Abbotsford beneath the softest of harvest moons. The visit was returned when Sir Walter visited Ireland in 1824. Mr. Lovell Edgeworth threw open the doors of Edgeworthstown to the Scott party. On going through the village, Lockhart remarks, "We found neither mud hovels nor naked peasantry, but snug cottages and smiling faces all about. … In Maria, Scott hailed a sister spirit. … "
Years passed and found Maria Edgeworth still at work, still surrounded by a happy family party, It was her habit to get up at seven, take a cup of coffee, read her letters, and then walk out for about three quarters of an hour. She generally returned with her hands full of flowers, that she had gathered on her walk, and taking her needlework or knitting, would sit down to the family breakfast. Her writing was all done in the common sitting-room or library, a large and spacious room, well stored with books. Mrs. S. C. Hall, says that "an oblong table is a sort of rallying-point for the family, while Miss Edgeworth sits quietly and abstractedly in her own peculiar corner on the sofa; her desk, upon which lies Sir Walter Scott's pen, given to her by him when in Ireland, is placed before her on a little quaint table. In the same corner, and upon that table, she has written nearly all that has delighted the world.
