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EDGEWORTH, MARIA (1767-1849)

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 935 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EDGEWORTH, MARIA (1767-1849) , Irish novelist, second See also:child and eldest daughter of See also:Richard See also:Lovell Edgeworth (q.v.) and his first wife, See also:Anna Maria Elers, was See also:born in the See also:house of her maternal grandparents at See also:Black Bourton, See also:Oxfordshire, on the 1st of See also:January 1767. Her See also:early efforts in fiction were of a sufficiently melodramatic See also:character; for she recollected one of her schoolgirl compositions, in which the See also:hero wore a See also:mask made of the dried skin taken from a dead See also:man's See also:face. Her holidays were often spent in the house of the See also:eccentric See also:Thomas See also:Day, for whom she entertained a genuine respect. She had ample opportunities for society among her See also:father's neighbours in See also:Ireland, among whom were the second See also:Lord See also:Longford, whose daughter, " Kitty " Pakenham, became later duchess of See also:Wellington, See also:Lady Moira at See also:Castle See also:Forbes, and Maria's aunt, See also:Margaret Ruxton, at Black Castle. She gained a first-See also:hand experience of the Irish peasantry by acting as her father's assistant in the management of the See also:estate. The Edgeworths were in Ireland from 1793 onwards through that dangerous See also:period, and Maria's letters, always See also:gay and natural, make very See also:light of their anxieties and their real perils. Mr Edgeworth encouraged his daughter's See also:literary instincts. It has been the See also:fashion to regard his See also:influence over Maria's See also:work as altogether deplorable, but against the disadvantages arising from his interference must be weighed the stimulus she undoubtedly derived from his powerful mind. Her first publication was a plea for See also:female See also:education, Letters to Literary Ladies (1795), and in 1796 appeared the collection of stories known as The See also:Parent's Assistant (2nd ed., 6 vols., 'Soo), an unpromising See also:title which was not chosen by the author. The stories had been submitted as they were written to the juvenile critics of the Edgeworth nursery. They were therefore See also:children's stories for children, even though the morals were Mr Edgeworth's. In 1798 Mr Edgeworth's See also:fourth See also:marriage threatened the See also:family See also:harmony, but Maria soon became a See also:close friend of her step-See also:mother.

See also:

Practical Education (2 vols., 1798) was written in See also:con-junction with her father, who also collaborated with her in the See also:Essay on Irish Bulls (1802). See also:Miss Edgeworth's first novel, Castle Rackrent, an Hibernian See also:Tale taken from Facts, and from the See also:Manners of the Irish Squires before the See also:year 1782, was written without her father's supervision, and appeared anonymously in 1800. It is the See also:story of an Irish estate and its owners, the Rackrents, as told by Thady, the steward. Its success was immediate, and a second edition soon appeared with the author's name. Perhaps because of the See also:absence of Richard Lovell Edgeworth's co-operation, the See also:book is the most natural and vigorous of her novels. The course of the story is not altered to suit any moral, and the personages appear to be See also:drawn immediately from the natives of Edgeworthstown, though Miss Edgeworth asserts that only Thady himself was an actual portrait. In her realistic pictures of Irish See also:peasant See also:life she opened up a new vein in fiction, and even if the unquestionable excellences of Castle Rackrent were less, it would still be a See also:note-worthy book. In the " See also:General See also:Preface " to the 1829 edition of his novels See also:Sir See also:Walter See also:Scott, See also:writing of the publication of Waverley, says: " I See also:felt that something might be attempted for my own See also:country, of the same See also:kind with that which Miss Edgeworth so fortunately achieved for Ireland," and in the " Postscript, which should have been a preface," in the See also:original edition of Waverley, he describes his aim, as being " in some distant degree to emulate the admirable Irish portraits of Miss Edgeworth, so different from the ` Teagues ' and ` dear joys ' who so See also:long, with the most perfect family resemblance to each other, occupied the See also:drama and the novel." Belinda (1801) is a society novel, and one of her best books. Mr See also:Saintsbury thinks that Miss See also:Austen's heroines owe something of their naturalness to Belinda, who was one of the earliest to break with the tradition of fainting and blushing. Moral Tales for See also:Young See also:People (5 vols.) and Early Lessons, which included " Harry and See also:Lucy," " See also:Rosamond" and See also:Frank," appeared in 18oi. In 1802 the Edgeworths went abroad, first to See also:Brussels and then to See also:Paris. They had already connexions in Paris through their kinsman, the See also:abbe See also:Henri See also:Allen Edgeworth de Firmont, who was, however, then in See also:exile.

They met all the notabilities in Paris, and' Maria refused an offer of marriage from a See also:

Swedish See also:count named Edelcrantz. Although Leonora; not published until four years later, is said to have been written to meet his See also:taste, she apparently remained then and always See also:heart-whole; but her stepmother thought otherwise, and maintained that she suffered severely for her decision (Memoir, i. 144). Returning to Edgeworthstown, Miss Edgeworth resumed her writing, which was always done in the rooms, commonly used by the whole family. Popular Tales was published in 1804, and The See also:Modern Grise'da in the same year; Leonora in 18o6; and in 1809 the first See also:series of Tales of Fashionable Life, three volumes containing " Ennui," " Madame de See also:Fleury," " See also:Almeria," " The Dun " and " Manoeuvring " ; the second series (3 vols., 1812) included The Absentee," one of her best tales, which was originally designed as a See also:play, " See also:Vivian " and " Emilie de Coulanges." In 1813 Maria and her parents spent a considerable See also:time in See also:London, and her society was much sought after. When Waverley was published, Miss Edgeworth received a copy from the publishers, and at once recognized the authorship. She wrote a long See also:letter of appreciation (23rd of See also:October 1814) to " the author of Waverley," which she began with the phrase See also:aut Scotus, See also:ant diabolus, but the letter was merely acknowledged by the. publishers. Patronage (4 vols., 1814), the longest of her novels, and See also:Harrington,. a tale, and See also:Ormond, a tale (3 vols.,1817) See also:complete the See also:list of the See also:works which received what her father called his imprimatur. After his See also:death in 1817 Miss Edgeworth occupied herself with completing his See also:Memoirs, which were published in 182o. The book was the excuse for an attack on Mr Edgeworth's reputation in the,See also:July number of the Quarterly See also:Review, which Miss Edge-See also:worth had the courage to leave unread. Her life at Edgeworthstown was varied by visits to London, to Lord See also:Lansdowne at Bowood, See also:Wiltshire, to the Misses Sneyd in See also:Staffordshire, and to many other See also:friends. In 182o she was again in Paris, and in 1823 she spent a happy fortnight with the Scotts at See also:Abbotsford.

In 182.5 Scott went to Edgeworthstown, and their relations were always cordial. Miss Edgeworth's See also:

production was less after her father's death. Sequels to " Rosamond," " Frank," " Harry and Lucy" in the Early Lessons were published in 1822-1825. Comic Dramas appeared in 1817, and See also:Helen in 1834. She worked to the last, and in 1846 laboured strenuously for the See also:relief of the See also:famine-stricken Irish peasants. She died on the 22nd of May 1849. Miss Edgeworth's novels are distinguished by See also:good sense, See also:humour and an easy flowing See also:style. As the construction of a See also:plot is not her strong point, she is generally more successful in tales than in lengthy novels. The vivacity of her dialogues is extraordinary; and in them her characters reveal themselves in the most natural way possible. Her books are character-studies rather than intensely interesting narratives. Sobriety of See also:judgment is seen throughout; and See also:passion, See also:romance and See also:poetry rarely, if ever, See also:shed their lustre on her pages. Three of her aims were to paint See also:national manners, to enforce morality, and to See also:teach fashionable society by satirizing thhlives of the idle and worldly.

She expressly calls some of her sg ries " Moral Tales "; but they all fall under this See also:

category. In her pages the heroic virtues give See also:place to prudence, See also:industry, kindness and sweetness of See also:temper. There are few instances of overwhelming emotions or tumultuous passions in her works; and it is remarkable how little the Iove of nature appears. She never uses material which does not yield some See also:direct moral See also:lesson. But the freshness of her stories, her insight into character, lively dialogues, originality of invention, and delightfully clear style render it quite possible to read her works in successionwithout any sense of weariness: Among the many sweet memories her Unsullied pages have bequeathed to the See also:world, not the least See also:precious is her own See also:noble character, which ever responded to all that is best and most enduring in human nature. See A Memoir of Maria Edgeworth, with a Selection from her Letters (1867), by her stepmother, F. A.. Edgeworth, privately printed. A selection from this was made by See also:Augustus J. C. See also:Hare, and printed under the title of The Life and Letters of Maria Edgeworth (2 vols., 1894). See also Maria Edgeworth (1883), by Helen Zimmern, in the " Eminent See also:Women " series; See also:Grace A.

See also:

Oliver, A Study of Maria Edgeworth . . . (3rd ed., See also:Boston, U.S.A., 1882); and Maria Edge-worth (1904), by the Hon. Emily Lawless in the " See also:English Men of Letters " series. Among the numerous shorter articles dealing with Maria Edgeworth and the family circle at Edgeworthstown may be mentioned a friendly appreciation of Miss Edgeworth's novels by See also:George Saintsbury in See also:Macmillan's See also:Magazine (July 1895), and a charming description of her family circle and surroundings in the preface supplied by Lady See also:Thackeray See also:Ritchie to Macmillan's edition of the novels (1895).

End of Article: EDGEWORTH, MARIA (1767-1849)

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