These, with the assistance of a good workman, I executed
successfully. I then (in 1776) finished a clock on a new
construction. Its accuracy was tried at the Observatory at Oxford
. . . and it is now (in 1809) going well at my house in Ireland.'
Edgeworth now enjoyed the pleasure of having an intelligent
companion, and says: 'My wife had an eager desire for knowledge of
all sorts, and, perhaps to please me, became an excellent theoretic
mechanic. Mechanical amusements occupied my mornings, and I
dedicated my evenings to the best books upon various subjects. I
strenuously endeavoured to improve my own understanding, and to
communicate whatever I knew to my wife. Indeed, while we read and
conversed together during the long winter evenings, the clearness of
her judgment assisted me in every pursuit of literature in which I
was engaged; as her understanding had arrived at maturity before she
had acquired any strong prejudices on historical subjects, she
derived uncommon advantage from books.
'We had frequent visitors from town; and as our acquaintance were
people of literature and science, conversation with them exercised
and arranged her thoughts upon whatever subject they were employed.
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