EDGEWORTH 



Edgeworth, MARIA (1767-1 849). 

 British novelist. Born at Black 

 Bourton, Oxfordshire, Jan. 1, 1767, 

 she was one of the many children 

 of Richard Lovell Edgeworth, 

 whom she accompanied to Ireland 

 in 1773. She spent most of her 

 life on her father's estate at 

 Edgeworthstown, obtaining her 

 knowledge of the Irish peasantry 

 from dealing with his tenants and 

 her familiarity with fashionable life 

 from associa- 

 tion with his 

 neighbours, 

 Lady M o i r a 

 and Lord Long- 

 ford. Practical 

 E ducation, 

 2 vols. (1798), 

 was written in 

 collabor a t i o n 

 with her father, 



and it was largely on his account 

 that she rejected a proposal of mar- 

 riage made to her by Count Edel- 

 crantz, a Swede, at Paris, in 1802. 

 Visits to London and the Con- 

 tinent between 1803 and 1844 

 brought her into touch with the 

 best literary and fashionable 

 society of her time, and in 1823 she 

 visited Scott at Abbotsford, a 

 visit returned by him at Edge- 

 worthstown two years later. Scott's 

 admiration of her literary ability 

 is recorded in Waverley, where he 

 declared that her presentation of 

 Irish life and character had in- 

 duced him to attempt a like service 

 to his people in The Waverley 

 Novels. In addition to the three 

 novels of Irish life on which her 

 fame is based Castle Rackrent, 

 1800 ; The Absentee, 1812 (in Tales 

 of Fashionable Life, vols. v and 

 vi) ; and Ormond, 181 7 she wrote 

 the Parent's Assistant, 1796, en- 

 larged ed. 1800; Moral Tales for 

 Young People, 1801, and completed 

 her father's Memoirs, 1820. The 

 amiable and practical qualities 

 displayed in her life distinguish 

 Maria Edgeworth's books, which 

 despite their didacticism still make 

 a strong human appeal. She died 

 May 22, 1849. 



Bibliography. Life, H. Zimmern, 

 1883 ; Life and Letters, ed. A. J. C. 

 Hare, 1894 ; The Edgeworths : a 

 Study of Later 18th Century Edu- 

 cation, A. Paterson, 1896 ; Life, E. 

 Lawless, 1904 (in Eng. Men of Let- 

 ters) ; Maria Edgeworth and Her 

 Circle in the Days of Buonaparte and 

 Bourbon, C. Hill, 1909. 



Edgeworth, RICHARD LOVELL 

 (1744-1817). British author. Born 

 at Bath, May 31, 1744, he belonged 

 to the English family that made 

 their home at Edgeworthstown, 

 Ireland. Educated at schools in 



2793 



Drogheda and Longford, he went 

 to Trinity College, Dublin, and then 

 to Oxford. Of independent means, 

 Edgeworth was able to devote his 

 time to study, friendship, travel, 

 and experiment. He was respon- 

 sible for several inventions, was one 

 of the early believers in the possi- 

 bility of electricity, and had theories 

 on education. He helped to found 

 the Royal Irish Academy. From 

 1772 until his death, June 13, 1817, 

 most of his time was spent in Ire- 

 land, looking after his estates and 

 writing, while for a short time he 

 sat in the Irish Parliament. His 

 works include Practical Education, 

 1798, and Memoirs, parts of both 

 being written by his daughter Maria. 

 Edgeworth de Firmont, HENRY 

 ESSEX (1745-1807). Last con- 

 fessor to Louis XVI of France. 

 The son of an Irish clergyman, he 

 was educated in France for the 

 priesthood, and at ordination took 

 the name of de Firmont from the 

 Edgeworth family estate of Fir- 

 mount, in Ireland. He settled in 

 Paris, and in 1791 became confessor 

 to Princess Elizabeth, and in 1793 

 to her brother, Louis XVI, whom 

 he courageously attended to the 

 scaffold. After several narrow 

 escapes the Abbe Edgeworth, as he 

 was commonly known, arrived in 

 England, 1796, and subsequently 

 became chaplain to Louis XVIII. 

 He died at Mitau, May 22, 1807. 

 See The Abbe Edgeworth and his 

 friends, V. M. Montagu, 1913. 



Edging Plants. Edging garden 

 beds and borders with tiles, shells, 

 wood, or bricks is now out of date. 

 The only dead edging permissible 

 is one of rough sandstone, carefully 

 sunk into the ground almost to the 

 level of the path, 

 in order that 

 creeping plants 

 may hide it. The 

 best permanent 

 living edging is 

 box, but this is 

 of slow growth, 

 though whsn once 

 established, and 

 annually clipped, 

 it will flourish for 

 generations. The 

 most satisfactory 

 quick -result edg- 

 ing is Virginian 

 stock or dwarf 

 nasturtiums, 

 while more pre- 

 tentious subjects, 

 and those which possess longer 

 lasting properties, are some of the 

 saxifrages, stonecrops, pansies, 

 dwarf veronicas, and white pinks. 

 It is a good plan while permanent 

 edgings are establishing themselves 

 toplant such quick-growing an- 

 nuals as Virginian stock or dwarf 



EDGWARE 



nasturtiums as temporary stop- 

 gaps. Culture and treatment are 

 the same as for the rest of the in- 

 habitants of the bed or border. 

 Dwarf edible peas were occasion- 

 ally planted as war-time economi- 

 cal edging plants, with good results 

 both from an ornamental and pro- 

 fitable point of view. ^ 



Edgren, ANN CHARLOTTE LEF- 

 FLER, DUCHESS OF CAJANELLO 

 (1849-92). Swedish novelist and 

 dramatist. The daughter of Prof. 

 Leffler, a mathematician, she was 

 born near Stockholm, Oct. 1, 1849, 

 and married G. Edgren in 1872. 

 Her earlier tales were issued under 

 the pen-name of Carlot, but in 

 1882 she began a series of novels 

 and plays under her own name, 

 and many of these, with their 

 modern note, enjoyed considerable 

 success. One of the plays, Sanna 

 Kvinnor, 1883, was translated into 

 English by H. L. Braekstad as True 

 Women, 1890. In 1890 she mar- 

 ried the Italian mathematician, 

 the duke of Cajanello, and died at 

 Naples, Oct. 21, 1892. . 



Edgware. Small town of 

 Middlesex, England. It is 8 m. 

 from the Marble Arch, on the high 

 road to St. Albans. Formerly 

 called Eggesware and Edgworth, 

 and once the first village of note 

 on the Watling Street, its manor 

 has been since 1443 the property 

 of All Souls College, Oxford. The 

 W. side is in the parish of Little 

 Stanmore. The parish church of 

 S. Margaret, rebuilt 1765 and 

 1845, has a square stone tower, and 

 is said to have been part of a 

 monastery ; near it was a house of 

 refreshment for the monks of St. 

 Albans as they travelled to and 



Edgware. 



Parish Church of S. Margaret, viewed from 

 the east 



from London. Of the old inns 

 The Chandos Arms has a fireplace 

 from the mansion of Canons (q.v. ). 

 At Edgware was the forge of 

 William Powell, whose work on 

 the anvil is said to have suggested 

 to Handel the melody of The 

 Harmonious Blacksmith. Piper's 



