Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 September 2011
born, a.d. 1767. died, a.d. 1849.
IN the amusing chronicles of the house of Edgeworth there are many curious anecdotes recorded, which vindicate the title of Richard Lovell Edgeworth and his illustrious daughter to the combined genius and eccentricities with which they have been accredited. The lives and labours of both father and daughter are so blended and intertwined that their names and memories cannot be separated. They were connected by ties stronger than those of blood—by community of objects, habits, affections, and modes of thought. He had very plausible claims to be considered her literary parent. He divined the natural bent of her genius, and aided, without forcing, its development. He gave her the most bracing kind of education, moral and intellectual; the groundwork being scrupulous accuracy of statement, patient observation, self-knowledge, and self-respect. From her early girlhood he was her companion and friend. He read with her, wrote with her, came before an applauding public hand-in-hand with her, and, finally, he traded upon her popularity. In London literary society the two Irish lions—father and daughter—roared so loudly that Lord Byron proposed the formation of a Society for the Suppression of Edgeworth. But Richard Lovell Edgeworth was irrepressible; and, although a bore of the first magnitude, was a genial, clever, and kind-hearted Irishman.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.