FROM LAFAYETTE TO DR. SOMERVILLE.La Grange,31st October, 1833.My Dear Sir,I waited to answer your kind letter, for the arrival of Mr. Coke's[11]precious gift, which nobody could higher value, on every account, than the grateful farmer on whom it has been bestowed. The heifers and bullare beautiful; they have reached La Grange in the best order, and shall be tenderly attended to.... It has been a great disappointment not to see Mrs. Somerville and the young ladies before their departure. Had we not depended on their kind visit, we should have gone to take leave of them. They have had the goodness to regret the impossibility to come before their departure. Be so kind as to receive the affectionate friendship and good wishes of a family who are happy in the ties of mutual attachment that bind us to you and them.... Public interest is now fixed upon the Peninsula, and while dynasties are at civil war, and despotic orjuste milieucabinets seem to agree in the fear of a genuine development of popular institutions, the matter for the friends of freedom is to know how far the great cause of Europe shall be forwarded by these royal squabbles.We shall remain at La Grange until the opening of the session, hoping that, notwithstanding your and the ladies' absence, your attention will not be quite withdrawn from our interior affairs—the sympathy shall be reciprocal.With all my heart, I amYour affectionate friend,Lafayette.
FROM LAFAYETTE TO DR. SOMERVILLE.
La Grange,31st October, 1833.
I waited to answer your kind letter, for the arrival of Mr. Coke's[11]precious gift, which nobody could higher value, on every account, than the grateful farmer on whom it has been bestowed. The heifers and bullare beautiful; they have reached La Grange in the best order, and shall be tenderly attended to.... It has been a great disappointment not to see Mrs. Somerville and the young ladies before their departure. Had we not depended on their kind visit, we should have gone to take leave of them. They have had the goodness to regret the impossibility to come before their departure. Be so kind as to receive the affectionate friendship and good wishes of a family who are happy in the ties of mutual attachment that bind us to you and them.... Public interest is now fixed upon the Peninsula, and while dynasties are at civil war, and despotic orjuste milieucabinets seem to agree in the fear of a genuine development of popular institutions, the matter for the friends of freedom is to know how far the great cause of Europe shall be forwarded by these royal squabbles.
We shall remain at La Grange until the opening of the session, hoping that, notwithstanding your and the ladies' absence, your attention will not be quite withdrawn from our interior affairs—the sympathy shall be reciprocal.
With all my heart, I amYour affectionate friend,Lafayette.
FOOTNOTES:[11]Mr. Coke, of Holkham, afterwards Earl of Leicester.
[11]Mr. Coke, of Holkham, afterwards Earl of Leicester.
[11]Mr. Coke, of Holkham, afterwards Earl of Leicester.
As soon as we returned to Chelsea, the "Connexion of the Physical Sciences" was published. It was dedicated to Queen Adelaide, who thanked me for it at a drawing-room. Some time after Somerville and I went to Scotland; we had travelled all night in the mail coach, and when it became light, a gentleman who was in the carriage said to Somerville, "Is not the lady opposite to me Mrs. Somerville, whose bust I saw at Chantrey's?" The gentleman was Mr. Sopwith, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, a civil and mining engineer. He was distinguished for scientific knowledge, and had been in Londonto give information to a parliamentary committee. He travelled faster than we did, and when we arrived at Newcastle he was waiting to take us to his house, where we were hospitably received by Mrs. Sopwith. His conversation was highly interesting, and to him I was indebted for much information on mining generally, and on the mineral wealth of Great Britain, while writing on Physical Geography. Many years after he and Mrs. Sopwith came and saw me at Naples, which gave me much pleasure. He was unlike any other traveller I ever met with, so profound and original were his observations on all he saw.
On coming home I found that I had made an error in the first edition of the "Physical Sciences," in giving 365 days 6 hours as the length of the civil year of the ancient Egyptians. My friend Mr. Hallam, the historian, wrote to me, proving from history and epochs of the chronology of the ancient Egyptians, that their civil year was only 365 days. I was grateful to that great and amiable man for copies of all his works while he was alive, and I am obliged to his daughter for an excellent likeness of him, now that he is no more.
FROM HENRY HALLAM, ESQ., TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.Wimpole Street,March 12th, 1835.My dear Madam,As you will probably soon be called upon for another edition of your excellent work on the "Connexion of the Physical Sciences," I think you will excuse the liberty I take in mentioning to you one passage which seems to have escaped your attention in so arduous a labour. It is in page 104, where you have this sentence:—"The Egyptians estimated the year at 365 d. 6 h., by which they lost one year in every 14,601, their Sothiac period. They determined the length of their year by the heliacal rising of Sirius, 2782 years before the Christian era, which is the earliest epoch of Egyptian chronology."The Egyptian civil year was of 365 days only, as we find in Herodotus, and I apprehend there is no dispute about it. The Sothiac period, or that cycle in which the heliacal rising of Sirius passed the whole civil year, and took place again on the same day, was of 1461 years, not 14,601. If they had adopted a year of 365 d. 6 h., this period would have been more than three times 14,601; the excess of the sidereal year above that being only 9' 9", which will not amount to a day in less than about 125 years.I do not see how the heliacal rising of Sirius in any one year could help them to determine its length. By comparing two successive years they could of course have got at a sidereal year; but this is what they did not do; hence the irregularity which produced the canicular cycle.The commencement of that cycle is placed by ancient chronologers in 1322A.C.It seems not correct to call 2782A.C."the earliest epoch of Egyptian chronology," for we have none of their chronology nearly so old, and in fact no chronology, properly so called, has yet been made out by our Egyptian researches. It is indeed certain that, if the reckoning by heliacal risings of Sirius did not begin in 1322, we must go nearly 1460 years back for its origin; since it must have been adopted when that event preceded only for a short time the annual inundation of the Nile. But, according to some, the year 1322 A.C. fell during the reign of Sesostris, to whom Herodotus ascribes several regulations connected with the rising of the Nile. Certainly, 2782A.C.is a more remote era than we are hitherto warranted to assume for any astronomical observation.Believe me, dear Mrs. Somerville,Very truly yours,Henry Hallam.I refer you to Montucla, if you have any doubt about the Egyptian year being of 365 days without bissextile of any kind.
FROM HENRY HALLAM, ESQ., TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.
Wimpole Street,March 12th, 1835.
As you will probably soon be called upon for another edition of your excellent work on the "Connexion of the Physical Sciences," I think you will excuse the liberty I take in mentioning to you one passage which seems to have escaped your attention in so arduous a labour. It is in page 104, where you have this sentence:—
"The Egyptians estimated the year at 365 d. 6 h., by which they lost one year in every 14,601, their Sothiac period. They determined the length of their year by the heliacal rising of Sirius, 2782 years before the Christian era, which is the earliest epoch of Egyptian chronology."
The Egyptian civil year was of 365 days only, as we find in Herodotus, and I apprehend there is no dispute about it. The Sothiac period, or that cycle in which the heliacal rising of Sirius passed the whole civil year, and took place again on the same day, was of 1461 years, not 14,601. If they had adopted a year of 365 d. 6 h., this period would have been more than three times 14,601; the excess of the sidereal year above that being only 9' 9", which will not amount to a day in less than about 125 years.
I do not see how the heliacal rising of Sirius in any one year could help them to determine its length. By comparing two successive years they could of course have got at a sidereal year; but this is what they did not do; hence the irregularity which produced the canicular cycle.The commencement of that cycle is placed by ancient chronologers in 1322A.C.It seems not correct to call 2782A.C."the earliest epoch of Egyptian chronology," for we have none of their chronology nearly so old, and in fact no chronology, properly so called, has yet been made out by our Egyptian researches. It is indeed certain that, if the reckoning by heliacal risings of Sirius did not begin in 1322, we must go nearly 1460 years back for its origin; since it must have been adopted when that event preceded only for a short time the annual inundation of the Nile. But, according to some, the year 1322 A.C. fell during the reign of Sesostris, to whom Herodotus ascribes several regulations connected with the rising of the Nile. Certainly, 2782A.C.is a more remote era than we are hitherto warranted to assume for any astronomical observation.
Believe me, dear Mrs. Somerville,Very truly yours,Henry Hallam.
I refer you to Montucla, if you have any doubt about the Egyptian year being of 365 days without bissextile of any kind.
I had sent a copy of the "Mechanism of the Heavens" to M. Poisson soon after it was published, and I had received a letter from him dated 30th May, 1832, advising me to complete the work by writing a volume on the form and rotation of the earth and planets. Being again strongly advised todo so while in Paris, I now began the work, and, in consequence, I was led into a correspondence with Mr. Ivory, who had written on the subject, and also with Mr. Francis Baily, on the density and compression of the earth. My work was extensive, for it comprised the analytical attraction of spheroids, the form and rotation of the earth, the tides of the ocean and atmosphere, and small undulations.
When this was finished, I had nothing to do, and as I preferred analysis to all other subjects, I wrote a work of 246 pages on curves and surfaces of the second and higher orders. While writing this,con amore, a new edition of the "Physical Sciences" was much needed, so I put on high pressure and worked at both. Had these two manuscripts been published at that time, they might have been of use; I do not remember why they were laid aside, and forgotten till I found them years afterwards among my papers. Long after the time I am writing about, while at Naples, I amused myself by repairing the time-worn parts of these manuscripts, and was surprised to find that in my eighty-ninth year I still retained facility in the "Calculus."
The second edition of the "Physical Sciences" was dedicated to my dear friend, Sir John Herschel. It went through nine editions, and has been translated into German and Italian. The book went through various editions in the United States, to the honour, but not to the profit, of the author. However, the publisher obligingly sent me a copy. I must say that profit was never an object with me: I wrote because it was impossible for me to be idle.
I had the honour of presenting a copy of my book to the Duchess of Kent at a private audience. The Duchess and Princess Victoria were alone, and received me very graciously, and conversed for half an hour with me. As I mentioned before, I saw the young Princess crowned: youthful, almost child-like as she was, she went through the imposing ceremony with all the dignity of a Queen.
A few letters from some of my mother's friends, written at this period, may prove of interest. They are chiefly written to thank her for copies of the Preliminary Dissertation or of the "Physical Sciences." One from Lord Brougham concerns my mother's estimate of the scientific merit of Dr. Young, for whom she had the sincerest admiration, considering him one of the first philosophers and discoverers of the age.
FROM MISS EDGEWORTH TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.Edgworthtown,May 31st, 1832.My dear Mrs. Somerville,There is one satisfaction at least in giving knowledge to the ignorant, to those who know theirignorance at least, that they are grateful and humble. You should have my grateful and humble thanks long ago for the favour—the honour—you did me by sending me that Preliminary Dissertation, in which there is so much knowledge, but that I really wished to read it over and over again at some intervals of time, and to have the pleasure of seeing my sister Harriet read it, before I should write to you. She has come to us, and has just been enjoying it, as I knew she would. For my part, I was long in the state of the boa constrictor after a full meal—and I am but just recovering the powers of motion. My mind was so distended by the magnitude, the immensity, of what you put into it! I am afraid that if you had been aware how ignorant I was you would not have sent me this dissertation, because you would have felt that you were throwing away much that I could not understand, and that could be better bestowed on scientific friends capable of judging of what they admire. I can only assure you that you have given me a great deal of pleasure; that you have enlarged my conception of the sublimity of the universe, beyond any ideas I had ever before been enabled to form.The great simplicity of your manner of writing, I may say of yourmind, which appears in your writing, particularly suits the scientific sublime—which would be destroyed by what is commonly called fine writing. You trust sufficiently to the natural interest of your subject, to the importance of the facts, the beauty of the whole, and the adaptation of the means to the ends, in every part of the immense whole. This reliance upon your reader's feeling along with you, was to me very gratifying. The ornaments of eloquence dressing out a sublime subject are just so many proofs either of bad taste in the orator, or of distrust and contempt of the taste of those whom he is trying thus to captivate.I suppose nobody yet has completelymasteredthe tides, therefore I may well content myself with my inability to comprehend what relates to them. But instead of plaguing you with an endless enumeration of my difficulties, I had better tell you some of the passages which gave me, ignoramus as I am, peculiar pleasure.... I am afraid I shall transcribe your whole book if I go on to tell you all that has struck me, and you would not thank me for that—you, who have so little vanity, and so much to do better with your time than to readmyignorant admiration. But pray let me mention to you a few of the passages that amused my imagination particularly, viz., 1st, the inhabitant of Pallasgoing roundhis world—or who might go—in five or six hours in one of our steam carriages; 2nd, the moderate-sized man who would weigh two tons at the surface of the sun—and who would weigh only a few pounds at the surface of the four new planets, and would be so light as to find it impossible to stand from the excess of muscular force! I think a very entertaining dream might be made of a man's visit to the sun and planets—these ideas are all like dreamy feelings when one is a little feverish. I forgot to mention (page 58) a passage on the propagation of sound. It is a beautiful sentence, as well as a sublime idea, "so that at a very small height above the surface of the earth, the noise of the tempest ceases and the thunder is heard no more in those boundless regions, where the heavenly bodies accomplish their periods in eternal and sublime silence."Excuse me in my trade of sentence-monger, and believe me, dear Mrs. Somerville, truly your obliged and truly your affectionate friend,Maria Edgeworth.I have persuaded your dear curly-headed friend, Harriet, to add her own observations; she sends her love to you; and I know you love her, otherwise I would not press her to write her ownsay.
FROM MISS EDGEWORTH TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.
Edgworthtown,May 31st, 1832.
There is one satisfaction at least in giving knowledge to the ignorant, to those who know theirignorance at least, that they are grateful and humble. You should have my grateful and humble thanks long ago for the favour—the honour—you did me by sending me that Preliminary Dissertation, in which there is so much knowledge, but that I really wished to read it over and over again at some intervals of time, and to have the pleasure of seeing my sister Harriet read it, before I should write to you. She has come to us, and has just been enjoying it, as I knew she would. For my part, I was long in the state of the boa constrictor after a full meal—and I am but just recovering the powers of motion. My mind was so distended by the magnitude, the immensity, of what you put into it! I am afraid that if you had been aware how ignorant I was you would not have sent me this dissertation, because you would have felt that you were throwing away much that I could not understand, and that could be better bestowed on scientific friends capable of judging of what they admire. I can only assure you that you have given me a great deal of pleasure; that you have enlarged my conception of the sublimity of the universe, beyond any ideas I had ever before been enabled to form.
The great simplicity of your manner of writing, I may say of yourmind, which appears in your writing, particularly suits the scientific sublime—which would be destroyed by what is commonly called fine writing. You trust sufficiently to the natural interest of your subject, to the importance of the facts, the beauty of the whole, and the adaptation of the means to the ends, in every part of the immense whole. This reliance upon your reader's feeling along with you, was to me very gratifying. The ornaments of eloquence dressing out a sublime subject are just so many proofs either of bad taste in the orator, or of distrust and contempt of the taste of those whom he is trying thus to captivate.
I suppose nobody yet has completelymasteredthe tides, therefore I may well content myself with my inability to comprehend what relates to them. But instead of plaguing you with an endless enumeration of my difficulties, I had better tell you some of the passages which gave me, ignoramus as I am, peculiar pleasure.... I am afraid I shall transcribe your whole book if I go on to tell you all that has struck me, and you would not thank me for that—you, who have so little vanity, and so much to do better with your time than to readmyignorant admiration. But pray let me mention to you a few of the passages that amused my imagination particularly, viz., 1st, the inhabitant of Pallasgoing roundhis world—or who might go—in five or six hours in one of our steam carriages; 2nd, the moderate-sized man who would weigh two tons at the surface of the sun—and who would weigh only a few pounds at the surface of the four new planets, and would be so light as to find it impossible to stand from the excess of muscular force! I think a very entertaining dream might be made of a man's visit to the sun and planets—these ideas are all like dreamy feelings when one is a little feverish. I forgot to mention (page 58) a passage on the propagation of sound. It is a beautiful sentence, as well as a sublime idea, "so that at a very small height above the surface of the earth, the noise of the tempest ceases and the thunder is heard no more in those boundless regions, where the heavenly bodies accomplish their periods in eternal and sublime silence."
Excuse me in my trade of sentence-monger, and believe me, dear Mrs. Somerville, truly your obliged and truly your affectionate friend,
Maria Edgeworth.
I have persuaded your dear curly-headed friend, Harriet, to add her own observations; she sends her love to you; and I know you love her, otherwise I would not press her to write her ownsay.
FROM MISS JOANNA BAILLIE TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.Hampstead,February 1st, 1832.My dear Mrs. Somerville,I am now, thank God! recovered from a very heavy disease, but still very weak. I will not, however, delay any longer my grateful acknowledgments for your very flattering gift of your Preliminary Dissertation. Indeed, I feel myself greatly honoured by receiving such a mark of regard from one who has done more to remove the light estimation in which the capacity of women is too often held, than all that has been accomplished by the whole sisterhood of poetical damsels and novel-writing authors. I could say much more on this subject were I to follow my own feelings; but I am still so weak that writing is a trouble to me, and I have nearly done all that I am able.God bless and prosper you!Yours gratefully and truly,J. Baillie.
FROM MISS JOANNA BAILLIE TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.
Hampstead,February 1st, 1832.
I am now, thank God! recovered from a very heavy disease, but still very weak. I will not, however, delay any longer my grateful acknowledgments for your very flattering gift of your Preliminary Dissertation. Indeed, I feel myself greatly honoured by receiving such a mark of regard from one who has done more to remove the light estimation in which the capacity of women is too often held, than all that has been accomplished by the whole sisterhood of poetical damsels and novel-writing authors. I could say much more on this subject were I to follow my own feelings; but I am still so weak that writing is a trouble to me, and I have nearly done all that I am able.
God bless and prosper you!Yours gratefully and truly,J. Baillie.
FROM MISS BERRY TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.Bellevue,18th September, 1834.My dear Mrs. Somerville,I have just finished reading your book, which has entertained me extremely, and at the same time, I hope, improved my moral character in the Christian virtue of humility. These must appear to you suchoddresults—so little like those produced on the great majority of your readers, that you must allow me to explain them to you. Humbled, I must be, by finding my own intellect unequal to following, beyond a first step, the explanations by which you seek to make easy to comprehension the marvellous phenomena of the universe—humbled, by feeling the intellectual difference between you and me, placing you as much above me in the scale of reasoning beings, as I am above my dog. Still I rejoice with humility at feeling myself, in that order of understandings which, although utterly incapable of following the chain of your reasonings, calculations, and inductions—utterly deprived of the powers necessarysic itur ad astra—am yet informed, enlightened, and entertained with the series of sublime truths to which you conduct me.In some foggy morning of November, I shall drive out to you at Chelsea and surprise you with my ignorance of science, by asking you to explain to me some things which you willwonder any onecan have so long existed without knowing. In the mean time, I wish you could read in any combination of the stars the probability of our often having such a season as this, of uninterrupted summer since April last, and when last week it was sobering into autumn, has now returned to entersummer again. The thermometer was at 83° in the shade yesterday, and to-day promises to be as much. We are delighted with our two months' residence at this place, which we shall see with regret draw towards a close the end of this month. October we mean to spend at Paris, before we return to thenebulositiesof London. During my residence in Paris, before we came here, I never had the good luck to meet with your friend M. Arago; had I not been reading your book, I should have begged you to give me a letter for him. But as it is, and as my stay at Paris will now be so short, I shall content myself with looking up at a respectful distance to all your great fixed stars of science, excepting always yourself, dear Mrs. Somerville. No "disturbing influence" will, I hope, ever throw me out of the orbit ofyourintimacy and friendship, whose value, believe me, is most duly and accurately calculated by your ignorant but very affectionate friend,M. Berry.
FROM MISS BERRY TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.
Bellevue,18th September, 1834.
I have just finished reading your book, which has entertained me extremely, and at the same time, I hope, improved my moral character in the Christian virtue of humility. These must appear to you suchoddresults—so little like those produced on the great majority of your readers, that you must allow me to explain them to you. Humbled, I must be, by finding my own intellect unequal to following, beyond a first step, the explanations by which you seek to make easy to comprehension the marvellous phenomena of the universe—humbled, by feeling the intellectual difference between you and me, placing you as much above me in the scale of reasoning beings, as I am above my dog. Still I rejoice with humility at feeling myself, in that order of understandings which, although utterly incapable of following the chain of your reasonings, calculations, and inductions—utterly deprived of the powers necessarysic itur ad astra—am yet informed, enlightened, and entertained with the series of sublime truths to which you conduct me.
In some foggy morning of November, I shall drive out to you at Chelsea and surprise you with my ignorance of science, by asking you to explain to me some things which you willwonder any onecan have so long existed without knowing. In the mean time, I wish you could read in any combination of the stars the probability of our often having such a season as this, of uninterrupted summer since April last, and when last week it was sobering into autumn, has now returned to entersummer again. The thermometer was at 83° in the shade yesterday, and to-day promises to be as much. We are delighted with our two months' residence at this place, which we shall see with regret draw towards a close the end of this month. October we mean to spend at Paris, before we return to thenebulositiesof London. During my residence in Paris, before we came here, I never had the good luck to meet with your friend M. Arago; had I not been reading your book, I should have begged you to give me a letter for him. But as it is, and as my stay at Paris will now be so short, I shall content myself with looking up at a respectful distance to all your great fixed stars of science, excepting always yourself, dear Mrs. Somerville. No "disturbing influence" will, I hope, ever throw me out of the orbit ofyourintimacy and friendship, whose value, believe me, is most duly and accurately calculated by your ignorant but very affectionate friend,
M. Berry.
FROM LORD BROUGHAM TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.1834.My dear Mrs. Somerville,Many thanks for the sheets, which I have read with equal pleasure and instruction as those I formerly had from you. One or two things I could have troubled you with, but they are of little moment. I shall note them. The only one that is at all material relates to the way you mention Dr. Young—not that I object to the word "illustrious," or as applied to him. But as you don't give it to one considerably more so, it looks either as if you overrated him, or underrated Davy, or (which I suppose to bethe truth) as if you felt Young had not had his due share of honour, and desired to make it up to his memory. Observe I give him a very high place—but Davy's discoveries are both of more unquestioned originality and more undoubtedly true—perhaps I should say, more brought to a close. The alkalis and the principle of the safety lamp are concluded and fixed, the undulation is in progress, and somewhat uncertain as to how and where it may end. You will please to observe that I reckon both those capital discoveries of Davy the fruit of inquiry, and not at all of chance—for, as to the lamp, it is plain; and as to the metals, if you look at the inquiries that immediately preceded, you will see he was thereby led to the alkalis. Indeed, I well remember saying, when I read them, "He will analyse lime and barytes." I am quite ready to admit his extreme folly in some things, but that is nothing to the present purpose.Yours,H.B.(Henry Brougham.)
FROM LORD BROUGHAM TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.
1834.
Many thanks for the sheets, which I have read with equal pleasure and instruction as those I formerly had from you. One or two things I could have troubled you with, but they are of little moment. I shall note them. The only one that is at all material relates to the way you mention Dr. Young—not that I object to the word "illustrious," or as applied to him. But as you don't give it to one considerably more so, it looks either as if you overrated him, or underrated Davy, or (which I suppose to bethe truth) as if you felt Young had not had his due share of honour, and desired to make it up to his memory. Observe I give him a very high place—but Davy's discoveries are both of more unquestioned originality and more undoubtedly true—perhaps I should say, more brought to a close. The alkalis and the principle of the safety lamp are concluded and fixed, the undulation is in progress, and somewhat uncertain as to how and where it may end. You will please to observe that I reckon both those capital discoveries of Davy the fruit of inquiry, and not at all of chance—for, as to the lamp, it is plain; and as to the metals, if you look at the inquiries that immediately preceded, you will see he was thereby led to the alkalis. Indeed, I well remember saying, when I read them, "He will analyse lime and barytes." I am quite ready to admit his extreme folly in some things, but that is nothing to the present purpose.
Yours,H.B.(Henry Brougham.)
FROM MRS. MARCET TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.Geneva,6th April, 1834.Dear Mrs. Somerville,I am desired by Professor Prevost to inform you that you were elected an honorary member of the Société de Physique et d'Histoire Naturelle de Genève on the 3rd April, and that a diploma will be forwarded to you by the earliest opportunity. After all the honours you have received, this little feather is hardly worthy of waving in your plume, but I am glad that Geneva shouldknow how to appreciate your merit. You receive great honours, my dear friend, but that which you confer on our sex is still greater, for with talents and acquirements of masculine magnitude you unite the most sensitive and retiring modesty of the female sex; indeed, I know not any woman, perhaps I might say, any human being, who would support so much applause without feeling the weakness of vanity. Forgive me for allowing my pen to run away with this undisguised praise, it looks so much like compliment, but I assure you it comes straight from the heart, and youmustknow that it is fully deserved.... I know not whether you have heard of the death of Professor de la Rive (the father); it was an unexpected blow, which has fallen heavily on all his family. It is indeed a great loss to Geneva, both as a man of science and a most excellent citizen.M. Rossi[12]has left us to occupy the chair of political economy of the late M. Say, at Paris; his absence is sadly felt, and it is in vain to look around for any one capable of replacing him....Yours affectionately,J. Marcet.
FROM MRS. MARCET TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.
Geneva,6th April, 1834.
I am desired by Professor Prevost to inform you that you were elected an honorary member of the Société de Physique et d'Histoire Naturelle de Genève on the 3rd April, and that a diploma will be forwarded to you by the earliest opportunity. After all the honours you have received, this little feather is hardly worthy of waving in your plume, but I am glad that Geneva shouldknow how to appreciate your merit. You receive great honours, my dear friend, but that which you confer on our sex is still greater, for with talents and acquirements of masculine magnitude you unite the most sensitive and retiring modesty of the female sex; indeed, I know not any woman, perhaps I might say, any human being, who would support so much applause without feeling the weakness of vanity. Forgive me for allowing my pen to run away with this undisguised praise, it looks so much like compliment, but I assure you it comes straight from the heart, and youmustknow that it is fully deserved.... I know not whether you have heard of the death of Professor de la Rive (the father); it was an unexpected blow, which has fallen heavily on all his family. It is indeed a great loss to Geneva, both as a man of science and a most excellent citizen.
M. Rossi[12]has left us to occupy the chair of political economy of the late M. Say, at Paris; his absence is sadly felt, and it is in vain to look around for any one capable of replacing him....
Yours affectionately,J. Marcet.
FROM ADMIRAL W.H. SMYTH TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.Crescent, Bedford,October 3rd, 1835.My dear Madam,As an opportunity offers of sending a note to town, I beg to mention that I have somewhat impatiently waited for some appearance of settled weather, in orderto press your coming here to inspect Halley's comet, before it should have become visible to the unassisted eye. That unerring monitor, however, the barometer, held forth no hope, and the ceaseless traveller is already an object of conspicuous distinction without artificial aid, except, perhaps, to most eyes an opera-glass, magnifying three or four times, will be found a pleasant addition. It is now gliding along with wonderful celerity, and the nucleus is very bright. It is accompanied with a great luminosity, and the nucleus has changed its position therein; that is, on the 29th August, the nucleus was like a minute star near the centre of the nebulous envelope; on the 2nd September it appeared in then. f.quarter, and latterly it has been in thes. f.How remarkable that the month of August this year should rattle Halley's name throughout the globe, in identity with an astonishing scientific triumph, and that in the selfsame month the letters of Flamsteed should have appeared! How I wish some one would give us a life of Newton, with all the interesting documents that exist of his labours! Till such appears, Flamsteed's statements, though bearing strong internal evidence of truth, areex-parte, and it is evident his anxiety made him prone to impute motives which he could not prove. The book is painfully interesting, but except in all that relates to the personal character of Flamsteed, I could almost have wished the documents had been destroyed. People of judgment well know that men without faults are monsters, but vulgar minds delight in seeing the standard of human excellence lowered.Dear Madam,Yours faithfully,W.H. Smyth.
FROM ADMIRAL W.H. SMYTH TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.
Crescent, Bedford,October 3rd, 1835.
As an opportunity offers of sending a note to town, I beg to mention that I have somewhat impatiently waited for some appearance of settled weather, in orderto press your coming here to inspect Halley's comet, before it should have become visible to the unassisted eye. That unerring monitor, however, the barometer, held forth no hope, and the ceaseless traveller is already an object of conspicuous distinction without artificial aid, except, perhaps, to most eyes an opera-glass, magnifying three or four times, will be found a pleasant addition. It is now gliding along with wonderful celerity, and the nucleus is very bright. It is accompanied with a great luminosity, and the nucleus has changed its position therein; that is, on the 29th August, the nucleus was like a minute star near the centre of the nebulous envelope; on the 2nd September it appeared in then. f.quarter, and latterly it has been in thes. f.
How remarkable that the month of August this year should rattle Halley's name throughout the globe, in identity with an astonishing scientific triumph, and that in the selfsame month the letters of Flamsteed should have appeared! How I wish some one would give us a life of Newton, with all the interesting documents that exist of his labours! Till such appears, Flamsteed's statements, though bearing strong internal evidence of truth, areex-parte, and it is evident his anxiety made him prone to impute motives which he could not prove. The book is painfully interesting, but except in all that relates to the personal character of Flamsteed, I could almost have wished the documents had been destroyed. People of judgment well know that men without faults are monsters, but vulgar minds delight in seeing the standard of human excellence lowered.
Dear Madam,Yours faithfully,W.H. Smyth.
We were deprived of the society of Sir John and Lady Herschel for four years, because Sir John took his telescope and other instruments to the Cape of Good Hope, where he went, accompanied by his family, for the purpose of observing the celestial phenomena of the southern hemisphere. There are more than 6,000 double stars in the northern hemisphere, in a large proportion of which the angle of position and distance between the two stars have been measured, and Sir John determined, in the same manner, 1081 in the southern hemisphere, and I believe many additions have been made to them since that time. In many of these one star revolves rapidly round the other. The elliptical orbits and periodical times of sixteen or seventeen of these stellar systems have been determined. In Gamma Virginis the two stars are nearly of the same magnitude, and were so far apart in the middle of the last century that they were considered to be quite independent of each other. Since then they have been gradually approaching one another, till, in March, 1836, I had a letter from Admiral Smyth, informing me that he had seen one of the stars eclipse the other, from his observatory at Bedford.
FROM ADMIRAL SMYTH TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.Crescent, Bedford,March 26th, 1836.My dear Madam,Knowing the great interest you take in sidereal astronomy, of which so little is yet known, I trust it will not be an intrusion to tell you of a new, extraordinary, and very unexpected fact, in the complete occultation of one "fixed" star by another, under circumstances which admit of no possible doubt or equivocation.You are aware that I have been measuring the position and distance of the two stars γ1and γ2Virginis, which are both nearly of similar magnitudes, and also, that they have approximated to each other very rapidly. They were very close last year, and I expected to find they had crossed each other at this apparition, but to my surprise I find they have become a fair round disc, which my highest powers will not elongate—in fact,a single star! I shall watch with no little interest for the reappearance of the second γ.My dear madam,Your truly obliged servant,W.H. Smyth.
FROM ADMIRAL SMYTH TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.
Crescent, Bedford,March 26th, 1836.
Knowing the great interest you take in sidereal astronomy, of which so little is yet known, I trust it will not be an intrusion to tell you of a new, extraordinary, and very unexpected fact, in the complete occultation of one "fixed" star by another, under circumstances which admit of no possible doubt or equivocation.
You are aware that I have been measuring the position and distance of the two stars γ1and γ2Virginis, which are both nearly of similar magnitudes, and also, that they have approximated to each other very rapidly. They were very close last year, and I expected to find they had crossed each other at this apparition, but to my surprise I find they have become a fair round disc, which my highest powers will not elongate—in fact,a single star! I shall watch with no little interest for the reappearance of the second γ.
My dear madam,Your truly obliged servant,W.H. Smyth.
This eclipse was also seen by Sir John Herschel at the Cape of Good Hope, as well as by many astronomers in Europe provided with instruments of greatoptical power. In 1782 Sir William Herschel saw one of the stars of Zeta Herculis eclipse the other.
In the "Connexion of the Physical Sciences" I have given an abridged account of Sir John Herschel's most remarkable discoveries in the southern hemisphere; but I may mention here that he determined the position and made accurate drawings of all the nebulæ that were distinctly visible in his 20 ft. telescope. The work he published will be a standard for ascertaining the changes that may take place in these mysterious objects for ages to come. Sir William Herschel had determined the places of 2,500 nebulæ in the northern hemisphere; they were examined by his son, and drawings made of some of the most remarkable, but when these nebulæ were viewed through Lord Rosse's telescope, they presented a very different appearance, showing that the apparent form of the nebulæ depends upon the space-penetrating power of the telescope, a circumstance of vital importance in observing the changes which time may produce on these wonderful objects.
Long afterwards Lord Rosse wrote in reply to some questions which my mother had addressed to him on this subject:—
FROM THE EARL OF ROSSE TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.Castle, Parsonstown,June 12th, 1844.Dear Mrs. Somerville,I have very reluctantly postponed so long replying to your inquiries respecting the telescope, but there were some points upon which I was anxious to be enabled to speak more precisely. The instrument we are now using is 3 feet aperture, and 27 feet focus, and in the greater proportion of the nebulæ which have been observed with it some new details have been brought out. Perhaps the most interesting general result is that, as far as we have gone, increasing optical power has enlarged the list of clusters, by diminishing that of the nebulæ properly so-called. Such has always been the case since the nebulæ have been observed with telescopes, and although it would be unsafe to draw the inference, it is impossible not to feel some expectation that with sufficient optical power the nebulæ would all be reduced into clusters. Perhaps the two of the most remarkable of the resolved nebulæ are Fig. 26 and Fig. 55. In several of the planetary nebulæ we have discovered a star or bright point in the centre, and a filamentous edge, which is just the appearance which a cluster with a highly condensed centre would present in a small instrument. For instance, Figs. 47 and 32. We have also found that many of the nebulæ have not a symmetrical form, as they appear to have in inferior instruments; for instance, Fig. 81 is a cluster with long resolvable filaments from its southern extremity, and Fig. 85 is an oblong cluster with a bright centre. Fig. 45 is an annular nebula, like Herschel's drawing of the annular nebula in Lyra. I have sent drawings of a few of these objects to the Royal Society, they were forwarded a few days ago. We have upon the whole as yet observed but little with the telescope of 3 feet aperture. You recollect Herschel said that it was a good observing year, in which there were 100 hours fit for observing, and of the average of our hours I have not employed above 30. We have been for the last two years engaged in constructing a telescope of 6 feet aperture and 52 feet focus, and it would have been impossible to have bestowed the necessary attention upon it had we made a business of observing. That instrument is nearly finished, and I hope it will effect something for astronomy. The unequal refraction of the atmosphere will limit its powers, but how far remains to be ascertained.... Lady Rosse joins me in very kind remembrances and believe me to be,Dear Mrs. Somerville,Yours very truly and ever,Rosse.
FROM THE EARL OF ROSSE TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.
Castle, Parsonstown,June 12th, 1844.
I have very reluctantly postponed so long replying to your inquiries respecting the telescope, but there were some points upon which I was anxious to be enabled to speak more precisely. The instrument we are now using is 3 feet aperture, and 27 feet focus, and in the greater proportion of the nebulæ which have been observed with it some new details have been brought out. Perhaps the most interesting general result is that, as far as we have gone, increasing optical power has enlarged the list of clusters, by diminishing that of the nebulæ properly so-called. Such has always been the case since the nebulæ have been observed with telescopes, and although it would be unsafe to draw the inference, it is impossible not to feel some expectation that with sufficient optical power the nebulæ would all be reduced into clusters. Perhaps the two of the most remarkable of the resolved nebulæ are Fig. 26 and Fig. 55. In several of the planetary nebulæ we have discovered a star or bright point in the centre, and a filamentous edge, which is just the appearance which a cluster with a highly condensed centre would present in a small instrument. For instance, Figs. 47 and 32. We have also found that many of the nebulæ have not a symmetrical form, as they appear to have in inferior instruments; for instance, Fig. 81 is a cluster with long resolvable filaments from its southern extremity, and Fig. 85 is an oblong cluster with a bright centre. Fig. 45 is an annular nebula, like Herschel's drawing of the annular nebula in Lyra. I have sent drawings of a few of these objects to the Royal Society, they were forwarded a few days ago. We have upon the whole as yet observed but little with the telescope of 3 feet aperture. You recollect Herschel said that it was a good observing year, in which there were 100 hours fit for observing, and of the average of our hours I have not employed above 30. We have been for the last two years engaged in constructing a telescope of 6 feet aperture and 52 feet focus, and it would have been impossible to have bestowed the necessary attention upon it had we made a business of observing. That instrument is nearly finished, and I hope it will effect something for astronomy. The unequal refraction of the atmosphere will limit its powers, but how far remains to be ascertained.... Lady Rosse joins me in very kind remembrances and believe me to be,
Dear Mrs. Somerville,Yours very truly and ever,Rosse.
Sir John Herschel wrote to my father from the Cape:—
FROM SIR JOHN HERSCHEL TO MR. SOMERVILLE.Feldhausen, near Wynberg, C.G.H.,July 17th, 1830.My dear Somerville,Since our arrival here, I have, I know in many instances, maintained or established the character of a bad correspondent; and really it is not an inconvenient character to have established. Only, in your case, Ishould be very sorry to appear in that, or any other negligent or naughty light; but you, I know, will allow for the circumstances which have occasioned my silence. Meanwhile, I am not sorry that the execution of an intention I had more than once formed should have been deferred, till we read in the papers of the well-judged and highly creditable notice (creditable I mean to the governmentpro tempore) which His Majesty has been pleased to take of Mrs. Somerville's elaborate works. Although the Royal notice is not quite so swift as the lightning in the selection of its objects, it agrees with it in this, that it is attracted by the loftiest; and though what she has performed may seem so natural and easy to herself, that she may blush to find it fame; all the rest of the world will agree with me in rejoicing that merit of that kind is felt and recognised at length in the high places of the earth. This, and the honourable mention of Airy by men of both parties in the House of Commons about the same time, are things that seem to mark the progress of the age we live in; and I give Peel credit for his tact in perceiving this mode of making a favourable impression on the public mind.We are all going on very comfortably, and continue to like the Cape as a place of (temporary) residence as much or more than at first. The climate is so very delicious.... The stars are most propitious, and, astronomically speaking, I can now declare the climate to be most excellent. Night after night, for weeks and months, with hardly an interruption, ofperfectastronomical weather, discs of stars reduced almost to points, and tranquilly gliding across the field of your telescope. It is really a treat, such as occurs once or perhaps twice a year in England—hardly more. I had almost forgotten that by a recent vote of the Astronomical Society I can now claim Mrs. Somerville as acolleague. Pray make my compliments to her in that capacity, and tell her that I hope to meet her there at some future session....Yours very faithfully,H.W. Herschel.To William Somerville, Esq.
FROM SIR JOHN HERSCHEL TO MR. SOMERVILLE.
Feldhausen, near Wynberg, C.G.H.,July 17th, 1830.
Since our arrival here, I have, I know in many instances, maintained or established the character of a bad correspondent; and really it is not an inconvenient character to have established. Only, in your case, Ishould be very sorry to appear in that, or any other negligent or naughty light; but you, I know, will allow for the circumstances which have occasioned my silence. Meanwhile, I am not sorry that the execution of an intention I had more than once formed should have been deferred, till we read in the papers of the well-judged and highly creditable notice (creditable I mean to the governmentpro tempore) which His Majesty has been pleased to take of Mrs. Somerville's elaborate works. Although the Royal notice is not quite so swift as the lightning in the selection of its objects, it agrees with it in this, that it is attracted by the loftiest; and though what she has performed may seem so natural and easy to herself, that she may blush to find it fame; all the rest of the world will agree with me in rejoicing that merit of that kind is felt and recognised at length in the high places of the earth. This, and the honourable mention of Airy by men of both parties in the House of Commons about the same time, are things that seem to mark the progress of the age we live in; and I give Peel credit for his tact in perceiving this mode of making a favourable impression on the public mind.
We are all going on very comfortably, and continue to like the Cape as a place of (temporary) residence as much or more than at first. The climate is so very delicious.... The stars are most propitious, and, astronomically speaking, I can now declare the climate to be most excellent. Night after night, for weeks and months, with hardly an interruption, ofperfectastronomical weather, discs of stars reduced almost to points, and tranquilly gliding across the field of your telescope. It is really a treat, such as occurs once or perhaps twice a year in England—hardly more. I had almost forgotten that by a recent vote of the Astronomical Society I can now claim Mrs. Somerville as acolleague. Pray make my compliments to her in that capacity, and tell her that I hope to meet her there at some future session....
Yours very faithfully,H.W. Herschel.To William Somerville, Esq.
Spectrum analysis has shown that there is a vast quantity of self-luminous gaseous matter in space, incapable of being reduced into stars, however powerful the telescope through which it is observed. Hence the old opinion once more prevails, that this is the matter of which the sun and stellar systems have been formed, and that other stellar systems are being formed by slow, continuous condensation. The principal constituents of this matter are, the terrestrial gases, hydrogen, and nitrogen. The yellow stars, like the sun, contain terrestrial matter. The nebulous and stellar constituents were chiefly discovered by Dr. Huggins.
Somerville and I were always made welcome by Sir James South, and at Campden Hill I learnt the method of observing, and sometimes made observations myself on the double stars and binary systems, which, worthless as they were, enabled me to describe better what others had done. One forenoon Somerville and I went to pay a visit to Lady South. Sir James, whowas present, said, "Come to the observatory, and measure the distance of Mercury from the sun; for they are in close approximation, and I wish to see what kind of observation you will make." It was erroneous, as might have been expected; but when I took the mean of several observations, it differed but little from that which Sir James South had made; and here I learnt practically the importance of taking the mean of approximate quantities.
Dr. Wollaston, Dr. Young, and the Katers died before I became an author; Lord Brougham was one of the last of my scientific contemporaries, all the rest were younger than myself, and with this younger set, as with their predecessors, we had most agreeable and constant intercourse. Although we lived so much in scientific society we had all along been on the most friendly and intimate terms with the literary society of the day, such as Hallam, Milman, Moore, Malthus, &c., &c. The highly intellectual conversation of these was enlivened by the brilliant wit of my early friend, Sydney Smith, who was loved and admired by every one. His daughter married our friend Sir Henry Holland, the distinguished physician, well known for his eminent literary and scientific acquirements as well as for his refined taste.
No house in London was more hospitable and agreeable than that of the late Mr. John Murray, in Albemarle Street. His dinner parties were brilliant, with all the poets and literary characters of the day, and Mr. Murray himself was gentlemanly, full of information, and kept up the conversation with spirit. He generously published the "Mechanism of the Heavens" at his own risk, which, from its analytical character, could only be read by mathematicians.
Besides those I have mentioned we had a numerous acquaintance who were neither learned nor scientific; and at concerts at some of their houses I enjoyed much hearing the great artists of the day, such as Pasta, Malibran, Grisi, Rubini, &c., &c. We knew Lucien Buonaparte, who gave me a copy of his poems, which were a failure.
I had become acquainted with Madame de Montalembert, who was an Englishwoman, and was mother of the celebrated Comte; she was very eccentric, and at that time was an Ultra-Protestant. One day she came to ask me to go and drive in the Park with her, and afterwards dine at her house, saying, "We shall all be in high dresses." So I accepted, and on entering the drawing-room, found a bishop and several clergymen, Lady Olivia Sparrow, and some other ladies,all in high black satin dresses and white lace caps, precisely the dress I wore, and I thought it a curious coincidence. The party was lively enough, and agreeable, but the conversation was in a style I had never heard before—in fact, it affected the phraseology of the Bible. We all went after dinner to a sort of meeting at Exeter Hall, I quite forget for what purpose, but our party was on a kind of raised platform. I mentioned this to a friend afterwards, and the curious circumstance of our all being dressed alike. "Do you not know," she said, "that dress is assumed as a distinctive mark of the Evangelical party! So you were a wolf in sheep's clothing!"
I had been acquainted with the Miss Berrys at Raith, when visiting their cousins, Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson. Mary, the eldest, was a handsome, accomplished woman, who from her youth had lived in the most distinguished society, both at home and abroad. She published a "Comparative View of Social Life in France and England," which was well received by the public. She was a Latin scholar, spoke and wrote French fluently, yet with all these advantages, the consciousness that she might have done something better, had female education been less frivolous, gave her a characteristic melancholy which lasted through life. She didnot talk much herself, but she had the tact to lead conversation. She and her sister received every evening a select society in their small house in Curzon Street. Besides any distinguished foreigners who happened to be in London, among their habitual guests were my friend, Lady Charlotte Lindsay, always witty and agreeable, the brilliant and beautiful Sheridans, Lady Theresa Lister, afterwards Lady Theresa Lewis, who edited Miss Berry's "Memoirs," Lord Lansdowne, and many others. Lady Davy came occasionally, and the Miss Fanshaws, who were highly accomplished, and good artists, besides Miss Catherine Fanshaw wrote cleververs de société, such as a charade on the letter H, and, if I am not mistaken, "The Butterfly's Ball," &c. I visited these ladies, but their manners were so cold and formal that, though I admired their talents, I never became intimate with them. On the contrary, like everyone else, I loved Mary Berry, she was so warm-hearted and kind. When London began to fill, and the season was at its height, the Miss Berrys used to retire to a pretty villa at Twickenham, where they received their friends to luncheon, and strawberries and cream, and very delightful these visits were in fine spring weather. I recollect once, after dining there, to have been fortunate enough to give a place in my carriage toLord Macaulay, and those who remember his charming and brilliant conversation will understand how short the drive to London appeared.
We sometimes went to see Miss Lydia White, who received every evening; she was clever, witty, and very free in her conversation. On one occasion the party consisted, besides ourselves, of the Misses Berry, Lady Davy; the three poets, Rogers, William Spencer, and Campbell; Sir James Macintosh, and Lord Dudley. Rogers, who was a bitter satirist and hated Lord Dudley, had written the following, epigram:—
Ward has no heart, 'tis said; but I deny it.He has a heart, and gets his speeches by it.
I had never heard of this epigram, and on coming away Lord Dudley said, "You are going home to sleep and I to work." I answered, "Oh! you are going to prepare your speech for to-morrow." My appropriate remark raised an universal laugh.
Mr. Bowditch, of Boston, U.S., who died in 1838, left among other works a "Commentary on La Place's Mécanique Céleste" in four volumes. While busily occupied in bringing out an edition of the "Physical Sciences," I received a letter from his son, Mr. H. Bowditch, requesting me to write an elaborate review of that work, which would be published in Bostonalong with the biography of his father, written by Mr. Young, who sent me a copy of it. Though highly sensible of the honour, I declined to undertake so formidable a work, fearing that I should not do justice to the memory of so great a man.
I have always been in communication with some of the most distinguished men of the United States. Washington Irving frequently came to see me when he was in London; he was as agreeable in conversation as he was distinguished as an author. No one could be more amiable than Admiral Wilkes, of the U.S. navy: he had all the frankness of a sailor. We saw a good deal of him when he was in London, and I had a long letter from him, giving me an account of his fleet, his plan for circumnavigation, &c.&c. I never had the good fortune to become personally acquainted with Captain Maury, of the U.S. navy, author of that fascinating book, the "Physical Geography of the Sea," but I am indebted to him for a copy of that work, and of his valuable charts. Mr. Dana, who is an honour to his country, sent me copies of his works, to which I have had occasion frequently to refer as acknowledged authority on many branches of natural history. I should be ungrateful if I did not acknowledge the kindness I received from the Silliman family, who informed me of any scientific discovery in the United States,and sent me a copy of their Journal when it contained anything which might interest me. I was elected an honorary member of the Geographical and Statistical Society of New York, U.S. on the 15th May, 1857, and on the 15th October, 1869, I was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia, for Promoting Useful Knowledge. I shall ever be most grateful for these honours.
While living in Florence, many years after, an American friend invited me to an evening party to meet an American authoress who wished particularly to make my acquaintance. I accordingly went there on the evening in question, and my friends, after receiving me with their accustomed cordiality, presented me to the lady, and placed me beside her to give me an opportunity of conversing with her. I addressed her several times, and made various attempts to enter into conversation, but only received very dry answers in reply. At last she fairly turned her back upon me, and became engrossed with a lady who sat on her other side, upon which I got up and left her and never saw her again. A very different person in every respect was present that evening, as much distinguished by her high mental qualities and poetical genius as by her modesty andsimplicity. I allude to our greatest British poetess, Mrs. Browning, who at that time resided in Florence, except when the delicacy of her health obliged her to go to Rome. I think there is no other instance of husband and wife both poets, and both distinguished in their different lines. I can imagine no happier or more fascinating life than theirs; two kindred spirits united in the highest and noblest aspirations. Unfortunately her life was a short one; in the full bloom of her intellect her frail health gave way, and she died leaving a noble record of genius to future ages, and a sweet memory to those who were her contemporaries. The Florentines, who, like all Italians, greatly appreciate genius, whether native or foreign, have placed a commemorative tablet on Casa Guidi, the house Mrs. Browning inhabited.
I was extremely delighted last spring in being honoured by a visit from Longfellow, that most genial poet. It is not always the case that the general appearance of a distinguished person answers to one's ideal of what he ought to be—in this respect Longfellow far surpasses expectation. I was as much charmed with his winning manner and conversation as by his calm, grand features and the expression of his intellectual countenance.
The Barons Fairfax, as I mentioned already, hadlong been members of the Republic of the United States, and Washington's mother belonged to this family. During the war of Independence, while my father, then Lieutenant Fairfax, was on board a man-of-war on the American station, he received a letter from General Washington claiming him as a relation, and inviting him to pay him a visit, saying, he did not think that war should interfere with the courtesies of private life. Party spirit ran so high at that time that my father was reprimanded for being in correspondence with the enemy. I mentioned to my friend, the Rev. Dr. Tuckerman, of the United States, how much I regretted that so precious a letter had been lost, and he most kindly on going home sent me an autograph letter of General Washington.