274 Mary Somerville. 



have supposed he possessed that power of ridicule 

 and severity which made him the terror of authors. 

 His total ignorance of science may perhaps excuse 

 him for having admitted into the " Keview" 

 Brougham's intemperate article on the undulatory 

 theory of light, a discovery which has immortalized 

 the name of Dr. Young. I found Edinburgh, the 

 city of my early recollections, picturesque and 

 beautiful as ever, but enormously increased both to 

 the north and to the south. Queen Street, which in 

 my youth was open to the north and commanded a 

 view of the Forth and the mountains beyond, was 

 now in the middle of the new town. All those I 

 had formerly known were gone a new generation 

 had sprung up, living in all the luxury of modern 

 times. On returning to London I spent a pleasant 

 time with my son and his wife, who invited all those 

 to meet me whom they thought I should like to see. 



[My mother returned to Eome in autumn in com- 

 pany with an old friend and her daughter. 



The winter passed without any marked event, but 

 always agreeably ; new people came, making a plea- 

 sant variety in the society, which, though still 

 refined, was beginning to be very mixed, as was 

 amusingly seen at Torlonia's balls and tableaux, 



