272 Mary Somerville. 



something for Lady Herschel. Sir John computes four 

 or five hours every day, and yet his Cape observations 

 will not he finished for two years. I have seen every- 

 thing he is or has been doing. 



Your affectionate mother, 



MARY SOMEKVILLE. 



[My mother continues her recollections of this journey. 



My next visit was to Lord and Lady Charles Percy, 

 at Guy's Cliff, in Warwickshire, a pretty picturesque 

 place of historical and romantic memory. The 

 society was pleasant, and I was taken to Kenil worth 

 and Warwick Castle, on the banks of the Avon, a 

 noble place, still bearing marks of the Wars of the 

 Koses. I never saw such magnificent oak-trees as 

 those on the Leigh estate, near Guy's Cliff. 



I then visited my maiden namesake, Mrs. 

 Fairfax, of Gilling Castle, Yorkshire. She was a 

 highly cultivated person, had been much abroad, 

 and was a warrn-hearted friend. I was much inte- 

 rested in the principal room, for a deep frieze sur- 

 rounds the wall, on which are painted the coats of 

 arms of all the families with whom the Fairfaxes 

 have intermarried, ascending to very great antiquity ; 

 besides, every pane of glass in a very large bay 

 window in the same room is stained with one of 

 these coats of arms. Every morning after breakfast 





