Castle Rackrent
Castle Rackrent,a novel by M. Edgeworth , published 1800 .
This work may be regarded as the first fully developed historical novel and the first true regional novel in English. Set, according to the title-page, ‘Before the year 1782 ’, the characters, the life of the country, and the speech, are unmistakably Irish. It is a brief, high-spirited work, narrated in his old age by the devoted Thady Quirk, steward to three generations of Rackrents. This racy character, for whom the Rack-rents could do no wrong, was based (the author wrote) on her father's steward John Langan , who ‘seemed to stand beside me and dictate’. The rattling narrative begins with the wild life of the hard-drinking Sir Patrick , ‘inventor of raspberry whisky’, who lived before Thady's time. He was succeeded by the litigious and debt-ridden Sir Murtagh , a skinflint who died of a fury. His brother Sir Kit , who inherits, brings to the castle his...
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