150 A Century of Family Letters [CHAP, xn 



Mrs Josiah Wedgwood to her sister Madame Sismondi. 



SCARBORO', August 30th, 1823. 



... I have been waiting for something very agreeable 

 to season my letter with before I wrote to my ever dear 

 Jessie, but we are much too quiet to give me any hope, and 

 I cannot rest any longer without telling you how very much 

 I like my precious ring that Fanny [Allen] brought me from 

 you. I think it very pretty, but it is of more value to me 

 than if it were of rubies, coming from the dear hand that 

 sent it. It also puts me constantly in mind of you, not 

 only because you were the giver, but because you yourself 

 wore one of the same kind when I last saw you, and I never 

 look down upon my hands without thinking of you ; and it 

 is never off but when I go to bed. 



You will delight to hear that our Fanny looks and 

 is in high health; her complexion is much finer than when 

 we parted, and she looks not a day older, and in my opinion 

 prettier. She is also in excellent spirits and adds very 

 much to the pleasure of our domicile. 



It is curious to see how much quieter we are here than 

 even at Maer, for we don't know a single person here, though 

 the town is full of very smart-looking people and very gay 

 equipages. Au reste it is a pleasant place, but the beach 

 very, very inferior to Tenby. We went to the first ball, and 

 the attendance was so thin that it quite discouraged the girls, 

 and though I tried to persuade them to try again I could 

 not succeed. The poor master of the ceremonies looked so 

 melancholy that he excited my tender est sympathy. I 

 think public balls are getting quite out of fashion. At the 

 last York Race ball, which used to be a place where all the 

 grandees of this very opulent county used to delight in 

 shewing themselves, there were only seven couple. I think 

 it is your stately quadrilles that have made the balls so 

 dismal, because the English ladies now dance them as if they 

 were at a funeral and dancing the dance of death. There 

 are a very good company of strolling players here, but they 



