well be acquired at an early age, by a boy bred in civilized society." But if he had all the virtues of a savage, he was also possessed of the vices of one. He was a very selfwilled, hot-tempered, and dogged little rascal, and was in due course sent to sea, because he was fit for nothing else. He died at the early age of thirty-one years, in 1796, his father following him to the land of shades, on 13th of June, 1817.

Of the family of twenty-one, Maria Edgeworth was the second child, and eldest daughter. She was born on the 1st of January, 1767, and died in her 83rd year, on the 21st of May, 1849. Her independent literary career began with the present century. In 1800 appeared "Castle Rackrent," an Hibernian tale, taken from facts, and from the manners of the Irish Squires, before the year 1783. In 1801 appeared "The Moral Tales," and in 1804, were published three volumes of "Popular Tales." To enumerate all her works would be difficult and tedious. important of them are-"The Absentee," "Manoeuvring." " Almeria," "Vivian," and the other tales of fashionable life; "Belinda," "Leonora," "Patronage," "Harrington," and "Ormond." And we must take care

The most "Ennui,"

so as not to be asked why we except from the list of her more important works, her childrens' stories, such as "Rosamond and Frank," "Little Dog Trusty," and "The Cherry Orchard."

It is always difficult to state the limits of a successful author's influence, for when intellect appeals to, and rouses intellect, it is impossible to trace the effect of the original thought, giving a new impulse to, and taking a new color from every mind it strikes against. But, in Miss Edgeworth's case, there are circumstances that assure us we cannot easily over-estimate the consequences of her writings. She directed her abilities to the field of fictitious literature, when itwas perhaps in a more unhealthy state thanit had ever

been since it had ceased to offend with obscenity. The paltry absurdities that had for long done service as "Incidents," and "mysteries," in novels; "the swarms of peers, foundlings, and seducers," she declined to re-use for the thousandth time. The traditionary villain, the traditionary victim of heartless debauchery, and all other traditionary characters and things, Miss Edgeworth determined to have nothing to do with, albeit they were from good and true originals of the best masters-only taken from copies of copies, that had been copied at hundredth hand. All the dusty stage properties, and all the rubbish and lumber that had accumulated during years, she discarded, and with new materials, the living human manners and interests she beheld around her, and by the guidance of her warm affections and clear sound intelligence, she resolved to make a new start. She was not highly imaginative, but she had poetic feeling, and earnestness, and a fund of healthy satire at her command. She took the world as she found it, perhaps from a somewhat too prosaic point of view, and in tales she tried to inculcate sentiments and principles suited to its inhabitants. That she was not hard, or cold, or forbidding, the tenderness and benevolence of her truthful descriptions declare; but perhaps it may be charged against her, that she had not a sufficiently exalted ideal, that she sought and admired the useful and expedient, rather than the beautiful and noble. Sir James Mackintosh at first enthusiastically extolled her writings, because they were useful, illustrating and enforcing the exercise of all the minor virtues, of which prudence is the parent. But in time he modified his opinion, and said that her excellence as a moralist, and a woman of genius, consisted in her scientific and powerful treatment of a class of virtues most difficult to handle-not most beneficial in themselves. Any how she performed her task in such a style, that she struck home to the hearts of all people sufficiently educated to be able to read her. Sir

Walter Scott the novelist may be regarded as the immediate offspring of her genius. It was in consequence of the deep impression made on him by the simple pathos and truth of her delineations of Irish character, that he determined to do the like for his own Scotland. In the composition of Waverley," she was the model he set before his eyes, and while reading the chapters, as the work progressed, James Ballantyne found he most gratified the author, when he said, “Positively this is equal to Miss Edgeworth;" and when "Waverley " was published, Scott showed his gratitude to his instructress, by causing a copy to be sent to her, from "the author of Waverley," and though he kept in the letter the secret of the authorship, he permitted it in truth to be revealed to her. With all his failings of vanity, Scott was far above the pettiness of disliking to acknowledge the benefits he derived from the works of his contemporaries.

In private life Miss Edgeworth was not less charming and beloved, than she was as a writer. The glimpses obtained of her life at Edgeworthtown at two different periods, in Lockhart's account of Sir Walter Scott's visit to her in Ireland, and Mr. and Mrs. Hall's "Ireland," make us feel as though we were personally known to her, and were individually indebted to her for that healthy freshness of thought, and serene cheerfulness she diffused around her domestic circle. In 1823, Sir Walter wrote of her, "she is full of fun and spirit; a little slight figure, very active in her motions, very good humoured, and full of enthusiasm." Again, in the same year, he wrote, "It is scarcely possible to say more of this very remarkable person, than that she not only completely answered, but exceeded the expectations which I had formed. I am particularly pleased with the naiveté, and good-humoured ardour of mind, which she unites with such formidable powers of acute observation. In external appearance she was quite the fairy of our

nursery tale the Whippity Stowrie, if you remember such a sprite, who came flying through the windows to work all sorts of marvels." And Byron, though in his journal he sneered at Mr. Edgeworth as a fine old fellow of a clarety, elderly, red complexion, and as a boisterous, vehement self-opiniated man, much disliked in London, altered his tone when speaking of her-though she didn't make love to him. "The fact was, everybody cared more about her. She was a nice little unassuming 'Jeannie Deans looking body,' as we Scotch say; and, if not handsome, certainly not ill-looking. Her conversation was as quiet as herself. One would never have guessed she could write her name; whereas her father talked, not as if he could write nothing else, but as if nothing else was worth writing."

CHAPTER III.

AMELIA OPIE.

Ir is only the other day that Amelia Opie left us, but she began her course in a time that few who are alive can remember, and was the friend of many celebrated men and women, who have long since committed their reputations to history or "tradition's simple tongue." She commenced life a brilliant wilful worldling, and ended it a demure Quakeress; as a girl she was the darling pet of revolutionary writers and extreme sceptics, and in her calm autumn found her chief excitement in religious meetings, and in keeping a journal of spiritual experiences. Still there was a singular unity in her career; from first to last she was a coquette, a buoyant hearted, mischief loving, but most amiable coquette; not less so at seventy years of age in the prim costume of her sect, than in girlhood when her vanity delighted in small bonnets, blue robes, satin slips, worked cambric gowns with flounces, and feathers flat and curled. She tasted love at sixteen-the date of her last attachment who shall tell?

She was born in Norwich, on the 12th of November, 1769, being the only child of Dr. James Alderson, the leading physician of that city, and a grand-daughter of the Rev. Mr. Alderson of Lowestoft, Suffolk. She was also first cousin of the late Sir E. H. Alderson, the much respected judge. On her mother's side she was of good extraction, for that lady's name was Briggs. The comical adventures of a member of this family, who is one of Mr. Punch's intimate friends, render it difficult for us to associate ideas of feudal dignity with the name; but not the less was Briggs the appellation of " an ancient and honourable family of Salle, in