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forces, and the blockade was still continued, March 19, 1859, when President Robles removed the seat of government from Quito to Guayaquil. In March, 1859, an association was organized by German merchants in London with a view to direct the emigration from Germany to the republic of Ecuador. The district of Pailon, about 100 m. from Quito, has been selected for the establishment of the first settlement. See Juan de Velasco, Histoire du royaume de Quito (French edition, Paris, 1840); Gaetano Osculati, Esplorazione delle regioni equatoriali (Milan, 1850); F. Walpole, "Four Years in the Pacific" (London, 1850); and Manuel Villavicencio, Geografia de la Republica del Ecuador (New York, 1858).

after death. Of the 2d class, we find a poem in dramatic form, the Vafthrudnis-mal. Odin desires to contend in science with the wisest of the giants, Vafthrudnir. He assumes the form and garb of a wayworn traveller, seeks hospitality of the giant, and proposes the contest, the wager agreed upon being the head of the vanquished disputant. The trial begins with numberless questions on the mysteries of the religion of Odin. The giant soon perceives the wondrous strength of his opponent, as sitting side by side they discuss the marvels of sacred science. "Tell me," says Odin, "the future state of souls; tell me what heroes do in Walhalla?" The giant makes light of questions so simple. He expounds as to a child matters within the EDDA, the name of two collections of ancient every-day compass of Scandinavian learning. poems of the Northmen, or early Scandinavians, At length the pretended traveller makes his from which is chiefly derived our knowledge of final attack. "What words," he asked, "whisScandinavian mythology. The Eddas, and in pered Odin in the ear of his son Baldur, when some instances the Sagas, were composed origi- Baldur lay on the funeral pyre?" The giant nally in Denmark, in Sweden, and doubtless grew pale. He knew that Odin alone could also in Norway, where the language now known know those whispered words. The god stood as Icelandic was longest preserved in Europe. confessed before him. "My doom, my doom, This was the general language, and its literature great Odin," he cried; "let the deed of celesis the common property of the North. The first tial destiny be done. Let it fall on him who of the Eddas is called the old or poetical, some- has dared to talk of sacred science with Odin, times the Samundic Edda. The word in Ice- wisest of gods!" The Grimnis-mal describes landic means ancestress, and the old Edda is the the 12 homes of the gods, the 12 signs of the mother of Scandinavian poetry. What has been zodiac. In the Alvis-mal, the dwarf Alvis, one preserved of it consists of 39 poems, written at of the genii charged with lighting the torch of a remote and unknown period by anonymous the sun, has been betrothed to the daughter pagan authors, and collected by Sämund Sigfus- of Thor, and comes to claim his bride. The god son, an Icelandic priest, who was born in 1056. entertains the spirit during the whole of the He was educated in France and Germany, and night, when at length the unfortunate Alvis, after a sojourn in Rome, returned to Iceland, scenting the cool air of morning, is summoned where he devoted himself to study and the edu- brideless away to the sun. The Hyndlu-ljod cation of the young. A copy of his Edda on is an obscure account of the genealogy of some vellum, the best which is preserved, was found of the northern kings, descendants of gods. in Iceland by Bishop Brynjúlf Sveinsson, in The Hava-mal, the sublime discourse of Odin, 1643, and published under the title of Edda is a collection of allegorical poetry and maxims Sämundar hinns Froda (Copenhagen, 1787- in verse, ending with a chapter wherein the god 1828, 3 vols.), with an excellent Lexicon My- explains the mysterious power of the runes thologicum, by the learned Finn Magnussen, against various misfortunes. The poem conthe editor of the last volume; there are also tains precepts also of commonplace wisdom, such editions by Afzelius in Swedish (Christiania, as: "Dwell not too long with one host; he may 1818), by Munch (Christiania, 1847), by Schim- weary of thee;" "One man may keep a secret, melmann in German (Stettin, 1777), by Studach not two;" "That which three men know can(Nüremberg, 1829), and by Simrock (Stuttgart, not be a secret." Other precepts in the same 1851; 2d ed. 1855). The different poeins may be collection breathe less virtue than cunning and classed according to the nature of their subjects, artifice. Among the poems purely mythologias mystical, didactic, mythological, and historical may be cited the Hymisquida, or song of cal, containing elements more ancient than the Christian era in the North. The most remarkable in the 1st classification is that which bears the title Völuspa, the oracle of the Vola, or prophetess. It is a rapid and obscure exposition of the cosmogony of the Scandinavians, from the creation to the destruction of the uni

verse. The Grougaldur, or magical song of Groa, is a collection of the terms of magic. The Solar-ljod, or song of the sun, was almost entirely added by Samund, in imitation of pagan poetry. The influence of Christianity, however, is recognized in various allusions to a future state, and to the existence and occupations of the soul

Hymer, describing a feast given by a sea god to his brother divinites. The Rafna-galdur-Odins, the song of the raven of Odin, describes the gods lamenting the approach of their last day. The historic class of poems in the Edda is more abundant than the others. Reality, however, as in the poems of Homer, is enveloped in the supernatural. They narrate heroic days; and like the song of the Nibelungen, record the adventures of heroes who have been, more or less truly, identified with Dietrich, Sigurd, Siegfried, and Attila and his Huns, during their first inroads upon the provinces of Rome. The prose Edda is ascribed to the celebrated Snorro Stur

leson, who was born in 1178. It is a collection of the myths of the gods, and of explanations of the types and metres of the pagan poetry. It was gradually formed by the labors of several writers, although it usually bears the name of Snorro Sturleson alone. It was intended for the instruction of the young scalds, or poets, and shows that the old poetry of the Icelanders came to be cultivated as a learned art. The Edda of Snorro, obviously of less value than that of Sämund, is principally worthy of attention, in so far as it completes and aids the comprehension of the other. A complete edition was published in Stockholm in 1818, by Prof. Rask. The work had previously been imperfectly known in the edition of Resenius (Copenhagen, 1665), taken from corrupt manuscript, the text often confounded with the notes of the scalds. The introduction, or Formali, is a quaint compendium of Jewish, Christian, Greek, Roman, and Icelandic legend, illustrating the origin and chain of descent of the Scandinavian race from the heroes of Troy. The Gylfa-ginning follows, and relates the visit of Gylfe, a Swedish king and magician, to Asgard, in order to observe at its fountain head the spirit of northern wisdom. An English translation of the first part of the prose Edda is contained in "Mallet's Northern Antiquities" (Bishop Percy's translation, new edition, London, 1847). The second part of the prose Edda, called Bragar rādar, represents Bragi, the god of poetry, at a feast given by Egir, god of the sea, entertaining the celestial company with a narration of their own exploits. The epilogue, or Eptimarli, written by Snorro Sturleson or by a contemporary, is an attempted solution of the Edda fables by events of the Trojan war. At the end of the prose Edda we have the Scalda, a kind of ars poetica, or manual for the use of the young students of the art. We have already remarked that the German song of the Nibelungen recounts adventures and heroes of the Scandinavian poems. August Schlegel supposed the German poem to have been written about the year 1207. The Scandinavian poems are known to have been earlier, probably by several centuries.

tailed. The violence of the swell at the lighthouse renders communication with the shore extremely difficult, even in serene weather, and the sea frequently rises above the light, the strong plate glass of the lantern having been more than once broken by the waves. Three light keepers are employed here, and the house is always supplied with provisions for 3 months, and a stock of 500 gallons of oil.

EDEN (Heb., pleasure, delight), the Scripture name of the place where God placed Adam and Eve before the fall (Gen. ii. 8, 15, &c.). In the Septuagint it is called Paradise, that is, a park or pleasure garden. It was watered by a river which issuing forth branched into four streams, named Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel (or Tigris), and Euphrates. No locality can now be fixed for the garden of Eden, notwithstanding the efforts of learned men devoted to this topic. The geographical indications, as given in the book of Genesis, are too vaguely expressed to enable us to determine with any approach to certainty where it was situated. The most probable opinion seems to be that which assigns for the garden of Eden a place somewhere among the high mountainous regions of Armenia, where the rivers Tigris and Euphrates take their rise. Some writers, however, are of opinion that the garden of Eden is only a figurative expression, not intended to indicate any actual locality on earth.

EDENTATA, a small group of mammals, elevated into an order by Cuvier, and associated together rather by negative than positive characters; these are, a partial or total absence of teeth, the possession of very large claws embracing the ends of the toes, and a general slowness of motion arising from the organization of the limbs. One group consists of strictly vegetable feeders, the tardigrada of Illiger, including the sloths (bradypus, Linn.); the other group is principally insectivorous, including the ant-eater (myrmecophaga, Linn.), the armadillo (dasypus, Linn.), the pangolin (manis, Linn.), the aardvark (orycteropus, Geoff.), and the gigantic fossil megatherium; these are described under their respective titles. The term edentata, or toothEDDYSTONE ROCKS, a reef of dangerous less animals, is not properly applied to any of rocks in the English channel, 600 or 700 feet in the group except the ant-eaters and the pangolength, and about 9 m. S. W. from the Ram- lins. The sloths are fitted for a life among the head. They consist of 3 principal ridges, which branches of trees, which they rarely leave, unare entirely covered at high water. A cele- less in search of fresh food, and then in the brated lighthouse on one of these rocks was be- slowest and most awkward manner; the antgun in 1757 and finished in 1759. It is between eaters dig up their insect food with their pow80 and 90 feet high, and furnished with 16 powerful claws, and entrap them on their glutinous erful Argand burners, giving a light of the first magnitude, visible in clear weather for 13 m. The first lighthouse on these rocks was built in 1696, of stone and timber. It was swept away in 1703, and another tower was constructed of wood 5 years afterward. This was destroyed by fire in 1755, and the present edifice was then commenced by the celebrated engineer, John Smeaton. The material employed was Portland stone, encased in granite, partly quarried from the rock itself, into which the foundations were dove

tongues; the armadillos, with their hard external covering, pursue insects on the ground, dig after vegetables and roots, and eat even decaying carcasses. The skull in the sloth is very short and round, in the armadillo longer and pointed, and in the ant-eater much elongated; in the megatherium there is a return to the short and solid skull of the sloth, and this ani mal seems in many respects intermediate be tween the tardigrada and the true edentata. The spine varies in the length and firmness of its

parts, according to the habits of the animal; the neck is long and capable of great rotation in the sloth, the 2 upper dorsals being so modified that they perform the functions of cervicals, with rudimentary ribs; the dorsal portion is very long, and contains more vertebræ than in any other mammalian group, viz.: 16 in the great ant-eater, 14 in the 3-toed and 23 in the 2-toed sloth; the ribs are remarkably broad, overlapping each other near the spine in some of the ant-eaters, giving thus great solidity to the chest and the necessary support for the digging fore limbs; the lumbar vertebræ are broad, with strong spinous, transverse, and articulating processes; the caudal vertebræ are 7 or 8 in the sloths, 40 in the great ant-eater, 45 in the longtailed pangolin, and at least 18 in the megatherium; the V-shaped bones on the inferior surface are well developed in the true edentata, and in the megatherium; the anterior bone of the Sternum is considerably developed in the whole group, especially in the ant-eaters and armadillos. The pelvis in the sloths and the megatherium is wide and capacious, and the ilia very broad; in the true edentates it is elongated, with the acetabulum behind the middle, and the ilia are very long. The anterior extremities in the sloth are remarkable for their length, the cylindrical arm, the separation of the convex bones of the forearm, and the length of the "wrist, hand, and claws; the posterior extremities have the femur short, flattened, and strong, and the bones of the leg curved as in the forearm; the fibula forms a curious articulation with the astragalus, allowing great freedom of rotation, and the tuberosity of the os calcis is much elongated. In the true edentates, the anterior limbs are formed for digging, and therefore the scapular arch is well developed, the humerus short and robust, with strongly marked processes for muscular attachments; a clavicle is present in the ant-eaters and armadillos, but absent in the pangolins; the forearm has so large an olecranon that the ulna is nearly or quite twice the length of the radius; the bones. are robust, and the hand is remarkable for the unequal size of the fingers, the middle one being in most of them much the largest; the peculiarities of the posterior limbs are less remarkable. There is an animal of Chili, called chlamyphorus truncatus by Dr. Harlan, which resembles the mole in its form and subterranean habits, and the strength and shortness of the legs; it comes near the sloths in the form of the teeth, and resembles the armadillo in the general characters of the skeleton; in the sternum and ribs it is like the monotremata; it is properly placed among edentata, and by Gray in the armadillo family. Another reason for separating the tardigrades from the edentates is found in the digestive apparatus. In the former the teeth are simple, formed for bruising leaves and stems; the stomach is complicated, divided into numerous compartments by internal folds, somewhat like the stomach of ruminants; the large intestine is readily distinguished

by its size from the small, and by their partial separation. In the edentates, the teeth when present are simple, more numerous, and formed for crushing insects; the stomach is far less complicated, and the division into small and large intestine is not well marked. The peculiar subdivision of the arteries of the limbs in the sloths is not required in the active and terrestrial edentates; and the investing armor of the armadillo and the pangolin would be equally unnecessary for the arboreal tardigrades. The edentata seem to establish the passage from the unguiculata to the ungulata, as the nails are greatly developed, and cover in a great degree the ends of the fingers. That which especially characterizes them is the general absence of teeth in the anterior portion of the jaws, the dental apparatus being in most reduced to molars and canines.

EDESSA, the modern Oorfa, an ancient city of northern Mesopotamia, the capital of the province of Osroëne. Tradition ascribes its foundation to Nimrod, and supposes it to be on or near the site of the Ur of the Chaldees mentioned in Scripture (Gen. xi. 28). Under the Seleucidæ it was called Callirhoë, and under Antiochus IV. it took the name of Antiochia. In 137 B. C. it became the capital of an independent kingdom. The name Abgar or Agbar (the mighty) appears as that of its sovereigns, and its manufactories of arms were celebrated. Edessa was sacked by Trajan, by reason of the equivocal conduct of its rulers during the wars of the empire against the Armenians and Parthians. In 216 it was made a Roman military colony by Caracalla, who was murdered there in the following year. It played an important part in the early Christian church, was the residence of St. Ephraim, had famous schools of theology and more than 300 monasteries, and was for many years the principal seat of oriental learning. It was taken by the Arabs shortly after the death of Mohammed, and in the time of the first crusade became a Christian principality under Baldwin I., brother of Godfrey of Bouillon. Baldwin ruled it from 1097 to 1100, purchased Samosata and several other places, and abandoned his fief for the crown of Jerusalem. Baldwin II., cousin of the preceding, reigned from 1100 to 1118, was 5 years captive to the Turks, and was called in his turn to the throne of Jerusalem. Joscelin de Courtenay, the successor of Baldwin, was surnamed the Great by reason of his victories over the Saracens. Joscelin II., who reigned after him, was defeated by the sultan Noureddin, who captured Edessa and exterminated the inhabitants. It was plundered by Tamerlane in 1393, and in 1637 fell into the hands of the Turks, who changed its name to Orfah or Oorfa. The modern town is a large, well built place, with a wall 7 m. in circuit, and 40,000 or 50,000 inhabitants. Its grand mosque is a structure of considerable architectural merit, within which are held several schools for the instruction of young men in religion and law. It derives great commercial importance from its position on the route

between Aleppo and Koordistan.-EDESSA (probably the later name of the ancient Ega; the modern Vodena or Vodhena), the ancient capital of Macedonia, was situated on the Egnatian way, at the entrance of the pass leading from the mountain provinces into upper Macedonia, and also by another branch into Pelagonia and Lycestes. The town was the cradle of the Macedonian dynasty, and even after the removal of the seat of government to Pella, in the plains below, Edessa continued to remain the national sanctuary and the burial place of the Macedonian kings. From its commanding position it continued to be of importance under the Roman and Byzantine emperors. Taken by Basil II., the conqueror of Bulgaria, it was strongly for tified under his reign (976-1025), and was called Bodina, whence the modern name. The modern town, which has few remains of antiquity, is situated in European Turkey, about 40 m. from Salonica, on the Vistritza river. The locality is as celebrated for its picturesque scenery in the present day as it was in ancient times.

EDFOO, the Atbo of the ancient Egyptians, and Apollinopolis Magna of the Greeks and Romans, a city of upper Egypt, on the Nile, 50 m. S. of Thebes. It has about 2,000 inhabitants, and manufactories of earthenware. Here are remarkable ruins of two temples partly covered by sand, whose architecture is that of the age of the Ptolemies, after Egyptian art had begun to decline.

EDGAR, an E. co. of Ill., bordering on Ind.; area, about 600 sq. m.; pop. in 1855, 13,920. It is drained by Embarras river and by Brulette and Clear creeks, two affluents of the Wabash. The surface is nearly level, and occupied partly by prairies and tracts of timber. The soil is fertile and suitable for grain and pasturage. Pork and wool are exported in considerable quantities. In 1850 the productions were 1,250,278 bushels of Indian corn, 49,424 of wheat, 138,830 of oats, and 174,828 lbs. of butter. There were 19 churches in the county, 1 newspaper office, and 690 pupils attending public schools. Named in honor of Col. John Edgar, one of the earliest and most distinguished settlers of the state. Capital, Paris.

EDGAR, a king of the Anglo-Saxons, son of King Edmund I., born about 943, succeeded his brother Edwy upon the throne in 959, died in 975. His reign was one of the most fortunate in the ancient history of England. He conquered the Scotch, is said to have reduced a part of Ireland, deterred both the foreign and domestic Danes from making any hostile movement, and improved the internal government of the kingdom. His vigor and foresight placed the country in so good a posture of defence, that the most of his reign is an interval of peace amid the constant wars waged by his predecessors and successors, and he has received from posterity the surname of "the Peaceful." Under the guidance of St. Dunstan he favored and reformed the monasteries, and restored the ecclesiastical discipline, which had VOL. VI.-48

been relaxed during the storms of Danish invasion. Yet the manners of Edgar himself were dissolute, and for bearing off a young lady educated in the convent of Wilton, he was ordered by St. Dunstan to abstain from wearing his crown for 7 years. The well-known story transmitted by Malmesbury on the faith of an ancient ballad, of his marriage with his second wife Elfrida, is the subject of an English tragedy by William Mason, and of a French opera by Guillard.

EDGAR ATHELING (that is, Edgar the Noble), an Anglo-Saxon prince, in the second half of the 11th century. The grandson of Edmund Ironside by his exiled son Edward, he was born in Hungary. In 1057 he followed his father to England, after whose sudden death in 1066 he became himself the heir to the crown, being the nearest relative to Edward the Confessor. Yet he was both young and feeble, and presented no claim, while the two resolute leaders Harold and the Norman William fought for the kingdom at Hastings. After that battle he was received at court by William the Conqueror, confirmed in the earldom of Oxford, which had been granted him by Harold, and treated with the greatest kindness. He accompanied the king in his visit to Normandy, but after his return, persuaded by the discontented Northumbrian lords, he took refuge with his followers in Scotland, and sought to lead a rebellion in Northumberland. Failing in this and in other enterprises, he returned to England in 1073, having previously rendered his submission to the king and received pardon. He was afterward engaged in a Scottish war to place a relative upon the throne of that country, and is thought to have gone to the Holy Land in the crusading army of Robert, duke of Normandy. His titles rather than his abilities make him a historic character, and the best result of his career was the introduction of something of the superior cultivation of the south into Scotland. (See ATHELING.)

EDGARTOWN, a post village, township, and seat of justice of Dukes co., Mass., on the E. side of the island of Martha's Vineyard; pop. in 1855, 1,898. The harbor is well sheltered, 4 or 5 fathoms deep, having a lighthouse with a fixed light 50 feet above the sea, erected on a pier 1,000 feet long, at the entrance to the harbor. It has 3 churches, 1 newspaper office, and in 1855 contained 1 manufactory of salt, 1 of oil and candles, 1 sail loft, and 2 boat-building yards. It had 12 vessels with an aggregate burden of 3,863 tons, a capital of $390,000, and 360 hands employed in the whale fishery.

EDGECOMBE, a N. E. co. of North Carolina, watered by Tar river, and by Fishing, Sandy, and Contented creeks; area, about 600 sq. m.; pop. in 1850, 17,189, of whom 8,547 were slaves. The soil is fertile and sandy. The surface is mostly level, and occupied in part by pine forests, from which quantities of turpentine are obtained. The staples are Indian corn and cotton, and the productions in 1850 were 759,378 bushels of Indian corn, 4,0461 tons of hay, and 8,097 bales of cotton. The county was organ

ized in 1783, and named in honor of the earl of Mount Edgecombe. Capital, Tarborough. EDGEFIELD, & W. district of South Carolina, separated from Georgia by the Savannah river, and bounded N. by the Saluda; area, 1,540 sq. m.; pop. in 1850, 39,262, of whom 22,725 were slaves. It has a fertile soil and a moderately hilly surface, occupied by extensive plantations of Indian corn, oats, and cotton, and by large grazing districts. In 1850 the productions were 25,880 bales of cotton, 1,155,489 bushels of Indian corn, 62,810 of wheat, 285,926 of oats, and 166,757 of sweet potatoes. Numbers of cattle and swine are also raised. In 1850 there were 52 churches in the district, 2 newspaper offices, and 921 pupils attending public schools. Water power is abundant, and there are numerous mills and factories. The Savannah river is navigable for steamboats to the S. part of the district, and by small boats a still greater distance. Capital, Edgefield Court House.

EDGEHILL, a high ridge in the co. of Warwick, England, noted as the scene of the first battle between Charles I. and the parliamentary forces, in 1642. On the side of the hill is cut the colossal figure of a horse, whence a valley below has been named the Vale of Red Horse. EDGEWORTH, RICHARD LOVELL, a British inventor and author, born in Bath, England, in 1744, died in Edgeworthtown, Ireland, June 13, 1817. Of an ancient Irish family, he was educated at Trinity college, Dublin, and was after ward sent to Oxford. Before he was 20 years of age, he ran off with a young lady of Oxford, was married, and entered upon a life of gayety and fashion near Reading, in Berkshire, where his daughter Maria, afterward distinguished as an authoress, was born. From his boyhood he had been accustomed to make mechanical contrivances and philosophical experiments, and now in his eagerness for early racing news he constructed the first telegraph in England over a distance of 16 miles. He made several other inventions, all of which he abandoned before perfecting them, and which therefore led to no other result than gaining for him from the society of arts a silver medal in 1768, and a gold medal the next year. His favorite scheme at this time was to construct a locomotive which should carry with itself a short railway, upon which it should at the same time always run. He entered upon his patrimony in Ireland in 1782, and determined to devote himself particularly to the improvement of his estate, and the education of his children. He attempted to educate his eldest son on the plan which Rousseau had developed in his Emile. He put him into loose jacket and trousers, with naked arms and legs, and allowed him to run wild and do what he pleased. The young savage grew up to all the virtues except those which are needed in a civilized state. He hated books, hated every sort of government, hated to do any thing useful, but finally went to sea. Mr. Edgeworth was an enthusiastic member of the Irish volunteers, one of the earliest advocates

of reform in parliament, and a member of the last Irish house of commons. He was involved in the troubles of the rebellion in 1798, and obliged to retreat with his family from his house, which however was saved from pillage on account of the esteem in which he was held personally. He was 4 times married, one of his wives having been Miss Honora Sneed, the betrothed of Major André; his children were educated entirely at home under his own care. He wrote slowly and coldly, thought with logical precision, explained clearly, but yet could not express with his pen the passionate ardor with which he undertook any subject, and which he showed in his conversation. He preferred therefore to write in partnership_with his daughter Maria, and in this way an "Essay on Practical Education" and an "Essay on Irish Bulls" were produced. He himself wrote several essays on railroads, telegraphs, carriages, and poetry. He took great interest in the literary pursuits of his daughter, who was accustomed to read to him her first rough plans and receive suggestions from him; and he also carefully revised her works and gave them his sanction before they were printed.-MARIA, an English novelist, daughter of the preceding, born in Berkshire, Jan. 1, 1767, died in Edgeworthtown, Ireland, May 21, 1849. She was 15 years of age when her father succeeded to the family estate in Ireland, where under his direction she pursued her studies, formed habits of sharp observation, and developed that cheerfulness which made her always beloved in society, and that hope and confidence which are requisite to a full exertion of the mental powers. Early indicating her taste for literary pursuits, she seems never to have wished to be married; and as it had been the delight of her father to assist in developing her talent, she in return loved to remain by the family hearth, gratifying his earnest but less gifted mind by her literary successes, and repaying in his old age those attentions which she had received in youth. The series of her novels began with "Castle Rackrent," in 1801, and continued without interruption till 1817, during which period there appeared from her pen "Belinda," "Popular Tales," "Leonora," "Tales of Fashionable Life," "Patronage," "Harrington," and "Ormond." These works were remarkable for their humane sympathies, their moral tendencies, and their utter disregard of the materials out of which it was then the fashion to construct romances. The public was surprised by novels which contained neither ruinous towers, terrible subterranean cells, nor mysterious veils, and in which the characters were neither peers nor foundlings. The aim of Miss Edgeworth, like that of Joanna Baillie in her dramas, was to make each novel an elucidation of one particular passion or vice. Thus in her tales of fashionable life, Lord Glenthorn is a striking embodiment of ennui, Almeria is a heartless, wretched lady of mere fashion, Vivian illustrates the perplexities of a feeble will, Emilie de Coulanges

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