inscribed the words:--

On this humble desk were written all the numerous works of my
daughter, Maria Edgeworth, in the common sitting-room of my family.
In these works, which were chiefly written to please me, she has
never attacked the personal character of any human being, or
interfered with the opinions of any sect or party, religious or
political; while endeavoring to inform and instruct others, she
improved and amused her own mind and gratified her heart, which I
do believe is better than her head.

R. L. E.

After her father's death she used a writing-desk that had been his, and
which accompanied her whenever she went away. At home it was placed on a
table he had made, and to which she, inheriting some of his faculty for
mechanical inventions, had attached some ingenious contrivances of her
own, such as brackets, fire-screens and paper-rests. In summer time
this little table was generally rolled into a recess behind the pillars
of the library; in winter it stood near the fire. She wrote on folio
sheets, which she sewed together in chapters, and her manuscripts were
wonderfully neat, clean and free from erasures. At luncheon-time she
ceased writing, and since she made this her chief meal in the day, she
was obliged, often most unwillingly, to forego her desire to return to
her desk. But she knew that to write directly after eating was bad for
her, and she submitted instead to doing some needlework. It was while
working with her needle, however, that most of her stories were
conceived and developed.

Sometimes she would drive out in the afternoon. She was rather nervous
about horses, and always sat with her back to them, that she might not
see them. When quite at ease on the score of coachman and steeds, she
greatly enjoyed a drive in an open carriage, talking and laughing all
the time, and amusing her companions with her endless flow of anecdotes
and fun. With her habitual indifference to nature she rarely knew and
still less cared whither the drive had been directed. Most commonly she
wrote again till dinner-time. In her later years she would retire and
sleep for an hour after this meal, rejoining the family circle at the
tea-table. The evenings were usually spent in reading aloud; sometimes
Miss Edgeworth was the reader, sometimes she would work and listen while
others read. The enjoyment she felt in literature was imparted to those
about her; she would manage t