which tale was most successful. Many of these were taken from books, but most were original. While entertaining her companions Maria studied their characters. It was at school she developed her keen penetration into the motives that sway actions. Here also she saw numbers, though on a small scale, and could estimate the effect of the voice on the multitude and the ease with which a mass can be governed. Very early indeed her father encouraged her to put her imaginings on paper; a remarkable proof of his enlightenment, for those were the days when female authorship was held in slight esteem, when for a woman to use her pen was regarded as a dangerous stepping beyond her boundary, which exposed her to suspicion and aversion. Soon after Mrs. Honora Edgeworth's death Mr. Edgeworth wrote:—
I also beg that you will send me a tale, about the length of a Spectator, upon the subject of generosity; it must be taken from history or romance, and must be sent the day se'nnight after you receive this, and I beg you will take some pains about it.
The same subject was given to a lad at Oxford, and Mr. Sneyd was chosen as umpire. He pronounced Maria's far the best. “An excellent story,” he said, “and extremely well written, but where is the Generosity?” a saying which became a household proverb. This first story is not preserved; but Miss Edgeworth used to say that there was in it a sentence of inextricable confusion between a saddle, a man, and his horse.
The same year Maria was removed from her unpretentious school to a fashionable establishment in London. Here she was to learn deportment and the showy accomplishments that in those days constituted the chief branches of a young lady's education. She