Life And Letters Of Maria Edgeworth/Volume 2/Letter 142

To MISS MARGARET RUXTON.

August 7, 1845.

No pen or hand but my own shall answer your most affectionate letter, my dear own Margaret, or welcome you again to your native country&mdash;damp as it is&mdash;warm and comfortable with good old,&mdash;and young, friends&mdash;and young, for your young friends Mary Anne and Charlotte were heartily glad to see you. As to the old, I will yield to no mortal living. In the first place is the plain immovable fact that I am the OLDEST friend you have living, and as to actual knowledge of you I defy any one to match me, ever since you were an infant at Foxhall, and through the Black Castle cottage times with dear Sophy and all. What changes and chances, and ups and downs, we have seen together!