. She was the centre to whom her sisters turned 

 secure of love and sympathy. Her practical wisdom and 

 delicacy of feeling are revealed in the long series of letters of 

 which only a fraction can here be given. But above all she 

 had the charm of a radiant cheerfulness and of a singular 

 sweetness in voice and manner. There is much in her 

 character which reminds me of my mother. In both there 

 was the same delight in giving and the same unfailing con 

 sideration for the unprosperous. 



Catharine Allen (Kitty as she was always called) was an 

 able woman, agreeable in conversation, and with a fine char- 

 acter in many respects. She was greatly interested in al] 

 questions of humanity, and was, I believe, one of the 

 founders of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to 

 Animals. In 1 798 she married James (afterwards Sir James) 

 Mackintosh. She suffered greatly from the debt and diffi- 

 culty in which he gradually became involved, but her own 

 economy, especially as to her dress, was rigorous, and she 



