“He began by telling ’that he had given Dr. Parr a dressing, who had taken him for an Irish bog-trotter,’ &c. &c.  Now I, who know Dr. Parr, and who know (not by experience—­for I never should have presumed so far as to contend with him—­but by hearing him with others, and of others) that it is not so easy a matter to ‘dress him,’ thought Mr. Edgeworth an assertor of what was not true.  He could not have stood before Parr an instant.  For the rest, he seemed intelligent, vehement, vivacious, and full of life.  He bids fair for a hundred years.

“He was not much admired in London, and I remember a ‘ryghte merrie’ and conceited jest which was rife among the gallants of the day,—­viz. a paper had been presented for the recall of Mrs. Siddons to the stage, (she having lately taken leave, to the loss of ages,—­for nothing ever was, or can be, like her,) to which all men had been called to subscribe.  Whereupon, Thomas Moore, of profane and poetical memory, did propose that a similar paper should be subscribed and circumscribed ’for the recall of Mr. Edgeworth to Ireland.’[20]

“The fact was—­every body cared more about her.  She was a nice little unassuming ‘Jeanie Deans’-looking body,’ as we Scotch say—­and, if not handsome, certainly not ill-looking.  Her conversation was as quiet as herself.  One would never have guessed she could write her name; whereas her father talked, not as if he could write nothing else, but as if nothing else was worth writing.

“As for Mrs. Edgeworth, I forget—­except that I think she was the youngest of the party.  Altogether, they were an excellent cage of the kind; and succeeded for two months, till the landing of Madame de Stael.

“To turn from them to their works, I admire them; but they excite no feeling, and they leave no love—­except for some Irish steward or postilion.  However, the impression of intellect and prudence is profound—­and may be useful.

[Footnote 20:  In this, I rather think he was misinformed; whatever merit there may be in the jest, I have not, as far as I can recollect, the slightest claim to it.]

“January 20. 1821.

“Rode—­fired pistols.  Read from Grimm’s Correspondence.  Dined—­went out—­heard music—­returned—­wrote a letter to the Lord Chamberlain to request him to prevent the theatres from representing the Doge, which the Italian papers say that they are going to act.  This is pretty work—­what! without asking my consent, and even in opposition to it!

January 21. 1821.

“Fine, clear frosty day—­that is to say, an Italian frost, for their winters hardly get beyond snow; for which reason nobody knows how to skate (or skait)—­a Dutch and English accomplishment.  Rode out, as usual, and fired pistols.  Good shooting—­broke four common, and rather small, bottles, in four shots, at fourteen paces, with a common pair of pistols and indifferent powder.  Almost as good wafering or