20 [CHAP, n 



CHAPTER II 



18041807 



John Hensleigh Allen inherits Oesselly Departure of the Mackin- 

 toshes for India A press-gang story Tom Wedgwood's death 

 Return of the Josiah Wedgwoods to Staffordshire Sarah 

 Wedgwood and Jessie Allen. 



MB ALLEN died in 1803. His son John Hensleigh Allen 

 inherited Cresselly, and after this date lived there with his 

 three unmarried sisters, Jessie, Emma, and Fanny. The 

 following letter from Fanny Allen was written whilst staying 

 in London with the Mackintoshes. Mackintosh had been 

 made Recorder of Bombay, and was knighted before leaving 

 for India. 



Fanny Allen to her sister Mrs Josiah Wedgwood. 



DOVER STREET, January llth [1804]. 



. . I am glad to tell you that Kitty's spirits are pretty 

 well recovered since parting with you. The day you left 

 us she was terribly depressed. You know Mackintosh 

 asked Dr Davy, 1 the Sydney Smiths and Homer 2 to dine 



1 Brother of Sir Humphry Davy. 



2 Francis Homer (1778 1817), Whig statesman, born at Edinburgh, 

 was one of the group of young men who started the Edinburgh Review. 

 In Parliament he became a great authority on finance, and Lord 

 Cockburn, the Scotch Judge, described him as "possessed of greater 

 public influence than any other private man." His early death at 

 thirty-eight was a great public loss. " I never," said Sydney Smith, 

 " saw anyone who combined together so much talent, worth, and 

 warmth of heart." One of Sydney Smith's letters has a pleasant 

 sentence about him : " Horner is ill. He was desired to read amusing 

 books. Upon searching his library it appeared he had no amusing 

 books. The nearest to any work of that description was the Indian 

 Trader's Complete 



