CHAPTER X. 



DEATH OF MARGARET SOMERVILLE LETTER FROM MRS. SOMERVILLE 

 TO THE REV. DR. SOMERVILLE LIFE AT CHELSEA THE NAPIERS 

 MARIA EDGEWORTH TOUR IS GERMANY. 



OUR happy and cheerful life in Hanover Square 

 came to a sad end. The illness and death of our 

 eldest girl threw Somerville and me into the deepest 

 affliction. She was a child of intelligence and 

 acquirements far beyond her tender age. 



[The long illness and death of this young girl fell very 

 heavily on my mother, who by this time had lost several 

 children. The following letter was written by her to 

 my grandfather on this occasion. It shows her steadfast 

 faith in the mercy and goodness of God, even when 

 crushed by almost the severest affliction which can wring 

 a mother's heart : 



MES. SOMERVILLE TO THE REV. DR. SOMERVILLE. 



LONDON, October, 1823. 

 MY DEAR FATHER, 



I never was so long of writing to you, but when 

 the heart is breaking it is impossible to find words ade- 

 quate to its relief. We are in deep affliction, for though 

 the first violence of grief has subsided, th'ere has sue- 



