The Life and Letters of Maria Edgeworth, Vol. 2 by Maria Edgeworth
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Maria Edgeworth >> The Life and Letters of Maria Edgeworth, Vol. 2
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MARIA _to_ C. SNEYD EDGEWORTH, ESQ.
EDGEWORTHSTOWN, _Feb. 12, 1835_.
I feel your kindness now most particularly in giving me your full
opinion, and desiring mine without one word of reproach on not having
heard from me. I had written a long letter, but thinking it better Barry
should write to you himself, I determined to burn and burnt what I had
written to you, and scribbled a page in its stead of I know not
what--nonsense I believe. And now what remains to do? My sense, if I
have any, is quite as much at your service as my nonsense has been. And
first for _General Principles_, to those independently of the particular
case we should recur. I quite agree with you, as you do with my father,
in the general principle that according to the British Constitution the
voters at elections should be free, that the landlords should not
_force_ their tenants to vote. But a landlord must and should and ever
will have _influence_, and this is one way in which property is
represented and the real balance of the constitution preserved. My
father in fact always did use the influence of being a good kind
landlord, as well as the favour of leaving a hanging half-year in their
hands. I never knew him in any instance _revenge_ a tenant's voting
against him, but I have heard him say, and I know it was his principle,
that he was not bound to show favour or affection to any tenant who
voted what is called against his landlord. The calling for the
_hanging-gale_ may, in this point of view, come under his principles, as
it is only the withdrawing of a favour--the resumption of a landlord's
right; it may be said not to be the infliction of an injury or the going
one tittle beyond the law; nor even putting yourself in the power of
Parliament to notice it as unconstitutional. This is literally true--so
far--and further I admit, for I say candidly the whole on both sides
that occurs to me--I admit, that I believe if my father were at this
moment living, and knew how shamefully the priests have conducted
themselves at the last election, how they had _forced_ his tenants and
all others whom they could _bully_ to vote against their own will, full
as much as against their landlord, he might himself be inclined to
depart from his principle and to use force over his tenants to balance
the brutal force and violence on the other side.
I say, my father might be so inclined, and his first warmth of temper
and indignation doubtless would so urge him, but still,
The golden curb discretion sets on bravery,
would act and rein in his temper in the first instance, and his reason
would rally and represent that it is never either morally lawful or
politically wise to do evil that good may come of it. Because the
priests have used force and intimidation, such as their situation and
means put in their power, are landlords to do likewise? and are the poor
tenants in this world and the next to be ruined and excommunicated
between them? Are we to recriminate and revenge because the priests and
the people have done so? beaten or beating as brutal force decides?
The honest constitutional means of resisting the horrible wrong the
priests have been guilty of in the last election is by publishing the
facts, bringing them as they now must be brought in all their enormity
before Parliament. As far as every private individual can assist in
bringing these truths to light and in influencing public opinion by the
eloquence of tongue or pen he does right, as a man and as a gentleman,
and a good member of society, and wisely in the present times, to stop,
if possible, the power of democracy. And this, I am sure, my dear
brother, is what you have done, and I do not wish you to do more or
less.
With respect to Charles Fox, I think he will certainly stand the first
opportunity. I am not sure that it will be for his happiness to be in
Parliament; but I think he will make an honest and moderate member and
will do well in Committees, and I think you may support him fairly; he
will not be bitter Orange; he has good sense and temper. I hate the term
I have just used--Orange, and I would avoid saying Whig or Tory if I
could, and consider only what is right and best to be done in our time.
I think the late Ultra-Reform Liberalists went too far, and had they
continued in power, would have overturned everything, both in England
and Ireland, would have let in upon us the ragamuffin democracy, cried
havoc, etc.
I think that nothing less than the decided, perhaps despotic hand of the
Duke of Wellington, could prevent this catastrophe, and the sense of Mr.
Peel will aid, I trust. The Duke has been a stander-by and has had
leisure to repent the error which turned him out before, viz. of
declaring that he would have no reform. Mr. Peel has well guarded
against this in his address on his return. What we must pray for is,
that the hands of the present Government may be strengthened
sufficiently to enable them to prevent the mischiefs prepared by the
last Administration, and that, having seen the error, they may be wise
in time.
* * * * *
Innumerable were the improvements which were effected by Mrs. and Miss
Edgeworth for the advantage of their poorer neighbours in the immediate
vicinity of their home. Cottagers' houses were rebuilt or made
comfortable, schools built, and roads improved. A legacy of diamonds
from a relation was sold by Miss Edgeworth that she might build a market
house in the village, with a room over it for the magistrates' Petty
Sessions. She endeavoured to be on the best terms with the Catholic
priests, to whom she showed constant kindness and hospitality. Her
poorer neighbours were made sharers in all her interests or pleasures,
and all those she employed were treated as friends rather than servants.
All her sympathies were in behalf of Ireland. Yet she met with no return
of affection or sympathy. In 1836 we find Mrs. Farrar writing of
Edgeworthstown:
* * * * *
It was market-day: so the main street was full of the lower order of
Irish, with their horses and carts, asses and panniers, tables and
stands full of eatables and articles of clothing. Sometimes the cart or
car served as a counter on which to display their goods. The women, in
bright-coloured cotton gowns and white caps with full double borders,
made a very gay appearance. But as we passed through the crowd to the
schoolhouse the enmity of the Papists to Protestant landholders was but
too evident.
Though Mrs. Edgeworth had been the Lady Bountiful of the village for
many years, there were no bows for her or her friends, no making way
before her, no touching of hats, no pleasant looks. A sullen expression
and a dogged immovability were on every side of us.
MARIA _to_ PAKENHAM EDGEWORTH.
EDGEWORTHSTOWN,
ST. PATRICK'S DAY IN THE MORNING, 1835.
How provoking, how chilling a feeling it gives of the distance between
us, my dear Pakenham, that we must wait twelve months for an answer to
any question the most important or the most trivial! But, thank heaven,
letters and journals--bating this year between--do bring us happily
together, almost face to face and smile to smile. I have often admired
the poor Irishman's oratorical bull when he exclaimed, as he looked
through a telescope for the first time and saw the people at a cottage
door, miles off, brought near, "Then I heard 'em speak quite plain, I
think." I think I sometimes hear you speaking and hear the people call
you Sahib.
You have seen in the papers the death of our amiable friend, Mr.
Malthus. How well he loved you! His lectureship on Political Economy has
been filled up by a very able and deserving friend of mine, Mr. Jones,
whose book on Rents you have just been reading, and whose book and self
I had the pleasure of first introducing to Lord Lansdowne, under whose
Administration this appointment was made. The pupils at Haileybury must
now learn from Jones's lectures the objections he made to Malthus's
system! I remember once hearing the answer of a sceptic in Political
Economy, when reproached with not being of some Political Economy Club.
"Whenever I see any two of you gentlemen agree, I shall be happy to
agree with you."
I hope your box of seeds will come safe and will grow. I daresay Harriet
will have told you of the Cornish gentleman she met at Black Castle, who
told of the blue hydrangea fifteen feet high, and bearing such a
profusion of flowers that they were counted, 2352 bunches, each bunch as
large as his head! We endeavoured to correct, and said florets for
bunches, presuming he so meant, but he distinctly said bunches--so make
what you can of it.
_March 19_.
Yesterday I am sure you recollected and honoured as Barry and Sophy's
wedding day. Honora had the breakfast table covered with flowers,
primroses, violets, polyanthus, and laurustinus, and some of Sophy's own
snowdrops, double and single, which obligingly lingered on purpose to
celebrate the day.
Did you see how Lord Darnley cut his foot with an axe while he was
hewing the root of a tree, and died in consequence of lock-jaw! Harriet,
who knew him and all the good he did in their neighbourhood, is very
sorry for him.
I have not, I believe, mentioned to you any books except my own; but we
have been amused with the _Invisible Gentleman_. You must swallow one
monstrous magical absurdity at the beginning, and the rest will go down
glibly--that is, _amusing_.
_Instructive and entertaining_: Burne's _Mission to Lahore and Bokhara_.
_Instructive, interesting, and entertaining_: Roget on _Physiology, with
reference to Theology_--one of the Bridgewater Treatises, full of facts
the most curious, arranged in the most beautifully luminous manner. The
infinitely large, and the infinitely small in creation, admirably
displayed.
Hannah More's _Letters_: many of them entertaining--many admirable for
manner and matter, altogether too much; two volumes would have been
better than four.
Inglis's _Ireland_: I think he is an honest writer, a man of great
observation and ability, and a true admirer of the beauties of nature.
He exaggerates and makes some mistakes, as all travellers do.
Still drops from life some withering joy away.
Year after year, we must witness these sad losses. Aunt Alicia gone! and
Aunt Bess Waller, of whom you were so fond. What an amiable and highly
cultivated mind she had, and so hospitable and kind.
_To_ MISS RUXTON.
EDGEWORTHSTOWN, _March 31, 1835_.
Harriet told me, my dear Sophy, that she found you in bed, reading
_Popular Tales_, or some of my old things--thank you, thank you, my
dear, for loving them. I hope that this will find you better, and that
your Black Castle walks, leaning on that kind Isabella's arm, will have
quite restored you.
I have been reading Roget's most admirable Bridgewater
Treatise--admirable in every way, scientific, moral, and religious, in
the most deep and exalted manner--religious, raising the mind through
nature's works up to nature's GOD, which must increase and exalt piety
where it exists, and create and confirm the devotional feelings where
they have lain dormant. All his facts are most curious, and the
exclamation, "how fearfully and wonderfully we are made," may be
extended to the ugliest tadpole that _wabbles_ in a ditch till he is a
frog, and the microscope invented by that creature man endowed with--
Luckily a hair in my pen stopped me, or I might have gone on to another
page, in my hot fit of enthusiasm.
_To MISS RUXTON.
EDGEWORTHSTOWN, _Sept. 1835_.
Have you seen in the papers reports about the marriage of Lord John
Russell to Lady R.? All true--Lady Ribblesdale, _ci-devant_ Adelaide
Lister, Aunt Mary's niece, a young widow with a charming little boy;
this morning Aunt Mary had a letter from Lady Ribblesdale herself. If
she was to marry again she could not have made a more suitable match. He
is a very domestic man, and, save his party violence and folly, very
amiable and sensible.
* * * * *
Mr. George Ticknor [Footnote: The well-known Professor of Modern
Literature at Harvard University, author of the _History of Spanish
Literature_, etc. Born 1791, died 1871.] and his family visited
Edgeworthstown in August 1835, and remained there several days, which
were a very interesting and happy time to Miss Edgeworth. Mr. Ticknor
describes his visit at great length in his journals, and the first
appearance of Miss Edgeworth:
* * * * *
A small, short, spare lady of about sixty-seven, with extremely frank
and kind manners, and who always looks straight into your face with a
pair of mild deep gray eyes whenever she speaks to you. Her
conversation, always ready, is as full of vivacity and variety as I can
imagine. It is also no less full of good-nature. She is disposed to
defend everybody, as far as she can, though never so far as to be
unreasonable. And in her intercourse with her family she is quite
delightful, referring constantly to Mrs. Edgeworth, who seems to be the
authority for all matters of fact, and most kindly repeating jokes to
her infirm aunt, Miss Sneyd, who cannot hear them, and who seems to have
for her the most unbounded affection and admiration.
About herself as an author she seems to have no reserve or secrets....
But, though she talks freely about herself and her works, she never
introduces the subject, and never seems glad to continue it. She talks
quite as well, and with quite as much interest, on everything else.
It is plain that the family make a harmonious whole, and by those who
visited Edgeworthstown when it was much larger, and were proud of the
children of all the wives of Mr. Edgeworth, with their connections
produced by marriage, so as to prove the most heterogeneous
relationships, I am told there was always the same striking union and
agreeable intercourse among them all, to the number of sometimes fifteen
or twenty.
...The house, and many of its arrangements--the bells, the doors,
etc.--bear witness to that love of mechanical trifling of which Mr.
Edgeworth was so often accused. But things in general are very
convenient and comfortable through the house, though, as elsewhere in
Ireland, there is a want of English exactness and finish. However, all
such matters, even if carried much farther than they are, would be mere
trifles in the midst of so much kindness, hospitality, and intellectual
pleasures of the highest order as we enjoyed under their roof, where
hospitality is so abundant that they have often had twenty or thirty
friends come upon them unexpectedly, when the family was much larger
than it is now.
* * * * *
Maria Edgeworth was now the real owner of Edgeworthstown. Her
half-brother Lovell's embarrassments had obliged him to sell his
paternal inheritance, and Miss Edgeworth gladly expended the fortune
which had come to her through literature in preserving it from falling
into the hands of strangers. She only stipulated that she herself should
remain as much "a background figure" as before. Lovell Edgeworth was
still the apparent owner of Edgeworthstown. Mrs. Edgeworth was still the
mistress of the house, consulted and deferred to in everything. In her
note of invitation to Mr. and Mrs. Ticknor she says: "The sooner you can
come to us the better, because Mrs. Edgeworth is now at home with us ...
as you would find this house much more agreeable when she is at home;
and in truth you never could see it to advantage, or see things as they
really are in this family, unless when she makes part of it, and when
she is at the head of it." [Footnote: _Life of George Ticknor_.] Maria
Edgeworth unconsciously depicted herself when describing Miss Emma
Granby, "The Modern Griselda."
* * * * *
All her thoughts were intent upon making her friends happy. She seemed
to live in them more than in herself, and from sympathy rose the
greatest pleasure and pain of her existence. Her sympathy was not of
that useless kind which is called forth only by the elegant fictitious
sorrows of a heroine of romance; hers was ready for all the occasions of
real life; nor was it to be easily checked by the imperfections of those
to whom she could be of service.
* * * * *
Amongst those who visited Edgeworthstown about this time was the
American authoress, Mrs. Farrar, who writes:
* * * * *
When shown to our bedroom we found such an extraordinary lock to the
door [Footnote: One of Mr. Edgeworth's inventions.] that we dared not
shut it for fear of not being able to open it again. That room, too, was
unlike any I ever saw. It was very large, with three huge windows, two
of them heavily curtained, and the third converted into a small
wardrobe, with doors of pink cotton on a wooden frame. It had two very
large four-post bedsteads, with full suits of curtains, and an immense
folding-screen that divided the room in two, making each occupant as
private as if in a separate room, with a dressing-table and ample
washing conveniences on each side. A large grate filled with turf, and
all ready for lighting, with a peat basket lined with tin, and also
filled with the same fuel, reminded us strongly that we were in Ireland.
Large wax candles were on the mantelpiece, and every convenience
necessary to our comfort.
Miss Edgeworth was very short, and carried herself very upright, with a
dapper figure and quick movements. She was the remains of a blonde, with
light eyes and hair; she was now gray, but wore a dark frisette, whilst
the gray hair showed through her cap behind. In conversation we found
her delightful. She was full of anecdotes about remarkable people, and
often spoke from her personal knowledge of them. Her memory, too, was
stored with valuable information, and her manner of narrating was so
animated that it was difficult to realise her age. In telling an
anecdote of Mirabeau, she stepped out before us, and, extending her
arms, spoke a sentence of his in the impassioned manner of a French
orator, and did it so admirably that it was quite thrilling.
* * * * *
Another American visitor, in the same year of 1836, the Rev. William B.
Sprogue, writes: [Footnote: _European Celebrities_, 1855.]
* * * * *
The Edgeworth house is a fine spacious old mansion, with a splendid lawn
stretching before it, and everything to indicate opulence and hereditary
distinction.... Miss Edgeworth was the first person to meet me; and she
immediately introduced me to her mother, Mrs. Edgeworth, her father's
fourth wife, and her sister, Miss Honora Edgeworth. Miss Edgeworth, in
her personal appearance, was below middle size; her face was exceedingly
plain, though strongly indicative of intellect; and though she seemed to
possess great vigour of body as well as of mind, it was, after all, the
vigour of old age. I supposed her to be about sixty-five, but I believe
she was actually on the wrong side of seventy. Her stepmother, Mrs.
Edgeworth, must have been, I think, rather younger than Maria, and was
not only a lady of high intelligence, but of great personal attractions,
and withal of a very serious turn of mind. As Miss Edgeworth knew that
my visit was to be limited to a single day, she told me almost
immediately that she wished to know in what way she could contribute
most to my gratification,--whether by remaining in the house or walking
over the grounds. She talked upon a great variety of subjects, but there
was nothing about her that had ever any affinity to showing off or
trying to talk well: she evidently did not know how to talk otherwise.
Circumstances led her to speak of her experience with some of her
publishers. She mentioned that one of them had repeatedly requested her
to abate from the amount which he had engaged to pay her, and that she
had done so; but at length, after she had told him explicitly to make
proposals he would abide by, he wrote her a letter, saying that he
wished another abatement, and that he found that on the whole he had
lost by her works; and she then wrote him in reply, that in consequence
of the loss he had sustained, she would transfer her publications to
other hands. He afterwards earnestly requested that she would excuse him
for having thus written, and desired to retain the works; but _she_ was
inflexible, and _he_ very angry. Her former publisher, she said, when he
found himself dying, called for a letter to her which was then
unfinished, and requested that there should be inserted a promise of ten
or twelve hundred pounds more than he had engaged to give her for one of
her works; for it had been so much more profitable to him than he
expected, that he could not die in peace till he had done justly by her.
And his heirs executed his will in accordance with this dying
suggestion.
* * * * *
Home interests, home cares, and home sorrows were henceforth
increasingly to occupy Miss Edgeworth's life.
* * * * *
MARIA _to_ MISS RUXTON.
LOUGH GLYN, _Sept. 16, 1836_.
You may suppose how I felt the kindness of your note. You are now my
friend of longest standing and dearest parentage in this world; and in
this world, in which I have lived nearly three quarters of a century, I
have found nothing one quarter so well worth living for as old friends.
We go to Moore Hall to-morrow. We had here yesterday a party at dinner,
all exquisite in their way; Lord and Lady Dillon and Miss Dillon, Lord
Oranmore and his son, Mr. Brown, and two Miss Stricklands and their
brothers; and coloured fireworks in the evening: of all of which you
shall hear more when we meet. Breakfast-bell ringing in my ears.
_March 5, 1837_.
The last accounts will have prepared you--more prepared, perhaps, than I
was, for hope had lived in spite of reason when life was gone--your
beloved and most amiable, angelic-tempered goddaughter [Footnote: Her
sister Sophy. Mrs. Barry Fox, who died March 1.] is gone. She preserved
her charming mind quite clear all through, and had her mother with her,
and the comfort of knowing that her children were in the care of Mr.
Butler and Harriet.
_To_ MISS MARGARET RUXTON.
EDGEWORTHSTOWN, _Dec. 17, 1837_.
We are very anxious indeed to hear of Sophy: [Footnote: Miss Ruxton,
Miss Edgeworth's cousin and dearest friend, died at Black Castle,
December 30.] the last account Harriet gave was quite alarming. I see
Richard going about the house with his watch in his hand to feel Sophy's
pulse, and looking so anxious. How glad he must be that he had returned
home, and to Sophy what a comfort it must be, to have the certainty of
his affection, and to have the earliest companion of her childhood and
her manly friend beside her now! I will go to her instantly if she
desires it.
I long to hear that you have had, and that you like, the _Memoirs of Mr.
Smedley_. I am sure that, when Sophy is well enough to hear or to read
anything, that book will be the very thing for her.
_To_ MRS. EDGEWORTH.
TRIM, _July 25, 1838_.
Mrs. Lazarus's [Footnote: Formerly Miss Mordecai.] death did indeed
shock and grieve me. But it is, as you say, the condition, the doom of
advancing, advanced age, to see friend after friend go; but in
proportion as it detaches one from life, it still more makes us value
the friends we have left. And continually, at every fresh blow, I really
_wonder_, and am thankful, most truly thankful, that I have so many, so
much left.
_To_ MISS MARGARET RUXTON.
_Oct. 10, 1838_.
I am sure, my dear Margaret, you were pleased at Honora's communication:
you wrote a most kind and pleasant letter of congratulation.[Footnote:
On the engagement of her sister Honora to Captain Beaufort, her
stepmother's brother.] She has hitherto been most fortunate in pleasing
all her friends, both as to the fact and as to the time and manner of
telling. Do you remember a conversation we had standing upon the hearth
in my room one night, between eleven and twelve, the witching hour, and
what you asked me about Captain Beaufort? The secret had then been
confided to me; and I hope you will do me the justice to acknowledge
that, open-hearted and open-mouthed as I am, I can keep a secret
WONDERFUL well.
* * * * *
_To_ MR. AND MRS. TICKNOR.
EDGEWORTHSTOWN, _Nov. 1, 1838_.
. . . My sister Honora is going to be married to a person every way
suited to her, and that is saying a great deal, as you, who most kindly
and justly appreciated her, will readily join with me in thinking. The
gentleman's name, Captain Beaufort, R.N., perhaps you may be acquainted
with, as he is in a public situation, and not unknown to literary and
scientific fame. He is a naval officer (I hope you like this officer's
name?). He made some years ago a survey of the coast of Karamania, and
wrote a small volume on that survey, which has obtained for him a good
reputation. He has been for some years Hydrographer-Royal ... in one
word, he is a person publicly esteemed, and privately he is beloved and
esteemed by all who know him, most by those who love him best. He is and
has been well known to us ever since the present Mrs. Edgeworth's
marriage with my father; Captain Beaufort is Mrs. Edgeworth's youngest
brother. As Mrs. E. is Honora's _step_mother, you see that he is no
relation whatever to Honora. But the nearness of the connection has
given us all the best means of knowing him thoroughly. He was my dear
father's most beloved pupil and friend; by pupil I mean that being so
much younger made him look up to my father with reverence, and learn
from him in science and literature with delight. Thus he has been long
connected with all I love. He has been a widower two years. He has three
sons and four daughters.... The youngest daughter, Emily, is a
delightful child. Captain Beaufort lives in London, 11 Gloucester Place:
has a very comfortable house and sufficient fortune for all their
moderate wishes. Honora's fortune, which is ample, will give them
affluence.
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