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The Absentee
Maria Edgeworth

Page 2 of 597

'Sheridan has answered as I foresaw he must, that in the present
state of this country the Lord Chamberlain would not license THE
ABSENTEE; besides there would be a difficulty in finding actors
for so many Irish characters.' The little drama was then turned
into a story, by Mr.  Edgeworth's advice.  Patronage was laid
aside for the moment, and THE ABSENTEE appeared in its place in
the second part of TALES OF FASHIONABLE LIFE.  We all know Lord
Macaulay's verdict upon this favourite story of his, the last
scene of which he specially admired and compared to the ODYSSEY.
[Lord Macaulay was not the only notable admirer of THE ABSENTEE.
The present writer remembers hearing Professor Ruskin on one
occasion break out in praise and admiration of the book.  'You
can learn more by reading it of Irish politics,' he said, 'than
from a thousand columns out of blue-books.'] Mrs.  Edgeworth
tells us that much of it was written while Maria was suffering a
misery of toothache. 

Miss Edgeworth's own letters all about this time are much more
concerned with sociabilities than with literature.  We read of a
pleasant dance at Mrs.  Burke's; of philosophers at sport in

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