This minute I hear a carman is going to Navan, and I hasten to send you
the _Cottagers of Glenburnie_, [Footnote: By Miss Elizabeth Hamilton,
with whom Miss Edgeworth had become intimate at Edinburgh in 1803.]
which I hope you will like as well as we do. I think it will do a vast
deal of good, and besides it is extremely interesting, which all _good_
books are not: it has great powers, both comic and tragic. I write in
the midst of Fortescues and Pakenhams, with dear Miss Caroline P., whom
I like every hour better and better, sitting on the sofa beside me,
reading Mademoiselle Clairon's _Memoirs_, and talking so entertainingly,
that I can scarcely tell what I have said, or am going to say.
I like Mrs. Fortescue's conversation, and will, as Sophy desires,
converse as much as possible with obliging and ever-cheerful Miss
Fortescue. But indeed it is very difficult to mind anything but
Caroline.
_Feb. 5._
Three of the most agreeable days I ever spent we have enjoyed in the
visit of our Pakenham Hall friends to us. How delightful it is to be
with those who are sincerely kind and well-bred: I would not give many
straws for good breeding without sincerity, and I would give at any time
ten times as much for kindness _with_ politeness as for kindness without
it. There is something quite captivating in Lady Longford's voice and
manners, and the extreme vivacity of her countenance, and her quick
change of feelings interested me particularly: I never saw a woman so
little spoiled by the world. As for Caroline Pakenham, I love her. They
were all very polite about the reading out of _Emilie de Coulanges_, and
took it as a mark of kindness from me, and not as an exhibition. Try to
get and read the _Life of Dudley, Lord North_, of which parts are highly
interesting. I am come to the Ambition in _Marie de Menzikoff_, which I
like much, but the love is mere brown sugar and water. The mother's
blindness is beautifully described. My father says "Vivian" will stand
next to "Mrs. Beaumont" and "Ennui"; I have ten days' more work at it,
ten days' more purgatory at other corrections, and then, huzza! a heaven
upon earth of idleness and reading, which is my idleness. Half of
_Professional Education_ is printed.
_To_ MRS. RUXTON.