The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-11-26
A Study Of Maria Edge worth.


to justify such minute portrayal Of her pr-
vate life and literary career as has been under
taken in a volumn Of $50 pages. called a STUDY
Of Maria Et9acOrH. by GRACE A. OLIVER tDos-
ton. A. Williams h Coz. The compiler Of this
biography enterains. We think. an opinion Of
her subjects Importance out OF all proportion
to the truth. and we apprehend that tho major
ity Of cultivated readers in our day will
with but lukewarm curiosity the information
hero collected regarding the Edgeworth family.
even II they feel u languid interest In the novel
list herself. A considerable part. indeed. of this
stout volume is occupied with an account
Of the doings and sayings Of Maria's
father. Richard Lowell Edgeworth. who real
ly has loss title to be remembered sixty
years after his death than his eccentric
friend Mr.. Thomas Day. who il still
known to discreet and conscientious children
as the instructive author OF "Sandford and
Merton" What influence no had upon his
daughters literary performances seems to have
been detrimental for it was his assiduous
revision which impaired to her stories their
self-conscious. cdifying. and goody -goody tone.
and he is believed to have stiHed his daughters
powers OF imagination which in youth are said
to have been considerable. 1t was. in short.
useless and hopeless to attempt the rescue OF
such person Mr.. Richard Edgoworth from
oblivion. and We may even venture TO add that
the short biographical notices Of his daughter,
already eNtant in cycloppdias and magazines.
were quito adequate to satisfy all the demands
OF public curiosity. When we recall indeed
the fact that Miss Edgeworth lived until 1S49.
and was therefore during part of her career
contemporary of George Eliot and George
Sand. We cannot read without establishment
the judgment which. as this biogrupher is care
full to remind us. was pronounced by Macaulay
E,lnnWnrfn thn
woman Of her age. Nine. De Stael being
IL" first To our thinking. Sir Walter Scott
only expressed part Of the truth when he de-
scribed her novels AS a sort of essence of com
mon sense" The substance is common sense
and the expression commonplace.
Miss EdGoworth herself regarded Sir Walter
Scott. Sir James Macintosh. and DR.. Claiming
as the three finest writer's who had lived in her
time. SO far AS this book throws any light on
her taste and knowledge. she would seem to
have been unaware Of the existence Of Shelley
or OF Keats; Coeridge is mentioned once and
Wordsworth once-each very cursorily-in this
volume OF $50 pages. She was continually
quoting French in her letters and conversation.
and she was story writer by profession: yet
she seems never to have heard OF Balznc or Of
George Sand. Thackeray is not once men-
toned in this volume. and the only allusion to
Dickens Is q short extract from a letter. in
which she says: "Dickens's American Notes
Ia failure; never trouble yourself to read It.
Nevertheless. though the book is good for little.
II gives me the conviction that the man is good
for much more than gave him credit fora
real desire for the improvement Of the lower
classes-and this reality of Feeling is. take it,
tho secret. joined to his great power OF humor
OF his ascendant popularity" There is some
thing delightfully."- absurd in the assurance with
which the author Of "Ennui" and The Par
ent's Assistant" recognizes n certain merit in
the writings Of Charles Dickens but defines its
limitations.
1t is we'll known that Miss Edgeworth and her
father were the first persons in England to ad-
vocats those innovations in pedagogy which
have been recommended on the Continent by
Pestaozzi and Frocbel. They believed in OBJ
Iect lessons" and their treatise on education
was an attempt to enforce the Importance OF
teaching children moro about things and less
about words Sir Walter Scott was by no means
impressed by her system. and although he had
said many civil things to her and had paid her
neat compliment in the preface to g Waver-
ley" yet in a private letter to another friend
he makes some structures on her notions Of in
struction that are we'll worth quoting There
Is no great use. he thought. in teaching chill
dren in general to roof houses or build bridges.
which, after all. "a carpenter or mason does
great deal better at two shillings sixpencc
per day" In a waste country like some parts |
OF America instruction OF that kind might do |
we'll enough. in his opinion. or perhaps for a |
sailor or a traveller. But in tho ordi-
nary professions Of the better informed |
orders he had always observed he !
tells US. that "a small taste for mechanics |
tends to encouraging a sort OF trining self
conceit founded on knowing that which ia not
worth being known by one who has other mat
tors to employ his mind on. and in short forms
Il trumpery Eimcrack kind of Il character. who |
Is mechanic among gentlemen, and most
probably gentleman among mechanics" Sir
Walter is careful to qualify his criticism by as
surfing us that he only means to challenge the
system AS making mechanics
too much and too general II. subject of educa-
ton, and convertin. those who might have
bsen scholars into makers OF toys. He would
not. OF course. deny that mon like Watt, whose
genius " tends strongly to invent and execute
those wonderful combinations which extend in
such an incalcuable degree the human force
md command over the physical world" do not
come within ordinary rules but no insists
mat your ordinary Harry should be kept to
lis grammar. andayour Lucy of most common
occurrence will b. best employed on her
'ampler. instead of wasting wood and cutting
heir fingers. which | am convinced thoy did.
though their historian says nothing OF it
hllNs TuSeWoTlH wis notnlnH II not moral. |
md she so Thoroughly disapprovod OF Lord
3yron's conduct that she could SEQ nothing in
lis poetry. or "Childe Harold" va hear moth.
ng in this volume. but thero are two illusions
o the poet which may he cited rs illustrating
Hiss Edgeworth's ability to measure artistic
'Ncellence. In 1910 she wrote. Il do not like
English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. though
IS my father says. the lines arc very strong and
worthy OF Pope and the Dunciad.' But was
% preJudced against the whole by tho first
ines opened upon about tho Paralytic Muse
u the man who had boon his guardian and ia
lis relation. and to whom he had dedicated his
rst poems. that could not relish his wit. No
nay have great talents. but am sure ho has
"iihrr great nor a good mind and
feel dislike and disgust for his lord.
hip The last reference to Byron wns
made in August, 1916. by which tims
very competent Judge of poetry in England
no on the Continent had proclaimed Byron
he foremost poet of hi. age. 1t is true that a
"od many persons in our own generation have
laced shelley on higher pedestal. but Miss