CHAPTER V.

"PRACTICAL EDUCATION"--CHILDREN'S BOOKS 52

CHAPTER VI.

IRISH AND MORAL TALES 73

CHAPTER VII.

IN FRANCE AND AT HOME 88

CHAPTER VIII.

FASHIONABLE AND POPULAR TALES 116

CHAPTER IX.

VISIT TO LONDON--MR. EDGEWORTH'S DEATH 144

CHAPTER X.

LATER NOVELS--GENERAL ESTIMATE 161

CHAPTER XI.

VISITS ABROAD AND AT HOME 193

CHAPTER XII.

MR. EDGEWORTH'S MEMOIRS PUBLISHED--1821
TO 1825 214

CHAPTER XIII.

1826 TO 1834 237

CHAPTER XIV.

LAST YEARS 269

MARIA EDGEWORTH.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

Too many memoirs begin with tradition; to trace a subject _ab ovo_ seems
to have a fatal attraction for the human mind. It is not needful to
retrace so far in speaking of Miss Edgeworth; but, for a right
understanding of her life and social position, it is necessary to say
some words about her ancestry. Of her family and descent she might well
be proud, if ancestry alone, apart from the question whether those
ancestors of themselves merit the admiration of their descendants, be a
legitimate source of pride. The Edgeworths, originally established, it
is believed, at Edgeworth, now Edgeware, in Middlesex, would appear to
have settled in Ireland in the sixteenth century. The earliest of whom
we have historical record is Roger Edgeworth, a monk, who followed in
the footsteps of his sovereign, Henry VIII., both by being a defender
of the faith and by succumbing to the bright eyes of beauty, for whose
sake he finally renounced Catholicism and married. His sons, Edward and
Francis; went to Ireland. The elder brother, Edward, became Bishop of
Down and Connor, and died without issue. It was the younger, Francis,
who founded the house of Edgeworth of Edgeworthstown; and ever since
Edgeworthstown, in the county of Longford, Ireland, has remained in the
possession of the family whence it derived its name. The Edgeworths soon
became one of the most powerful families in the district, and
experienced their full share of the perils and vicissitudes of the
stormy period that apparently ended with the victories of William III.
Most members of the family seem to have been gay and extravagant, living
in alternate affluence and distress, and several of Maria