1837-1838] Bro's Illness 287 



aunt Harriet to come by the railroad after all. 1 . . . The 

 benevolent will all rejoice to hear that we really got to the 

 Lady of Lyons. It was very pretty and charming, and Ma- 

 cready managed to make himself look quite young and lovely. 

 It was a great piece of good fortune and one duly appre- 

 ciated by me. . . . 



Emma Wedgwood to her aunt Madame Sismondi. 



[MAER], July 21, 1838. 



I assure you I found myself rather flat and dull after 

 all my dissipation and pleasure, but we have had such a 

 sober quiet fortnight to ourselves that I am sobered now, 

 and can read my book. The beginning of my stay in 

 London was very pleasant till poor Bro fell ill. Robert 

 Mackintosh was very bright and pleasant, and dined with 

 us or came in the evening every day, and Charles [Darwin] 

 used to come from next door, so we were a very pleasant, 

 merry party. Robert is working very hard writing at his 

 office, whatever that may be, for nobody but Harry ventures 

 to ask him; and I was amused to see what a quantity of 

 pumping it took to get a strait answer from him. The 

 Hensleighs and I went on the Sunday to Woolwich, which 

 I enjoyed particularly. Not entirely Mr Scott's merit, but 

 it was a beautiful day, and such a pretty place and a nice 

 drive, but I did like Mr Scott's sermon very much. Mr 

 Carlyle dined with us in Marlborough St. which you won't 

 care about. I did not hear much of what he said, 

 but his look is quite remarkably pleasant, and he has 

 the most straitforward manner in the world and talks 

 the broadest Scotch. . . . Then poor Bro fell ill, and we 

 thought of little else. I never saw such self-command as 

 Fanny's, managing to look cheerful almost all day except 

 early in the morning, when she was overdone with the 

 night's watching. She looked very miserable the morning 



1 This was probably Emma's first experience of a railway. The 

 travelling would seem to us very slow, 2 hours to get from Bir- 

 mingham to Rugby, a journey which is now done in 45 or 50 minutes. 



