Reminiscences of Sir Walter Scott. 95 



but seeing that such valuable things could never be 

 obtained by me, I thought no more about them. 

 In those early days I had every difficulty to con- 

 tend with ; now, through the kindness and liberal 

 opinions of my husband, I had every encourage- 

 ment. He took up the study of mineralogy with 

 zeal, and I heartily joined with him. We made 

 the acquaintance of Professor Jameson, a pupil of 

 Werner's, whose work on mineralogy was of great 

 use to us. We began to form a cabinet of minerals, 

 which, although small, were good of their kind. We 

 were criticized for extravagance, and, no doubt I 

 had the lion's share of blame ; but more of minerals 

 hereafter. 



# * * # * 



Abbotsford is only twelve miles distant from Jed- 

 burgh, and my father-in-law, Dr. Somerville, and Sir 

 Walter Scott had been intimate friendsformanyyears, 

 indeed through life. The house at Abbotsford was 

 at first a mere cottage, on the banks of the Tweed ; 

 my brother-in-law, Samuel, had a villa adjacent to 

 it, and John, Lord Somerville, had a house and 

 property on the opposite bank of the river, to which 

 he came every spring for salmon fishing. He was 

 a handsome, agreeable man, had been educated in 

 England, and as he thought he should never live 

 in Scotland, he sold the family estate of Drum, 



