London, August, 1883.
CONTENTS.
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[CHAPTER I.] | |
| Page | |
| Introductory | [9] |
[CHAPTER II.] | |
| Early Years | [17] |
[CHAPTER III.] | |
| Girlhood | [28] |
[CHAPTER IV.] | |
| Womanhood | [42] |
[CHAPTER V.] | |
| "Practical Education"—Children's Books | [52] |
[CHAPTER VI.] | |
| Irish and Moral Tales | [73] |
[CHAPTER VII.] | |
| In France and at Home | [88] |
[CHAPTER VIII.] | |
| Fashionable and Popular Tales | [116] |
[CHAPTER IX.] | |
| Visit to London—Mr. Edgeworth's Death | [144] |
[CHAPTER X.] | |
| later Novels—General Estimate | [161] |
[CHAPTER XI.] | |
| Visits Abroad and at Home | [193] |
[CHAPTER XII.] | |
| Mr. Edgeworth's Memoirs Published—1821 To 1825 | [214] |
[CHAPTER XIII.] | |
| 1826 TO 1834 | [237] |
[CHAPTER XIV.] | |
| Last Years | [269] |
MARIA EDGEWORTH.
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CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
Too many memoirs begin with tradition; to trace a subject ab ovo seems to have a fatal attraction for the human mind. It is not needful to retrace so far in speaking of Miss Edgeworth; but, for a right understanding of her life and social position, it is necessary to say some words about her ancestry. Of her family and descent she might well be proud, if ancestry alone, apart from the question whether those ancestors of themselves merit the admiration of their descendants, be a legitimate source of pride. The Edgeworths, originally established, it is believed, at Edgeworth, now Edgeware, in Middlesex, would appear to have settled in Ireland in the sixteenth century. The earliest of whom we have historical record is Roger Edgeworth, a monk, who followed in the footsteps of his sovereign, Henry VIII., both by being a defender of the faith and by succumbing to the bright eyes of beauty, for whose sake he finally renounced Catholicism and married. His sons, Edward and Francis; went to Ireland. The elder brother, Edward, became Bishop of Down and Connor, and died without issue. It was the younger, Francis, who founded the house of Edgeworth of Edgeworthstown; and ever since Edgeworthstown, in the county of Longford, Ireland, has remained in the possession of the family whence it derived its name. The Edgeworths soon became one of the most powerful families in the district, and experienced their full share of the perils and vicissitudes of the stormy period that apparently ended with the victories of William III. Most members of the family seem to have been gay and extravagant, living in alternate affluence and distress, and several of Maria Edgeworth's characters of Irish squires are derived from her ancestors. The family continued Protestant—the famous Abbé Edgeworth was a convert—and Maria Edgeworth's great-grandfather was so zealous in the reformed cause as to earn for himself the sobriquet of "Protestant Frank." His son married a Welsh lady, who became the mother of Richard Lovell Edgeworth, a man who will always be remembered as the father of his daughter. He was, however, something more than this; and as the lives of the father and daughter were throughout so intimately interwoven, a brief account of his career is needful for a comprehension of hers.