Birth. 9 



time to arrive at the manse of Jedburgh, her sister 

 Martha Somerville's * house, when I was born, on the 

 26th December, 1780. My mother was dangerously 

 ill, and my aunt, who was about to wean her second 

 daughter Janet, who married General Henry Elliot, 

 nursed me till a wetnurse could be found. So I 

 was born in the house of my future husband, and 

 nursed by his mother a rather singular coinci- 

 dence. 



During my father's absence, my mother lived 

 with great economy in a house not . far from 

 Burntisland which belonged to my grandfather, 

 solely occupied with the care of her family, which 

 consisted of her eldest son Samuel, four or five years 

 old, and myself. One evening while my brother was 

 lying at play on the floor, he called out, " 0, mam- 

 ma, there's the moon rinnin' awa." It was the 

 celebrated meteor of 1783. 



Some time afterwards, for what reason I do not 

 know, my father and mother went to live for a 

 short time at Inveresk, and thence returned to 



Burntisland, our permanent home. 



***** 



[This place, in which my mother's early life was spent, 

 exercised so much influence on her life and pursuits, 



* Wife of the Rev. Dr. Thomas Somerville, minister of Jedburgh, 

 already mentioned (p. 2). Dr. Somerville was author of Histories of 

 Queen Anne and of William and Mary, and also of an autobiography. 



