1837-1838] Hensleigh's Sacrifice 285 



WrexhilL Is it so bad that one would be ashamed to own 

 to having read it ? for my morality extends no further than 

 that. Hensleigh's letter was sent on here and you may be 

 sure we made much of it, as it was a day of incessant rain, 

 so that I had a little too much leisure time for my studies. 

 Good-bye, my dear Fanny, send me some children-talk. 



Hensleigh had followed his father's wishes and had not 

 thrown up his Police Magistracy in 1834; but he now felt 

 that he could no longer constrain his conscience. The loss of 

 the income was a most serious one to him and his family, 

 and meant their being reduced to live on 400 a year. 

 Fanny showed great magnanimity in the way she bore the 

 loss of fortune for a scruple that she did not share. 



Fanny Allen to her niece Elizabeth Wedgwood. 



MY DEAR ELIZABETH, CKESSELLY, Dec. 17, 1837. 



I have received a sweet letter from Fanny, telling 

 us of Hensleigh's decision. He has done his part nobly, 

 for I cannot doubt that this pause of four years has been a 

 sacrifice made to his wife and family, and a compleat trial 

 of the truth of his inward guide. It is also an assurance, 

 as it seems to me, that his first decision was not a hasty one. 

 He must have looked at the subject ten thousand times 

 for once that any other person less interested could have 

 done; and though I am very sorry that his conscience 

 demands the sacrifice, I feel when I think of him alone, 

 that I am glad his struggle is over. Fanny is the wife one 

 would wish him, and she does her part as well as he does his; 

 and they will be rewarded, though it most probably may 

 not be in pounds, shillings and pence. I rejoice to hear from 

 Fanny also that your father, who is the next person to be 

 considered, takes it so well. I should expect it from him, 

 for Hensleigh has been taught by his parents. It is the 

 first instance I have known of a great sacrifice made to a 

 Christian principle ; I endeavour to check and keep down the 

 expectation or hope of reward, but it will come, and I cannot 



