Life And Letters Of Maria Edgeworth/Volume 1/Letter 11

To MISS SOPHY RUXTON.

EDGEWORTHSTOWN, Feb 23, 1794.

Thank my aunt and thank yourself for kind inquiries after Letters for Literary Ladies. I am sorry to say they are not as well as can be expected, nor are they likely to mend at present: when they are fit to be seen&mdash;if that happy time ever arrives&mdash;their first visit shall be to Black Castle. They are now disfigured by all manner of crooked marks of papa's critical indignation, besides various abusive marginal notes, which I would not have you see for half a crown sterling, nor my aunt for a whole crown as pure as King Hiero's; with which crown I am sure you are acquainted, and know how to weigh it as Honora did at eight years old, though Mr. Day would not believe it. I think my mother is better this evening, but she is so very cheerful when she has a moment's respite, that it deceives us. She calls Lovell the Minute Philosopher at this instant, because he is drawing with the assistance of a magnifying glass with a universal joint in his mouth; so that one eye can see through it while he draws a beautifully small drawing of the new front of the house. I have just excited his envy even to clasping his hands in distraction, by telling him of a man I met with in the middle of Grainger's Worthies of England, who drew a mill, a miller, a bridge, a man and horse going over the bridge with a sack of corn, all visible, upon a surface that would just cover a sixpence.