ld that Mr. Edgeworth had so loud a voice
that it could be heard a mile off, and that his steward, who lived in a
lodge at that distance from the house, could hear him calling from the
drawing-room window, and would come up for orders.

In 1778, says Miss Edgeworth retrospectively, when England was
despatching her armies all over the world, she had no troops to spare
for the defence of Ireland then threatened with a French invasion; and
the principal nobility and gentry embodied themselves volunteers for the
defence of the country. The Duke of Leinster and Lord Charlemont were
at the head of the 'corps which in perfect order and good discipline
rendered their country respectable.' The friends of Ireland, profiting
by England's growing consideration for the sister country, now obtained
for her great benefits for which they had long been striving, and
Mr. Grattan moved an address to the throne asserting the legislative
independence of Ireland. The address passed the House, and, as his
daughter tells us, Mr. Edgeworth immediately published a pamphlet.
Miss Edgeworth continues as follows, describing his excellent course
of action: 'My father honestly and unostentatiously used his utmost
endeavours to obliterate all that could tend to perpetuate ill-will in
the country. Among the lower classes in his neighbourhood he endeavoured
to discourage that spirit of recrimination and retaliation which the
lower Irish are too prone to cherish. They are such acute observers that
there is no deceiving them as to the state of the real feeling of their
superiors. They know the signs of what passes within with more certainty
than any physiognomist, and it was soon seen by all those who had
any connection with him that my father was sincere in his disdain of
vengeance.' Further on, describing his political feelings, she says that
on the subject of the Union in parliamentary phrase he had not then been
able to make up his mind. She describes with some pride his first speech
in the Irish House at two o'clock in the morning, when the wearied
members were scarcely awake to hear it, and when some of the
outstretched members were aroused by their neighbours to listen to
him! 'When people perceived that it was not a set speech,' says Miss
Edgeworth, 'they became interested.' He stated his doubts just as they
had occurred as he threw them by turn into each scale. After giving many
reasons in favour of what appeared to be the advantages of the Union,