Maria Edgeworth [pp. 578-585]

Maria.Eikewort1m. 579
until its vivifying rays have penetrated into almost every quarter of the globe. Had the discoveries and improvements of these pioneers of
civilization been confined to their own age and
country, their effects might have been partial
and temporary; but happily the points of contact and sympathy between the various tribes of
the human family are so numerous, that every
accession to the mass of knowledge, though operating with intenser force where it originated,
has, gradually, yet surely, diffused its salutary
influences over neighboring nations, and through
succeeding times. Thus modern science traces
back its lineage to the learning of the Chaldees
and Egyptians, and the philosopher of the nineteenth century claims kindred with Zoroaster
and Pythagoras. The achievements of mind
are, therefore, the common property of the human race, and the writer, whose works impart
valuable truths, is emphatically a cosmopolite,
no matter what country has given him birth, or
at what period he may have flourished. If intellectual contributions, from whatever quarter they
emanate, may be justly claimed as the joint inheritance of our race, the principle applies with
peculiar propriety to nations of kindred blood,
and whose language and literature are identical.
The American may, therefore, without presumption take pride in the productions of the great
minds of Britain, and lament the extinction of
one of those luminaries as a common calamity.
As he has participated in the amusement and instruction afforded by their writings, he may justly
deem it his right, no less than his duty, to mingle in the plaudits of their admiring countrymen
and to deposit on their tombs the spontaneous
tribute of his grief and gratitude.
These reflections have been suggested by the
recent death of Maria Edgeworth, a lady who,
for more than half a century, has filled adeservedly large space in the literature of England.
Among the distinguished females who have shed
so great a lustre on the present age, none has
held a more conspicuous station than this gifted
woman, or has ministered more abundantly to
the delight and edification of her cotemporaries.
Death, it is said, canonizes great characters and
puts the final seal on their reputation. Envy,
which, like the old man of the sea forever haunts
the steps of genius, is buried with its mortal remains; but the memory of its greatness still
lives, and the public mind, touched by this affecting proof of the uncertain tenure of human
things, becomes doubly solicitous to render ample justice to its merits. Hence the practice of
delivering obituary eulogies over the illustrious
dead, and the splendid mausoleums in which the
gratitude of their fellow-men inurns their perishable relics. According to this immemorial
usage on such occasions, some tribute is due
from the American press to the memory of a
writer so celebrated as Miss Edgeworth, and we
shall, therefore, present a brief notice of this remarkable woman in the pages of the Messenger.
The elevated position assumed by the softer
sex in the various departments of elegant literature, and even in the more rugged field of science, during the last hundred years, has been
justly deemed an unerring token of the rapid advance of knowledge and refinement. In this enlightened age woman has, at length, asserted her
true dignity, and occupied that station in society
from which, in ruder periods, she was excluded
by the selfishness and tyranny of uncultivated
man. She is no longer regarded by the sterner
sex as the mere toy and plaything of an idle
hour, nor degraded into the obsequious slave of
her male task-masters. Released from the debasing and stultifying drudgery of savage life,
her dormant faculties have awakened, and she
has vindicated her title to be received as the
equal and companion of man by an aptitude in
the acquisition of knowledge, and an intellectual developement, rivalling the highest efforts of
masculine genius. Among the many indications
of our future progress, none are more cheering
and unequivocal than this recognition of the
rights, and cultivation of the capacities of woman, whether we consider the immense amount
of mental force, heretofore torpid and useless,
thus brought to cooperate in the extension of
knowledge, or the important agency, exercised
by females, in our early training and improement. Indeed from their nice observation and
the almost intuitive keenness of their perceptions-from the warmth and tenderness of their
affections, women seem to be peculiarly fitted
for the task of education, particularly in that
seed-time of the human mind when the infant
idea first begins to shoot, and to give promise of
the coming harvest-when the heart is moulded
to generous sentiments by the plastic hand of instruction-when principles and propensities are
implanted, which must determine the colour of
our future character. Miss Edgeworth is herself a striking example of this feminine aptitude
for youthful instruction; for her writings furnish
abundantevidence that she took a lively interest in
the subject of education, and had meditated deeply on the best methods of imparting knowledge,
and cultivating the moral affections. Her works
are replete with profound observations and judicious hints on this interesting subject, nor ate
they the less valuable because these grave and
weighty precepts are embellished with the hues
of a glowing imagination, and the artifices of a
polished diction. We will not maintain that her
theory of education is, in all respects, defensible,
Mara worth.
579