f
an hour afterwards, as we were quietly sitting in the portico, we heard,
as we thought close to us, the report of a pistol or a clap of thunder
which shook the house. The officer soon after returned almost speechless;
he could hardly explain what had happened. The ammunition cart,
containing nearly three barrels of gunpowder, took fire, and burnt
half-way on the road to Longford. The man who drove the cart was blown
to atoms. Nothing of him could be found. Two of the horses were killed;
others were blown to pieces, and their limbs scattered to a distance.
The head and body of a man were found a hundred and twenty yards from
the spot.... If we had gone with this ammunition cart, we must have
been killed. An hour or two afterwards we were obliged to fly from
Edgeworthtown. The pikemen, 300 in number, were within a mile of the
town; my mother and Charlotte and I rode; passed the trunk of the dead
man, bloody limbs of horses, and two dead horses, by the help of men
who pulled on our steeds--all safely lodged now in Mrs. Fallon's inn.'
'Before we had reached the place where the cart had been blown up,' says
Mrs. Edgeworth, 'Mr. Edgeworth suddenly recollected that he had left on
the table in his study a list of the yeomanry corps which he feared
might endanger the poor fellows and their families if it fell into the
hands of the rebels. He galloped back for it. It was at the hazard of
his life; but the rebels had not yet appeared. He burned the paper, and
rejoined us safely.' The Memoirs give a most interesting and spirited
account of the next few days. The rebels spared Mr. Edgeworth's house,
although they broke into it. After a time the family were told that all
was safe for their return, and the account of their coming home, as it
is given in the second volume of Mr. Edgeworth's life by his daughter,
is a model of style and admirable description.

In 1799 Mr. Edgeworth came into Parliament for the borough of St.
Johnstown. He was a Unionist by conviction, but he did not think the
times were yet ripe for the Union, and he therefore voted against it.
In some of his letters to Dr. Darwin written at this time, he says that
he was offered 3,000 guineas for his seat for the few remaining weeks of
the session, which, needless to say, he refused, not thinking it well,
as he says, '_to quarrel with myself_.' He also adds that Maria continues
writing for children under the persuasion that she cannot be more
serviceably employed; an