22 Mary Somerville. 



my arrival, although perfectly straight and well- 

 made, I was enclosed in stiff stays with a steel 

 busk in front, while, above my frock, bands drew 

 my shoulders back till the shoulder-blades met. 

 Then a steel rod, with a semi-circle which went 

 under the chin, was clasped to the steel busk in 

 my stays. In this constrained state I, and most 

 of the younger girls, had to prepare our lessons. 

 The chief thing I had to do was to learn by heart 

 a page of Johnson's dictionary, not only to spell 

 the words, give their parts of speech and meaning, 

 but as an exercise of memory to remember their 

 order of succession. Besides I had to learn the 

 first principles of writing, and the rudiments of 

 French and English grammar. The method of 

 teaching was extremely tedious and inefficient. 

 Our religious duties were attended to in a remark- 

 able way. Some of the girls were Presbyterians, 

 others belonged to the Church of England, so Miss 

 Primrose cut the matter short by taking us all to 

 the kirk in the morning and to church in the 

 afternoon. 



In our play-hours we amused ourselves with 

 playing at ball, marbles, and especially at "Scotch 

 and English," a game which represented a raid on 

 the debatable land, or Border between Scotland and 

 England, in which each party tried to rob the 



