are still more
enhanced than I had calculated upon by the home and the quiet
library and easy-chair morning retreat I enjoy.

On her return to Edgeworthstown she wrote:--

My last visit to universal London confirms to my own feelings your
eulogium. I never was so happy there in my life, because I had,
besides all the external pleasures, the solid satisfaction of a
home there, and domestic pleasures, without which I should soon
grow aweary of the world, and wish the business of the town were
done. It is most gratifying to me, at such a distance, to hear and
to believe that such kind and cultivated friends as you miss my
company and wish for my future return. I should be very sorry if I
were told this minute that I was never to see London again, and yet
I am wondrous contented and happy at home.

It is a curious circumstance, but a fact of frequent observation, that
large families are often more united than small ones. The Edgeworths
were a case in point. They had that devoted affection, that blind belief
in one another, that often distinguishes a clan. They preferred each
other's society to that of strangers; they regarded themselves as beings
apart; what one did, the others approved; harmony and good will reigned
supreme. With so many different families living under one roof, it was a
rare and curious fusion, this home party, of which one of the brothers
said that "each star is worthy of separate observation for its serenity,
brilliancy or magnitude; but it is as a constellation they claim most
regard, linked together by strong attachment and moving in harmony
through their useful course."

It was as a star of the first magnitude in this constellation that Miss
Edgeworth loved to move and have her being, and she chose to be set
there rather than shine in brilliancy alone. Miss Edgeworth, the woman,
must always be thought of in connection with her home and home
attachments. To love, shrouded in the quiet obscurity of domestic life,
was the secret of existence to this simple-minded nature.

That _Helen_ was liked by the home circle was a real pleasure to its
author. She was anxious for criticism and took all she received in good
part. "I am a creature," she once said, "that can take advice, can be
the better for it, and am never offended by it." The family approval
given, the manuscript was despatched to London with more confidence than
she had ever expected