[To THE EDITOR OT THE "SPECTATOR. ")
SIR,—In the interesting article on " Wanted—an Irish Sir Walter " in the Spectator of April 18th the writer speaks of Irish novelists of the past with their " rollicking taproom stuff " and of the modern " sorrow-laden" Irish fiction. He asks why has no one drawn the character of the Irish peasantry as Sir Walter drew Scotsmen. Surely Miss Edgeworth should not be forgotten in such a connection. " The confidential Irish family servant," Thady Quirk, tells the story of " Castle Rackrent " in a brilliant sketch which shows an easy-going Irish family to the life ; and what " Saxon " who has ever read " The Absentee " can forget Larry Brady, the postillion, or the Widow O'Neill and her family P Mrs. Raffarty, Garraghty, the agent, and the Clonbronys represent Irish types in different social positions. "Ennui," too, contains vivid descriptions of Irish manners. The omission is perhaps the more noteworthy since Miss Edgeworth helped to inspire Scott in his own novels. At the end of " Waverley " the following passage occurs :—
"It has been my object to describe these persons, not by a caricatured and exaggerated use of the national dialect, but by their habits, manners, and feelings ; so as in some distant degree to emulate the admirable Irish portraits drawn by Miss Edge- worth, so different from the Teagues ' and `dear joys,' who so long, with the most perfect family resemblance to each other, occupied the drama and the noveL"
In Miss Edgeworth's Memoirs a letter is given from her " To the Author of Waverley—Aut Scotus ant Diabolus," in which, after an enthusiastic review of the book, she tells of her sur- prise and delight in discovering this testimony in the " Post- script which should have been a Preface" at the end of the book which had been entrancing her.—I am, Sir, &c., S.
[We had not forgotten Miss E dgeworth ; but she is a Jane Austen rather than a Scott. Ireland wants a " Wizard of the West," not a genre painter, however good. What is required is that touch of romance and heroism which by "its heavenly alchemy " will make things Irish golden for all readers of our tongue.—ED. Spectator.]
Previous page
