SOURCE: '"Said an Elderly Man. . . .' : Maria Edgeworth's Use of Folklore in Castle Rackrent," in Family Chronicles: Maria Edgeworth's "Castle Rackrent, " edited by Cóilín Owens, Wolfhound Press, 1987, pp. 62-70.

In the following essay, Ó hÓgáin commends Edgeworth's faithful depiction of Irish folkways in Castle Rackrent.

In approaching Castle Rackrent as a folklorist, one is impressed by the authenticity, accuracy, and originality of Maria Edgeworth's observations of the life of the common people of Ireland at the end of the eighteenth century. In these respects, since the interest in folk customs and beliefs had not yet developed as a discipline, the author of Castle Rackrent is ahead of her time. Moreover, as an accomplished maker of fiction, she invests these cultural circumstances with persuasive character and social elements to render a powerful portrayal of Irish country life before the Union.

Maria Edgeworth made a courageous...