I see my little dog on your lap, and feel your hand patting his head,
and hear your voice telling him that it is for Maria's sake he is there.
I wish I was in his place, or at least on the sofa beside you at this
moment, that I might in five minutes tell you more than my letters could
tell you in five hours.
I have scarcely yet recovered from the joy of having Fanny actually with
me, and with me just in time to go to Trentham, on which I had set my
foolish heart. We met her at Lichfield. We spent that evening there--the
children of four different marriages all united and happy together.
Lovell took Francis [Footnote: Son of the fourth Mrs. Edgeworth, who was
going to the Charter-house, and who had accompanied his sister Fanny,
with Lovell, from Edgeworthstown.] on with him to Byrkely Lodge, and we
went to Trentham.
When Honora and I had Fanny in the chaise to ourselves, ye gods! how we
did talk! We arrived at Trentham by moonlight, and could only just see
outlines of wood and hills: silver light upon the broad water, and
cheerful lights in the front of a large house, with wide-open hall door.
Nothing could be more polite and cordial than the reception given to us
by Lady Stafford, and by her good-natured, noblemanlike lord. During our
whole visit, what particularly pleased me was the manner in which they
treated my sisters: not as appendages to an authoress, not as young
ladies merely _permitted_, or to fill up as _personnages muets_ in
society; on the contrary, Lady Stafford conversed with them a great
deal, and repeatedly took opportunities of expressing to me how much she
liked and valued them for their own sake. "That sister Fanny of yours
has a most intelligent countenance: she is much more than pretty; and
what I so like is her manner of answering when she is asked any
question--so unlike the Missy style. They have both been admirably well
educated." Then she spoke in the handsomest manner of my father--"a
master-mind: even in the short time I saw him that was apparent to me."
Lady Elizabeth Gower is a most engaging, sensible, unaffected, sweet,
pretty creature. While Lady Stafford in the morning was in the library
doing a drawing in water colours to show Honora her manner of finishing
quickly, Fanny and I sat up in Lady Elizabeth's darling little room at
the top of the house, where she has all her drawings, and writing, and
books, and harp. She and her brother, Lord Francis, have always been
friends and companions: and on her table were bits of paper on which he
had scribbled droll heads, and verses of his, very good, on the
"Expulsion of the Moors from Spain"--Lady Elizabeth knew every line of
these, and had all that quick feeling, and _colouring_ apprehension, and
_slurring_ dexterity, which those who read out what is written by a dear
friend so well understand.
Large rooms filled with pictures, most of them modern--Reynolds,
Moreland, Glover, Wilkie; but there are a few ancient: one of Titian's,
that struck me as beautiful--"Hermes teaching Cupid to read." The chief
part of the collection is in the house in town. After a happy week at
Trentham we returned here.
Mercy on my poor memory! I forgot to tell you that Lady Harrowby and her
daughter were at Trentham, and an _exquisite_, or tiptop dandy, Mr.
Standish, and young Mr. Sneyd, of Keil--very fashionable. Lady Harrowby
deserves Madame de Staël's good word, she calls her "_compagne
spirituelle_"--a charming woman, and very quick in conversation.
The morning after Mr. Standish's arrival, Lady Stafford's maid told her
that she and all the ladies' maids had been taken by his _gentleman_ to
see his toilette--"which, I assure you, my lady, is the thing best worth
seeing in this house, all of gilt plate, and I wish, my lady, you had
such a dressing box." Though an exquisite, Mr. Standish is clever,
entertaining, and agreeable. One day that he sat beside me at dinner, we
had a delightful battledore and shuttlecock conversation from grave to
gay as quick as your heart could wish: from _L'Almanac des Gourmandes_
and _Le Respectable Porc_, to _Dorriforth and the Simple Story._
_Jan 22._
My letter has been detained two days for a frank. My aunts [Footnote:
The Miss Sneyds were now living for a time at Byrkely Lodge.] are pretty
well, and we feel that we add to their cheerfulness. Honora plays
cribbage with Aunt Mary, and I read Florence Macarthy; I like the Irish
characters, and the Commodore, and Lord Adelm--that is Lord Byron; but
Ireland is traduced in some of her representations. "Marriage" is
delightful.
_To_ MRS. EDGEWORTH.