MRS. SOMERVILLE. I - 



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Somerville, by which marriage she had three daughters, 

 two of whom survive her. The latter years of her life 

 (twenty-three years, we believe) were passed in Italy. 

 It has been said by one who was well acquainted with 

 the circumstances that ' the long exile which occupied 

 the latter portion of her life was a weary trial to her. 

 She carried a thoroughly Scotch heart in her breast ; and 

 the true mountaineer's longing for her native country 

 sickened many an hour of many a tedious year. She 

 liked London life, too, and the equal intercourses which 

 students like herself can there enjoy ; whereas, in Italy, 

 she was out of place. She seldom met any one with 

 whom she could converse on the subjects which in- 

 terested her most ; and if she studied, it could be for no 

 further end than her own gratification. It was felt by 

 her friends to be a truly pathetic incident that, of all 

 people in the world, Mrs. Somerville should be debarred 

 the sight of the singular comet of 1 843 ; and the cir- 

 cumstance was symbolical of the whole case of her 

 exile. The only Italian observatory which afforded the 

 necessary implements was in a Jesuit establishment, 

 where no woman was allowed to pass the threshold. At 

 the same hour her heart yearned towards her native 

 Scotland, and her intellect hungered for the congenial 

 intercourse of London ; and she looked up at the sky 

 with the mortifying knowledge of what was to be seen 

 there but for the impediment which barred her access 

 to the great telescope at hand. With all her gentleness 

 of temper and her lifelong habit of acquiescence, she 



