224 A Century of Family Letters [CHAP, xv 



Mrs Josiah Wedgwood to her sister Madame Sismondi. 



MAER, Feb. 15, 1830. 



. . Jos is gone to London but he did not leave a very 

 flourishing house behind, most of the family being more or 

 less teased with colds. Charlotte's is the worst, having 

 been confined a fortnight, and she is now sitting up on the 

 sopha in her Night-Cap and Bed-gown, looking the goodest 

 person you ever saw, and reading Lovers' Vows 1 for the 

 improvement of her mind. 



Harry very often comes over to see us, and seems very 

 content in making his preparations there 2 at a snail's pace. 

 I wish he may succeed in making it comfortable for Jessie, 

 but one of his last performances has been buying a new 

 hearth-rug for the dining-room, black and white, and by 

 his own account it looks like a pall I think I must take 

 it off his hands. I am reading Madame de Maintenon's 

 letters, and though I have neither respect nor admiration 

 for her character, I find so many sentiments and feelings 

 that I have myself experienced, that I find a good deal of 

 enjoyment in running through them. 



I have the greatest love and admiration of Eliza's char- 

 acter, yet I own it has not been raised by the manner in 

 which she has seemed to feel her sister's marriage, because 

 it seems to me so unreasonable. If two sisters live to- 

 gether one must marry first, or both must remain single for 

 the other's sake, which would be a preposterous suppo- 

 sition. . . . 



The following letter is undated but may be put at about 

 1830. In that year Catherine Darwin was 20 and Susan 

 27 years old. The Owens of Woodhouse, as has been said, 

 were intimate friends of the Darwins. 



1 The Lover's Vows is the play acted in Mansfield Park. " Do 

 not act anything improper, my dear, Sir Thomas would not like it. 

 Fanny, ring the bell; I must have my dinner," said Lady Bertram, 

 when it was under discussion. 



2 At Etruria Hall, where they were to live, shutting up what 

 rooms they did not need. They married in October, 1830. 



