Maria Edgeworth

“ Your punishments—your vengeance ought to fall on me alone!'
'Sir,' said Dr. Middleton, calmly, 'I perceive that whatever else you may have learned in the course of your education, you have not been taught the meaning of the word punishment. Punishment and vengeance do not with us mean the same thing. Punishment is pain given, with the reasonable hope of preventing those on whom it is inflicted from doing, in future, what will hurt themselves or others. Vengeance never looks to the future, but is the expression of anger for an injury that is past. ”

“ You are good-natured, Cecilia; for you are desirous to oblige and serve your companions—to gain them praise, and save them from blame—to give them pleasure, and relieve them from pain; but Leonora is good-tempered, for she can bear with their foibles, and acknowledge her own. Without disputing about the right, she sometimes yields to those who are in the wrong. In short, her temper is perfectly good; for it can bear and forbear.' 'I wish that mine could!' said Cecilia, sighing. ”

“ Piedro could never more show his face in this market, and all hopes of friendship—all hopes of partnership with Francisco—were for ever at an end.
If rogues would calculate, they would cease to be rogues; for they would certainly discover that it is most for their interest to be honest—setting aside the pleasure of being esteemed and beloved, of having a safe conscience, with perfect freedom from all the various embarrassments and terror to which knaves are subject. ”

“ Respect is not an improper word, even applied to a child of Laura's age; for let the age or situation of the person be what it may, they command respect who deserve it.
'Ah, madam!' said Rosamond to her godmother, 'now you see—you see she is not a little miser. I'm sure that's better than wasting half a guinea upon a filigree basket; is it not, ma'am?' said she, with an eagerness which showed that she had forgotten all her own misfortunes in sympathy with her sister. ”

“ To each their sufferings—all are men
Condemn'd alike to groan;
The feeling for another's woes,
Th' unfeeling for his own.
'I know you now perfectly well,' cried Francisco; 'you are the Improvisatore who, one fine moonlight night last summer, told us the story of Cornaro the Turk.'
'The same,' said the Improvisatore; 'the same, though in a better dress, which I should not have thought would have made so much difference in your eyes, though it makes all the difference between man and man in the eyes of the stupid vulgar. My genius has broken through the clouds of misfortune of late. ”

“ Susan clasped her hands in silence, more expressive than words. “You can help it, Susan.” She started up in an ecstasy. “What would you give now to have your father at home for a whole week longer?”
“Anything!—but I have nothing.”
“Yes, but you have, a lamb,” said the hard-hearted attorney.
“My poor little lamb!” said Susan; “but what can that do?”
“What good can any lamb do? Is not lamb good to eat? Why do you look so pale, girl? Are not sheep killed every day, and don’t you eat mutton? Is your lamb better than anybody else’s, think you?” ”

“ Young ladies should not be so forward to give opinions and advice to their elder brothers unasked; and I presume that Mr. Frederick and I must know what's right as well as Miss Marianne. Hush! here he is. Oh, the capital figure!' cried Mrs. Theresa. 'Bravo, bravo!' cried she, as Frederick entered in the chimney-sweeper's dress; and as he spoke, saying, 'I'm afraid, please your ladyship, to dirt your ladyship's carpet,' she broke out into immoderate raptures, calling him 'her charming chimney-sweeper!' and repeating that she knew beforehand the character would do for him. ”

“ I need say no more about it.'
'I hear something,' continued Sir Arthur, after a short silence—'I hear something, Mr. Price, of a flaw in your lease. I would not speak to you about it whilst we were bargaining about your land, lest I should overawe you; but, tell me, what is this flaw?'
'In truth, and the truth is the fittest thing to be spoken at all times,' said the farmer, 'I didn't know myself what a flaw, as they call it, meant, till I heard of the word from Attorney Case; and, I take it, a flaw is neither more nor less than a mistake, as one should say. ”

“ Let those who are tempted to do wrong by the hopes of future gratification, or the prospect of certain concealment and impunity, remember that, unless they are totally depraved, they bear in their own hearts a monitor, who will prevent their enjoying what they ill obtained.
In vain Cecilia ran to the rest of her companions, to display her present, in hopes that the applause of others would restore her own self-complacency; in vain she saw the Flora pass in due pomp from hand to hand, each vying with the other in extolling the beauty of the gift and the generosity of the giver. ”

“ Do, Edmund; do, Mary—let us go to him, and put him in mind of all this.”
“I’ll go to him no more,” said Edmund, sturdily. “He is a bad man—I’ll never go to him again. Mary, don’t be cast down—we have no need to be cast down—we are honest.”
“True,” said Mary; “but is not it a hard case that we, who have lived, as my mother did all her life before us, in peace and honesty with all the world, should now have our good name taken from us, when—” Mary’s voice faltered and stopped.
“It can’t be taken from us,” cried Edmund, “poor orphans though we are, and he a rich gentleman, as he calls himself. ”

“ I am innocent; but if I were not, I would never try to get off myself by betraying my companions.”
“Very well, sir! very well! very fine! stick to it, stick to it, I advise you, and we shall see. And how will you look to-morrow, Mr. Innocent, when my uncle, the doctor, comes home?”
“As I do now, sir,” said Hardy, unmoved.
His composure threw Mr. Power into a rage too great for utterance. “Sir,” continued Hardy, “ever since I have been at school, I never told a lie, and therefore, sir, I hope you will believe me now. Upon my word and honour, sir, I have done nothing wrong.” ”

“ Susan's lamb!' and there was a universal shout of joy.
'Well, for my part,' said the good butcher, as soon as he could be heard,—'for my part, I would not be so cruel as Attorney Case for the whole world. These poor brute beasts don't know aforehand what's going to happen to them; and as for dying, it's what we must all do some time or another; but to keep wringing the hearts of the living, that have as much sense as one's self, is what I call cruel; and is not this what Attorney Case has been doing by poor Susan and her whole family, ever since he took a spite against them? ”

“ Without determining which species of love is the most flattering to others, we can easily decide which is the most agreeable feeling to our minds. We give our hearts more credit for being generous than for being just; and we feel more self-complacency when we give our love voluntarily, than when we yield it as a tribute which we cannot withhold. Though Cecilia's companions might not know all this in theory, they proved it in practice; for they loved her in a much higher proportion to her merits than they loved Leonora. ”

“ When Miss Somers endeavoured to find out conversation that would interest her, and spoke of walks and flowers and gardening, of which she was herself fond, Miss Barbara still thought herself undervalued, and soon contrived to expose her ignorance most completely, by talking of things which she did not understand.
Those who never attempt to appear what they are not—those who do not in their manners pretend to anything unsuited to their habits and situation in life, never are in danger of being laughed at by sensible, well-bred people of any rank ”

“ At this Archer grew more and more angry, and when Fisher was proceeding to speak nonsense for him, pushed forward into the circle to De Grey, crying, 'I wish, Mr. Fisher, you would let me fight my own battles!'
'And I wish,' said young Townsend, who was fonder of diversions than of premiums, or battles, or of anything else—'I wish that we were not to have any battles; after having worked like horses, don't set about to fight like dogs. Come,' said he, tapping De Grey's shoulder, 'let us see your new playhouse, do—it's a holiday, and let us make the most of it. ”

“ Why do you all look so? And am I to be put to shame on my birthday?” cried she, bursting into a roar of passion; “and all for this nasty thing!” added she, pushing away the remains of the basket, and looking angrily at Rosamond.
“Bell! Bell! O, fie! fie!—Now I am ashamed of you; that’s quite rude to your cousin,” said her mother, who was more shocked at her daughter’s want of politeness than at her falsehood. “Take her away, Nancy, till she has done crying,” added she to the maid, who accordingly carried off her pupil. ”

“ Hardy smiled; and Loveit, half afraid of his contempt, and half afraid of Tarlton’s ridicule, stood doubtful, and again had recourse to his battledore, which he balanced most curiously upon his forefinger. “Look at him!—now do look at him!” cried Tarlton; “did you ever in your life see anybody look so silly?—Hardy has him quite under his thumb; he’s so mortally afraid of Parson Prig, that he dare not, for the soul of him, turn either of his eyes from the tip of his nose; look how he squints!” ”

“ At these words Loveit first, and immediately all the rest of the guilty party, stepped out of the ranks, confessed their fault, and declared themselves ready to bear any punishment their master thought proper.
“Oh, they have been punished enough,” said the old man; “forgive them, sir.”
Hardy looked as if he wished to speak. “Not because you ask it,” said Mr. Trueman to the guilty penitents, “though I should be glad to oblige you—it wouldn’t be just; but there,” pointing to Hardy, “there is one who has merited a reward; the highest I can give him is that of pardoning his companions.” ”

“ One must ask a wit, like a fine singer, so often. Well, but now for the favour I was going to ask you.'
Frederick looked surprised; for he thought that the favour of his company was what she meant; but she explained herself farther.
'As to the old Quaker who lodges above, old Ephraim Eden—my Lady Battersby and I have so much diversion about him. He is the best character, the oddest creature! If you were but to see him come into the rooms with those stiff skirts, or walking with his eternal sister Bertha, and his everlasting broad-brimmed hat! One knows him a mile off! ”

“ Susan found her friend Rose at the hawthorn, in the midst of a crowded circle of her companions, to whom she was reading “Susan’s Lamentation for her Lamb.”
“The words are something, but the tune—the tune—I must have the tune,” cried Philip. “I’ll ask my mother to ask Sir Arthur to try and find out which way that good old man went after the ball; and if he’s above ground, we’ll have him back by Susan’s birthday, and he shall sit here—just exactly here by this, our bush, and he shall play—I mean, if he pleases—that same tune for us, and I shall learn it—I mean, if I can—in a minute.” ”

“ You'll allow I'm no fool, Francisco, and that I'm in a fair way to grow rich, if I go on as I have begun.'
'Stay,' said Francisco; 'you forgot that the booby you took in to-day will not be so easily taken in to-morrow. He will buy no more fish from you, because he will be afraid of your cheating him; but he will be ready enough to buy fruit from me, because he will know I shall not cheat him—so you'll have lost a customer, and I gained one.'
'With all my heart,' said Piedro. 'One customer does not make a market; if he buys no more from me, what care I? ”

“ Her sister observed that Susan looked as if her thoughts were far distant from gowns.
'If you don't fancy any of these things,' said the civil shopkeeper to Susan, 'we shall have a new assortment of calicoes for the spring season soon from town.' 'Oh,' interrupted Susan, with a smile and a blush, 'these are all pretty, and too good for me, but——' 'But what, Susan?' said Miss Somers. 'Tell us what is passing in your little mind.' Susan hesitated. 'Well then, we will not press you, you are scarcely acquainted with us yet; when you are, you will not be afraid, I hope, to speak your mind. ”

“ The ground is a thing not worth talking of; but it's neither yours nor mine. In my memory, since the new lane was made, it has always been open to the parish; and no man shall enclose it with my good-will. Truth is truth, and must be spoken; justice is justice, and should be done, Mr. Attorney.'
'And law is law, Mr. Farmer, and shall have its course, to your cost,' cried the attorney, exasperated by the dauntless spirit of this village Hampden. ”

“ The housekeeper, who had known Susan from a child, was pleased to have an opportunity in speaking in her favour. 'She is the most industrious little creature, ma'am, in the world,' said she to her mistress. 'Little I can't so well call her now, since she's grown tall and slender to look at; and glad I am she is grown up likely to look at; for handsome is that handsome does; she thinks no more of her being handsome than I do myself; yet she has as proper a respect for herself, ma'am, as you have; and I always see her neat, and with her mother, ma'am, or fit people, as a girl should be. ”

“ It would be curious to calculate how much good time has been sacrificed to saving worthless pieces of string in imitation of this thrifty but fascinating hero. But after all nothing is to compare to Simple Susan: how pretty the scene is where Susan, working in her arbour, hears the sound of her friend Philip's pipe and tabor; the children come across the green with their garlands, leading up Susan's lamb tied up with ribbons, the wicked agent skulks away; innocence and beauty triumph over wrong. ”

“ Theresa approached, the crowd opened in silence, and in the midst she beheld Frederick, with blood streaming from his face. His head was held by Christopher; and the chimney-sweeper was holding a basin for him. 'Merciful! what will become of me?' exclaimed Mrs. Theresa. 'Bleeding! he'll bleed to death! Can nobody think of anything that will stop blood in a minute? A key, a large key down his back—a key—has nobody a key? Mr. and Mrs. Montague will be here before he has done bleeding. ”

“ Change your trade ever so often, you’ll be found out for what you are at last.”
“And what am I, pray?” said Piedro, angrily. “The whole truth of the matter is, Francisco, that you envy my good luck, and can’t bear to hear this money jingle in my hand. Ay, stroke the long ears of your ass, and look as wise as you please. It’s better to be lucky than wise, as my father says. Good morning to you. When I am found out for what I am, or when the worst comes to the worst, I can drive a stupid ass, with his panniers filled with rubbish, as well as you do now, honest Francisco.” ”

“ Next to Colonel Epaulette, Frederick, at Marianne’s particular desire, came into the room like Sir Charles Slang.
“Very well, brother,” cried she, “your hand down to the very bottom of your pocket, and your other shoulder up to your ear; but you are not quite wooden enough, and you should walk as if your hip were out of joint. There now, Mrs. Tattle, are not those good eyes? They stare so like his, without seeming to see anything all the while.”
“Excellent! admirable! Mr. Frederick. I must say that you are the best mimic of your age I ever saw, and I’m sure Lady Battersby will think so too. ”