for the marriage. But her father, with his persuasive tongue,
overcame her objections.

Mr. Edgeworth himself announced his intending nuptials to Dr. Darwin, at
the end of a long letter dealing with the upas tree, frogs, agriculture,
hot-water pipes, and so forth:--

And now for my piece of news, which I have kept for the last: I am
going to be married to a young lady of small fortune and large
accomplishments--compared with my age, much youth (not quite 30)
and more prudence--some beauty, more sense--uncommon talents, more
uncommon temper--liked by my family, loved by me. If I can say all
this three years hence, shall not I have been a fortunate, not to
say a wise man?

He was able to say so not only three years after, but to the end of his
life. Whatever may be thought of Mr. Edgeworth's many and hasty
marriages, it must be admitted that they all turned out to the happiness
of himself and his children. Miss Edgeworth wrote a long letter to her
future stepmother, characteristic both of her amiable disposition, her
filial piety and her method of regarding love. "Miss Edgeworth's Cupid,"
as Byron observed, "was always something of a Presbyterian." In it she
assures Miss Beaufort (who was her junior) that she will find her
"gratefully exact _en belle fille_;" a promise she fulfilled beyond the
letter.

Within seven months of his late wife's death, just as public affairs
were assuming a still stormier aspect, and the nation about to burst
into the rebellion of 1798, Mr. Edgeworth was once more a bridegroom.
The wedding trip of the couple took them through the disturbed
districts; they beheld rebels hidden in the potato furrows, and passed a
car between whose shafts the owner had been hanged--a victim to the
"Defenders." But in the house of Edgeworthstown there was, as ever,
peace and concord; and the trying situation upon which the new wife was
called to enter was smoothed for her even by the children of the woman
whom she had so quickly displaced in their father's affection.

In an incredibly short time all things and people found themselves in
their proper places, and the new Mrs. Edgeworth soon proved herself a
fitting person to hold the reins of household government. Only a month
after the marriage Miss Edgeworth can tell her cousin:--

We are indeed happy. The more I see of my friend and mother, the
more I love and esteem her, and the more I feel the truth of all