d, taken as a whole, do not
approach them in merit. They are more crude in conception, more didactic
in manner; the moral is too obviously thrust into view, and at times
even the very philosophy the author strives to inculcate is halting. The
intensity and severe restraint of her purpose had blinded her vision,
perverted her logic; and thus the value of some of these ingenious
apologues is lowered. There is a character of childishness and poorness
about many of these tales that detracts seriously from the really
accurate observation and acute knowledge of human nature that they
inclose. Further, too, there is always such a sober, practical,
authentic air about all Miss Edgeworth's narratives, that glaring
inconsistencies and forced catastrophes strike us with double force as
ludicrous and unnatural when introduced by her. We certainly incline to
think that the result of perusing at one sitting the two volumes of Miss
Edgeworth's _Popular Tales_ could lead to that outburst of pharisaical
pride:--

Said I then to my heart, "Here's a lesson for me!
That man's but a picture of what I might be;
But thanks to my friends for their care in my breeding,
Who have taught me, betimes, to love working and reading."

_Popular Tales_ were devised with a view to correct the errors and
temptations of middle-class life, and were intended for a class which in
those days was not much in the habit of reading.

Mr. and Miss Edgeworth, though advanced and liberal thinkers in many
ways, were conservative in others, and, curiously enough, carried the
idea of class distinction into the domain of reading. They deemed that
to reach the middle classes a different character of story must be
conceived from that destined for persons of rank. There is a naivete, a
gentle absurdity, about this simple fancy that we cannot help
attributing to Mr. Edgeworth's unimaginative mind. In a brief but
bombastic preface this worthy personage sets forth the pretension of the
writer of these stories, and gives a list of the classes for which they
are adapted. Why did he not also devise some method, by which to insure
that none of the tales should be read or bought save by persons of a
certain social standard? It would have been equally reasonable. To make
a distinction between tales for children and for adults is proper and
right; to draw a fine distinction between classes, unfit and childish.
The process of natural selection will of its own accord