216 A Century of Family Letters [CHAP, xv 



persuaded her to leave off her widow's cap and curl her hair 

 again. Bessy wrote (Dec. 4, 1828): "Mr Henry Thornton 

 is her great admirer, and says she has the sweetest expression 

 when she speaks and smiles that he ever saw, and a gentle- 

 ness and timidity of manner that is very charming." 



Mrs Josiah Wedgwood to her sister Madame Sismondi. 



MAER, Oct. 6, 1828. 



We have had John [Allen] with us for a fortnight, and 

 he was as cheerful and as agreeable as ever I saw him; 

 there are three of our family that never grow old, and he is 

 one. 1 It happened, as usual, that we had the house full 

 of cousins, but I contrived to get a little driving and a little 

 riding with John, very much to my satisfaction, and in the 

 evening he always seemed pleased with the girls' music. 

 My own anxious heart sometimes played its usual tricks 

 in damping my own enjoyment, under my fears of not 

 making it agreeable to him, but this is a malady of my own 

 which I believe will never leave me. 



Jos makes a very comfortable report of the Mackintoshes' 

 house at Clapham, and I think it is the best hit they have 

 made at all. I am particularly pleased that Fanny [Mack- 

 intosh] is fallen into friendship with the Thorntons and 

 Inglises, as they are very good people. She writes here 

 very often and her letters are particularly agreeable. I may 

 well be interested about her, for I think she and Hensleigh 

 will never help falling in love with each other, so much as 

 they are together. 



Emma is going down with Miss Morgan to pay a visit to 

 the Miss Aclands at Clifton. Her manners are in her favour, 

 and she is more popular than any of my girls. Her manners 

 to men are very much to my taste, for they are easy and 

 undesigning without coquetry. Charlotte is too distant, 

 and Fanny a little stiff. Elizabeth is very agreeable in my 

 eyes, but she wants personal attraction, and she and Char- 



1 Meaning, I believe, besides her brother, Jane Wedgwood and 

 Jessie Sismondi. 



