ion to turn. On
the 1st August he came to Edgeworthstown, accompanied by his family. 'We
remained there for several days, making excursions to Loch Oel, etc. Mr.
Lovell Edgeworth had his classical mansion filled every evening with
a succession of distinguished friends. Here, above all, we had
the opportunity of seeing in what universal respect and comfort a
gentleman's family may live in that country, provided only they live
there habitually and do their duty. . . . Here we found neither mud
hovels nor naked peasantry, but snug cottages and smiling faces all
about. . . . Here too we pleased ourselves with recognising some of the
sweetest features in Goldsmith's picture of "Sweet Auburn! loveliest
village of the plain."' Oliver Goldsmith received his education at this
very school of Edgeworthstown, and Pallas More, the little hamlet where
the author of THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD first saw the light, is still, as
it was then, the property of the Edgeworths.

So Scott came to visit his little friend, and the giant was cheered
and made welcome by her charming hospitality. It was a last gleam of
sunshine in that noble life. We instinctively feel how happy they all
were in each other's good company. We can almost overhear some of their
talk, as they walk together under the shade of the trees of the park.
One can imagine him laughing in his delightful hearty way, half joking,
half caressing. Lockhart had used some phrase (it is Lockhart who tells
us the story) which conveyed the impression that he suspects poets and
novelists of looking at life and at the world chiefly as materials for
art. 'A soft and pensive shade came over Scott's face. "I fear you have
some very young ideas in your head," he says. "God help us, what a poor
world this would be if that were the true doctrine! I have read books
enough, and observed and conversed with enough eminent minds in my time,
but I assure you I have heard higher sentiments from the lips of poor
uneducated men and women, exerting the spirit of severe yet gentle
heroism, or speaking their simple thoughts, than I ever met with out
of the pages of the Bible. We shall never learn to feel and respect our
real calling unless we have taught ourselves to consider everything as
moonshine compared with the education of the heart,"' said the great
teacher. 'Maria did not listen to this without some water in
her eyes,--her tears are always ready when a generous string is
touched,--but she brushed them