Excuse me in my trade of sentence-monger, and believe me, dear Mrs. Somerville, truly your obliged and truly your affectionate friend,

MARIA EDGEWORTH.

I have persuaded your dear curly-headed friend, Harriet, to add her own observations; she sends her love to you; and I know you love her, otherwise I would not press her to write her own say.

* * * * *

FROM MISS JOANNA BAILLIE TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.

HAMPSTEAD, February 1st, 1832.

MY DEAR MRS. SOMERVILLE,

I am now, thank God! recovered from a very heavy disease, but still very weak. I will not, however, delay any longer my grateful acknowledgments for your very flattering gift of your Preliminary Dissertation. Indeed, I feel myself greatly honoured by receiving such a mark of regard from one who has done more to remove the light estimation in which the capacity of women is too often held, than all that has been accomplished by the whole sisterhood of poetical damsels and novel-writing authors. I could say much more on this subject were I to follow my own feelings; but I am still so weak that writing is a trouble to me, and I have nearly done all that I am able.

God bless and prosper you! Yours gratefully and truly, J. BAILLIE.

* * * * *

FROM MISS BERRY TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.

BELLEVUE, 18th September, 1834.

MY DEAR MRS. SOMERVILLE,

I have just finished reading your book, which has entertained me extremely, and at the same time, I hope, improved my moral character in the Christian virtue of humility. These must appear to you such odd results—so little like those produced on the great majority of your readers, that you must allow me to explain them to you. Humbled, I must be, by finding my own intellect unequal to following, beyond a first step, the explanations by which you seek to make easy to comprehension the marvellous phenomena of the universe—humbled, by feeling the intellectual difference between you and me, placing you as much above me in the scale of reasoning beings, as I am above my dog. Still I rejoice with humility at feeling myself, in that order of understandings which, although utterly incapable of following the chain of your reasonings, calculations, and inductions—utterly deprived of the powers necessary sic itur ad astra—am yet informed, enlightened, and entertained with the series of sublime truths to which you conduct me.

In some foggy morning of November, I shall drive out to you at Chelsea and surprise you with my ignorance of science, by asking you to explain to me some things which you will wonder any one can have so long existed without knowing. In the mean time, I wish you could read in any combination of the stars the probability of our often having such a season as this, of uninterrupted summer since April last, and when last week it was sobering into autumn, has now returned to enter summer again. The thermometer was at 83 deg. in the shade yesterday, and to-day promises to be as much. We are delighted with our two months' residence at this place, which we shall see with regret draw towards a close the end of this month. October we mean to spend at Paris, before we return to the nebulosities of London. During my residence in Paris, before we came here, I never had the good luck to meet with your friend M. Arago; had I not been reading your book, I should have begged you to give me a letter for him. But as it is, and as my stay at Paris will now be so short, I shall content myself with looking up at a respectful distance to all your great fixed stars of science, excepting always yourself, dear Mrs. Somerville. No "disturbing influence" will, I hope, ever throw me out of the orbit of your intimacy and friendship, whose value, believe me, is most duly and accurately calculated by your ignorant but very affectionate friend,

M. BERRY.

* * * * *

FROM LORD BROUGHAM TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.

1834.

MY DEAR MRS. SOMERVILLE,

Many thanks for the sheets, which I have read with equal pleasure and instruction as those I formerly had from you. One or two things I could have troubled you with, but they are of little moment. I shall note them. The only one that is at all material relates to the way you mention Dr. Young—not that I object to the word "illustrious," or as applied to him. But as you don't give it to one considerably more so, it looks either as if you overrated him, or underrated Davy, or (which I suppose to be the truth) as if you felt Young had not had his due share of honour, and desired to make it up to his memory. Observe I give him a very high place—but Davy's discoveries are both of more unquestioned originality and more undoubtedly true—perhaps I should say, more brought to a close. The alkalis and the principle of the safety lamp are concluded and fixed, the undulation is in progress, and somewhat uncertain as to how and where it may end. You will please to observe that I reckon both those capital discoveries of Davy the fruit of inquiry, and not at all of chance—for, as to the lamp, it is plain; and as to the metals, if you look at the inquiries that immediately preceded, you will see he was thereby led to the alkalis. Indeed, I well remember saying, when I read them, "He will analyse lime and barytes." I am quite ready to admit his extreme folly in some things, but that is nothing to the present purpose.

Yours, H.B. (Henry Brougham.)

* * * * *

FROM MRS. MARCET TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.

GENEVA, 6th April, 1834.

DEAR MRS. SOMERVILLE,

I am desired by Professor Prevost to inform you that you were elected an honorary member of the Societe de Physique et d'Histoire Naturelle de Geneve on the 3rd April, and that a diploma will be forwarded to you by the earliest opportunity. After all the honours you have received, this little feather is hardly worthy of waving in your plume, but I am glad that Geneva should know how to appreciate your merit. You receive great honours, my dear friend, but that which you confer on our sex is still greater, for with talents and acquirements of masculine magnitude you unite the most sensitive and retiring modesty of the female sex; indeed, I know not any woman, perhaps I might say, any human being, who would support so much applause without feeling the weakness of vanity. Forgive me for allowing my pen to run away with this undisguised praise, it looks so much like compliment, but I assure you it comes straight from the heart, and you must know that it is fully deserved.... I know not whether you have heard of the death of Professor de la Rive (the father); it was an unexpected blow, which has fallen heavily on all his family. It is indeed a great loss to Geneva, both as a man of science and a most excellent citizen.

M. Rossi[12] has left us to occupy the chair of political economy of the late M. Say, at Paris; his absence is sadly felt, and it is in vain to look around for any one capable of replacing him....

Yours affectionately, J. MARCET.

* * * * *

FROM ADMIRAL W.H. SMYTH TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.

CRESCENT, BEDFORD, October 3rd, 1835.

MY DEAR MADAM,

As an opportunity offers of sending a note to town, I beg to mention that I have somewhat impatiently waited for some appearance of settled weather, in order to press your coming here to inspect Halley's comet, before it should have become visible to the unassisted eye. That unerring monitor, however, the barometer, held forth no hope, and the ceaseless traveller is already an object of conspicuous distinction without artificial aid, except, perhaps, to most eyes an opera-glass, magnifying three or four times, will be found a pleasant addition. It is now gliding along with wonderful celerity, and the nucleus is very bright. It is accompanied with a great luminosity, and the nucleus has changed its position therein; that is, on the 29th August, the nucleus was like a minute star near the centre of the nebulous envelope; on the 2nd September it appeared in the n. f. quarter, and latterly it has been in the s. f.

How remarkable that the month of August this year should rattle Halley's name throughout the globe, in identity with an astonishing scientific triumph, and that in the selfsame month the letters of Flamsteed should have appeared! How I wish some one would give us a life of Newton, with all the interesting documents that exist of his labours! Till such appears, Flamsteed's statements, though bearing strong internal evidence of truth, are ex-parte, and it is evident his anxiety made him prone to impute motives which he could not prove. The book is painfully interesting, but except in all that relates to the personal character of Flamsteed, I could almost have wished the documents had been destroyed. People of judgment well know that men without faults are monsters, but vulgar minds delight in seeing the standard of human excellence lowered.

Dear Madam, Yours faithfully, W.H. SMYTH.

We were deprived of the society of Sir John and Lady Herschel for four years, because Sir John took his telescope and other instruments to the Cape of Good Hope, where he went, accompanied by his family, for the purpose of observing the celestial phenomena of the southern hemisphere. There are more than 6,000 double stars in the northern hemisphere, in a large proportion of which the angle of position and distance between the two stars have been measured, and Sir John determined, in the same manner, 1081 in the southern hemisphere, and I believe many additions have been made to them since that time. In many of these one star revolves rapidly round the other. The elliptical orbits and periodical times of sixteen or seventeen of these stellar systems have been determined. In Gamma Virginis the two stars are nearly of the same magnitude, and were so far apart in the middle of the last century that they were considered to be quite independent of each other. Since then they have been gradually approaching one another, till, in March, 1836, I had a letter from Admiral Smyth, informing me that he had seen one of the stars eclipse the other, from his observatory at Bedford.

FROM ADMIRAL SMYTH TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.

CRESCENT, BEDFORD, March 26th, 1836.

MY DEAR MADAM,

Knowing the great interest you take in sidereal astronomy, of which so little is yet known, I trust it will not be an intrusion to tell you of a new, extraordinary, and very unexpected fact, in the complete occultation of one "fixed" star by another, under circumstances which admit of no possible doubt or equivocation.

You are aware that I have been measuring the position and distance of the two stars [Greek: g]^1 and [Greek: g]^2 Virginis, which are both nearly of similar magnitudes, and also, that they have approximated to each other very rapidly. They were very close last year, and I expected to find they had crossed each other at this apparition, but to my surprise I find they have become a fair round disc, which my highest powers will not elongate—in fact, a single star! I shall watch with no little interest for the reappearance of the second [Greek: g].

My dear madam, Your truly obliged servant, W.H. SMYTH.

* * * * *

This eclipse was also seen by Sir John Herschel at the Cape of Good Hope, as well as by many astronomers in Europe provided with instruments of great optical power. In 1782 Sir William Herschel saw one of the stars of Zeta Herculis eclipse the other.

In the "Connexion of the Physical Sciences" I have given an abridged account of Sir John Herschel's most remarkable discoveries in the southern hemisphere; but I may mention here that he determined the position and made accurate drawings of all the nebulae that were distinctly visible in his 20 ft. telescope. The work he published will be a standard for ascertaining the changes that may take place in these mysterious objects for ages to come. Sir William Herschel had determined the places of 2,500 nebulae in the northern hemisphere; they were examined by his son, and drawings made of some of the most remarkable, but when these nebulae were viewed through Lord Rosse's telescope, they presented a very different appearance, showing that the apparent form of the nebulae depends upon the space-penetrating power of the telescope, a circumstance of vital importance in observing the changes which time may produce on these wonderful objects.

[Long afterwards Lord Rosse wrote in reply to some questions which my mother had addressed to him on this subject:—]

FROM THE EARL OF ROSSE TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.

CASTLE, PARSONSTOWN, June 12th, 1844.

DEAR MRS. SOMERVILLE,

I have very reluctantly postponed so long replying to your inquiries respecting the telescope, but there were some points upon which I was anxious to be enabled to speak more precisely. The instrument we are now using is 3 feet aperture, and 27 feet focus, and in the greater proportion of the nebulae which have been observed with it some new details have been brought out. Perhaps the most interesting general result is that, as far as we have gone, increasing optical power has enlarged the list of clusters, by diminishing that of the nebulae properly so-called. Such has always been the case since the nebulae have been observed with telescopes, and although it would be unsafe to draw the inference, it is impossible not to feel some expectation that with sufficient optical power the nebulae would all be reduced into clusters. Perhaps the two of the most remarkable of the resolved nebulae are Fig. 26 and Fig. 55. In several of the planetary nebulae we have discovered a star or bright point in the centre, and a filamentous edge, which is just the appearance which a cluster with a highly condensed centre would present in a small instrument. For instance, Figs. 47 and 32. We have also found that many of the nebulae have not a symmetrical form, as they appear to have in inferior instruments; for instance, Fig. 81 is a cluster with long resolvable filaments from its southern extremity, and Fig. 85 is an oblong cluster with a bright centre. Fig. 45 is an annular nebula, like Herschel's drawing of the annular nebula in Lyra. I have sent drawings of a few of these objects to the Royal Society, they were forwarded a few days ago. We have upon the whole as yet observed but little with the telescope of 3 feet aperture. You recollect Herschel said that it was a good observing year, in which there were 100 hours fit for observing, and of the average of our hours I have not employed above 30. We have been for the last two years engaged in constructing a telescope of 6 feet aperture and 52 feet focus, and it would have been impossible to have bestowed the necessary attention upon it had we made a business of observing. That instrument is nearly finished, and I hope it will effect something for astronomy. The unequal refraction of the atmosphere will limit its powers, but how far remains to be ascertained.... Lady Rosse joins me in very kind remembrances and believe me to be,

Dear Mrs. Somerville, Yours very truly and ever, ROSSE.

* * * * *

[Sir John Herschel wrote to my father from the Cape:—]

FROM SIR JOHN HERSCHEL TO MR. SOMERVILLE.

FELDHAUSEN, NEAR WYNBERG, C.G.H., July 17th, 1830.

MY DEAR SOMERVILLE,

Since our arrival here, I have, I know in many instances, maintained or established the character of a bad correspondent; and really it is not an inconvenient character to have established. Only, in your case, I should be very sorry to appear in that, or any other negligent or naughty light; but you, I know, will allow for the circumstances which have occasioned my silence. Meanwhile, I am not sorry that the execution of an intention I had more than once formed should have been deferred, till we read in the papers of the well-judged and highly creditable notice (creditable I mean to the government pro tempore) which His Majesty has been pleased to take of Mrs. Somerville's elaborate works. Although the Royal notice is not quite so swift as the lightning in the selection of its objects, it agrees with it in this, that it is attracted by the loftiest; and though what she has performed may seem so natural and easy to herself, that she may blush to find it fame; all the rest of the world will agree with me in rejoicing that merit of that kind is felt and recognised at length in the high places of the earth. This, and the honourable mention of Airy by men of both parties in the House of Commons about the same time, are things that seem to mark the progress of the age we live in; and I give Peel credit for his tact in perceiving this mode of making a favourable impression on the public mind.

We are all going on very comfortably, and continue to like the Cape as a place of (temporary) residence as much or more than at first. The climate is so very delicious.... The stars are most propitious, and, astronomically speaking, I can now declare the climate to be most excellent. Night after night, for weeks and months, with hardly an interruption, of perfect astronomical weather, discs of stars reduced almost to points, and tranquilly gliding across the field of your telescope. It is really a treat, such as occurs once or perhaps twice a year in England—hardly more. I had almost forgotten that by a recent vote of the Astronomical Society I can now claim Mrs. Somerville as a colleague. Pray make my compliments to her in that capacity, and tell her that I hope to meet her there at some future session....

Yours very faithfully, H.W. HERSCHEL.

TO WILLIAM SOMERVILLE, ESQ.

* * * * *

Spectrum analysis has shown that there is a vast quantity of self-luminous gaseous matter in space, incapable of being reduced into stars, however powerful the telescope through which it is observed. Hence the old opinion once more prevails, that this is the matter of which the sun and stellar systems have been formed, and that other stellar systems are being formed by slow, continuous condensation. The principal constituents of this matter are, the terrestrial gases, hydrogen, and nitrogen. The yellow stars, like the sun, contain terrestrial matter. The nebulous and stellar constituents were chiefly discovered by Dr. Huggins.

Somerville and I were always made welcome by Sir James South, and at Campden Hill I learnt the method of observing, and sometimes made observations myself on the double stars and binary systems, which, worthless as they were, enabled me to describe better what others had done. One forenoon Somerville and I went to pay a visit to Lady South. Sir James, who was present, said, "Come to the observatory, and measure the distance of Mercury from the sun; for they are in close approximation, and I wish to see what kind of observation you will make." It was erroneous, as might have been expected; but when I took the mean of several observations, it differed but little from that which Sir James South had made; and here I learnt practically the importance of taking the mean of approximate quantities.

* * * * *

Dr. Wollaston, Dr. Young, and the Katers died before I became an author; Lord Brougham was one of the last of my scientific contemporaries, all the rest were younger than myself, and with this younger set, as with their predecessors, we had most agreeable and constant intercourse. Although we lived so much in scientific society we had all along been on the most friendly and intimate terms with the literary society of the day, such as Hallam, Milman, Moore, Malthus, &c., &c. The highly intellectual conversation of these was enlivened by the brilliant wit of my early friend, Sydney Smith, who was loved and admired by every one. His daughter married our friend Sir Henry Holland, the distinguished physician, well known for his eminent literary and scientific acquirements as well as for his refined taste.

No house in London was more hospitable and agreeable than that of the late Mr. John Murray, in Albemarle Street. His dinner parties were brilliant, with all the poets and literary characters of the day, and Mr. Murray himself was gentlemanly, full of information, and kept up the conversation with spirit. He generously published the "Mechanism of the Heavens" at his own risk, which, from its analytical character, could only be read by mathematicians.

Besides those I have mentioned we had a numerous acquaintance who were neither learned nor scientific; and at concerts at some of their houses I enjoyed much hearing the great artists of the day, such as Pasta, Malibran, Grisi, Rubini, &c., &c. We knew Lucien Buonaparte, who gave me a copy of his poems, which were a failure.

I had become acquainted with Madame de Montalembert, who was an Englishwoman, and was mother of the celebrated Comte; she was very eccentric, and at that time was an Ultra-Protestant. One day she came to ask me to go and drive in the Park with her, and afterwards dine at her house, saying, "We shall all be in high dresses." So I accepted, and on entering the drawing-room, found a bishop and several clergymen, Lady Olivia Sparrow, and some other ladies, all in high black satin dresses and white lace caps, precisely the dress I wore, and I thought it a curious coincidence. The party was lively enough, and agreeable, but the conversation was in a style I had never heard before—in fact, it affected the phraseology of the Bible. We all went after dinner to a sort of meeting at Exeter Hall, I quite forget for what purpose, but our party was on a kind of raised platform. I mentioned this to a friend afterwards, and the curious circumstance of our all being dressed alike. "Do you not know," she said, "that dress is assumed as a distinctive mark of the Evangelical party! So you were a wolf in sheep's clothing!"

I had been acquainted with the Miss Berrys at Raith, when visiting their cousins, Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson. Mary, the eldest, was a handsome, accomplished woman, who from her youth had lived in the most distinguished society, both at home and abroad. She published a "Comparative View of Social Life in France and England," which was well received by the public. She was a Latin scholar, spoke and wrote French fluently, yet with all these advantages, the consciousness that she might have done something better, had female education been less frivolous, gave her a characteristic melancholy which lasted through life. She did not talk much herself, but she had the tact to lead conversation. She and her sister received every evening a select society in their small house in Curzon Street. Besides any distinguished foreigners who happened to be in London, among their habitual guests were my friend, Lady Charlotte Lindsay, always witty and agreeable, the brilliant and beautiful Sheridans, Lady Theresa Lister, afterwards Lady Theresa Lewis, who edited Miss Berry's "Memoirs," Lord Lansdowne, and many others. Lady Davy came occasionally, and the Miss Fanshaws, who were highly accomplished, and good artists, besides Miss Catherine Fanshaw wrote clever vers de societe, such as a charade on the letter H, and, if I am not mistaken, "The Butterfly's Ball," &c. I visited these ladies, but their manners were so cold and formal that, though I admired their talents, I never became intimate with them. On the contrary, like everyone else, I loved Mary Berry, she was so warm-hearted and kind. When London began to fill, and the season was at its height, the Miss Berrys used to retire to a pretty villa at Twickenham, where they received their friends to luncheon, and strawberries and cream, and very delightful these visits were in fine spring weather. I recollect once, after dining there, to have been fortunate enough to give a place in my carriage to Lord Macaulay, and those who remember his charming and brilliant conversation will understand how short the drive to London appeared.

We sometimes went to see Miss Lydia White, who received every evening; she was clever, witty, and very free in her conversation. On one occasion the party consisted, besides ourselves, of the Misses Berry, Lady Davy; the three poets, Rogers, William Spencer, and Campbell; Sir James Macintosh, and Lord Dudley. Rogers, who was a bitter satirist and hated Lord Dudley, had written the following, epigram:—

Ward has no heart, 'tis said; but I deny it. He has a heart, and gets his speeches by it.

I had never heard of this epigram, and on coming away Lord Dudley said, "You are going home to sleep and I to work." I answered, "Oh! you are going to prepare your speech for to-morrow." My appropriate remark raised an universal laugh.

* * * * *

Mr. Bowditch, of Boston, U.S., who died in 1838, left among other works a "Commentary on La Place's Mecanique Celeste" in four volumes. While busily occupied in bringing out an edition of the "Physical Sciences," I received a letter from his son, Mr. H. Bowditch, requesting me to write an elaborate review of that work, which would be published in Boston along with the biography of his father, written by Mr. Young, who sent me a copy of it. Though highly sensible of the honour, I declined to undertake so formidable a work, fearing that I should not do justice to the memory of so great a man.

I have always been in communication with some of the most distinguished men of the United States. Washington Irving frequently came to see me when he was in London; he was as agreeable in conversation as he was distinguished as an author. No one could be more amiable than Admiral Wilkes, of the U.S. navy: he had all the frankness of a sailor. We saw a good deal of him when he was in London, and I had a long letter from him, giving me an account of his fleet, his plan for circumnavigation, &c.&c. I never had the good fortune to become personally acquainted with Captain Maury, of the U.S. navy, author of that fascinating book, the "Physical Geography of the Sea," but I am indebted to him for a copy of that work, and of his valuable charts. Mr. Dana, who is an honour to his country, sent me copies of his works, to which I have had occasion frequently to refer as acknowledged authority on many branches of natural history. I should be ungrateful if I did not acknowledge the kindness I received from the Silliman family, who informed me of any scientific discovery in the United States, and sent me a copy of their Journal when it contained anything which might interest me. I was elected an honorary member of the Geographical and Statistical Society of New York, U.S. on the 15th May, 1857, and on the 15th October, 1869, I was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia, for Promoting Useful Knowledge. I shall ever be most grateful for these honours.

While living in Florence, many years after, an American friend invited me to an evening party to meet an American authoress who wished particularly to make my acquaintance. I accordingly went there on the evening in question, and my friends, after receiving me with their accustomed cordiality, presented me to the lady, and placed me beside her to give me an opportunity of conversing with her. I addressed her several times, and made various attempts to enter into conversation, but only received very dry answers in reply. At last she fairly turned her back upon me, and became engrossed with a lady who sat on her other side, upon which I got up and left her and never saw her again. A very different person in every respect was present that evening, as much distinguished by her high mental qualities and poetical genius as by her modesty and simplicity. I allude to our greatest British poetess, Mrs. Browning, who at that time resided in Florence, except when the delicacy of her health obliged her to go to Rome. I think there is no other instance of husband and wife both poets, and both distinguished in their different lines. I can imagine no happier or more fascinating life than theirs; two kindred spirits united in the highest and noblest aspirations. Unfortunately her life was a short one; in the full bloom of her intellect her frail health gave way, and she died leaving a noble record of genius to future ages, and a sweet memory to those who were her contemporaries. The Florentines, who, like all Italians, greatly appreciate genius, whether native or foreign, have placed a commemorative tablet on Casa Guidi, the house Mrs. Browning inhabited.

I was extremely delighted last spring in being honoured by a visit from Longfellow, that most genial poet. It is not always the case that the general appearance of a distinguished person answers to one's ideal of what he ought to be—in this respect Longfellow far surpasses expectation. I was as much charmed with his winning manner and conversation as by his calm, grand features and the expression of his intellectual countenance.

The Barons Fairfax, as I mentioned already, had long been members of the Republic of the United States, and Washington's mother belonged to this family. During the war of Independence, while my father, then Lieutenant Fairfax, was on board a man-of-war on the American station, he received a letter from General Washington claiming him as a relation, and inviting him to pay him a visit, saying, he did not think that war should interfere with the courtesies of private life. Party spirit ran so high at that time that my father was reprimanded for being in correspondence with the enemy. I mentioned to my friend, the Rev. Dr. Tuckerman, of the United States, how much I regretted that so precious a letter had been lost, and he most kindly on going home sent me an autograph letter of General Washington.

FROM THE REV. JOSEPH TUCKERMAN TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.

BOSTON, August 28th, 1834.

MY DEAR MADAM,

I have very great pleasure in sending to you an autograph letter of your and our glorious Washington. I obtained it from Mr. Sparks, who had the gratification of seeing you when he was in England, and who told me when I applied to him for it, that there is no one in the world to whom he would be so glad to give it. It is beyond comparison the best and almost the only remaining one at his disposal among the "Washington" papers.

I am again in my family and in the field of my ministry.

But very dear to me are my associations with scenes and friends in England; and most glad should I be if I could renew that intercourse with yourself, and with the intellect and virtue around you, to which I have been indebted for great happiness, and which, I hope, has done something to qualify me for a more efficient service. Will you please to present my very sincere respects to your husband, and to recall me to the kind remembrance of your children. With the highest respect and regard, allow me to call myself.

Your friend, JOSEPH TUCKERMAN.

* * * * *

I think it must have been on returning from the American station, or may be later in the career of my father's life, that a circumstance occurred which distressed him exceedingly. Highway robberies were common on all the roads in the vicinity of London, but no violence was offered. My father was travelling alone over Blackheath when the postilion was ordered to stop, a pistol presented at my father, and his purse demanded. My father at once recognised the voice as that of a shipmate, and exclaimed, "Good God! I know that voice! can it be young——? I am dreadfully shocked; I have a hundred pounds which shall be yours—come into the carriage, and let me take you to London, where you will be safe." ... "No, no," the young man said, "I have associates whom I cannot leave—it is too late." ... It was too late; he was arrested eventually and suffered. Years afterwards when by some accident my father mentioned this event, he was deeply affected, and never would tell the name of the young man who had been his mess-mate.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 12: M. Pellegrino Rossi, afterwards Minister of France at Rome, then Prime Minister to Pius the Ninth; murdered in 1848 on the steps of the Cancelleria, at Rome.]



CHAPTER XIV.

ROME, NAPLES, AND COMO—BADEN—WINTER AT FLORENCE—SIENA—LETTER FROM LORD BROUGHAM—MR. MOUNTSTUART ELPHINSTONE—LIFE AT ROME—CAMPAGNA CATTLE.

[My mother was already meditating writing a book upon Physical Geography, and had begun to collect materials for it, when my father's long and dangerous illness obliged her to lay it aside for a time. My father was ordered to a warmer climate for the winter, and as soon as he was able to travel we proceeded to Rome. We were hardly settled when my mother, with her usual energy, set to work diligently, and began this book, which was not published for some time later, as it required much thought and research. She never allowed anything to interfere with her morning's work; after that was over she was delighted to join in any plan which had been formed for the afternoon's amusement, and enjoyed herself thoroughly, whether in visiting antiquities and galleries, excursions in the neighbourhood, or else going with a friend to paint on the Campagna. My mother was extremely fond of Rome, and often said no place had ever suited her so well. Independently of the picturesque beauty of the place, which, to such a lover of nature, was sufficient in itself, there was a very pleasant society during many seasons we spent there. The visitors were far less numerous than they are now, but on that very account there was more sociability and intimacy, and scarcely an evening passed without our meeting. The artists residing at Rome, too, were a most delightful addition to society. Some of them became our very dear friends. My mother remarks:—]

* * * * *

We took lodgings at Rome, and as soon as we were settled I resumed my work and wrote every morning till two o'clock, then went to some gallery, walked on the Pincio, dined at six, and in the evening either went out or received visits at home—the pleasantest way of seeing friends, as it does not interfere with one's occupations.

We once joined a party that was arranged to see the statues in the Vatican by torchlight, at which Lord Macaulay astonished us by his correct knowledge and learning as we passed through the gallery of inscriptions. To me this evening was memorable; on this occasion I first met with John Gibson, the sculptor, who afterwards became a dear and valued friend. He must have been a pupil of Canova's or Thorwaldsen's when Somerville and I were first at Rome. Now his fame was as great as that of either of his predecessors.

* * * * *

[In spring we went to Naples for a few weeks, and returned to Rome by the San Germano road, now so familiar to travellers, but then hardly ever frequented, as it was extremely unsafe on account of the brigands. We met with no adventures, although we often reached our night quarters long after sunset, for my mother sketched a great deal on the road. We travelled by vetturino and continued this delightful journey to Como. My mother was a perfect travelling companion, always cheerful and contented and interested in all she saw. I leave her to tell of our pleasant residence at Bellaggio in her own words:—]

* * * * *

We remained only a short time at Florence, and then went for a month to Bellaggio, on the Lake of Como, at that time the most lonely village imaginable. We had neither letters, newspapers, nor any books, except the Bible, yet we liked it exceedingly. I did nothing but paint in the mornings, and Somerville sat by me. My daughters wandered about, and in the evening we went in a boat on the lake. Sometimes we made longer excursions. One day we went early to Menaggio, at the upper end of the lake. The day had been beautiful, but while at dinner we were startled by a loud peal of thunder. The boatmen desired us to embark without delay, as a storm was rising behind the mountains; it soon blew a gale, and the lake was a sheet of foam; we took shelter for a while at some place on the coast and set out again, thinking the storm had blown over, but it was soon worse than ever. We were in no small danger for two hours. The boatmen, terrified, threw themselves on their knees in prayer to the Madonna. Somerville seized the helm and lowered the sail and ordered them to rise, saying, the Madonna would help them if they helped themselves, and at last they returned to their duty. For a long time we remained perfectly silent, when one of our daughters said, "I have been thinking what a paragraph it will be in the newspapers, 'Drowned, during a sudden squall on the lake of Como, an English family named Somerville, father, mother and two daughters.'" The silence thus broken made us laugh, though our situation was serious enough, for when we landed the shore was crowded with people who had fully expected to see the boat go down. Twice after this we were overtaken by these squalls, which are very dangerous. I shall never forget the magnificence of the lightning and the grandeur of the thunder, which was echoed by the mountains during the storms on the Lake of Como.

We saw the fishermen spear the fish by torchlight, as they did on the Tweed. The fish were plenty and the water so clear that they were seen at a great depth. There are very large red-fleshed trout in the lake, and a small very delicious fish called agoni, caught in multitudes by fine silk nets, to which bells are attached on floats, that keep up a constant tinkling to let the fishermen know where to find their nets when floated away by the wind.

[We now crossed the Alps, by the St. Gothard, to Basle and Baden Baden, where we passed the summer, intending to return to England in autumn, but as soon as the rains began my father had so serious a return of his illness that my mother was much alarmed. When he was well enough to travel, we once more crossed the Alps, and reached Florence, where we remained for the winter. My mother resumed her work there.]

* * * * *

Through the kindness of the Grand Duke, I was allowed to have books at home from his private library in the Pitti Palace, a favour only granted to the four Directors. This gave me courage to collect materials for my long neglected Physical Geography, still in embryo. As I took an interest in every branch of science I became acquainted with Professor Amici, whose microscopes were unrivalled at that time, and as he had made many remarkable microscopic discoveries in natural history, he took us to the Museum to see them magnified and modelled in wax. I had the honour of being elected a member of the Academy of Natural Science at Florence.

There were many agreeable people at Florence that winter and a good deal of gaiety. The Marchese Antinori presented Somerville and me to the Grand Duke, who had expressed a wish to know me. He received us very graciously, and conversed with us for more than an hour on general subjects. He afterwards wrote me a polite letter, accompanied by a work on the drainage of the Maremma, and gave directions about our being invited to a scientific meeting which was to be held at Pisa. We were presented to the Grand Duchess, who was very civil. We spent the summer at Siena, and had a cheerful airy apartment with a fine view of the hills of Santa Fiora, and with very pretty arabesques in fresco on the walls of all the rooms, some so very artistic that I made sketches of them. In these old cities many of the palaces and houses are decorated with that artistic taste which formerly prevailed to such an extent in Italy, and, which has now yielded, here as elsewhere, to commonplace modern furniture.

* * * * *

[While we were at Siena, my mother received the following letter from Lord Brougham, who was a frequent correspondent of hers, but whose letters are generally too exclusively mathematical for the general reader. My mother had described the curious horse-races which are held at Siena every three years, and other mediaeval customs still prevalent.]

FROM LORD BROUGHAM TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.

COLE HILL, KENT, Sept. 28th, 1840.

MY DEAR MRS. SOMERVILLE,

I am much obliged to you for your kind letter which let me know of your movements. I had not heard of them since I saw the Fergusons.... We have been here since parliament rose, as I am not yet at all equal to going to Brougham. My health is now quite restored; but I shall not soon—nor in all probability ever—recover the losses I have been afflicted with. I passed the greater part of last winter in Provence, expecting some relief from change of scene and from the fine climate; but I came back fully worse than when I went. In fact, I did wrong in struggling at first, which I did to be able to meet parliament in January last. If I had yielded at once, I would have been better. I hope and trust they sent you a book I published two years ago; I mean the "Dissertations," of which one is on the "Principia," and designed to try how far it may be taught to persons having but a very moderate stock of mathematics; also, if possible, to keep alive the true taste (as I reckon it) in mathematics, which modern analysis has a little broken in upon. Assuming you to have got the book, I must mention that there are some intolerable errors of the press left, such as.... Excuse my troubling you with these errata, and impute it to my wish that you should not suppose me to have written the nonsense which these pages seem to prove. By the way, it is a curious proof of university prejudice, that though the Cambridge men admit my analysis of the "Principia" to be unexceptionable, and to be well calculated for teaching the work, yet, not being by a Cambridge man, it cannot be used! They are far more liberal at Paris, where they only are waiting for my analysis of the second book; but I put off finishing it, as I do still more my account of the "Mecanique Celeste." The latter I have almost abandoned in despair after nearly finishing it; I find so much that cannot be explained elementarily, or anything near it. So that my account to be complete would be nearly as hard reading as yours, and not 1000th part as good.... I greatly envy you Siena; I never was there above a day, and always desired to stay longer. The language is, as you say, a real charm; but I was not aware of the preservation in which you describe the older manners to be. I fear I shall not be able to visit Provence, as I should have wished this winter ... but my plans are not quite fixed. The judicial business in Parliament and the Privy Council will also make my going abroad after January difficult. I don't write you any news, nor is there any but what you see in the papers. The Tory restoration approaches very steadily, tho' not very rapidly; and I only hope that the Whigs, having contrived to destroy the Liberal party in the country—I fear past all hope of recovery—may not have a war abroad also to mourn for....

Believe me, Yours ever, H. BROUGHAM.

On going to Rome I required a good many books for continuing my work on "Physical Geography," and had got "Transactions of the Geographical Society" and other works sent from London, The Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone who was then at Rome, was an old acquaintance of ours. He was one of the most amiable men I ever met with, and quite won my heart one day at table when they were talking of the number of singing-birds that were eaten in Italy—nightingales, goldfinches, and robins—he called out, "What! robins! our household birds! I would as soon eat a child!" He was so kind as to write to the Directors of the East India Company requesting that I might have the use of the library and papers that were in the India House. This was readily granted me; and I had a letter in consequence from Mr. Wilson, the Orientalist, giving me a list of the works they had on the geography of Eastern Asia and the most recent travels in the Himalaya, Thibet, and China, with much useful information from himself. I was indebted to Sir Henry Pottinger, then at Rome, for information relating to Scinde, for he had been for some years British Envoy at Beloochistan. Thus provided, I went on with my work. We lived several winters in an apartment on the second floor of Palazzo Lepri, Via dei Condotti, where we passed many happy days. When we first lived in Via Condotti, the waste-pipes to carry off the rain-water from the roofs projected far into the street, and when there was a violent thunderstorm, one might have thought a waterspout had broken over Rome, the water poured in such cascades from the houses on each side of the street. On one occasion the rain continued in torrents for thirty-six hours, and the Tiber came down in heavy flood, inundating the Ghetto and all the low parts of the city; the water was six feet deep in the Pantheon. The people were driven out of their houses in the middle of the night and took refuge in the churches, and boats plied in the streets supplying the inhabitants with food, which they hauled up in baskets let down from the windows. The Campagna for miles was under water; it covered the Ponte Molle so that the courier could not pass; and seen from the Pincio it looked like an extensive lake. Much anxiety was felt for the people who lived in the farm houses now surrounded with water. Boats were sent to rescue them, and few lives were lost; but many animals perished. The flood did not subside till after three days, when it left everything covered with yellow mud; the loss of property was very great, and there was much misery for a long time.

Our house was in a very central position, and when not engaged I gladly received anyone who liked to come to us in the evening, and we had a most agreeable society, foreign and English, for we were not looked upon as strangers, and the English society was much better during the years we spent in Rome than it was afterwards.

I had an annual visit of an hour from the astronomer Padre Vico, and Padre Pianciani, Professor of Chemistry in the Collegio Romano. I was invited to see the Observatory; but as I had seen those of Greenwich and Paris, I did not think it worth while accepting the invitation, especially as it required an order from the Pope. I could easily have obtained leave, for we were presented to Gregory XVI. by the President of the Scotch Catholic College. The Pope received me with marked distinction; notwithstanding I was disgusted to see the President prostrate on the floor, kissing the Pope's foot as if he had been divine. I think it was about this time that I was elected an honorary associate of the Accademia Tiberiana.

I had very great delight in the Campagna of Rome; the fine range of Apennines bounding the plain, over which the fleeting shadows of the passing clouds fell, ever changing and always beautiful, whether viewed in the early morning, or in the glory of the setting sun, I was never tired of admiring; and whenever I drove out, preferred a country drive to the more fashionable Villa Borghese. One day Somerville and I and our daughters went to drive towards the Tavolata, on the road to Albano. We got out of the carriage, and went into a field, tempted by the wild flowers. On one side of this field ran the aqueduct, on the other a deep and wide ditch full of water. I had gone towards the aqueduct, leaving the others in the field. All at once we heard a loud shouting, when an enormous drove of the beautiful Campagna grey cattle with their wide-spreading horns came rushing wildly between us with their heads down and their tails erect, driven by men with long spears mounted on little spirited horses at full gallop. It was so sudden and so rapid, that only after it was over did we perceive the danger we had run. As there was no possible escape, there was nothing for it but standing still, which Somerville and my girls had presence of mind to do, and the drove dividing, rushed like a whirlwind to the right and left of them. The danger was not so much of being gored as of being run over by the excited and terrified animals, and round the walls of Rome places of refuge are provided for those who may be passing when the cattle are driven. Near where this occurred there is a house with the inscription "Casa Dei Spiriti"; but I do not think the Italians believe in either ghosts or witches; their chief superstition seems to be the "Jettatura" or evil eye, which they have inherited from the early Romans, and, I believe, Etruscans. They consider it a bad omen to meet a monk or priest on first going out in the morning. My daughters were engaged to ride with a large party, and the meet was at our house. A Roman, who happened to go out first, saw a friar, and rushed in again laughing, and waited till he was out of sight. Soon after they set off, this gentleman was thrown from his horse and ducked in a pool; so the "Jettatura" was fulfilled. But my daughters thought his bad seat on horseback enough to account for his fall without the Evil Eye.



CHAPTER XV.

ALBANO—POPULAR SINGING—LETTERS FROM MRS. SOMERVILLE—GIBSON—PERUGIA—COMET OF 1843—SUMMER AT VENICE—LETTERS FROM MRS. SOMERVILLE AND MISS JOANNA BAILLIE—ELECTED ASSOCIATE OF THE COLLEGE OF RESURGENTI AND R.I. ACADEMY OF SCIENCE AT AREZZO.

In spring we went to Albano, and lived in a villa, high up on the hill in a beautiful situation not far from the lake. The view was most extensive, commanding the whole of the Campagna as far as Terracina, &c. In this wide expanse we could see the thunderclouds forming and rising gradually over the sky before the storm, and I used to watch the vapour condensing into a cloud as it rose into the cool air. I never witnessed anything so violent as the storms we had about the equinox, when the weather broke up. Our house being high above the plain became enveloped in vapour till, at 3 p.m. we could scarcely see the olives which grew below our windows, and crash followed crash with no interval between the lightning and the thunder, so that we felt sure many places must have been struck; and we were not mistaken—trees, houses, and even cattle had been struck close to us. Somerville went to Florence to attend a scientific meeting, and wrote to us that the lightning there had stripped the gold leaf off the conductors on the powder magazine; a proof of their utility.

The sunsets were glorious, and I, fascinated by the gorgeous colouring, attempted to paint what Turner alone could have done justice to. I made studies, too, which were signal failures, of the noble ilex trees bordering the lake of Albano. Thus I wasted a great deal of time, I can hardly say in vain, from the pleasure I had in the lovely scenery. Somerville sat often by me with his book, while I painted from nature, or amused himself examining the geological structure of the country. Our life was a solitary one, except for the occasional visit from some friends who were at Frascati; but we never found it dull; besides, we made many expeditions on mules or donkeys to places in the neighbourhood. I was very much delighted with the flora on the Campagna and the Alban hills, which in spring and early summer are a perfect garden of flowers. Many plants we cultivate in England here grow wild in profusion, such as cyclamens, gum-cistus, both white and purple, many rare and beautiful orchideae, the large flowering Spanish broom, perfuming the air all around, the tall, white-blossomed Mediterranean heath, and the myrtle. These and many others my girls used to bring in from their early morning walks. The flowers only lasted till the end of June, when the heat began, and the whole country became brown and parched; but scarcely had the autumnal rains commenced, when, like magic, the whole country broke out once more into verdure, and myriads of cyclamens covered the ground. Nightingales abounded in the woods, singing both by night and by day; and one bright moonlight night my daughters, who slept with their window open, were startled from their sleep by the hooting of one of those beautiful birds, the great-eared owl—"le grand duc" of Buffon—which had settled on the railing of their balcony. We constantly came across snakes, generally harmless ones; but there were a good many vipers, and once, when Somerville and my daughters, with Mr. Cromek, the artist, had gone from Genzano to Nettuno for a couple of days, a small asp which was crawling among the bent-grass on the seashore, darted at one of the girls, who had irritated it by touching it with her parasol. By the natives they are much dreaded, both on this coast and in the pine forest of Ravenna, where the cattle are said to be occasionally poisoned by their bite.

* * * * *

We had been acquainted with the Rev. Dr., afterwards Cardinal Wiseman at Rome. He was head of a college of young men educating for the Catholic Church, who had their "villeggiatura" at Monte Porzio. We spent a day with him there, and visited Tusculum; another day we went to Lariccia, where there is a palace and park belonging to the Chigi family in a most picturesque but dilapidated state. We went also to Ganzano, Rocca del Papa, and occasionally to visit frends at Frascati. There was a stone threshing-floor behind our house. During the vintage we had it nicely swept and lighted with torches, and the grape gatherers came and danced till long after midnight, to the great amusement of my daughters, who joined in the dance, which was the Saltarello, a variety of the Tarantella. They danced to the beating of tambourines. Italy is the country of music, especially of melody, and the popular airs, especially the Neapolitan, are extremely beautiful and melodious; yet it is a fact, that the singing of the peasantry, particularly in the Roman and Neapolitan provinces, is most disagreeable and discordant. It is not melody at all, but a kind of wild chant, meandering through minor tones, without rhythm of any sort or apparent rule, and my daughters say it is very difficult to note down; yet there is some kind of method and similarity in it as one hears it shouted out at the loudest pitch of the voice, the last note dwelt upon and drawn out to an immeasurable length. The words are frequently improvised by the singers, who answer one another from a distance, as they work in the fields. I have been told this style of chanting—singing it can hardly be called—has been handed down from the most ancient times, and it is said, in the southern provinces, to have descended from the early Greek colonists. The ancient Greeks are supposed to have chanted their poetry to music, as do the Italian improvisatori at the present day. In Tuscany, the words of the songs are often extremely poetical and graceful. Frequently, these verses, called "stornelli" and "rispetti," are composed by the peasants themselves, women as well as men; the language is the purest and most classical Italian, such as is spoken at the present day in the provinces of Siena, Pistoja, &c., very much less corrupted by foreign idioms or adaptations than what is spoken, even by cultivated persons, in Florence itself. The picturesque costumes so universal when I first came to Italy, in 1817, had fallen very much into disuse when, at a much later period, we resided in Rome, and now they are rarely seen.

We hired a handsome peasant girl from Albano as housemaid, who was much admired by our English friends in her scarlet cloth bodice, trimmed with gold lace, and the silver spadone, or bodkin, fastening her plaits of dark hair; but she very soon exchanged her picturesque costume for a bonnet, etc., in which she looked clumsy and commonplace.

[The following are extracts from letters written from Albano by my mother:—]

FROM MRS. SOMERVILLE TO HER SON W. GREIG, ESQ.

ALBANO, 16th June, 1841.

I was thankful to hear, my dearest Woronzow, from your last letter that Agnes is recovering so well.... We are very much pleased with our residence at Albano; the house, with its high sounding name of "Villa," is more like a farmhouse, with brick floors and no carpets, and a few chairs and tables, but the situation is divine. We are near the top of the hill, about half-a-mile above Albano, and have the most magnificent view in every direction, and such a variety of delightful walks, that we take a new one every evening. For painting it is perfect; every step is a picture. At present we have no one near, and lead the life of hermits; but our friends have loaded us with books, and with drawing, painting, music, and writing, we never have a moment idle. Almost every one has left Rome; but the English have all gone elsewhere, as they are not so easily pleased with a house as we are. The only gay thing we have done was a donkey ride yesterday to the top of Monte Cavo, and back by the lake of Nemi....

* * * * *

FROM MRS. SOMERVILLE TO WORONZOW GREIG, ESQ.

ALBANO, 20th August, 1841.

I dare say you think it very long since you have heard from me, my dearest Woronzow, but the truth is, I have been writing so hard, that after I had finished my day's work, I was fit for nothing but idleness. The reason of my hurry is, that the scientific meeting takes place at Florence on the 15th of September, and as I think it probable that some of our English philosophers will come to it, I hope to have a safe opportunity of sending home some MS. which it has cost me hard work to get ready, as I have undertaken a book more fit for the combination of a Society than for a single hand to accomplish. Lord Brougham was most kind when at Rome, and took so great an interest in it, that he has, undertaken to read it over, and give me his opinion and criticism, which will be very valuable, as I know no one who is a better judge of these matters. He will send it to Mr. Murray, and you had better consult with him about it, whether he thinks it will succeed or not. Both William and Martha like what I have done; but I am very nervous about it, and wish you would read it if you have time.... We have been extremely quiet all the summer; we have no neighbours, so that we amuse ourselves with our occupations. I get up between six and seven, breakfast at eight, and write till three, when we dine; after dinner, I write again till near six, when we go out and take a long walk; come home to tea at nine, and go to bed at eleven: the same thing day after day, so you cannot expect a very amusing letter.... I have another commission I wish you would do for me; it is to inquire what discoveries Captain Ross has made at the South Pole. I saw a very interesting account in "Galignani" of what they have done, but cannot trust to a newspaper account so as to quote it.

* * * * *

A new edition of my "Physical Sciences" was required, so the "Physical Geography" was laid aside for the present. On returning to Rome, we resumed our usual life, and continued to receive our friends in the evening without ceremony. There was generally a merry party round the tea table in a corner of the room. I cannot omit mentioning one of the most charming and intellectual of our friends, Don Michelangelo Gaetani, Duke of Sermoneta, whose brilliant and witty conversation is unrivalled, and for whom I have had a very sincere friendship for many years. I found him lately as charming as ever, notwithstanding the cruel loss of his sight. The last time I ever dined out was at his house at Rome, when I was on my way to Naples in 1867.

* * * * *

John Gibson, the sculptor, the most guileless and amiable of men, was now a dear friend. His style was the purest Grecian, and had some of his works been found among the ruins, multitudes would have come to Rome to admire them. He was now in the height of his fame; yet he was so kind and encouraging to young people that he allowed my girls to go and draw in his studio, and one of my daughters, with a friend, modelled there for some time. His drawings for bas-reliefs were most beautiful. He drew very slowly, but a line once drawn was never changed. He ignored India-rubber or bread-crumbs, so perfect was his knowledge of anatomy, and so decided the character and expression he meant to give.

We had charades one evening in a small theatre in our house, which went off very well There was much beauty at Rome at that time; no one who was there can have forgotten the beautiful and brilliant Sheridans. I recollect Lady Dufferin at the Easter ceremonies at St. Peter's, in her widow's cap, with a large black crape veil thrown over it, creating quite a sensation. With her exquisite features, oval face, and somewhat fantastical head-dress, anything more lovely could not be conceived; and the Roman people crowded round her in undisguised admiration of "la bella monaca Inglese." Her charm of manner and her brilliant conversation will never be forgotten by those who knew her. To my mind, Mrs. Norton was the most beautiful of the three sisters. Hers is a grand countenance, such as artists love to study. Gibson, whom I asked, after his return from England, which he had revisited after twenty-seven years' absence, what he thought of Englishwomen, replied, he had seen many handsome women, but no such sculptural beauty as Mrs. Norton's. I might add the Marchioness of Waterford, whose bust at Macdonald's I took at first for an ideal head, till I recognised the likeness.

Lady Davy used to live a great deal at Rome, and took an active part in society. She talked a great deal, and talked well when she spoke English, but like many of us had more pretension with regard to the things she could not do well than to those she really could. She was a Latin scholar, and as far as reading and knowing the literature of modern languages went she was very accomplished, but unfortunately, she fancied she spoke them perfectly, and was never happier than when she had people of different nations dining with her, each of whom she addressed in his own language. Many amusing mistakes of hers in speaking Italian were current in both Roman and English circles.

* * * * *

A few months were very pleasantly spent one summer at Perugia, where there is so much that is interesting to be seen. The neighbouring country is very beautiful, and the city being on the top of a hill is very cool during the hot weather. We had an apartment in the Casa Oddi-Baglioni—a name well known in Italian history—and I recollect spending some very pleasant days with the Conte Oddi-Baglioni, at a villa called Colle del Cardinale, some ten or twelve miles from the town. The house was large and handsomely decorated, with a profusion of the finest Chinese vases. On our toilet tables were placed perfumes, scented soap, and very elaborately embroidered nightdresses were laid out for use. I remember especially admiring the basins, jugs, &c., which were all of the finest japan enamel. There was a subterranean apartment where we dined, which was delightfully cool and pleasant, and at a large and profusely served dinner-table, while we and the guests with the owner of the house dined at the upper end, at the lower end and below the salt there were the superintendent of the Count's farms, a house decorator and others of that rank. It is not the only instance we met with of this very ancient custom. The first time Somerville and I came to Italy, years before this, while dining at a very noble house, the wetnurse took her place, as a matter of course, at the foot of the dinner-table.

On the morning after our arrival and at a very early hour there was a very fine eclipse of the sun, though not total at Perugia or the neighbourhood; the chill and unnatural gloom were very striking.

Perugia is one of the places in which the ancient athletic game of pallone is played with spirit. It is so graceful when well played that I wonder our active young men have not adopted it. A large leather ball filled with condensed air is struck and returned again by the opponent with the whole force of their right arms, covered to the elbow with a spiked wooden case. The promptness and activity required to keep up the ball is very great, and the impetus with which it strikes is such, that the boxes for spectators in the amphitheatres dedicated to this game are protected by strong netting. It is a very complicated game, and, I am told, somewhat resembles tennis.

* * * * *

On leaving Perugia we went for a few days to Asissi, spent a day at Chiusi, and then returned to Rome, which we found in a great state of excitement on account of three steamers which had just arrived from England to ply on the Tiber. The Pope and Cardinals made a solemn procession to bless them. No doubt they would have thought our method of dashing a bottle of wine on a vessel on naming her highly profane.

We constantly made expeditions to the country, to Tivoli, Veii, Ostia, &c., and my daughters rode on the Campagna. One day they rode to Albano, and on returning after dark they told me they had seen a most curious cloud which never altered its position; it was a very long narrow stripe reaching from the horizon till nearly over head—it was the tail of the magnificent comet of 1843.

We met with a great temptation in an invitation from Lady Stratford Canning, to go and visit them at Buyukdere, near Constantinople, but res arcta prevented us from accepting what would have been so desirable in every respect. At this time I sat to our good friend Mr. Macdonald for my bust, which was much liked.[13]

* * * * *

One early summer we went to Loreto and Ancona, where we embarked for Trieste; the weather seemed fine when we set off, but a storm came on, with thunder and lightning, very high sea and several waterspouts. The vessel rolled and pitched, and we were carried far out of our course to the Dalmatian coast. I was obliged to remain a couple of days at Trieste to rest, and was very glad when we arrived at Venice. The summer passed most delightfully at Venice, and we had ample time to see everything without hurry. I wrote very little this summer, for the scenery was so beautiful that I painted all day; my daughters drew in the Belle Arti, and Somerville had plenty of books to amuse him, besides sight-seeing, which occupied much of our time. In the Armenian convent we met with Joseph Warten, an excellent mathematician and astronomer; he was pastor at Neusatz, near Peterwardein in Hungary, and he was making a tour through Europe. He asked me to give him a copy of the "Mechanism of the Heavens," and afterwards wrote in Latin to Somerville and sent me some errors of the press he had met with in my book, but they were of no use, as I never published a second edition. We returned to Rome by Ravenna, where we stayed a couple of days, then travelled slowly along the Adriatic Coast From thence we went by Gubbio and Perugia to Orvieto, one of the most interesting towns in Italy, and one seldom visited at that time; now the railway will bring it into the regular track of travellers.

* * * * *

[A few extracts from letters, written and received during this summer by my mother, may not be without interest. Also parts of two from my mother's old and valued friend Miss Joanna Baillie. The second letter was written several years later, and is nearly the last she ever wrote to my mother.]

* * * * *

FROM MRS. SOMERVILLE TO WORONZOW GREIG, ESQ.

VENICE, 21st July, 1843.

I most sincerely rejoice to hear that Agnes and you have gone to the Rhine, as I am confident a little change of air and scene will be of the greatest service to you both.... We are quite enchanted with Venice; no one can form an idea of its infinite loveliness who has not seen it in summer and in moonlight. I often doubt my senses, and almost fear it may be a dream. We are lodged to perfection, the weather has been charming, no oppressive heat, though the thermometer ranges from 75 deg. to 80 deg., accompanied by a good deal of scirocco; there are neither flies nor fleas, and as yet the mosquitoes have not molested us. We owe much of our comfort to the house we are in, for there are scarcely any furnished lodgings, and the hotels are bad and dear, besides situation is everything at this season, when the smaller canals become offensive at low water, for, though there is little tide in the Mediterranean, there are four feet at new and full moon here, which is a great blessing. We have now seen everything, and have become acquainted with everybody, and met with kindness and attention beyond all description. Many of the great ducal families still exist, and live handsomely in their splendid palaces; indeed, the decay of Venice, so much talked of, is quite a mistake; certainly it is very different from what it was in its palmy days, but there is a good deal of activity and trade. The abolition of the law of primogeniture has injured the noble families more than anything else. We rise early, and are busy indoors all morning, except the girls, who go to the Academy of the Belle Arti, and paint from ten till three. We dine at four, and embark in our gondola at six or seven, and row about on the glassy sea till nine, when we go to the Piazza of San Marco, listen to a very fine military band, and sit gossiping till eleven or twelve, and then row home by the Grand Canal, or make a visit in one of the various houses that are open to us. One of the most remarkable of these is that of the Countess Mocenigo's, who has in one of her drawing-rooms the portraits of six doges of the Mocenigo name. I was presented by her to the Duc de Bordeaux, the other evening, a fat good-natured looking person. I was presented also to the Archduke—I forget what—son of the Archduke Charles, and admiral of the fleet here; a nice youth, but not clever. We meet him everywhere, and Somerville dined with him a few days ago. The only strangers of note are the Prince of Tour and Taxis, and Marshal Marmont. The Venetian ladies are very ladylike and agreeable, and speak beautifully. We have received uncommon kindness from Mr. Rawdon Brown; he has made us acquainted with everybody, as he is quite at home here, having been settled in Venice for several years, and has got a most beautiful house fitted up, in rococo style, with great taste; he is an adept at Venetian history. He supplies us with books, which are a great comfort.... The other evening we were surprised by a perfect fleet of gondolas stopping under our windows, from one of which we had the most beautiful serenade; the moonlight was like day, and the effect was admirable. There was a festa the other night in a church on the water's edge; the shore was illuminated and hundreds of gondolas were darting along like swallows, the gondoliers rowing as if they had been mad, till the water was as much agitated as if there had been a gale of wind: nothing could be more animated. You will perceive from what I have said that the evening, till a late hour, is the time for amusement, in consequence of which I follow the Italian custom of sleeping after dinner, and am much the better for it. This place agrees particularly well with all of us, and is well suited for old people, who require air without fatigue....

Most affectionately, MARY SOMERVILLE.

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FROM MRS. SOMERVILLE TO WORONZOW GREIG, ESQ.

VENICE, 27th August, 1843.

MY DEAR WORONZOW,

Your excellent letter, giving an account of your agreeable expedition up the Rhine, did not arrive till nearly a month after it was written.... I regret exceedingly you could not stay longer, and still more that you could not come on and pay us a visit, and enjoy the charm of summer in Venice, so totally unlike every other place in every respect. I wished for you last night particularly. As we were leaving the Piazza San Marco, about eleven, a boat came up, burning blue lights, with a piano, violins, flutes, and about twenty men on board, who sang choruses in the most delightful manner, and sometimes solos. They were followed by an immense number of gondolas, and we joined the cortege, and all went under the Bridge of Sighs, where the effect was beautiful beyond description. We then all turned and entered the Grand Canal, which was entirely filled with gondolas from one side to the other, jammed together, so that we moved en masse, and stopped every now and then to burn blue or red Bengal lights before the principal palaces, singing going on all the while. We saw numbers of our Venetian friends in their gondolas, enjoying the scene as much as we did, to whom it was almost new. I never saw people who enjoyed life more, and they have much the advantage of us in their delicious climate and aquatic amusements, so much more picturesque than what can be done on land. However, we have had no less than three dances lately. The Grand Duke of Modena, with his son and daughter-in-law, were here, and to them a fete was given by the Countess de Thurn. The palace was brilliant with lights; it is on the grand canal, and immediately under the balcony was a boat from which fireworks were let off, and then a couple of boats succeeded them, in which choruses were sung. The view from the balcony is one of the finest in Venice, and the night was charming, and there I was while the dancing went on.... I never saw Somerville so well; this place suits us to the life, constant air and no fatigue; I never once have had a headache.... Now, my dear W., tell me your tale; my tale is done.

Yours affectionately, MARY SOMERVILLE.

* * * * *

FROM MRS. SOMERVILLE TO WORONZOW GREIG, ESQ.

ROME, PALAZZO LEPRI, VIA DEI CONDOTTI, 27th October, 1848.

MY DEAREST WORONZOW,

... We had a beautiful journey to Rome, with fine weather and no annoyance, notwithstanding the disturbed state of the country. At Padua we only remained long enough to see the churches, and it was impossible to pass within a few miles of Arqua without paying a visit to the house of Petrarch. At Ferrara we had a letter to the Cardinal Legate, who was very civil. His palace is the ancient abode of the house of Este.... We had a long visit from him in the evening, and found him most agreeable; he regretted that there was no opera, as he would have been happy to offer us his box. Fourteen of those unfortunate men who have been making an attempt to raise an insurrection were arrested the day before; and the night before we slept at Lugo, the Carabineers had searched the inn during the night, entering the rooms where the people were sleeping. We should have been more than surprised to have been wakened by armed men at midnight. In travelling through Italy the reliques and history of the early Christians and of the Middle Ages have a greater attraction for me than those of either the Romans or Etruscans, interesting though these latter be, and in this journey my taste was amply gratified, especially at Ravenna, where the church of San Vitale and the Basilica of St. Apollinare in Classis, both built early in the 6th century, are the most magnificent specimens imaginable. Here also is the tomb of Theodore, a most wonderful building; the remains of his palace and numberless other objects of interest, too tedious to mention. Every church is full of them, and most valuable MSS. abound in the libraries. I like the history of the Middle Ages, because one feels that there is something in common between them and us; their names still exist in their descendants, who often inhabit the very palaces they dwelt in, and their very portraits, by the great masters, still hang in their halls; whereas we know nothing about the Greeks and Romans except their public deeds—their private life is a blank to us. Our journey through the Apennines was most beautiful, passing for days under the shade of magnificent oak forests or valleys rich in wine, oil, grain, and silk. We deviated from the main road for a short distance to Gubbio, to see the celebrated Eugubian tables, which are as sharp as if they had been engraved yesterday, but in a lost language. We stopped to rest at Perugia, but all our friends were at their country seats, which we regretted. The country round Perugia is unrivalled for richness and beauty, but it rained the morning we resumed our journey. It signified the less as we had been previously at Citta della Pieve and Chiusi; so we proceeded to Orvieto in fine weather, still through oak forests. Orvieto is situated on the top of an escarped hill, very like the hill forts of India, and apparently as inaccessible; yet, by dint of numberless turns and windings, we did get up, but only in time for bed. Next morning we saw the sun rise on the most glorious cathedral. After all we had seen we were completely taken by surprise, and were filled with the highest admiration at the extreme beauty and fine taste of this remarkable building....

Your affectionate mother, MARY SOMERVILLE.

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FROM MISS JOANNA BAILLIE TO MRS. SOMERVILLE

HAMPSTEAD, December 27th, 1843.

MY DEAR MRS. SOMERVILLE,

Besides being proud of receiving a letter from you, I was much pleased to know that I am, though at such a distance, sometimes in your thoughts. I was much pleased, too, with what you have said of the health and other gratifications you enjoy in Italy. I should gladly have thanked you at the time, had I known how to address my letter; and after receiving your proper direction from our friend Miss Montgomery, I have been prevented from using it by various things.... But though so long silent I have not been ungrateful, and thank you with all my heart. The account you give of Venice is very interesting. There is something affecting in still seeing the descendants of the former Doges holding a diminished state in their remaining palaces with so much courtesy. I am sure you have found yourself a guest in their saloons, hung with paintings of their ancestors, with very mixed feelings. However, Venice to the eye, as you describe it, is Venice still; and with its lights at night gleaming upon the waters makes a very vivid picture to my fancy. You no doubt have fixed it on canvas, and can carry it about with you for the delight of your friends who may never see the original.

In return to your kind inquiries after us, I have, all things considered, a very good account to give. Ladies of four score and upwards cannot expect to be robust, and need not be gay. We sit by the fire-side with our books (except when those plaguy notes are to be written) and receive the visits of our friendly neighbours very contentedly, and, I ought to say, and trust I may say, very thankfully.... This morning brought one in whom I feel sure that you and your daughters take some interest, Maria Edgeworth. She has been dangerously ill, but is now nearly recovered, and is come from Ireland to pass the winter months with her sisters in London: weak in body, but the mind as clear and the spirits as buoyant as ever. You will be glad to hear that she even has it in her thoughts to write a new work, and has the plan of it nearly arranged. There will be nothing new in the story itself, but the purpose and treating of it will be new, which is, perhaps, a better thing. In our retired way of living, we know little of what goes on in the literary world.... I was, however, in town for a few hours the other day, and called upon a lady of rank who has fashionable learned folks coming about her, and she informed me that there are new ideas regarding philosophy entertained in the world, and that Sir John Herschel was now considered as a slight, second-rate man, or person. Who are the first-rate she did not say, and, I suppose, you will not be much mortified to hear that your name was not mentioned at all. So much for our learning. My sister was much disappointed the other day when, in expectation of a ghost story from Mr. Dickens, she only got a grotesque moral allegory; now, as she delights in a ghost and hates an allegory, this was very provoking.

Believe me, My dear Mrs. Somerville, Yours with admiration and esteem, J. BAILLIE.

* * * * *

FROM MISS JOANNA BAILLIE TO MRS. SOMERVILLE

HAMPSTEAD, January 9th, 1851.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

My dear Mary Somerville, whom I am proud to call my friend, and that she so calls me. I could say much on this point, but I dare not. I received your letter from Mr. Greig last night, and thank you very gratefully. If my head were less confused I should do it better, but the pride I have in thinking of you as philosopher and a woman cannot be exceeded. I shall read your letter many times over. My sister and myself at so great an age are waiting to be called away in mercy by an Almighty Father, and we part with our earthly friends as those whom we shall meet again. My great monster book is now published, and your copy I shall send to your son who will peep into it, and then forward it to yourself. I beg to be kindly and respectfully remembered to your husband; I offer my best wishes to your daughters....

Yours, my dear Friend, Very faithfully, JOANNA BAILLIE.

My sister begs of you and all your family to accept her best wishes.

* * * * *

FROM SIR JOHN HERSCHEL TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.

18th March, 1844.

MY DEAR MRS. SOMERVILLE,

To have received a letter from you so long ago, and not yet to have thanked you for it, is what I could hardly have believed myself—if the rapid lapse of time in the uniform retirement in which we live were not pressed upon me in a variety of ways which convince me that as a man grows older, his sand, as the grains get low in the glass, slips through more glibly, and steals away with accelerated speed. I wish I could either send you a copy of my Cape observations, or tell you they are published or even in the press. Far from it—I do not expect to "go to press" before another year has elapsed, for though I have got my catalogues of Southern nebulae and Double stars reduced and arranged, yet there is a great deal of other matter still to be worked through, and I have every description of reduction entirely to execute myself. These are very tedious, and I am a very slow computer, and have been continually taken off the subject by other matter, forced upon me by "pressure from without." What I am now engaged on is the monograph of the principal Southern Nebulae, the object of which is to put on record every ascertainable particular of their actual appearance and the stars visible in them, so as to satisfy future observers whether new stars have appeared, or changes taken place in the nebulosity. To what an extent this work may go you may judge from the fact that the catalogue of visible stars actually mapped down in their places within the space of less than a square degree in the nebula about [Greek: e] Argus which I have just completed comprises between 1300 and 1400 stars. This is indeed a stupendous object. It is a vastly extensive branching and looped nebula, in the centre of the densest part of which is [Greek: e] Argus, itself a most remarkable star, seeing that from the fourth magnitude which it had in Ptolemy's time, it has risen (by sudden starts, and not gradually) to such a degree of brilliancy as now actually to surpass Canopus, and to be second only to Sirius. One of these leaps I myself witnessed when in the interval of ceasing to observe it in one year, and resuming its observation in two or three months after in the next, it had sprung over the heads of all the stars of the first magnitude, from Fomalhaut and Regulus (the two least of them) to [Greek: a] Centauri, which it then just equalled, and which is the brightest of all but Canopus and Sirius! It has since made a fresh jump—and who can say it will be the last?

One of the most beautiful objects in the southern hemisphere is a pretty large, perfectly round, and very well-defined planetary nebula, of a fine, full independent blue colour—the only object I have ever seen in the heavens fairly entitled to be called independently blue, i.e., not by contrast. Another superb and most striking object is Lacaille's 30 Doradus, a nebula of great size in the larger nubicula, of which it is impossible to give a better idea than to compare it to a "true lover's knot," or assemblage of nearly circular nebulous loops uniting in a centre, in or near which is an exactly circular round dark hole. Neither this nor the nebula about [Greek: e] Argus have any, the slightest, resemblance to the representations given of them by Dunlop.... As you are so kind as to offer to obtain information on any points interesting to me at Rome, here is one on which I earnestly desire to obtain the means of forming a correct opinion, i.e., the real powers and merits of De Vico's great refractor at the Collegio Romano. De Vico's accounts of it appear to me to have not a little of the extra-marvellous in them. Saturn's two close satellites regularly observed—eight stars in the trapezium of Orion! [Greek: a] Aquilae (as Schumacher inquiringly writes to me) divided into three! the supernumerary divisions of Saturn's ring well seen, &c., &c. And all by a Cauchoix refractor of eight inches? I fear me that these wonders are not for female eyes, the good monks are too well aware of the penetrating qualities of such optics to allow them entry within the seven-fold walls of their Collegio. Has Somerville ever looked through it? On his report I know I could quite rely. As for Lord Rosse's great reflector, I can only tell you what I hear, having never seen it, or even his three feet one. The great one is not yet completed. Of the other, those who have looked through it speak in raptures. I met not long since an officer who, at Halifax in Nova Scotia, saw the comet at noon close to the sun, and very conspicuous the day after the perihelion passage.

Your account of the pictures and other deliciae of Venice makes our mouths water; but it is of no use, so we can only congratulate those who are in the full enjoyment of such things.

Ever yours most truly, J. HERSCHEL.

On returning to Rome I was elected Associate of the College of Risurgenti, and in the following April I became an honorary member of the Imperial and Royal Academy of Science, Literature and Art at Arezzo. I finished an edition of the Physical Sciences, at which I had been working, and in spring Somerville hired a small house belonging to the Duca Sforza Cesarini, at Genzano, close to and with a beautiful view of the Lake of Nemi; but as I had not seen my son for some time, I now availed myself of the opportunity of travelling with our friend Sir Frederick Adam to England. We crossed the Channel at Ostend, and at the mouth of the Thames lay the old "Venerable," in which my father was flag-captain at the battle of Camperdown. I had a joyful meeting with my son and his wife, and we went to see many things that were new to me. One of our first expeditions was to the British Museum. I had already seen the Elgin marbles, and the antiquities collected at Babylon by Mr. Rich, when he was Consul at Bagdad, but now the Museum had been enriched by the marbles from Halicarnassus, and by the marvellous remains excavated by Mr. Layard from the ruins of Nineveh, the very site of which had been for ages unknown.

I frequently went to Turner's studio, and was always welcomed. No one could imagine that so much poetical feeling existed in so rough an exterior. The water-colour exhibitions were very good; my countrymen still maintained their superiority in that style of art, and the drawings of some English ladies were scarcely inferior to those of first-rate artists, especially those of my friend, Miss Blake, of Danesbury.

While in England I made several visits; the first was to my dear friends Sir John and Lady Herschel, at Collingwood, who received me with the warmest affection. I cannot express the pleasure it gave me to feel myself at home in a family where not only the highest branches of science were freely discussed, but where the accomplishments and graces of life were cultivated. I was highly gratified and proud of being godmother to Rosa, the daughter of Sir John and Lady Herschel. Among other places near Collingwood I was taken to see an excellent observatory formed by Mr. Dawes, a gentleman of independent fortune; and here I must remark, to the honour of my countrymen, that at the time I am writing, there are twenty-six private observatories in Great Britain and Ireland, furnished with first-rate instruments, with which some of the most important astronomical discoveries have been made.

[I received the following letter from my mother while we were at Genzano. It is one of several which record in her natural and unaffected words my mother's profound admiration for Sir John Herschel.]

MRS. SOMERVILLE TO MISS SOMERVILLE.

SYDENHAM, 1st September, 1844. Sunday Night.

MY DEAR MARTHA,

... We go to the Herschels' to-morrow, and there I shall finish this letter, as it is impossible to get it in time for Tuesday's post, but I have so much to do now that you must not expect a letter every post, and I had no time to begin this before, and I am too tired to sit up later to-night....

COLLINGWOOD, Monday.

This appears to be a remarkably beautiful place, with abundance of fine timber.... W. brought your dear nice letter; it makes me long to be with you, and, please God, I shall be so before long, as I set off this day fortnight.

Wednesday.

Yesterday I had a great deal of scientific talk with Sir John, and a long walk in the grounds which are extensive, and very pretty. Then the Airys arrived, and we had a large party at dinner.... I think, now, as I always have done, that Sir John is by much the highest and finest character I have ever met with; the most gentlemanly and polished mind, combined with the most exalted morality, and the utmost of human attainment. His view of everything is philosophic, and at the same time highly poetical, in short, he combines every quality that is admirable and excellent with the most charming modesty, and Lady Herschel is quite worthy of such a husband, which is the greatest praise I can give her. Their kindness and affection for me has been unbounded. Lady H. told me she heard such praises of you two that she is anxious to know you, and she hopes you will always look upon her and her family as friends. The christening went off as well as possible. Mr. Airy was godfather, and Mrs. Airy and I godmothers, but I had the naming of the child—Matilda Rose, after Lady Herschel's sister. I assure you I was quite adroit in taking the baby from the nurse and giving her to the clergyman. Sir John took Mrs. Airy and me a drive to see a very fine picturesque castle a few miles off.... I have got loads of things for experiments on light from Sir John with a variety of papers, and you may believe that I have profited not a little by his conversation, and have a thousand projects for study and writing, so I think painting will be at a standstill, only that I have promised to paint something for Lady Herschel. Sir John computes four or five hours every day, and yet his Cape observations will not be finished for two years. I have seen everything he is or has been doing.

Your affectionate mother, MARY SOMERVILLE.

* * * * *

[My mother continues her recollections of this journey.]

My next visit was to Lord and Lady Charles Percy at Guy's Cliff, in Warwickshire, a pretty picturesque place of historical and romantic memory. The society was pleasant, and I was taken to Kenilworth and Warwick Castle, on the banks of the Avon, a noble place, still bearing marks of the Wars of the Roses. I never saw such magnificent oak-trees as those on the Leigh estate, near Guy's Cliff.

I then visited my maiden namesake, Mrs. Fairfax, of Gilling Castle, Yorkshire. She was a highly cultivated person, had been much abroad, and was a warm-hearted friend. I was much interested in the principal room, for a deep frieze surrounds the wall, on which are painted the coats of arms of all the families with whom the Fairfaxes have intermarried, ascending to very great antiquity; besides, every pane of glass in a very large bay window in the same room is stained with one of these coats of arms. Every morning after breakfast a prodigious flock of pea-fowl came from the woods around to be fed.

I now went to the vicinity of Kelso to visit my brother and sister-in-law, General and Mrs. Elliot, who lived on the banks of the Tweed. We went to Jedburgh, the place of my birth. After many years I still thought the valley of the Jed very beautiful; I fear the pretty stream has been invaded by manufactories: there is a perpetual war between civilization and the beauty of nature. I went to see the spot from whence I once took a sketch of Jedburgh Abbey and the manse in which I was born, which does not exist, I believe, now. When I was a very young girl I made a painting from this sketch. Our next excursion was to a lonely village called Yetholm, in the hills, some miles from Kelso, belonging to the gipsies. The "king" and the other men were absent, but the women were civil, and some of them very pretty. Our principal object in going there was to see a stone in the wall of a small and very ancient church at Linton, nearly in ruins, on which is carved in relief the wyvern and wheel, the crest of the Somervilles.

From Kelso I went to Edinburgh to spend a few days with Lord Jeffrey and his family. No one who had seen his gentle kindness in domestic life and the warmth of his attachment to his friends, could have supposed he possessed that power of ridicule and severity which made him the terror of authors. His total ignorance of science may perhaps excuse him for having admitted into the "Review" Brougham's intemperate article on the undulatory theory of light, a discovery which has immortalized the name of Dr. Young. I found Edinburgh, the city of my early recollections, picturesque and beautiful as ever, but enormously increased both to the north and to the south. Queen Street, which in my youth was open to the north and commanded a view of the Forth and the mountains beyond, was now in the middle of the new town. All those I had formerly known were gone—a new generation had sprung up, living in all the luxury of modern times. On returning to London I spent a pleasant time with my son and his wife, who invited all those to meet me whom they thought I should like to see.

[My mother returned to Rome in autumn in company with an old friend and her daughter.]

* * * * *

The winter passed without any marked event, but always agreeably; new people came, making a pleasant variety in the society, which, though still refined, was beginning to be very mixed, as was amusingly seen at Torlonia's balls and tableaux, where many of the guests formed a singular contrast with the beautiful Princess, who was of the historical family of the Colonnas. I was often ashamed of my countrymen, who, all the while speaking of the Italians with contempt, tried to force themselves into their houses. Prince Borghese refused the same person an invitation to a ball five times. I was particularly scrupulous about invitations, and never asked for one in my life; nor did I ever seek to make acquaintances with the view of being invited to their houses.

* * * * *

[The following letters give a sketch of life during the summer months at Rome:—]

MRS. SOMERVILLE TO W. GREIG, ESQ.

ROME, 3rd August, 1845.

MY DEAR WORONZOW,

... I am glad you are so much pleased with my bust, and that it is so little injured after having been at the bottom of the sea. You will find Macdonald a very agreeable and original person. As to spending the summer in Rome, you may make yourself quite easy, for the heat is very bearable, the thermometer varying between 75 deg. and 80 deg. in our rooms during the day, which are kept in darkness, and at night it always becomes cooler. Thank God, we are all quite well, and Somerville particularly so; he goes out during the day to amuse himself, and the girls paint in the Borghese gallery. As for myself I have always plenty to do till half past three, when we dine, and after dinner I sleep for an hour or more, and when the sun is set we go out to wander a little, for a long walk is too fatiguing at this season. We have very little society, the only variety we have had was a very pretty supper party given by Signore Rossi, the French minister, to the Prince and Princess de Broglie, son and daughter-in-law of the duke. The young lady is extremely beautiful, and as I knew the late Duchesse de Broglie (Madame de Stael's daughter) we soon got acquainted. They are newly married, and have come to spend part of the summer in Rome, so you see people are not so much alarmed as the English.... We went yesterday evening to see the Piazza Navona full of water; it is flooded every Saturday and Sunday at this season; there is music, and the whole population of Rome is collected round it, carts and carriages splashing through it in all directions. I think it must be about three feet deep. It was there the ancient Romans had their naval games; and the custom of filling it with water in summer has lasted ever since. The fountain is one of the most beautiful in Rome, which is saying a great deal; indeed the immense gush of the purest water from innumerable fountains in every street and every villa is one of the peculiarities of Rome. I fear from what I have heard of those in Trafalgar Square that the quantity of water will be very miserable.

The papers (I mean the Times), are full of abuse of Mr. Sedgwick and Dr. Buckland, but their adversaries write such nonsense that it matters little. I do not think I have anything to add to my new edition. If you hear of anything of moment let me know. Perhaps something may have transpired at the British Association....

Your affectionate mother, MARY SOMERVILLE.

* * * * *

MRS. SOMERVILLE TO W. GREIG, ESQ.

ROME, May 28th, 1845.

MY DEAR WORONZOW,

I don't know why I have so long delayed writing to you. I rather think it is because we have been living so quiet a life, one day so precisely similar to the preceding, that there has been nothing worth writing about. This is our first really summer-like day, and splendid it is; but we are sitting in a kind of twilight. The only means of keeping the rooms cool is by keeping the house dark and shutting out the external air, and then in the evening we have a delightful walk; the country is splendid, the Campagna one sheet of deep verdure and flowers of every kind in abundance. We generally have six or seven large nosegays in the room; we have only to go to some of the neighbouring villas and gather them. Most of the English are gone; people make a great mistake in not remaining during the hot weather, this is the time for enjoyment. We are busy all the morning, and in the afternoon we take our book or drawing materials and sit on the grass in some of the lovely villas for hours; then we come home to tea, and are glad to see anyone who will come in for an hour or two. We have had a son of Mr. Babbage here. He is employed in making the railway that is to go from Genoa to Milan, and he was travelling with eight other Englishmen who came to make arrangements for covering Italy with a network of these iron roads, connecting all the great cities and also the two seas from Venice to Milan and Genoa and from Ancona by Rome to Civita Vecchia. However the Pope is opposed to the latter part, but they say the cardinals and people wish it so much that he will at last consent.... Many thanks for the Vestiges, &c. I think it a powerful production, and was highly pleased with it, but I can easily see that it will offend in some quarters; however it should be remembered that there has been as much opposition to the true system of astronomy and to geological facts as there can be to this. At all events free and open discussion of all natural and moral phenomena must lead to truth at last. Is Babbage the author? I rather think he would not be so careful in concealing his name....