MKS. SOUF.RVILLE. 53 



Mrs. Somerville's love of animals was one of her 

 chief characteristics. When quite a girl she went on 

 one occasion with her father on a tour in the Highlands. 

 On her return she found that a pet goldfinch which 

 had been left in the charge of the servants, and 

 neglected by them, had died of starvation. She was 

 almost heart-broken at the event, and in writing her 

 " Recollections," seventy years after, she mentioned it, 

 and said that as she wrote she felt deep pain. After 

 her second marriage, and a little while before she wrote 

 her first book, she tells how she " liked " a certain in- 

 dividual, on account of his kindness to animals. She 

 even believed to some extent in the immortality of 

 animals, on the ground that if animals have no 

 future, and as the existence of many is most 

 wretched, it would seem as if some were created for 

 uncompensated misery, which would be contrary to 

 the attributes of God's mercy and justice. She was 

 very energetic in trying to get a law passed in the 

 Italian Parliament for the protection of animals. In 

 writing on this subject, she said : "We English cannot 

 boast of humanity so long as our sportsmen find 

 pleasure in shooting down tame pigeons as they fly 

 terrified out of a cage." 



Of another acquaintance she says : " He was one of 

 the most amiable men I ever met with, and quite 

 won my heart one day at table, when they were 

 talking of the number of singing birds that were 

 eaten in Italy nightingales, goldfinches, and robins 



