Maria Edgeworth Part 17

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FOOTNOTES:

[1] It was his habit, and that of his family, to drop all mention of the earlier marriage.

[2] Miss Edgeworth, in her father's Life, states that she was but twelve years old when she returned to Ireland. The date she gives, however, and that afterwards given by her stepmother, show that she must have been sixteen when the removal took place. It can, therefore, have been a mere _lapsus calami_ on her part, as this eminently sensible woman was incapable of the silly weakness of concealing her age.

[3] Afterwards changed into _Patronage_.

[4] Afterwards Sir Humphrey Davy.

[5] Miss Edgeworth erroneously, but persistently, speaks of this publication as the _Journal Britannique_.

[6] A contemporary epigram ran thus:--

"La Genlis se consume en efforts superflus, La vertu n'en veut pas; le vice n'en veut plus."

[7] Afterwards King Louis Philippe. It was at a Swiss school that he taught, not at a German university.

[8] John Langan was the steward; in face and figure the prototype of Thady in _Castle Rackrent_.

[9] It is but fair to add that Bulwer in a note disclaims the excessive severity and sweeping character of this criticism.

[10] She always refused to have her portrait taken, and all published so-called portraits of Maria Edgeworth are purely fancy productions.

[11] This anecdote, attributed by Miss Edgeworth to Mazarin, is told by De Retz, and is to be found in his memoirs.