The Absentee
1812
The Absentee, published in 1812 by Maria Edgeworth, is a novel that critiques the lives of Irish landlords living in England, particularly through the character of Lady Clonbrony, who struggles for acceptance in high society while neglecting her responsibilities in Ireland. The story follows her son, Lord Colambre, as he grapples with his family's debts and the implications of absentee landlordism, ultimately leading him to return to Ireland to confront their estate's realities. Edgeworth's work is notable for its early exploration of social class, identity, and duty, reflecting her advanced views on estate management and politics for a woman of her time.
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“Remember, we can judge better by the conduct of people towards others than by their manner towards ourselves.””
— Maria Edgeworth
“Make it a rule, you know, to believe only half the world says.””
— Maria Edgeworth
“there were several SQUIREENS, or little squires; a race of men who have succeeded to the BUCKEENS, described by Young and Crumpe. SQUIREENS are persons who, with good long leases, or valuable farms , possess incomes from three to eight hundred a year; who keep a pack of hounds; TAKE OUT a commission of the peace, sometimes before they can spell (as her ladyship said), and almost always before they know anything of law or justice! Busy and loud about small matters; JOBBERS AT ASSIZES , combining with one another, and trying upon every occasion, public or private, to push themselves forward, to the annoyance of their superiors, and the terror of those below them. In the usual course of things, these men are not often to be found in the society of gentry; except , perhaps, among those gentlemen or noblemen who like to see hangers-on at their tables; or who find it for their convenience to have underling magistrates, to protect their favourites , or to propose and CARRY jobs for them on grand juries. At election times, however, these persons rise into sudden importance with all who have views upon the county.””
— Maria Edgeworth
“Formerly, a few families had set the fashion. From time immemorial everything had, in Dublin, been submitted to their hereditary authority; and conversation, though it had been rendered polite by their example, was, at the same time, limited within narrow bounds. Young people, educated upon a more enlarged plan, in time grew up; and, no authority or fashion forbidding it, necessarily rose to their just place, and enjoyed their due influence in society. The want of manners, joined to the want of knowledge in the new set, created universal disgust: they were compelled, some by ridicule, some by bankruptcies, to fall back into their former places, from which they could never more emerge. In the meantime, some of the Irish nobility and gentry who had been living at an unusual expense in London”
— Maria Edgeworth
