geworthtown.

Maria had once before been there, "very young, but she was now old
enough to be struck with the difference then so striking between
Ireland and England." The tones and looks, the melancholy and the
gaiety of the people, were so new and extraordinary to her that
the delineations she long afterwards made of Irish character
probably owe their life and truth to the impression made on her
mind at this time as a stranger. Though it was June when they
landed, there was snow on the roses she ran out to gather, and she
felt altogether in a new and unfamiliar country.

She herself describes the feelings of the master of a family returning
to an Irish home:--

Wherever he turned his eyes, in or out of his home, damp
dilapidation, waste appeared. Painting, glazing, roofing, fencing,
finishing--all were wanting. The backyard and even the front
lawn round the windows of the house were filled with loungers,
followers, and petitioners; tenants, undertenants, drivers,
sub-agent and agent were to have audience; and they all had
grievances and secret informations, accusations, reciprocations,
and quarrels each under each interminable.

Her account of her father's dealings with them is admirable:--

I was with him constantly, and I was amused and interested in
seeing how he made his way through their complaints, petitions,
and grievances with decision and despatch, he all the time in good
humour with the people and they delighted with him, though he
often rated them roundly when they stood before him perverse in
litigation, helpless in procrastination, detected in cunning or
convicted of falsehood. They saw into his character almost as soon
as he understood theirs.

Mr. Edgeworth had in a very remarkable degree that power of ruling and
administering which is one of the rarest of gifts. He seems to have
shown great firmness and good sense in his conduct in the troubled times
in which he lived. He saw to his own affairs, administered justice, put
down middlemen as far as possible, reorganised the letting out of the
estate. Unlike many of his neighbours, he was careful not to sacrifice
the future to present ease of mind and of pocket. He put down rack-rents
and bribes of every sort, and did his best to establish things upon a
firm and lasting basis.

But if it was not possible even for Mr. Edgeworth to make such things
al