PEESONAL KECOLLECTIONS 



MAET SOMEEVILLE. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTION PARENTAGE LIFE IN SCOTLAND IN THE LAST CENTURY 

 EARLY EDUCATION SCHOOL. 



THE life of a woman entirely devoted to her family 

 duties and to scientific pursuits affords little scope for a 

 biography. There are in it neither stirring events nor 

 brilliant deeds to record ; and as my Mother was strongly 

 averse to .gossip, and to revelations of private life or of 

 intimate correspondence, nothing of the kind will be found 

 in the following pages. It has been only after very great 

 hesitation, and on the recommendation of valued friends, 

 who think that some account of so remarkable and 

 beautiful a character cannot fail to interest the public, 

 that I have resolved to publish some detached Eecollec- 

 tions of past times, noted down by my mother during the 

 last years of her life, together with a few letters from 

 eminent men and women, referring almost exclusively to 

 lier scientific works. A still smaller number of her own 

 letters have been added, either as illustrating her 



