cording to Mr. Edgeworth, is "a sketch of the necessary
consequences of imprudently trusting the happiness of a daughter to the
care of those who can teach nothing but accomplishments;" but which,
according to most readers, will be pronounced the melancholy result of
an ignorance that could mistake an illiterate French milliner for an
accomplished French governess. It is unjust to lay the results of the
tuition of such a personage to the charge of that favorite
scape-goat--the frivolity of the French nation. _The Prussian Vase_, a
tale, again according to Mr. Edgeworth, "designed principally for young
gentlemen who are intended for the bar," is a pretty but apocryphal
anecdote attributed to Frederic the Great, of a nature impossible to the
mental bias of that enlightened despot. It is, moreover, an eulogium of
the English mode of trial by jury.

Taken as a whole, these tales may be said to enforce the doctrine that
unhappiness is more often the result of defects of character than of
external circumstances. Like all Miss Edgeworth's writings, they found
instant favor and were translated into French and German. With no desire
to detract from their merits, we cannot avoid the inference that this
circumstance points to a great lack of contemporary foreign fiction of a
pure and attractive kind.

CHAPTER VII.

IN FRANCE AND AT HOME.

The peace, or rather the truce, of Amiens had induced many travellers to
visit France. They all returned enraptured with what they had seen of
society in Paris, and with the masterpieces of art dragged thither, as
the spoils of military despotism. Letters from some of these tourists
awakened in Mr. Edgeworth a wish to revisit France. The desire took
shape as resolve after the visit to Edgeworthstown of M. Pictet, of
Geneva, who promised the family letters of introduction to, and a
cordial welcome among, the thinkers of the land. As translator of
_Practical Education_, and as the editor of the _Bibliotheque
Britannique_,[5] in which he had published most of Miss Edgeworth's
_Moral Tales_, and detailed criticisms of both father and daughter, he
had certainly prepared the way for their favorable reception. The tour
was therefore arranged for the autumn of 1802, a roomy coach was
purchased, and in September Mr., Mrs., Miss and Miss Charlotte Edgeworth
started for their continental trip.

The series of letters Miss Edgeworth wrote home during this time are
most entertaining, unaffected,