224 MARY SOMERVILLE. [l870. 



giving her evident pleasure to see Mr Prestwich, who 

 was only known to her by reputation. Her quaint 

 Scotch accent and the remarkably soft voice were 

 unchanged, and the simple natural manner was as of 

 old. Perhaps she had become a shade more grave, still 

 there was the same serenity, the same unquenchable 

 thirst for knowledge, and the same trenchant questions. 

 Her mental powers were keen and clear as ever, and 

 the penetrating grey eyes, which had not lost their 

 shining light, were turned full upon the speaker with 

 rapt attention. Vesuvius and volcanoes were dis- 

 cussed by Mrs Somerville and our geologist, her room 

 flooded with sunshine admitting a view of the 

 mountain and the beautiful bay. 



Mary Somerville was then verging upon ninety, while 

 Joseph Prestwich had just completed his fifty-eighth 

 year. What a picture the two made ! An Ary Scheffer 

 would have done justice to it. Hers was a glorious old 

 age. Her last work, which was published in the pre- 

 ceding year, was on ' Molecular and Microscopic Science/ 

 appearing just three years before her death. For a 

 motto she chose as most appropriate, " Deus magnus in 

 magnis, maximus in minimis." 



Lingering in Italy and leaving it with regret, Mr and 

 Mrs Prestwich travelled direct to Paris, crossing Mont 

 Cenis by the temporary Fell Railway, which wound in 

 serpentine course over the mountain. They reached 

 home in time for the outburst of the early summer, for 

 the blossoming of the may, the lilacs, and laburnums. 

 During their absence Emily Prestwich had remained at 

 Darent-Hulme, her brother, before going abroad, having 

 confided to her the care of the Brixham Cave papers. 

 His one injunction in case of fire had been, " Whatever 

 .happens to the house, save the Brixham Cave papers." 



