14 LIGHT SCIENCE FOR LEISURE HOURS. 



suffered deeply, while many of her friends were indig- 

 nant at the sacrifice.' 



I shall venture to quote, in conclusion, some remarks 

 by Sir Henry Holland on features of Mrs. Somerville's 

 character and life which have been hidden from general 

 knowledge : ' She was a woman not of science only,' 

 he tells us, ' but of refined and cultivated tastes. Her 

 paintings and musical talents might well have won 

 admiration, even had there been nothing else beyond 

 them. Her classical attainments were considerable, 

 derived probably from that early part of life when the 

 gentle Mary Fairfax gentle she must ever have been 

 was enriching her mind by quiet study in her Scotch 

 home. ... A few words more on the moral part 

 of Mrs. Somerville's character ; and here, too, I speak 

 from intimate knowledge. She was the gentlest and 

 kindest of human beings qualities well attested even 

 by her features and conversation, but expressed still 

 more in all the habits of her domestic and social life. 

 Her modesty and humility were as remarkable as those 

 talents which they concealed from common observation. 



Scotland,' he justly adds, ' is proud of 



having produced a Crichton. She may be proud, also, 

 in having given birthplace to Mary Somerville.' 



(From Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 

 for February, 1873.) 



