wells by
preference upon the milder, more engaging aspects of the Irish
character, upon their strange, pathetic life; and while not ignoring,
brings into as little prominence as may be the frequent perjuries, the
vindictive passions, the midnight butcheries, the lawless ferocity, the
treacherous cruelty, of her half-savage compatriots.

_The Dun_ is a short tale in Miss Edgeworth's most didactic and least
happy style, dealing with a theme that should be more often emphasized
and brought into view; namely, the unfeeling thoughtlessness of the
rich, that withholds from the poor the result of their earnings, one of
the most frequent and serious injuries perpetrated by the wealthy upon
their indigent brethren.

_Manoeuvring_ is a detailed account of the machinations of a certain
Mrs. Beaumont, a country lady, who expends a great deal of Machiavelism,
left-handed wisdom and intrigue upon the projects of her children's
marriages, and also upon securing to her family the fortune of an old
gentleman who never had a thought of disposing of it otherwise. The
mortification and defeats to which her circuitous policy constantly
exposes her constitute the plot and the moral of the tale, which is not
ill-conceived, and yet for some cause fails to interest us long.

In _Almeria_, Miss Edgeworth's admirable story-telling powers, her grace
and shrewdness, are once more seen at their very best. It is the history
of a woman who has sacrificed all the happiness of life, all the better
instincts of her nature, for the empty ambition of being admitted into
the charmed circle of fashionable society; and who, though she finds out
in time that it is Dead Sea apples she has sought, has become so
immeshed that she cannot break away, but leads an existence of
pleasure-hunting, ever seeking, never finding that commodity, a warning
example of

How the world its veterans rewards--
A youth of folly, an old age of cards.

The moral is not insisted on, but is allowed to speak for itself, and is
on that account far more eloquent.

Except when dealing with Irish scenes, Miss Edgeworth is never happier
than when painting the perverse or intriguing fine ladies of society,
who, having no real troubles or anxieties to occupy them, shielded from
the physical evils of existence, make to themselves others, and find
occupation for their empty heads and hours, with results put before us
so simply, and devoid of euphemism, by Dr. Watts. Well indeed ha