The Nation Needs Mental Strength
We often know what is right, but very few will stand up for it against the crowd or even against our own family.
I’ve just finished a rather obscure book, Helen, by the Anglo-Irish author Maria Edgeworth. It was Edgeworth’s last novel, published in 1834, and no longer in print. Politically advanced for her time, Edgeworth believed in the education of women, the granting of citizenship to Catholics, and the acceptance of Jews. With her father, she published Practical Education (1798), which appeared the same year as Wordsworth and Coleridge’s revolutionary Lyrical Ballads. Practical Education was not a radically romantic book, but rather a how-to primer that could be used in any school, reducing the role of memorization, eliminating religious instruction, and introducing geography and chemistry.
Helen may be said to be a novel of education — the education of Helen and her best friend Lady Cecilia. Helen is an orphan who is brought to live under the care of Lady Ceclia’s mother, the brilliant Lady Davenant, who has quietly exerted her power in politics. Lady Davenant has brought Helen to her house because she has loved her since she was a child and to help her save Lady Cecilia. For while Lady Cecilia is beautiful, charming, and wants to make…
