62 A Century of Family Letters [CHAP, rv 



child; and judged by results it does not lose in comparison. 

 I should also imagine that this freedom for hours every day 

 to read, to think, and to amuse herself must have greatly 

 added to the remarkable independence of Emma's character 

 and way of thinking. It is certainly the fact that all the 

 sisters were well educated women, judged by any modern 

 standard. In languages Emma knew French, Italian, and 

 German. 1 Her general knowledge was wide, but this may 

 have been mainly acquired in a long life of reading. I 

 should add that I only mean such general knowledge as one 

 would expect to find in a cultivated woman. The lists kept 

 by Fanny of books read, and the carefully annotated New 

 Testament (now in my possession), shew their industry. 



Emma's handwriting, which did not change much in all 

 her eighty-eight years of life, was, like herself, firm, calm, 

 and transparently clear. She did not write quickly, but 

 with an even, steady pace which got over a great deal of 

 ground in its leisurely way. She was capable in all she 

 undertook, a beautiful needlewoman, a good archer; and she 

 rode, danced, and skated. She drew a little, though she said 

 herself her drawing was quite worthless. Her gift was music. 

 She played delightfully on the piano till the very end of her 

 life. She had a crisp and fine touch and played always 

 with intelligence and simplicity. But she could endure 

 nothing sentimental, and ' slow movements ' were occa- 

 sionally under her treatment somewhat too " allegro." 

 There was always vigour and spirit, but not passion in 

 fact her character shewed itself in her playing. She was 

 an excellent reader of music, and to the end of her life 

 tried over new things, appreciating some, but not all, of the 

 more modern kinds. She had lessons from Moscheles and 

 a few from Chopin. But she told me she did not think 

 she had ever practised more than an hour a day in her 

 whole life. Unless, however, she was ill, she hardly passed 

 a day without playing for her own entertainment, if it was 

 only for ten minutes. It is remarkable, however, that she 

 should have attained such excellence with so small an 

 expenditure of trouble. 



1 My father often said that where she failed in making out and 

 translating a sentence for him in German, a non -scientific German 

 would generally also fail. 



