SKETCH OF MARY SOMERVILLE. 119 



and received her friends. Gay and cheerful company was a pleasant 

 relaxation after a hard day's work. My mother never introduced 

 scientific or learned subjects into general conversation. When they 

 were brought forward by others, she talked simply and naturally 

 about thera, without the slightest pretension to superior knowledge. 

 Finally, to complete the list of her accomplishments, I must add that 

 she was a remarkably neat and skillful needle-woman." 



"At Edinburgh," says the English essayist in the "Saturday Re- 

 view," " she had the opportunity of seeing Mrs. Siddons and John 

 Kemble on the stage, and contracted a passion for Shakespeare. 

 Poetry and works of the imagination had a charm to her from the 

 first ; and no gii'l more enjoyed dancing, or had more numerous part- 

 ners at balls. At the same time, a degree of diffidence, mainly at- 

 tributable to the seclusion of her early years, forbade her taking part 

 in conversation, or speaking across the table. Through all her amuse- 

 ments, severe as the winter might be, she rose at daybreak, and, 

 wrapped in a blanket, no fire being allowed, read algebra or the clas- 

 sics till breakfast-time. If tired in mind, as she was often conscious 

 of becoming, in spite of her perseverance, refreshment was sought in 

 poetry, or in stories of ghosts and witchcraft, of which she was con- 

 stitutionally fond, being what the Scotch call eerie when in the dark 

 or by herself, although having no actual belief in ghosts, and feeling 

 a proper scorn for spirit-rappers." The practice of writing in bed, re- 

 ferred to in the preceding extract, appears to have been habitual with 

 her, and " Chambers's Journal " gives a picture of her making it a rule 

 "not to get up before twelve or one, although she began work at 

 eight ; reading, writing, and calculating hard — with her pet sparrow 

 resting upon her arm — four or five hours every day, but these four or 

 five hours were spent abed." 



" The restless activity of her intellect," says " Nature," " never 

 slumbered. When she received her first lessons in painting and mu- 

 sic, she began at once to try and trace out the scientific principles on 

 which these arts are based, and never rested till she had gained some 

 knowledge of the laws of perspective and of the theory of color, and 

 had learned to tune her own instruments." Another writer depicts the 

 versatility of her life, and the abundance of the scientific friendships • 

 she contracted in association with her husband, who, " a traveler, a 

 naturalist, a good classic, and a critical writer of English," was "one 

 to share her studies and to be her support and companion in so- 

 ciety and in travel. . . . Geology and mineralogy are among the first 

 of their joint studies, and the extravagance of their cabinet of speci- 

 mens is criticised. Acquaintance with the Herschels opens up practi- 

 cal astronomy. In London, Arago and Biot, who had heard of the 

 English lady reading Laplace, express surprise at her youth. At 

 Paris friendship is renewed with these savants, with whom are met 

 Laplace himself, Arago, and Professor Humboldt ; Cuvier does the 



