CHAPTER VII.
IN FRANCE AND AT HOME.
The peace, or rather the truce, of Amiens had induced many travellers to visit France. They all returned enraptured with what they had seen of society in Paris, and with the masterpieces of art dragged thither as the spoils of military despotism. Letters from some of these tourists awakened in Mr. Edgeworth a wish to revisit France. The desire took shape as resolve after the visit to Edgeworthstown of M. Pietet, of Geneva, who promised the family letters of introduction to, and a cordial welcome among, the thinkers of the land. As translator of Practical Education, and as the editor of the Bibliothéque Britannique,[1] in which he had published most of Miss Edgeworth's Moral Tales, and detailed criticisms of both father and daughter, he had certainly prepared the way for their favourable reception. The tour was therefore arranged for the autumn of 1802, a roomy coach was purchased, and in September Mr., Mrs., Miss, and Miss Charlotte Edgeworth, started for their continental trip.
- ↑ Miss Edgeworth erroneously, but persistently, speaks of this publication as the Journal Britannique.
