1823-1824] 149 



CHAPTER XII 



18231824 



Bessy's lessening strength A Wedgwood-Darwin party at Scar- 

 borough A visit to Sydney Smith at Foston Kectory A memor- 

 able debate An averted duel Emma confirmed Revels and 

 flirtations Kitty Wedgwood's death Sarah Wedgwood builds 

 on Maer Heath. 



BESSY was now 59 years old, and her sensitive temperament 

 often caused her to suffer, as age told upon her health. 

 She wrote (1823): "When I consult my feelings they are 

 often so lively that I am obliged to watch my expressions 

 for fear of their appearing to want truth." And again to 

 her sister Fanny : " I feel a great desire to refresh my oldness 

 with a new scene. . . . Some causes of anxiety I have had, 

 and they do not pass lightly by me." Perhaps for the sake 

 of Bessy's health the Josiah Wedgwoods planned a visit to 

 Scarborough. Bessy wrote (June 13th, 1823): "We travel 

 in the phaeton, hololing four, and a stanhope for two. This 

 will make us longer on the road, but as our object is to see 

 the country it is rather an advantage, and I expect great 

 improvement in my own health from the moderate way in 

 which we propose taking the journey." 



Fanny Allen, Marianne and Susan Darwin were to meet 

 the party at Scarborough greatly to the satisfaction of both 

 sides. The following letter gives an account of a visit 

 made whilst staying there to Sydney Smith at his parson- 

 age, Foston-le-Clay. He had been his own architect, and 

 it was there that he bought an ancient green chariot 

 (christened the " Immortal ") to be drawn by his cart- 

 horses ; had his furniture made by the village carpenter, and 

 found a " little garden girl shaped like a milestone,'' nick- 

 named her " Bunch," and trained her to become "the best 

 butler in the county." It is said that the gardens he pro- 

 vided for his parishioners, at a nominal rent, are still called 

 ' Sydney's orchards." 1 



1 See Reid's Life of Sydney Smith. 



