He never seems to have been deficient in energetic decision. While he was at Oxford he was present in the courts when a prisoner was on trial for a felony, and observed that the foreman of the jury was completely inattentive to the testimony. While the judge was engaged, the foreman, having observed that Mr. Edgeworth was interested in the trial, asked him what verdict he ought to give. Mr. Edgeworth rose and requested permission to speak. The judge ordered him to sit down; he remained standing, and was threatened by the judge, but still he persevered. He at length obtained a hearing, and stated to the court the manner in which the juror was trifling with his obligations. For this he received the thanks of the court, expressed in terms of strong approbation of the course which he had pursued. He was still young though a married man, when he lost this parent to whom he was indebted for such judicious instructions. He describes her as a woman of fine understanding, who had read much and thought more on the subject of education, and had applied the results of her thought and study to practice, not fettering herself by servile adherence to any system, but watching carefully the young minds under her control, and giving each the restraint or encouragement, the counsel and warning which it happened to need. She set to her children the example of unpretending piety, and generous benevolence; and enforced all her lessons by the commanding authority of a clear and cultivated mind, which inspires confidence even in children, though they know not why, by producing that consistency of feeling and action, which is always sure to be respected. The taste for mechanical inventions, which seems to have been natural, or, what perhaps is the same thing, early inspired in Mr. Edgeworth, was never lost in the domestic and social cares and interests of later years. Before he had entered upon professional business, he employed himself in making under unfavorable circumstances, and with indifferent tools, awooden orrery which required accurate calculation and ingenious contrivance. Though no one cared for his pursuits or sympathized with his success, he kept up his interest in the employment, devoting most of his time to scientific researches. He regretted that his wife had so little regard to his favorite indulgences; but she fortunately had domestic qualifications which were of more importance to his welfare, and by her prudence and good NO. 90. VOL. XLII. - 20 management, he was able to live in this manner without a very ample income. When he went to London to keep term at the Temple, he became acquainted with some persons of note who are described at large in his memoirs. Among these was Sir Francis Delaval, one of those men of genius whose ability is admired perhaps more than it deserves, in consequence of the indifference with which it is regarded by its possessor. Sir Francis Delaval was a man of similar taste in some respects with Mr. Edgeworth. We do not refer to moral tastes in which the baronet was not the best example; but he had never failing resources of invention, which were employed in various wild pranks which served to amuse an idle hour. He often aided his friends with suggestions which saved them from the consequences of foolish wagers, a kind of child's play, which was then as now very common among those who neglected the serious business of life. Mr. Edgeworth, though he had no sympathy with these follies, was interested in Sir Francis as a man of talent, and it was this association which led to the first construction of a telegraph, by which the name of a winning horse at Newmarket was to be transmitted to London some hours before the intelligence could be carried by express. Mr. Edgeworth's claim to the invention of a telegraph, which was used on this occasion, has exposed him to much abuse, which, as in many other cases, loses its power to injure by reason of the malice with which it is given. He said that he had read the work of Wilkins, and had seen in Stooke's works some suggestion of such communication. Every one knows that such things were in use in ancient times. What he claimed was to have revived this invention; and this claim is evidently made in reference to the French experiments which were many years subsequent to his own. Now that Mr. Edgeworth did construct and use a telegraph in 1767, cannot well be denied; nor is there any question that the French invention was made public many years after; and these facts, so far as we can discover, go to the full extent of his claim. As to his originating the idea of a telegraph in modern times, he does not even pretend it; he expressly says that he took the suggestion from Wilkins and Stooke. It is not easy to state his claims in a more modest and inoffensive form. But a certain journal, notorious for its base and narrow prejudices, made a venomous attack upon his veracity in reviewing his memoirs, and founded its charge upon this very invention. Mr. Perrot, Mr. Edgeworth said, was witness to his experiments, and assisted him; and he procured Mr. Perrot's letter, in which he testifies that he had conversations with Mr. Edgeworth on the subject, and recollected the experiments which were made. Now says this amiable journal, Mr. Edgeworth implies that Mr. Perrot gave practical assistance, and his letter proves that he did not. It is evident enough to all who can read that Mr. Edgeworth neither says nor implies any such thing. All the assistance implied is such as would be given by suggestions in conversation upon the subject in connexion with his own experiments. This same poor spirit of criticism can deprive Fulton and every other man of genius of the honor of his acknowledged inventions, since nothing is so new under the sun as never to have been suggested before. When Sir Francis Delaval was dying, he expressed to Mr. Edgeworth his bitter regret that he had wasted the resources of his inventive genius in trifles, and strongly exhorted his young friend, if he wished to escape remorse in his closing scene, to make himself useful to mankind. Mr. Edgeworth does not seem to have needed this advice; it was always his ambition to turn his powers to this account. Beside the many inventions by which he increased the comfort of his household, and others which seem like playful suggestions of an active and original mind, he acted the part of a good citizen, and gave his country or rather offered his country the benefit of his services, and at a critical moment attempted to revive the plan of transmitting intelligence by means of his telegraphic signals. In 1794, the apprehension of a French invasion was general in Ireland, and rumors of the landing of hostile armies kept the country in constant agitation. Mr. Edgeworth asked of the government nothing more than the privilege of putting up a telegraph at his own expense, or in any way that the public authorities might approve. After establishing the practicability of his plan, he submitted a memorial to the government on the subject, which was approved and encouraged so far as to leave no doubt in his mind that his offer would be accepted, but after he had spent several hundred pounds, and given much of his time to the subject, he was informed that nothing would be done. Whether it was that the government had changed its mind, or that it never intended to engage in the undertaking, does not appear. He himself always ascribed it to the fetters which statesmen and leaders of parties are compelled to wear. Men in power are apt to be men under authority; and while all are envying their high station of command, they are themselves compelled to submit to the dictation of some unseen masters. Shortly after the rejection of his telegraph, the French were on the coasts. Without taking exception at his former treatment, he renewed his offers; but they were accepted in form, and declined in reality, as before. It is much to his credit that this kind of experience never overcame his good nature, nor abated his zeal for the welfare and honor of his country. As to the extent to which the government was pledged to him, there can be no doubt that it encouraged him to go on with his experiments, and it was not till he had incurred considerable expense that he was informed that the plan would not be adopted. If it were a case between two individuals, there can be no doubt as to the obligation of the party which thus encouraged the other; although there was no positive promise, there was an equitable claim created, which could not honorably be disregarded. Mr. Edgeworth published a letter to the Earl of Charlemont, containing a temperate statement of all the circumstances; the tone in which it is written is philosophical and high-minded. At a much later period of his life, Mr. Edgeworth published a work on Roads and Wheel-carriages, describing the results of many intelligent experiments. These were of various kinds; among other things, he pointed out the benefit of springs in carriages to the animals that draw them. It was well known, that the person conveyed was benefited by the springs of the vehicle, but it was not suspected that the horses were also laid under obligations; in fact, the contrary was taken for granted. By these and many other suggestions, of great value, but not ostentatiously proclaimed, he lent efficient aid in preparing the way for the great improvements of modern times. He even struck out the idea of a railway, and applied it on his own estate, to the transportation of materials from one part of it to another. In reclaiming the bogs of Ireland, he proposed to employ wooden railways shod with iron; these were supported on piles driven into the bog; not permanently attached to them, but so constructed that the rail and its support could be removed at pleasure, to any line in which it was necessary for the cars to go. After having tested the value of this invention, by using it to convey limestone over his farm, he undertook to apply it on a great scale to public works, and entered upon an engagement with the proprietors of extensive iron-works, to carry all their materials and productions upon railways of this description. Finding however, that the company was not prosperous, he never carried the plan into effect; but his successful experiments on his own estate, showed that the conveyance could be employed to advantage; and as to the honor of the invention, what great public improvement was ever carried to perfection or applied to all its purposes by a single hand? But we pass from subjects of this kind to consider what Mr. Edgeworth did in the great cause of education, which now inspires so general an interest, that we can hardly conceive how little it was regarded thirty years ago. He always had the highest views of its importance. At some times, he seemed inclined to ascribe to it all the moral and intellectual varieties which are found in the civilized world; but he appeared at last to settle down in the conviction, that while there were certain original differences in minds, by far the greatest differences are those which arise from education. Regarding the subject in this light, he felt how great was the obligation which rested on parents, on teachers, and on statesmen also, who can do more to influence the destinies of their respective nations by giving or withholding encouragement to instruction, than by any other means or measures in their power. Mr. Edgeworth undertook to educate his eldest son, according to the system of Rousseau, which was then new to the world, and from the novelty of the subject and the method of treating it, made a great impression upon enlightened minds. It was not then known that the fervent pleader of the claims of childhood on parental care, was in the habit of sending his own children to be educated in the Foundling Hospital, where he might never hear of them again. It is curious to observe the enthusiasm with which Day, the author of Sandford and Merton, speaks of Rousseau, as the greatest and best of men. Mr. Edgeworth was not a slave to the system, and he was soon convinced by the results of his experiment that the system was unsound. So far as physical education went, there was nothing to desire; the boy was active, hardy and strong; but the spirit of independence which had been systematically encouraged in him, outgrew all control. Having no taste for |