The Portland daily press., 1865-09-01

clock. and varions models. A little old-fash-
ioned work-tatle. with a small desk on It, was
used by Miss Edgeworth for writlng an ner
books. ni
: The fourth wife of Mr.. Edgeworth was our
hostess, and performed her part cnarihingiy.
fat and eortv her appearance was very agree
ahla Miss EdoeWorth was shorter still, and
carried herself very upright, with adapper fig
nra and ouck movements. She was the re-
mains rss Of 4 blonde, with light eyes and hair;
sbe was oray but wore dark fisette, whilst
the GRAY hair showed through her cap behind.
she was SO plain that she was never willing to
si5 for her portrait, and that is the reas On why
fine public has never been made acquainted
with her. personal appearance
In conversation we found her delightfnl-
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 realize her age. In telling an
anecdote OF Mirabeau. she stepped out before
us, and, extending her arm, spoke sentence
of1his in the i'm passioned manner of a French
orator, and did it so admirably that it was
quite thrilling
She told us two speeches of Madame de Sta
el which are worth remembering. Madame
Necker was harsh mother, and always found
great deal of fault with her daughter but her
father knew his child's merits, and liked her
to have her own way. One day gentleman
entered the room, just as Madame NecSer
houTished out Of it,; after reprmanding her
daughter, who stood abashed in the middle of
the room, with tears on her face. He endeav-
ored to console her by saying that she must
not mind her mothers reproofs, as long as her
father was satisfied with her, and he told her
horu M 1roi,. har To
the girl replied, "Mon pere pense mon bon
hear present, ma mere songe mon doenir. -
t"My father thinks of my present happiness,
my mother dreams of my futurev) / talked
with Miss Edgeworth ofaw work on Progre ssive
Education by Madame Necker de Saussure she
thought it duh and tedious, and said that Ma
dame de Stael had a great admiration of that
cousin, and said of her, "EgIe toas les taleYas
Qa on me suppose, ct toajes les vertus qsti me
mdnquent" (EShe has all the talents which
am supposed to have, and all the virtues which
lack.n) IS sliaih t5 u5s t gsf.s .a
Miss Edgeworth and all her family took the
part Of the English Government in their treat
ment OF the Irish, and had no sympathy for
the wrongs and sufferings of their countrymen.
Blgoted EpiscOpalians, they would grant no
rights to the Roman Catholics, and this made
them very unpopular in their own neighbor-
hood ie
They had been Instrumental in establishing
a free school for the sons of poor Protestant
ciergymen in the town which bordered on
their grounds, and they took us to see it. 1t
was market-day, and 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 ofcloth-
ing. Sometimes the cart or car served as a
counter on which to display their goods. The
women in bright-colored cotton gowns and
white caps with full double borders, make a,
very gay appearance. As we all passed through
the crowd to the school-house, the enmity OF
the Papist to Protestant landholders was but
too evident. fetaslssg sas lfs afea3 ssT
Though Mrs. .sEdgeworth had been the Lady.
Bountiful OF the village for many years, there
were no bows or smirks for her or her friends,
no making way before her, no touching of hats
or pleasant looks. A sullen expression and a
dogged immortality were on every side of us
Mr.. Butler,who had just arrived in Edgeworth-
town, was as much struck with it as we were
and it quite excited him. He remarked upon
it as want Of manners in the people, and cali
ed them unciviized but there was more in it
than that. 1t spoke to us Americans OF the
long train OF oppressive measures under which
the Irish had gIoaned for years, of the Protes-
tant clergy paid by rates levied on the Roman
Catholics, and Of the tyranny exercised by
Protestant tandholders. Twenty-nine years
have passed since stood in that Irish crowd,
and much has been done to improve their con-
dition all political disabilities then complained
of by the Pafsists have been dome away WITH
emigration has relieved the land of its surplus
population; and were it not for the designs of
the Romish Church to wrest the island from
the dominion of protestant power, that coun-
try might now be happy and prosperous.
When we visited Miss Edgeworth, she had
published her last work, "Helen," and was
writing another to be called "Taking for
Granted" but never heard of its being pub
lished. She told me that she meant to show
the mischief OF taking things for granted, and
acting upon them as if they were known facts;
and she begged me to send her any instances
Of the evil consequences of taking for granted"
which fell under my observation.