6 Mary Somerville. 



others, she talked simply and naturally ahout them, 

 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 skilful 

 needlewoman. We still possess some elaborate specimens 

 of her embroidery and lace-work. 



Devoted and loving in all the relations of life, my 

 mother was ever forgetful of self. Indulgent and sym- ' 

 pathising, she never judged others with harshness or 

 severity ; yet she could be very angry when her in- 

 dignation was aroused by hearing of injustice or oppres- 

 sion, of cruelty to man or beast, or of any attack on 

 those she loved. Rather timid and retiring in general 

 society, she was otherwise fearless in her quiet way. I 

 well remember her cool composure on some occasions 

 when we were in great danger. This she inherited from 

 her father, Admiral Sir William Fairfax, a gallant gentle- 

 man who distinguished himself greatly at the battle of 

 Camperdown.* 



My mother speaks of him as follows among her 

 " Recollections," of which I now proceed to place some 

 portions before the reader. 



* Sir William Fairfax was the son of Joseph Fairfax, Esq., of Bag- 

 shot, in the county of Surrey, who died in 1783, aged 77, having served 

 in the army previous to 1745. It is understood that his family was de- 

 scended from the Fairfaxes of "Walton, in Yorkshire, the main branch 

 of which were created Viscounts Fairfax of Emly, in the peerage of 

 Ireland (now extinct), and a younger branch Barons Fairfax of 

 Cameron, in the peerage of Scotland. Of the last-named was the great 

 Lord Fairfax, Coininander-in-Chief of the armies of the Parliament, 

 1645 50, whose title is now held by the eleventh Lord Fairfax, a resi- 

 dent in the United States of America. 



