l
not be angry with me for so doing; no, I think you will be glad
that I made your present give me the greatest possible sum of
pleasure. Take into account the pride I felt in saying, _Mr.
Ticknor sent me these books_.

I am ashamed to see that I have come so far in a second sheet, and
in spite of all the wonderings at what can Maria _be about_?

_Sense in my next._

In answer to a letter from Mr. Ticknor, describing to her his library,
in which the only picture was one of Sir Walter Scott, Miss Edgeworth
wrote a reply, of which a portion has been published, but which contains
besides an able parallel, or rather contrast, between Washington and
Napoleon, worthy of preservation for its own sake, and as a testimony to
her unimpaired powers:--

TRIM, NOV. 19TH, 1840.

"Who talks of '_Boston_' in a voice so sweet?" Who wishes to see me
there? and to show me their home, their family, their country? I
have been there--at Boston! "Yes, and in Mr. and Mrs. Ticknor's
happy, beautiful home." I have been up "the slope of the Boston
hillside," have seen "the fifty acres of public park" in all its
verdure, with "its rich and venerable trees," its graveled
promenade surrounding it, with those noble rows of venerable elms
on either side. I have gone up the hillside and the steps profusely
decked with luxuriant creepers; I have walked into Mr. and Mrs.
Ticknor's house, as I was desired--have seen the three rooms
opening into one another, have sat in the library, too, and
thought--and thought it all charming. Looking into the country, as
you know the windows all do, I saw down through "the vista of
trees" to the quiet bay and the "beautiful" hills beyond, and I
"watched the glories of the setting sun" lighting up country and
town, "trees, turf and water!"--an Italian sun not more gorgeously
attended than this "New England luminary" setting or rising. I met
Sir Walter Scott in Mr. Ticknor's library with all his benign, calm
expression of countenance, his eye of genius and his mouth of
humor--such as he was before the life of life was gone, such as
genius loved to see him, such as American genius has _given_ him to
American friendship, immortalized in person as in mind. His very
self I see feeling, thinking and about to speak--and to a friend to
whom he loved to speak; and we