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18 MARIA EDGE WORTH.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Amokgst The Changes Which Have Taken Pla...
In a _strange house , and utter darkness , she could do nothing ; and in the misery of _doing nothingher excited imagination began to *
, picture terrific scenes of strife , imprisonment , and suffering . With _, the first dawn of light she sprang from her bed , and hastening to
the side from which the sounds had seemed" to come , she discovered a death ' s head moth , of uncommonly large size , one of the few insects
of that tribe which have the power of sound . Another trifling anecdote of this time may be mentioned . One
of Mr . Edgeworth's sons , a boy about ten years old , in the hurry of getting off with the yeonianry , forgot his strong shoes . The thin
ones which he had hastily put on , soon became worse than nothing , when his sister Emmeline pitying the suffering and uncomplaining
ehild , took off her walking boots , threw them to him out of the carriage window , and thus ( though they were much too large )
enabled him to struggle through six weary Irish miles ! The French army accompanied by their insurgent allies , who
• were more a hindrance than an advantage , quitted Killalla . They were worsted by the King ' s troops on two occasions , and finally
defeated at Ballinamuck , about five miles from Edgeworthstown . Affcer a few day ' s stay at Longford , the Edgewortli family
returned home ; and all things around them being again quiet , Maria with her father and mother visited Clifton in the spring of
1799 , where she was introduced to several contemporary authors , and where a friendship was begun with Mrs . Barbauld which
continued to the end of that lady's Hfe . - - Miss Edgeworth ' s very entertaining c Castle _Rachrentappeared
in 1800 . Some of the incidents which produced the outline ' of the tale , were furnished by the history of one of her own ancestors .
Others were suggested by circumstances which had occurred in different parts of Ireland . This work was pronounced by one of
her critics , as " sufficient to establish her reputation as a painter of Irish nature . "
In the conversations in which the story is told , she has shewn in a most amusing way , her shrewd observation , and her thorough
edition acquaintance was issued with of the the first Irish three character volumes . of In ' this The Parent year ' too s Assistant , a third
, to which she added three more volumes of tales , of equal merit with their companions , all with frontispieces from Mrs . Edgeworth ' s
designs . In 1801 , Miss _Edg-eworth ' again came before the world , by the
publication of ' Belinda . It caused a considerable sensation ; some of her critics regretted the absence of that rich Irish humourwhich
, had so much delighted the readers of her previous works . Others accused her of misrepresenting their fashionable world , but almost
all agreed in admiring the elegance of the writing , and the light and first graceful part wit of of her the conversations Early Lessons . , ' In as 1801 well , was as six also volumes brought out of her the
charming ' Moral Tales / - at once so spirited , and so well suited to the
18 Maria Edge Worth.
18 MARIA EDGE WORTH .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Sept. 1, 1858, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01091858/page/18/
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