J/A'S. SOMERVILLE. 4! 



Somcrville, and the letter is published in her " Recol- 

 lections." In it Mrs. Somerville says 



" Even in the bitterness of my soul I acknowledge 

 the wisdom and goodness of God, and endeavour to 

 be resigned to His will. It is ungrateful not to 

 remember the many happy years we have enjoyed, 

 but that very remembrance renders our present state 

 more desolate and dreary. The great source of 

 consolation is in the mercy of God, and the virtues 

 of those we lament ; the full assurance that no good 

 disposition can be lost, but must be brought to per- 

 fection in a better world. Our business is to render 

 ourselves fit for that blessed inheritance, that we may 

 again be united to those we mourn." 



Mrs. Somerville is not the first mother who has 

 found comfort in bereavement in remembering the 

 goodness of her lost darling, and in looking forward 

 to a blessed re-union. 



Hitherto Mrs. Somerville had been occupied only 

 in acquiring knowledge, but now the time was 

 approaching when she was to put knowledge within 

 the reach of others. This was the period of her true 

 greatness ; for men and women arc only really great 

 when they give. Knowledge kept entirely to oneself, 

 and not applied in any way, is not worth very much, 

 but knowledge communicated and made useful is of 

 the greatest value. 



Some months before this, Dr. Wollaston, a cele- 

 brated chemist, and one of Mrs. Somerville's most 



