RICHARD LOVELL EDGEWORTH.

_Edgeworthstown, May_ 31,1817.

_Note_--Mr. Edgeworth died a few days after he wrote this Preface--the
13th June, 1817.

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HARRINGTON.





CHAPTER I.

When I was a little boy of about six years old, I was standing with a
maid-servant in the balcony of one of the upper rooms of my father's house
in London--it was the evening of the first day that I had ever been in
London, and my senses had been excited, and almost exhausted, by the vast
variety of objects that were new to me. It was dusk, and I was growing
sleepy, but my attention was awakened by a fresh wonder. As I stood peeping
between the bars of the balcony, I saw star after star of light appear in
quick succession, at a certain height and distance, and in a regular line,
approaching nearer and nearer. I twitched the skirt of my maid's gown
repeatedly, but she was talking to some acquaintance at the window of a