She had amazing power of control over her feelings when occasion demanded, but in general her tears or her smiles were called forth by every turn of joy and sorrow among those she lived with. When she met in a stranger a kindred mind, her conversation upon every subject poured forth, was brilliant with wit and eloquence and a gaiety of heart which gave life to all she thought and said. But the charms of society never altered her taste for domestic life; she was consistent from the beginning to the end. Though so exceedingly enjoying the intercourse of all the great minds she had known, she more enjoyed her domestic life with her nearest relations, when her spirits never flagged, and her wit and wisdom, which were never for show, were called forth by every little incident of the day. When my daughters were with Maria at Paris, they described to me the readiness with which she would return from the company of the greatest philosophers and wits of the day to superintend her young sisters’ dress, or arrange some party of pleasure for them. “We often wonder what her admirers would say, after all the profound remarks and brilliant witticisms they have listened to, if they heard all her delightful nonsense with us.” Much as she was gratified by her “success” in the society of her celebrated contemporaries, she never varied in her love for Home.
* * * * *
Her whole life, of eighty-three years, had been an aspiration after good.
SUMMARY OF VOLUME II
1820-1821
Letters from Maria Edgeworth from Coppet, Pregny, Lausanne, Lyons,
Paris, Calais, Clifton, Bowood, Easton Grey, Edgeworthstown to Miss
Waller, Mrs. Edgeworth, Mrs. Ruxton, Miss Honora Edgeworth, Miss Lucy
Edgeworth, Miss Ruxton.
Journey through Switzerland: Madame de Montolieu, Dumont, Duke de
Broglie, M. de Stein, Pictet, Madame Necker, M. de Staël — Return to
England through France: Madame de Rumford, the Delesserts, Madame de la
Rochejacquelin — Attack of the Quarterly Review on the
Memoirs — Visits to Bowood and Easton Grey: Lord Lansdowne, Hallam,
David Ricardo — Return to Edgeworthstown — Reading and home life.
1821-1822
Letters from Kenioge, Smethwick Grove, Wycombe Abbey, Gatcombe Park,
Easton Grey, Bowood, Clifton, Winchester, The Deepdene, Frognel,
Hampstead, Beechwood Park, Mardoaks to Mrs. Edgeworth, Miss Honora
Edgeworth, Miss Lucy Edgeworth, Mrs. Ruxton, Miss Ruxton.
Visits in England — Wycombe Abbey: Lord Carrington, Madame de Staël, and
Buonaparte — David Ricardo — Bowood: Lord Lansdowne, Bowles — Miss Joanna
Baillie’s: Brodie, Dr. Holland, Lord Grenville — Anecdotes of Lady
Salisbury and Wilberforce — Le Bas, Sir James Macintosh, Dumont.
1822
Letters from London to Mrs. Edgeworth, Mrs. Ruxton.
Life in London — Frank — Lady Lansdowne, Lady Elizabeth Whitbread,
Calcott, Mrs. Somerville — Visit to the House of Commons: Peel, Brougham,
Vansittart — Mrs. Fry — Almack’s — Dinners and parties: Sir Humphry Davy,
Dr. Holland, Miss Lydia White — Mrs. Siddons and Sheridan — Jeffrey, Hume,
Herschel, Lady Byron, Randolph — Ticknor on Maria Edgeworth’s
conversation.
1822-1823
Letters from Edgeworthstown, Black Castle, Kinneil, Edinburgh,
Callander, Inverness, Kinross, Abbotsford to Mrs. Ruxton, Mrs. O’Beirne,
Miss Honora Edgeworth, Miss Lucy Edgeworth, Miss Ruxton, Mrs. Ruxton.
Return to Edgeworthstown — Literary work and reading: Early Lessons,
Harry and Lucy — Walter Scott and Joanna Baillie — Death of Lord
Londonderry — Visit to Scotland — Edinburgh: Evening at Sir Walter
Scott’s — Sir Walter Scott, Lady Scott, and Lockhart — A fortnight at
Abbotsford.
1823-1830
Letters from Edgeworthstown, Pakenham Hall, Black Castle, Bloomfield to
Mrs. and Miss Ruxton, Mrs. Bannatyne, Mrs. O’Beirne, Miss Honora
Edgeworth, Mrs. Edgeworth, C.S. Edgeworth, Captain Basil Hall, Mr.
Bannatyne.
Return to Ireland — Reading and letters: Mrs. Hemans, Blanco White, Dr. Holland, Walter Scott — Death of Anna Edgeworth — Death of Mrs. Barbauld — Visit of Sir Walter Scott to Edgeworthstown — Visit to Killarney with Scott and Lockhart — Harry and Lucy — Management of the estate — Death of Lady Scott — Visit from Sir Humphry Davy — Vivian Grey and Almack’s — Sydney Smith’s conversation — Visit from Herschel — Mrs. Mary Sneyd settles at Edgeworthstown — Illness and recovery — General interests and life at Edgeworthstown.
1830-1831
Letters from London to Miss Ruxton, Miss Honora Edgeworth, Mrs.
Edgeworth, Mrs. R. Butler.
Death of Mrs. Ruxton — Visit to London: Lord Lansdowne, Joanna Baillie,
Sir Henry Holland, Southey — Talleyrand — Duchess of Wellington, Sir James
Macintosh — Death of Mr. Hope — Macaulay — Visit to the Herschels: Sir
Joshua Reynolds’s work — Rogers, Lord Mahon — Death of the Duchess of
Wellington — Scene in the House of Lords — Opera and plays.
1831-1840
Letters from Edgeworthstown, Rostrevor, Pakenham Hall, Dunmoe Cottage,
Lough Glyn, Trim to Captain Basil Hall, Mrs. L. Edgeworth, Miss Ruxton,
Mrs. R. Butler, Mr. Bannatyne, C.S. Edgeworth, Mr. Pakenham Edgeworth,
Mrs. Stark, Miss Margaret Ruxton, Mr. and Mrs. Ticknor.
Return to Ireland — Visits in Ireland — Lockhart’s Life — Helen — Tour in Ireland — Young Sir Walter Scott — Principles of novel-writing — General election and relations with tenants — Views on Politics — Visit of Mr. Ticknor to Edgeworthstown, and of Rev. William Sprogue — Maria becomes real owner of Edgeworthstown — Home interests — Marriage of Honora Edgeworth.
1840-1843
Letters from London, Edgeworthstown, Trim to Mrs. R. Butler, Mrs.
Edgeworth, Mrs. Beaufort, Miss Margaret Ruxton, Miss Bannatyne, Mrs.
Beaufort.
Visit to London: Darwin, Dr. Lushington, Macaulay — Return to
Edgeworthstown: Distress in Ireland — Mrs. Hall’s description of the
family life at Edgeworthstown — Dangerous illness of Maria
Edgeworth — Reading and literary interests: Dickens, Francis
Horner — Marriage of Miss Lucy Edgeworth to Dr. Robinson.
1843-1849
Letters from London, Warfield Lodge, Collingwood, Edgeworthstown, Armagh to Mrs. R. Butler, Mrs. Edgeworth, Miss Margaret Ruxton, Lady Beaufort, Mrs. S.C. Hall.
Visit to London — Sydney Smith, Sir Henry Holland, Rogers, Mrs.
Drummond — Opening of the new Houses of Parliament — Visits in
England — Dean Milman, Herschel — Return to Edgeworthstown — Reading and
home interests — The Irish Famine — Orlandino — Death of Maria Edgeworth.
The Non-Fiction
Early aerial photograph of Edgeworthstown
PRACTICAL EDUCATION
CONTENTS
PREFACE.
CHAPTER I. TOYS
CHAPTER II. TASKS.
CHAPTER III. ON ATTENTION.
CHAPTER IV. SERVANTS
CHAPTER V. ACQUANTAINCE.
CHAPTER VI. ON TEMPER.
CHAPTER VII. ON OBEDIENCE.
CHAPTER VIII. ON TRUTH.
CHAPTER IX. ON REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS.
CHAPTER X. ON SYMPATHY AND SENSIBILITY.
CHAPTER XI. ON VANITY, PRIDE, AND AMBITION.
CHAPTER XII. BOOKS.
CHAPTER XIII. ON GRAMMAR, AND CLASSICAL LITERATURE.
CHAPTER XIV. ON GEOGRAPHY AND CHRONOLOGY.
CHAPTER XV. ON ARITHMETIC.
CHAPTER XVI. GEOMETRY.
CHAPTER XVII. ON MECHANICS.
CHAPTER
XVIII. CHEMISTRY.
CHAPTER XIX. ON PUBLIC AND PRIVATE EDUCATION.
CHAPTER XX. ON FEMALE ACCOMPLISHMENTS, MASTERS, AND GOVERNESSES.
CHAPTER XXI. MEMORY AND INVENTION.
CHAPTER XXII. TASTE AND IMAGINATION.
CHAPTER XXIII. ON WIT AND JUDGMENT.
CHAPTER XXIV. ON PRUDENCE AND ECONOMY.
CHAPTER XXV. SUMMARY.
NOTES, CONTAINING CONVERSATIONS AND ANECDOTES OF CHILDREN.
The first edition
PREFACE.
We shall not imitate the invidious example of some authors, who think it necessary to destroy the edifices of others, in order to clear the way for their own. We have no peculiar system to support, and, consequently, we have no temptation to attack the theories of others; and we have chosen the title of Practical Education, to point out that we rely entirely upon practice and experience.
To make any progress in the art of education, it must be patiently reduced to an experimental science: we are fully sensible of the extent and difficulty of this undertaking, and we have not the arrogance to imagine, that we have made any considerable progress in a work, which the labours of many generations may, perhaps, be insufficient to complete; but we lay before the publick the result of our experiments, and in many instances the experiments themselves. In pursuing this part of our plan, we have sometimes descended from that elevation of style, which the reader might expect in a quarto volume; we have frequently been obliged to record facts concerning children which may seem trifling, and to enter into a minuteness of detail which may appear unnecessary. No anecdotes, however, have been admitted without due deliberation; nothing has been introduced to gratify the idle curiosity of others, or to indulge our own feelings of domestic partiality.
In what we have written upon the rudiments of science, we have pursued an opposite plan; so far from attempting to teach them in detail, we refer our readers to the excellent treatises on the different branches of science, and on the various faculties of the human mind, which are to be found in every language. The chapters that we have introduced upon these subjects, are intended merely as specimens of the manner in which we think young children should be taught. We have found from experience, that an early knowledge of the first principles of science may be given in conversation, and may be insensibly acquired from the usual incidents of life: if this knowledge be carefully associated with the technical terms which common use may preserve in the memory, much of the difficulty of subsequent instruction may be avoided.
The sketches we have hazarded upon these subjects, may to some appear too slight, and to others too abstruse and tedious. To those who have explored the vast mines of human knowledge, small specimens appear trifling and contemptible, whilst the less accustomed eye is somewhat dazzled and confused by the appearance even of a small collection: but to the most enlightened minds, new combinations may be suggested by a new arrangement of materials, and the curiosity and enthusiasm of the inexperienced may be awakened, and excited to accurate and laborious researches.
With respect to what is commonly called the education of the heart, we have endeavoured to suggest the easiest means of inducing useful and agreeable habits, well regulated sympathy and benevolent affections. A witty writer says, “Il est permis d’ennuyer en moralites d’ici jusqu’ a Constantinople.” Unwilling to avail ourselves of this permission, we have sedulously avoided declamation, and, wherever we have been obliged to repeat ancient maxims, and common truths, we have at least thought it becoming to present them in a new dress.
On religion and politics we have been silent, because we have no ambition to gain partisans, or to make proselytes, and because we do not address ourselves exclusively to any sect or to any party. The scrutinizing eye of criticism, in looking over our table of contents, will also, probably, observe that there are no chapters on courage and chastity. To pretend to teach courage to Britons, would be as ridiculous as it is unnecessary; and, except amongst those who are exposed to the contagion of foreign manners, we may boast of the superior delicacy of our fair countrywomen; a delicacy acquired from domestic example, and confirmed by publick approbation. Our opinions concerning the female character and understanding, have been fully detailed in a former publication; and, unwilling to fatigue by repetition, we have touched but slightly upon these subjects in our chapters on Temper, Female Accomplishments, Prudence, and Economy.
We have warned our readers not to expect from us any new theory of education, but they need not apprehend that we have written without method, or that we have thrown before them a heap of desultory remarks and experiments, which lead to no general conclusions, and which tend to the establishment of no useful principles. We assure them that we have worked upon a regular plan, and where we have failed of executing our design, it has not been for want of labour or attention. Convinced that it is the duty and the interest of all who write, to inquire what others have said and thought upon the subject of which they treat, we have examined attentively the works of others, that we might collect whatever knowledge they contain, and that we might neither arrogate inventions which do not belong to us, nor weary the public by repetition. Some useful and ingenious essays may probably have escaped our notice; but we flatter ourselves, that our readers will not find reason to accuse us of negligence, as we have perused with diligent attention every work upon education, that has obtained the sanction of time or of public approbation, and, though we have never bound ourselves to the letter, we hope that we have been faithful to the spirit, of their authors. Without incumbering ourselves with any part of their systems which has not been authorized by experience, we have steadily attempted immediately to apply to practice such of their ideas as we have thought useful; but whilst we have used the thoughts of others, we have been anxious to avoid mean plagiarism, and wherever we have borrowed, the debt has been carefully acknowledged.
The first hint of the chapter on Toys was received from Dr. Beddoes; the sketch of an introduction to chemistry for children was given to us by Mr. Lovell Edgeworth; and the rest of the work was resumed from a design formed and begun twenty years ago. When a book appears under the name of two authors, it is natural to inquire what share belongs to each of them. All that relates to the art of teaching to read in the chapter on Tasks, the chapters on Grammar and Classical Literature, Geography, Chronology, Arithmetic, Geometry, and Mechanics, were written by Mr. Edgeworth, and the rest of the book by Miss Edgeworth. She was encouraged and enabled to write upon this important subject, by having for many years before her eyes the conduct of a judicious mother in the education of a large family. The chapter on Obedience, was written from Mrs. Edgeworth’s notes, and was exemplified by her successful practice in the management of her children; the whole manuscript was submitted to her judgment, and she revised parts of it in the last stage of a fatal disease.
Letters for Literary Ladies.
CHAPTER I. TOYS
“Why don’t you play with your playthings, my dear? I am sure that I have bought toys enough for you; why can’t you divert yourself with them, instead of breaking them to pieces?” says a mother to her child, who stands idle and miserable, surrounded by disjointed dolls, maimed horses, coaches and one-horse chairs without wheels, and a nameless wreck of gilded lumber.
A child in this situation is surely more to be pitied than blamed; for is it not vain to repeat, “Why don’t you play with your playthings,” unless they be such as he can play with, which is very seldom the case; and is it not rather unjust to be angry with him for breaking them to pieces, when he can by no other device render them subservient to his amusement? He breaks them, not from the love of mischief, but from the hatred of idleness; either he wishes to see what his playthings are made of, and how they are made; or, whether he can put them together again, if the parts be once separated. All this is perfectly innocent; and it is a pity that his love of knowledge and his spirit of activity should be repressed by the undistinguishing correction of a nursery maid, or the unceasing reproof of a French gov
erness.
The more natural vivacity and ingenuity young people possess, the less are they likely to be amused with the toys which are usually put into their hands. They require to have things which exercise their senses or their imagination, their imitative, and inventive powers. The glaring colours, or the gilding of toys, may catch the eye, and please for a few minutes, but unless some use can be made of them, they will, and ought, to be soon discarded. A boy, who has the use of his limbs, and whose mind is untainted with prejudice, would, in all probability, prefer a substantial cart, in which he could carry weeds, earth and stones, up and down hill, to the finest frail coach and six that ever came out of a toy-shop: for what could he do with the coach after having admired, and sucked the paint, but drag it cautiously along the carpet of a drawing-room, watching the wheels, which will not turn, and seeming to sympathize with the just terrors of the lady and gentleman within, who are certain of being overturned every five minutes? When he is tired of this, perhaps, he may set about to unharness horses which were never meant to be unharnessed; or to currycomb their woollen manes and tails, which usually come off during the first attempt.
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