JAMES H. QUINN — Old and Rare Books — Fine Bindings — Autographs

218 EAST 57TH STREET, N. Y.

letter gives

MRS. S. C. HALL's is perhaps the best picture of the
family life at Edgeworthstown:

Our principal object in Longford County was to visit
Edgeworthstown, and to spend some time in the society of
Miss Edgeworth.

Edgeworthstown may almost be regarded as public property.
From this mansion has emanated so much practical good to
Ireland, and not alone to Ireland, but the civilized world.

We drove up the avenue at evening. It was cheerful to see
the lights sparkle through the windows, and to feel the
cold nose of the house-dog thrust into our hands as an
earnest of welcome. It was pleasant to receive the warm welcome
of Miss Edgeworth in the library, the very room in which had
been written the works that redeemed a character for Ireland,
and have so largely promoted the truest welfare of human kind.

We had not seen her for some years except for a few brief
moments, and rejoiced to find her in no way changed: her voice
as light and happy, her laughter as full of gentle mirth,
her eyes as bright and truthful and her countenance as
expressive of goodness and loving kindness as they have
ever been.

THE ONLY ROOM, I need specially refer to is the Library,
it belonged more peculiarly to Maria, although the general
sitting room of the family. It was the room in which she
did nearly all her work...

It is by no means a large and stately solitary room, but
large, spacious and lofty, well stored with books, and
furnished with suggestive engravings. Seen through the
windows is the lawn embellished with trees, groups of trees.
If you look at the oblong table in the centre you will see
the rallying point of the family, who are usually around it.
reading, writing and working, while Miss Edgeworth, only
anxious that the inmates of the house shall do exactly
as he or she pleases sits in her own peculiar corner on the soft
sofa; a pen given her by Sir Walter Scott, while a guest
at Edgeworthstown (1825) is placed before her on a little
quaint unassuming table constructed and added to for convenience

IN THAT CORNER AND ON THAT TABLE she had written nearly all
her works... Never, so long as I live can I forget the
evenings spent in her library in the midst of a family
highly-educated and self-thinking, in conversation
unrestrained yet filled with instructive thought.

Note: The drawing was removed from the Autograph book
of Mrs. S.C.Hall wife of the great Editor of the
English

218 EAST 57TH STREET, N. Y.

MRS. S.C.HALL'S is perhaps the best picture of the family life at Edgeworthstown:

> "... Our principal object in Longford County was to visit Edgeworthstown, and to spend some time in the society of Miss Edgeworth. We entered the neat and pretty town at evening; all around us bore, as we had anticipated, the aspect of comfort, cheerfulness and good order, prosperity and their concomitant contentment.

There was no mistaking the fact that we were in the neighbourhood of a resident Irish family, with minds to devise, and hands to effect improvement everywhere within reach of their control. Edgeworthstown may almost be regarded as public property. From this mansion has emanated so much practical good to Ireland, and not alone to Ireland, but the civilised world. The demesne is judiciously and abundantly planted, and the dwelling house of Edgeworthstown is large and commodious.

We drove up the avenue at evening. It was cheerful to see the lights sparkle through the windows, and to feel the cold nose of the house-dog thrust into our hands as an Ernest of welcome, it was pleasant to receive the warm greeting of Miss Edgeworth in the library, the very room in which had been written the works that redeemed a character for Ireland, and have so largely promoted the truest welfare of human kind. We had not seen her for some years except for a few brief moments, and rejoiced to find her in no way changed; her voice as light and happy, her laughter as full of gentle mirth, her eyes as bright and truthful, and her countenance as expressive of goodness and loving kindness as they have ever been.

Edgeworthstown was, and is, a large country mansion, to which additions have been, from time to time, made, but made judiciously. An avenue of venerable trees leads to it from the public road. It is distant about seven miles from the town of Longford.

The only room I need specially refer to is the library, it belonged more peculiarly to Maria, although the general sitting room of the family. It was the room in which she did nearly all her work, not only that which was to, in a measure, the household and domestic duties that were subjects of her continual thought, for the desk at which she usually sat was never without memoranda of matters from which she might have pleaded a right to be held exempt.

218 EAST 57TH STREET, N. Y.

Page 2.

Mrs. S. C. Hall's account of Maria Edgeworth's
famous Library contd:

...It is by no means a stately, solitary room, but large,
spacious, and lofty, well stored with books, and furnished
with suggestive engravings. Seen through the windows is the
lawn embellished with groups of trees. If you look at the
oblong table in the centre you will see the rallying point
of the family, who are usually around it, reading, writing
and working; while Miss Edgeworth, only anxious that the
inmates of the house shall do each exactly as he or she pleases,
sits in her own peculiar corner on the sofa; a pen given her
by Sir Walter Scott while a guest at Edgeworthstown (1825)
is placed before her on a little table, unassuming table,
constructed and added to for convenience.

She had a singular power of abstraction, apparently
hearing all that was said, and occasionally taking part in
the conversations, while pursuing her own occupations,
and seemingly attending only to them. IN THAT CORNER,
and on that table, she had written nearly all her works.
Now and then she would rise, and leave the room, perhaps
to secure a toy for the children, to mount the ladder and
bring down a book that could explain or illustrate some
topic on which someone was conversing; immediately she
would resume her pen, and continue to write as if the thought
had been unbroken for an instant.

I expressed to Miss Edgeworth's mother my surprise at
this faculty, so opposed to my own habit. "Maria" she said,
"was always the same; her mind was so rightly balanced,
everything so honestly weighed, that she suffered no in-
convenience from what would disturb and distract an ord-
inary writer "....never so long as I live can I forget
the evenings spent in her library, in the midst of a family
highly educated, and self-thinking, in conversation unre-
strained, yet filled with instructive thoughts..."