EDGEWORTH, MARIA, the daughter of the preceding, by his first wife, was born on January I, 1767, at Hare Hatch, near Reading, in Berkshire. In the year 1782 her father went with his family to reside on his paternal estate at Edgeworthtown, until when, except for a few months in her childhood, his daughter had never been in Ireland. From that time however Edgeworthtown became her abode for the remainder of her long life, with the exception of occasional visits of a few weeks only to England, Scotland, and France, and for about two years at Clifton in attendance on her sick step-mother. The neighbourhood of Edgeworthtown did not afford much congenial society, the family of the Earl of Longford at Pakenham Hall, that of the Earl of Granard at Castle Forbes, and that of a Mr. Brookes, being the only ones whom they visited; and Pakenham Hall, she says, was twelve miles distant, with "a vast Serbonian bog between us, with a bad road, an awkward ferry, and a country so frightful, and no overrun with yellow weeds, that it was aptly called by Mrs. °ravine, the yellow dwarf's country.'" Miss Edgeworth was principally educated by her father, as all his other children were. They all lived on the most coufidential terms with him, and she was very early selected as his business assistant, copying letters, receiving rents, and welcoming his tenants, while his office of magistrate gave her still further opportunities of observing the manners and habits of the peasantry around her. These occupa tions soon led to her becoming a co-operator with her father in lite rary productions. The first was a series of 'Essays on Practical Education,' published in 1793; and 'Early Lessons,' which had been commenced by Mr. Edgeworth and his second wife, was continued by
him and his daughter ; the Parent's Assistant' was also a joint production, as was the 'Essay on Irish Bulls,' published in 1803. But Miss Edgeworth'a fame rests upon her novels, which were pro duced without assistance, though they always had the benefit of her father's revision, while he was living. The series commenced with Castle Rackrent,' published in 1801, and closed in 1834 with ' Helen.' In the interval there appeared Moral Tales,' Belinda," Leonora,' 'The Modern Griselda," Popular Tales,' Tales of Fashionable Life,' 'Patronage," Frank," Harrington,' and Ormond,' with some minor tales. Her last production was ' Orlandine,' a children's tale, published by the Messrs. Chambers in 1847.
The novels of Miss Edgeworth were published seine years ago in a collected series. Tho manners which they describe, especially those of fashionable life, belong in some degree to a past generation. But her delineationti of character, more particularly of Irish character, are so true to nature, and there is such a vein of quiet humour and practical good sense running through them all, that amidst the more exciting plots and strong situations of the novels of our own time, the more important may be referred to as worthy of a lasting place in our literature.
Miss Edgeworth passed a quiet but useful life with her family; she ; maintained an extensive correspondence with many friends and literary acquaintances, and at length died on May 21, 1619, at the venerable age of eighty-three.