Project Gutenberg 2005-12-01 Public domain in the USA. 165 Edgeworth, Maria 1767 1849 Edgeworth, Eliza Tales and Novels — Volume 04 Reading ease score: 70.2 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. Castle Rackrent -- An essay on Irish bulls -- An essay on the noble science of self-justification -- Ennui -- The dun. Text file produced by Jonathan Ingram, Tapio Riikonen and PG Distributed Proofreaders HTML file produced by David Widger "Tales and Novels — Volume 04" by Maria Edgeworth is a collection of narratives likely written in the early 19th century. Central to the volume is "Castle Rackrent," a story that revolves around the Rackrent family, told from the perspective of "honest Thady Quirk," the old steward who captures the idiosyncrasies and misadventures of those who have inherited the family's estate over the years. Through Thady’s anecdotes, Edgeworth explores themes of social status, the folly of the gentry, and the unique character of Irish life. At the start of "Castle Rackrent," Thady Quirk introduces himself and his longstanding position within the Rackrent family, eager to share their history. He recounts the lavish life of the family's ancestors, particularly Sir Patrick, whose hospitality was renowned, followed by the more disreputable heirs, including the litigative Sir Murtagh and the careless Sir Kit. The narrative sets up a contrast between the familial pride of the Rackrents and their descent into farce, culminating in humorous, yet poignant, reflections on their decline. This opening section establishes a rich setting and a colorful cast of characters, suggesting a blend of humor and social commentary that invites readers to delve deeper into the tales of this charmingly dysfunctional family. (This is an automatically generated summary.) en Fiction Essays PR Text Browsing: Literature Browsing: Fiction 1147754 1147755 2024-10-04T10:49:03.490363 2023-10-04T09:41:36.705742 text/html text/html 1192365 2021-02-25T23:01:44 text/html; charset=utf-8 403423 2021-02-25T23:01:48 text/html; charset=utf-8 application/zip 495018 2024-10-04T10:49:18.101295 application/epub+zip 513855 2024-10-04T10:49:07.612338 application/epub+zip 499897 2024-10-04T10:49:05.932451 application/epub+zip 886365 2024-10-04T10:49:26.330266 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 820453 2024-10-04T10:49:16.861281 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 782645 2022-09-05T04:11:24.945263 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 982923 982792 2024-10-04T10:49:01.341388 2023-10-04T09:41:34.806704 text/plain; charset=us-ascii text/plain 996623 2016-12-20T06:41:34 text/plain; charset=utf-8 381851 2016-12-20T06:46:36 text/plain; charset=utf-8 application/zip 982483 2013-06-09T12:31:36 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 379937 2013-06-09T12:33:16 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 982475 2013-06-09T12:31:26 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 379559 2013-06-09T12:33:16 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 23512 2024-10-04T10:49:26.477219 application/rdf+xml 15817 2024-10-04T10:49:06.518325 image/jpeg 3870 2024-10-04T10:49:06.226324 image/jpeg 483948 2024-10-04T10:49:03.585338 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia