90 Mary Somervtite. 



Finlayson was a remarkably good Greek scholar, and 

 my husband said, " Why not take advantage of such 

 an opportunity of improvement ?" So I read Homer 

 for an hour every morning before breakfast. Mr. 

 Finlayson joined the army as surgeon, and distin- 

 guished himself by his courage and humanity during 

 the battle of Waterloo ; but he was lost in the march 

 of the army to Paris, and his brother George, after 

 having sought for him in vain, came to live with 

 us in his stead. He excelled in botany, and here 

 again, by my husband's advice, I devoted a morning 

 hour to that science, though I was nursing a baby at 

 the time. I knew the vulgar name of most of the 

 plants that Mr. Finlayson had gathered, but now I 

 was taught systematically, and afterwards made a 

 herbarium, both of land plants and fuci. This 

 young man's hopeful career was early arrested by 

 nis love of science, for he died of jungle fever in 

 Bengal, caught while in search of plants. 



Professor Play fair was now old, and resigned his 

 chair, which Mr. Leslie was perfectly competent to 

 fill on account of his acknowledged scientific acquire- 

 ments ; but, being suspected of heretical opinions, his 

 appointment was keenly opposed, especially on the 

 part of the clergy, and a violent contest arose, which 

 ended in his favour. We became acquainted with 

 and liked him. He was a man of original genius, 



