Richard Lovell Edgeworth | Page 4

sight of this machine, probably more
than another child's might have been, because previous agreeable
associations had given me some taste for mechanics, which was still a
little further increased by the pleasure I took in examining this
glittering contrivance. Thus even the most trivial incidents in childhood
act reciprocally as cause and effect in forming our tastes.'
It was in 1754 that Mrs. Edgeworth, continuing much out of health,
resolved to consult a certain Lord Trimblestone, who had been very
successful in curing various complaints. Lord Trimblestone received
Mr. and Mrs. Edgeworth most cordially and hospitably, and though he
could not hope to cure her, recommended some palliatives. He had
more success with another lady whose disorder was purely nervous. His
treatment of her was so original that I must quote it at length:
'Instead of a grave and forbidding physician, her host, she found, was a
man of most agreeable manners. Lady Trimblestone did everything in
her power to entertain her guest, and for two or three days the demon of
ennui was banished. At length the lady's vapours returned; everything
appeared changed. Melancholy brought on a return of alarming nervous
complaints--convulsions of the limbs --perversion of the
understanding--a horror of society; in short, all the complaints that are
to be met with in an advertisement enumerating the miseries of a
nervous patient. In the midst of one of her most violent fits, four mutes,
dressed in white, entered her apartment; slowly approaching her, they
took her without violence in their arms, and without giving her time to
recollect herself, conveyed her into a distant chamber hung with black
and lighted with green tapers. From the ceiling, which was of a
considerable height, a swing was suspended, in which she was placed
by the mutes, so as to be seated at some distance from the ground. One

of the mutes set the swing in motion; and as it approached one end of
the room, she was opposed by a grim menacing figure armed with a
huge rod of birch. When she looked behind her, she saw a similar
figure at the other end of the room, armed in the same manner. The
terror, notwithstanding the strange circumstances which surrounded her,
was not of that sort which threatens life; but every instant there was an
immediate hazard of bodily pain. After some time, the mutes appeared
again, with great composure took the lady out of the swing, and
conducted her to her apartment. When she had reposed some time, a
servant came to inform her that tea was ready. Fear of what might be
the consequence of a refusal prevented her from declining to appear.
No notice was taken of what had happened, and the evening and the
next day passed without any attack of her disorder. On the third day the
vapours returned--the mutes reappeared--the menacing flagellants again
affrighted her, and again she enjoyed a remission of her complaints. By
degrees the fits of her disorder became less frequent, the ministration of
her tormentors less necessary, and in time the habits of
hypochondriacism were so often interrupted, and such a new series of
ideas was introduced into her mind, that she recovered perfect health,
and preserved to the end of her life sincere gratitude for her
adventurous physician.'
Three years were spent by Richard at Corpus Christi College, Oxford,
while his vacations were often passed at Bath by the wish of his father,
who was anxious that his son should be introduced to good society at
an early age. It was there that Richard saw Beau Nash,' the popular
monarch of Bath,' and also 'the remains of the celebrated Lord
Chesterfield. I looked in vain for that fire, which we expect to see in the
eye of a man of wit and genius. He was obviously unhappy, and a
melancholy spectacle.' Of the young ladies he says: 'I soon perceived
that those who made the best figure in the ballroom were not always
qualified to please in conversation; I saw that beauty and grace were
sometimes accompanied by a frivolous character, by disgusting envy,
or despicable vanity. All this I had read of in poetry and prose, but
there is a wide difference, especially among young people, between
what is read and related, and what is actually seen. Books and advice
make much more impression in proportion as we grow older. We find

by degrees that those who lived before us have recorded as the result of
their experience the very things that we observe to be true.'
It was while still at college that he married Miss Elers without waiting
for his father's consent; he soon found that his young wife did not
sympathise with his pursuits; but he adds, 'Though I heartily repented
my folly, I determined to