Edgeworth was in that year removed to a school in London, and her
holidays were often spent with her father's friend Thomas Day, the author
of "Sandford and Merton," an eccentric enthusiast who lived then at
Anningsley, in Surrey.

Maria Edgeworth--always a little body--was conspicuous among her
schoolfellows for quick wit, and was apt alike for study and invention.
She was story-teller general to the community. In 1782, at the age of
fifteen, she left school and went home with her father and his third
wife, who then settled finally at Edgeworthstown.

At Edgeworthstown Richard Lovell Edgeworth now became active in the
direct training of his children, in the improvement of his estate, and in
schemes for the improvement of the country. His eldest daughter, Maria,
showing skill with the pen, he made her more and more his companion and
fellow-worker to good ends. She kept household accounts, had entrusted
to her the whole education of a little brother, wrote stories on a slate
and read them to the family, wiped them off when not approved, and copied
them in ink if they proved popular with the home public. Miss
Edgeworth's first printed book was a plea for the education of women,
"Letters to Literary Ladies," published in 1795, when her age was eight-
and-twenty. Next year, 1796, working with her father, she produced the
first volume of the "Parent's Assistant." In November, 1797, when Miss
Edgeworth's age was nearly thirty-one, her father, then aged fifty-three,
lost his third wife, and he married a fourth in the following May. The
fourth wife, at first objected to, was young enough to be a companion and
friend, and between her and Maria Edgeworth a fast friendship came to be
established. In the year of her father's fourth marriage Maria joined
him in the production of two volumes on "Practical Education." Then
followed books for children, including "Harry and Lucy," which had been