The Life and Letters of Maria Edgeworth, Volume 1Edgeworth, Maria
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The Life and Letters of Maria Edgeworth, Volume 1
Edgeworth, Maria
Edgeworth, Maria, 1768-1849; Novelists, Irish -- 19th century -- Biography
Sneyd has received a very polite letter from the Marquis de Bonay, who
is now ambassador at the Court of Denmark. Mrs. O'Beirne and the Bishop,
who like Mons. de Bonay so much, and who have not heard of him for such
a length of time, will be delighted to hear of his emerging into light
and life. What is more to our purpose is, that he says he can furnish
Sneyd with some notes for the Abbé Edgeworth's life, which he had once
intended to write himself: he did put a short notice of his life into
the foreign papers at Mittau. He says he never knew so perfect a human
creature as the Abbé.
I had a letter from Dr. Holland this morning saying at the beginning I
should be surprised at its contents; and so I was. The Princess of Wales
has invited him to accompany her abroad as her physician! After
consulting with his friends he accepted the invitation.
_To_ MRS. RUXTON.
EDGEWORTHSTOWN, _Oct 13, 1814._
I had a letter from the Duchess of Wellington the day before yesterday,
dated from Deal, just when she was going to embark for France. The whole
of the letter was full of her children and of sorrow for quitting them.
Two days ago came a young gentleman, Mr. James Gordon, a nephew of Lady
Elizabeth Whitbread's, with a very polite introductory note from Lady
Elizabeth. He has a great deal of anecdote and information. He has just
come from Paris, and he has given me a better account of Paris, and more
characteristic, well-authenticated anecdotes than I have heard from
anybody else. He mentioned some instances of the gratitude which Louis
XVIII. has shown to people of inferior note in England from whom he had
received kindness, especially to the innkeeper's wife at Berkhampstead.
I am glad for the honour of human nature that this is so.
What do you think Walter Scott says is the most poetical performance he
has read for years? That account of the battle of Leipsic which Richard
lent to us.
We went to Coolure and had a pleasant day. _Waverley_ was in everybody's
hands. The Admiral does not like it: the hero, he says, is such a
shuffling fellow. While he was saying this I had in my pocket a letter
from Miss Fanshawe, received that morning, saying it was delightful.
Lady Crewe tells me that Madame d'Arblay cannot settle in England
because the King of France has lately appointed M. d'Arblay to some high
situation in consequence of his distinguished services.
Shall I tell you what they, my father and all of them, are doing at this
moment? Sprawling on the floor looking at a new rat-trap. Two pounds of
butter vanished the other night out of the dairy; they had been put in a
shallow pan with water in it, and it is averred the rats ate it, and
Peggy Tuite, the dairymaid, to make the thing more credible, gives the
following reason for the rats' conduct. "Troth, ma'am, they were
affronted at the new rat-trap, they only licked the milk off it, and
that occasioned them to run off with the butter!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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