92 Mary Somerville. 



Wellwood, minister of the West Kirk. There were 

 always a few of the friends of Sir Henry and Lady 

 Moncreiff present, and we were invited occasionally. 

 There was a substantial hot supper of roasted fowls, 

 game, or lamb, and afterwards a lively, animated 

 conversation on a. variety of subjects, without a shade 

 of austerity, though Sir Henry was esteemed an 

 orthodox preacher. 



There was an idiot in Edinburgh, the son of a 

 respectable family, who had a remarkable memory. 

 He never failed to go to the Kirk on Sunday, and 

 on returning home could repeat the sermon word 

 for word, saying, Here the minister coughed, Here 

 he stopped to blow his nose. During the tour 

 we made in the Highlands we met with another 

 idiot who knew the Bible so perfectly that if you 

 asked him where such a verse was to be found, 

 he could tell without hesitation, and repeat the 

 chapter. The common people in Scotland at that 

 time had a kind of serious compassion for these 

 harmless idiots, because " the hand of God was 

 upon them." 



The wise as well as the foolish are sometimes 

 endowed with a powerful memory. Dr. Gregory, 

 an eminent Edinburgh physician, one of the cleverest 

 and most agreeable men I ever met with, was a 

 remarkable instance of this. He wrote and spoke 



