158 A Century of Family Letters [CHAP. x.n 



Whitehall, Mackintosh in great spirits and London looking 

 still and free from smoke. I never saw it in such beauty. 

 We took leave of John just as we got into a hackney coach, 

 which I was sorry for, as I liked the walk better, and the 

 red eastern sky looked beautiful. It was after 4 before we 

 got to bed; and I slept soundly till eleven, when I got up, 

 with only the penalty of a headache, which I will gladly 

 pay again for such another night. . . . 



Mrs Josiah Wedgwood to her sister Madame Sismondi. 



CRESSELLY, Aug. 6th, 1224. 



I will readily come into your compact, dearest of the dear. 

 It gives me so much pleasure to think that you would like 

 to hear oftener from me, that I shall resume my old custom 

 of sending you a letter the beginning of each month, and this 

 for the first. . . . 



I have been round the wood to-day on Johnny's Donkey, 

 with Jos and the three boys ; this is the way I like children's 

 company. Bob was on his pony, the other two on foot 

 gathering wild strawberries and bilberries, in no profusion, 

 as you may very well remember, but affording as much 

 pleasure in the pursuit as if they w ere, and presenting them 

 to me with real good will. 



We travelled down in the Phaeton so we were a good while 

 on the road, because we paid a visit to Mr Clifford on our 

 way. When we were at Perrystone John and Jane drove 

 over in their little carriage and spent the day with us. She 

 was looking bright and blooming to quite an extraoid nary 

 degree. 1 Mr Surtees and Harriet had been spending four 

 days with them to consult Dr Baron and Jane invited them 

 to their house, thinking she should get a little of Harriet's 

 company by it, [but] she and Jenny had only one walk 

 together the whole time. The whole family were on the 

 alert running up and downstairs all day to answer the bell 



1 In 1829 Bessy wrote: " Jenny's youth and beauty is the admira- 

 tion of all the world, and she was thought the other day to be young 

 enough to be [her daughter] Eliza's daughter." 



