250 Mary Somerville. 



when we go out and take a long walk ; come home to tea 

 at nine, and go to bed at eleven : the same thing day 

 after day, so you cannot expect a very amusing letter. 



I have another commission I wish you would 



do for me ; it is to inquire what discoveries Captain 

 Ross has made at the South Pole. I saw a very interest- 

 ing account in " Galignani " of what they have done, but 

 cannot trust to a newspaper account so as to quote it. 



A new edition of my " Physical Sciences " was 

 required, so the "Physical Geography" was laid 

 aside for the present. On returning to Eome, we 

 resumed our usual life, and continued to receive our 

 friends in the evening without ceremony. There 

 was generally a merry party round the tea table in 

 a corner of the room. I cannot omit mentioning 

 one of the most charming and intellectual of our 

 friends, Don Michelangelo Gaetani, Duke of Ser- 

 moneta, whose brilliant and witty conversation is 

 unrivalled, and for whom I have had a very sin- 

 cere friendship for many years. I found him lately 

 as charming as ever, notwithstanding the cruel loss 

 of his sight. The last time I ever dined out was at 

 his house at Rome, when I was on my way to Naples 



in 1867. 



# * # * # 



John Gibson, the sculptor, the most guileless and 

 amiable of men, was now a dear friend. His style 



