* * * * *

With M. de Stael and Madame de Broglie Miss Edgeworth was particularly
happy. It had been reported that Madame de Stael had said of Maria's
writings "que Miss Edgeworth etait digne de l'enthousiasme, mais qu'elle
s'est perdue dans la triste utilite." "Ma mere n'a jamais dit ca,"
Madame de Broglie indignantly declared, "elle etait incapable!" She saw,
indeed, the enthusiastic admiration which Maria felt for her mother's
genius, and she was gratified by the regard and esteem which Maria
showed for her and her brother, and the sympathy she expressed in their
affection for each other, and in their kindness to their little Rocca
brother.

* * * * *

MARIA _to_ MISS HONORA EDGEWORTH.

LYONS, HOTEL DU NORD, _Oct. 22, 1820_.

Lyons! is it possible that I am really at Lyons, of which I have heard
my father speak so much? Lyons! where his active spirit once reigned,
and where now scarce a trace, a memory of him remains. The Perraches all
gone, Carpentiers no more to be heard of, Bons a name unknown; De la
Verpilliere--one descendant has a fine house here, but he is in the
country.

The look of the town and the fine facades of the principal buildings,
and the Place de Bellecour, were the more melancholy to me from knowing
them so well in the prints in the great portfolio, with such a radiance
thrown over them by his descriptions. I hear his voice saying, La Place