MAER] The Maer Wedgwoods 55 



To this letter his mother replied [Oct. 30, 1815]: "I 

 cannot express how gratifying it was to me to read the 

 character you give of my Joe, and so beautifully drawn too. 

 Jos and I read it together, and sat up after the rest had gone 

 to read it again, and I felt that it was one of the sweet drops 

 of life to listen to the praise of one's children when it is 

 given honestly. I am the more pleased at your testimony 

 to Ms modesty and good manners, because feeling no doubt 

 as to his good sense and good nature I was more diffident 

 as to the embellishments of manner, not thinking myself a 

 fair judge, and having always been afraid of marring 

 instead of mending by any admonition on that subject, 

 though feeling all the while that it is the manners that excite 

 affection. I trust my Hal will benefit in that way by the 

 change from the schoolboy society he has been used to, to 

 that of men, and that you will find him attentive to any 

 suggestions from either of you, and that you will, for love 

 of me, take the irksome task of telhng him of anything you 

 think wrong, or anything that he might mend." 



Charlotte, the next sister (afterwards Mrs Charles Lang- 

 ton), had beauty and charm. She painted and drew, and 

 made many water-colour sketches and pencil drawings after 

 the manner of Copley Fielding, of whom she took lessons. 

 She had a beautiful voice of great flexibility, and my 

 mother told me how charming her natural shake was. She 

 and Elizabeth, who had a high clear soprano, sang duets 

 together with great effect. ' I had a profusion of compli- 

 ments upon the girls' singing, enough to last them for the 

 next twelvemonths at least," Bessy wrote from Paris 

 (June 1, 1818). 



The three younger brothers, Harry, Frank, and Hens- 

 leigh, all had good abilities. Harry, who became a barrister, 

 had wit and power of expression and a gift for drawing, 

 though it was not cultivated. He was a particular favourite 

 in the Darwin household at Shrewsbury, and could take 

 any liberty with his uncle the doctor. One day on coming 

 back from a sale Harry told him that there was something 

 in the catalogue which he decidedly ought to buy. " Tut, 

 tut," said the doctor, " but what is it ?' : " Why a ' ditto 

 to correspond,' for you know how much you hate writing 

 letters." ' 



One or two of his epigrams still live at Cambridge. The 

 tradition is that Mr Sheepshanks of Jesus College posted 

 the following notice: " The classical lectures for the current 



