70 Mary Somerville. 



see an engraving of this very picture in the public 

 library at Milan. I did not know that one existed. 

 At a great entertainment given to Lord Duncan 

 by the East India Company, then in great power, 

 the President asked my father, who sat at his left 

 hand, if he had any relation in India ? He replied, 

 " My eldest son is in the Company's military service." 

 " Then," said the President, " he shall be a Writer, 

 the highest appointment in my power to bestow." 

 I cannot tell how thankful we were ; for, instead of 

 a separation of almost a lifetime, it gave hopes that 

 my brother might make a sufficient fortune in a 

 few years to enable him to come home. There was 

 a great review of the troops at Calcutta, under a 

 burning sun ; my brother returned to the barracks, 

 sun-struck, where he found his appointment, and 

 died that evening, at the age of twenty-one. 

 * * * # * 



[My mother has often told us of her heart-broken 

 parting with this brother on his going to India. It was 

 then almost for a lifetime, and he was her favourite 

 brother, and the companion of her childhood. He must 

 have been wonderfully handsome, judging from a beauti- 

 fully-painted miniature which we have of him. 



Public events became more and more exciting 

 every day, and difficulties occurred at home. There 

 had been bad harvests, and there was a great 



