t she was never willing to
sit for her portrait, and that is the reason why the public has never
been made acquainted with her personal appearance.

In conversation we found her delightful. She was full of anecdotes about
remarkable people, and often spoke from her personal knowledge of them.
Her memory, too, was stored with valuable information, and her manner of
narrating was so animated that it was difficult to realize her age. In
telling an anecdote of Mirabeau, she stepped out before us, and,
extending her arm, spoke a sentence of his in the impassioned manner of
a French orator, and did it so admirably that it was quite thrilling.

She told us two speeches of Madame de Stael which are worth remembering.
Madame Necker was a harsh mother, and always found a great deal of fault
with her daughter; but her husband knew his child's merits, and liked
her to have her own way. One day a gentleman entered the room, just as
Madame Necker flourished out of it, after reprimanding her daughter, who
stood abashed in the middle of the room, with tears on her face. He
endeavored to console her by saying that she must not mind her mother's
reproofs, as long as her father was satisfied with her, and he told her
how much M. Necker admired her. To this the girl replied, "_Mon pere
pense a mon bonheur present, ma mere songe a mon avenir_." I talked with
Miss Edgeworth of a work on Progressive Education by Madame Necker de
Saussure; she thought it dull and tedious, and said that Madame de Stael
had a great admiration of that cousin, and said of her, "_Elle a tous
les talens qu' on me suppose, et toutes les vertus qui me manquent_."

Miss Edgeworth and all her family took the part of the English
Government in their treatment of the Irish, and had no sympathy for the
wrongs and sufferings of their countrymen. Bigoted Episcopalians, they
would grant no rights to the Roman Catholics, and this made them very
unpopular in their own neighborhood.

They had been instrumental in establishing a free school for the sons of
poor Protestant clergymen in the town which bordered on their grounds,
and they took us to see it. It was market-day, so the main street was
full of the lower order of Irish, with their horses and carts, asses and
panniers, tables and stands full of eatables and articles of clothing.
Sometimes the cart or car served as a counter on which to display their
goods. The women in bright-colored cotton gowns and white caps with full