Edgeworth’s Memories, edited by C.S. Edgeworth, were first published in English (London, 1815), and a French translation (really the letters and some miscellaneous notes, &c.) was published in Paris in 1816. A translation of the Lettres de l’abbé Edgeworth avec des mémoires sur sa vie was published by Madame Elizabeth de Bow in Paris in 1818, and Letters from the Abbé Edgeworth to his Friends, with Memoirs of his Life, edited by T.B. England, in London in 1818. See J.B.A. Hanet-Cléry, Journal de ce qui s’est passé, &c. (Paris, 1825); A.H. du D. de Beauchesne, Vie de Madame Elisabeth (Paris, 1869); J.C.D. de Lacretelle, Précis historique de la Révolution française (Paris, 1801-1806).
EDGREN-LEFFLER, ANNE CHARLOTTE, duchess of Cajanello (1849-1892), Swedish author, daughter of the mathematician Prof. C.O. Leffler, was born on the 1st of October 1849. Her first volume of stories appeared in 1869, but the first to which she attached her name was Ur Lifvet (“From Life,” 1882), a series of realistic sketches of the upper circles of Swedish society, followed by three other collections with the same title. Her earliest plays, Skådespelerskan (“The Actress,” 1873), and its successors, were produced anonymously in Stockholm, but in 1883 her reputation was established by the success of Sanna Kvinnor (“True Women”), and En Räddande engel (“An Angel of Deliverance”). Sanna Kvinnor is directed against false femininity, and was well received in Germany as well as in Sweden. Anne Leffler had married in 1872 G. Edgren, but about 1884 she was separated from her husband, who did not share her advanced views. She spent some time in England, and in 1885 produced her Hur man gör godt (“How men do good”), followed in 1888 by Kampen för lyckan (“The Struggle for Happiness”), in which she had the help of Sophie Kovalevsky. Another volume of the Ur Lisvet series appeared in 1889; and Familjelycka (“Domestic Happiness,” 1891) was produced in the year after her second marriage, with the Italian mathematician, Pasquale del Pezzo, duca di Cajanello. She died at Naples on the 21st of October 1892. Her dramatic method forms a connecting link between Ibsen and Strindberg, and its masculine directness, freedom from prejudice, and frankness gave her work a high estimation in Sweden. Her last book was a biography (1892) of her friend Sophie (Sonya) Kovalevsky, by way of introduction to Sonya’s autobiography. An English translation (1895) by A. de Furnhjelm and A.M. Clive Bayley contains a biographical note on Fru Edgren-Leffler by Lily Wolffsohn, based on private sources.
See also Ellen Key, Anne Charlotte Leffler (Stockholm, 1893).
EDHEM PASHA (c. 1815-1893), Turkish statesman, was of Greek origin, and is said to have been taken into a Turkish household at the time of the Chio massacre in 1822, and to have been brought up as a Mussulman. He entered the Turkish government service and rose to high office, being successively minister of public works, grand vizier for eleven months (1878), ambassador at Vienna (1879) and minister of the interior. He was quick-tempered, but of kindly disposition, intelligent and patriotic, and he left a reputation of unblemished honesty and uprightness.
EDICT (Lat. edictum, from e, out, and dicere, to say, speak), an order or proclamation issued under authority and having the force of law. The word is especially used of the promulgations of the Roman praetor (q.v.), of the Roman emperors, and also of the kings of France (see also [Roman Law]).
EDINBURGH, a city and royal burgh, and county of itself, the capital of Scotland, and county town of Edinburghshire or Midlothian, situated to the south of the Firth of Forth, 396 m. by rail N. of London. The old Royal Observatory on Calton Hill stands in 55° 57′ 23″ N. and 12° 43′ 05″ W. Edinburgh occupies a group of hills of moderate height and the valleys between. In the centre is a bold rock, crowned by the castle, between which and the new town lies a ravine that once contained the Nor’ Loch, but is now covered with the gardens of Princes Street. To the east rises Calton Hill (355 ft.) with several conspicuous monuments, the city prison and the Calton cemetery. On the south-east, beyond the Canongate limits, stands the hill of Arthur’s Seat (822 ft.). Towards the north the site of the city slopes gently to the Firth of Forth and the port of Leith; while to the south, Liberton Hill, Blackford Hill, Braid Hills and Craiglockhart Hills roughly mark the city bounds, as Corstorphine Hill and the Water of Leith do the western limits. The views of the city and environs from the castle or any of the hills are very beautiful, and it is undoubtedly one of the most picturesque capitals in the world. Its situation, general plan and literary associations suggested a comparison that gave Edinburgh the name of “the modern Athens”; but it has a homelier nickname of “Auld Reekie,” from the cloud of smoke (reek) which often hangs over the low-lying quarters.