of the motive. It was not affectation of singularity, but
privilege of originality, that should be allowed to a being so
feeling and so educated by circumstances and so isolated--so let
the ragged handkerchief and the old gloves museumized pass, and
even the old overall of the man's coat on a woman and a
princess--so be it.

But from the time of Cardinal Chigi and his one stump of a
twenty-years-old pen on which he piqued himself, I quite agree with
Cardinal Mazarin[11] that these petty singularities are proofs of a
little mind, instead of an originality of genius.

And now, my dear Mrs. Ticknor, "Bisogna levar l'incommodita"--to
use the parting phrase of a vulgar Italian who feels that she has
made an unconscionable visit: or, as the cockney would say as she
got up to depart from a morning _visitation_, "Time for me to be
going, I think." And if you do not think so, or have not thought so
ten pages ago, you are more indulgent and fonder of me than I had
any right or reason to expect, even after all I have heard _from_
and seen _of_ you.

I promise you that you shall not be so tried again for a
twelvemonth to come, at the least. Give my kind remembrances to
your eldest daughter, who so kindly remembers me, and give a kiss
for me to your youngest, that dear little plaything who cannot
remember me, but whom I shall never forget; nor her father's fond
look at her, when the tear was forgotten as soon as shed.

Ever affectionately, dear Mrs. Ticknor,

Your obliged friend,

MARIA EDGEWORTH.

Turn over, and as the children's fairy-boards say, "you shall see
what you shall see."

N. B.--Among the various scratchifications and scarifications in
this volume, you may remark that there have been reiterated
scratches at Mrs. and Miss Wilmot, and attempts alternately to turn
the lady into _Mrs._ and Miss.

Be it now declared and understood that the lady is not either Mrs.
or Miss Wilmot, but Mrs. Bradford--born _Wilmot_, daughter of a Mr.
and Mrs. Wilmot of Cork--went over to Russia to _better herself_ at
the invitation of the Princess Dashkoff, who had, in a visit to
Ireland, become acquainted with some of her family. What motives
induced her to go to Russia, except the general notion of bettering
her fortune, I cannot tell. B