he unexpectedly gave his vote against it, because he said he had been
convinced by what he had heard one night, that the Union was decidedly
against the wishes of the majority of men of sense and property in
the nation. He added (and surely Mr. Edgeworth's opinion should go for
something still) that if he should be convinced that the opinions of the
country changed, his vote would be in its favour.

His biographer tells us that Mr. Edgeworth was much complimented on his
speech by BOTH sides, by those for whom he voted, and also by those who
found that the best arguments on the other side of the question had
been undoubtedly made by him. It is a somewhat complicated statement
and state of feeling to follow; to the faithful daughter nothing is
impossible where her father is concerned. This vote, I believe, cost Mr.
Edgeworth his peerage. 'When it was known that he had voted against the
Union he became suddenly the idol of those who would previously have
stoned him,' says his devoted biographer. It must not, however, be
forgotten that Mr. Edgeworth had refused an offer of L3000 for his seat
for two or three weeks, during that momentous period when every vote was
of importance. Mr. Pitt, they say, spent over L2,000,000 in carrying the
measure which he deemed so necessary.

IV

As a rule people's books appeal first to one's imagination, and then
after a time, if the books are good books and alive, not stuffed dummies
and reproductions, one begins to divine the writers themselves, hidden
away in their pages, and wrapped up in their hot-press sheets of paper;
and so it happened by chance that a printed letter once written by Maria
Edgeworth to Mrs. Barbauld set the present reader wondering about these
two familiar names, and trying to realise the human beings which they
each represented. Since those days Miss Edgeworth has become a personage
more vivid and interesting than any of her characters, more familiar
even than 'Simple Susan' or 'Rosamond of the Purple Jar.' She has seemed
little by little to grow into a friend, as the writer has learnt to know
her more and more intimately, has visited the home of that home-loving
woman, has held in her hands the delightful Family Memoirs, has seen the
horizons, so to speak, of Maria Edgeworth's long life. [Now published
and edited by Mr. Hare (Nov. 1894).] Several histories of Miss Edgeworth
have been lately published in England. Miss Zimmern and Miss Oliver
in America have each