lebrated Lord Chesterfield. I looked in vain for that fire, which
we expect to see in the eye of a man of wit and genius. He was
obviously unhappy, and a melancholy spectacle.' Of the young ladies
he says: 'I soon perceived that those who made the best figure in
the ballroom were not always qualified to please in conversation; I
saw that beauty and grace were sometimes accompanied by a frivolous
character, by disgusting envy, or despicable vanity. All this I had
read of in poetry and prose, but there is a wide difference,
especially among young people, between what is read and related, and
what is actually seen. Books and advice make much more impression in
proportion as we grow older. We find by degrees that those who lived
before us have recorded as the result of their experience the very
things that we observe to be true.'

It was while still at college that he married Miss Elers without
waiting for his father's consent; he soon found that his young wife
did not sympathise with his pursuits; but he adds, 'Though I
heartily repented my folly, I determined to bear with firmness and
temper the evil, which I had brought upon myself. Perhaps pride had
some share in my resolution.'

He had a son before he was twenty, and soon afterwards took his wife
to Edgeworth Town to introduce her to his parents; but a few days
after his arrival his mother, who had long been an invalid, felt
that her end was approaching, and calling him to her bedside, told
him, with a sort of pleasure, that she felt she should die before
night. She added: 'If there is a state of just retribution in
another world, I must be happy, for I have suffered during the
greatest part of my life, and I know that I did not deserve it by my
thoughts or actions.'

Her dying advice to him was,'"My son, learn how to say No." She
warned me further of an error into which, from the vivacity of my
temper, I was most likely to fall. "Your inventive faculty," said
she, "will lead you eagerly into new plans; and you may be dazzled
by some new scheme before you have finished, or fairly tried what
you had begun. Resolve to finish; never procrastinate."'

CHAPTER 2

It was in 1765, while stopping at Chester and examining a mechanical
exhibition there, that Edgeworth first heard of Dr. Darwin, who had
lately invented a carriage which could turn in a small compass
without danger of upsetting. Richard on hearing this determined to
try his hand on coach building, and ha