184 Mary Somerville. 



he gave me some interesting memoirs, and lent me 

 a mass of manuscripts, with leave to make extracts, 

 which were very useful to me. General de La 

 Fayettc came to town on purpose to invite 

 Somerville and me to visit him at La Grange, 

 where we found him living like a patriarch, sur- 

 rounded by his family to the fourth generation. 

 He was mild, highly distinguished, and noble in his 

 manners ; his conversation was exceedingly in- 

 teresting, as he readily spoke of the Revolution in 

 which he had taken so active a part. Among other 

 anecdotes, he mentioned, that he had sent the prin- 

 cipal key of the Bastile to General Washington, 

 who kept it under a glass case. He was much in- 

 terested to hear that I could, in some degree, claim 

 a kind of relationship with Washington, whose 

 mother was a Fairfax. Baron Fairfax, the head of 

 the family, being settled in America, had joined 

 the independent party at the Revolution. 



The two daughters of La Fayette, Avho had been 

 in prison with him at Olmiitz, were keen politicians, 

 and discussed points with a warmth of gesticulation 

 which amused Somerville and me, accustomed to 

 our cold still manners. The grand-daughters, 

 Mesdames de Rernusat and de Corcelles, were 

 kind friends to me all the time I was in Paris. 



M. ^ouvard, whom we had known in London, 



