Maria Edgeworth (1768–1849), novelist and educationalist, lived in Clifton for two years from 1792-93 before the family relocated to Ireland. Whilst living in Clifton, the Edgeworths became acquainted with Dr. Beddoes, who soon after married Maria’s sister Anna, and became the father of Thomas Lovell Beddoes, the poet of Death. On arriving, Maria writes to her uncle: ‘We live very near the Downs, where we have almost every day charming walks, and all the children go bounding about over hill and dale along with us. My aunt told me that once when you were at Clifton, when full dressed to go to a ball at Bath, you suddenly changed your mind, and undressed again, to go out a walking with her, and now that I see the walks, I am not surprised, even if you were not to have had the pleasure of my aunt's company. My father has got a transfer of a ticket for the Bristol library, which is an extremely fine one; and what makes it appear ten times finer is, that it is very difficult for strangers to get into. From thence he can get almost any book for us he pleases, except a few of the most scarce, which are by the laws of the library immovable. No ladies go to the library, but Mr. Johns, the librarian, is very civil, and my mother went to his rooms and saw the beautiful prints in Boy dell's Shakespeare.’
Many of the stories in Edgeworth’s The Parent’s Assistant, or, Stories for Children (1796), and Moral Tales (1801), are set in Bristol.
