44 Mary Somerville. 



Lyells of Kinnordy, the father and mother of ray 

 friend Sir Charles Lyell, the celebrated geologist , 

 but this time they accepted an invitation from Cap- 

 tain Wedderburn, and took me with them. Captain 

 "Wedderburn was an old bachelor, who had left the 

 army and devoted himself to agriculture. Mounted 

 on a very tall but quiet horse, I accompanied my 

 host every morning when he went over his farm, 

 which was chiefly a grass farm. The house was 

 infested with rats, and a masculine old maid, who 

 was of the party, lived in such terror of them, that 

 she had a light in her bedroom, and after she 

 was in bed, made her maid tuck in the white 

 dimity curtains all round. One night we were 

 awakened by violent screams, and on going to see 

 what was the matter, we found Miss Cowe in the 

 middle of the room, bare-footed, in her night-dress, 

 screaming at the top of her voice. Instead of tucking 

 the rats out of the bed, the maid had tucked one 

 in, and Miss Cowe on waking beheld it sitting on 

 her pillow. 



***** 

 There was great political agitation at this time. 

 The corruption and tyranny of the court, nobility, 

 and clergy in France were so great, that when the 

 revolution broke out, a large portion of our popula- 

 tion thought the French people were perfectly justi- 



