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PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS,
FROM EARLY LIFE TO OLD AGE,
OF
MARY SOMERVILLE.
WITH
Selections from her Correspondence.
BY HER DAUGHTER, MARTHA SOMERVILLE.
FIFTH THOUSAND.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET,
1874.
[_The Right of Translation is reserved._]
WORKS BY MRS. SOMERVILLE.
* * * * *
THE MECHANISM OF THE HEAVENS. 8vo. 1831.
THE CONNECTION OF THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES. _9th Edition._ Post 8vo. 9_s._
1858.
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. _6th Edition._ Post 8vo. 9_s._ 1870.
MOLECULAR AND MICROSCOPIC SCIENCE. 2 vols. Post 8vo. 21_s._ 1869.
[Transcriber's Note: commentary by the author, with the exception of her
opening and closing words are enclosed in square brackets. In the original
text, only an open square bracket was used.]
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. PAGE
INTRODUCTION--PARENTAGE--LIFE IN SCOTLAND IN THE LAST
CENTURY--EARLY EDUCATION--SCHOOL 1
CHAPTER II.
FREEDOM--RELIGIOUS EDUCATION--JEDBURGH 24
CHAPTER III.
EDINBURGH--YOUTHFUL STUDIES AND AMUSEMENTS--POLITICS--THE
THEATRES OF THE TIME 41
CHAPTER IV.
EDINBURGH SUPPER PARTIES--TOUR IN THE HIGHLANDS--MUTINY
IN THE FLEET--BATTLE OF CAMPERDOWN 61
CHAPTER V.
FIRST MARRIAGE (1804)--WIDOWHOOD--STUDIES--SECOND MARRIAGE 73
CHAPTER VI.
SOMERVILLE FAMILY--DR. SOMERVILLE'S CHARACTER--LETTERS--JOURNEY
TO THE LAKES--DEATH OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRFAX--REMINISCENCES
OF SIR WALTER SCOTT 83
CHAPTER VII.
LIFE IN HANOVER SQUARE--VISIT TO FRANCE--ARAGO--CUVIER--ROME 104
CHAPTER VIII.
EDUCATION OF DAUGHTERS--DR. WOLLASTON--DR. YOUNG--THE
HERSCHELS 127
CHAPTER IX.
SOCIETY IN LONDON--CORONATION OF GEORGE IV.--LETTER TO
DR. SOMERVILLE 140
CHAPTER X.
DEATH OF MARGARET SOMERVILLE--LETTER FROM MRS. SOMERVILLE
TO THE REV. DR. SOMERVILLE--LIFE AT CHELSEA--THE
NAPIERS--MARIA EDGEWORTH--TOUR IN GERMANY 152
CHAPTER XI.
LETTER FROM LORD BROUGHAM--WRITES "MECHANISM OF THE
HEAVENS"--ANECDOTE OF THE ROMAN IMPROVISATRICE--LETTERS
FROM SIR JOHN HERSCHEL AND PROFESSOR WHEWELL--ELECTED
HON. MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL
SOCIETY--NOTICE IN THE ACADÉMIE DES SCIENCES, AND
LETTER FROM M. BIOT--PENSION--LETTER FROM SIR ROBERT
PEEL--BEGINS TO WRITE ON THE CONNECTION OF THE
PHYSICAL SCIENCES--VISIT TO CAMBRIDGE--LETTERS FROM
PROFESSOR SEDGWICK AND LAPLACE 161
CHAPTER XII.
PARIS--ARAGO, LAFAYETTE, MM. BOUVARD, POISSON, LACROIX,
&C., MARQUISE DE LAPLACE, DUPIN, F. COOPER--LEGITIMISTE
SOCIETY--MAJENDIE--VISIT BARON LOUIS--LETTER FROM
LAFAYETTE 183
CHAPTER XIII.
RETURN TO ENGLAND--LETTER FROM HALLAM--TREATISE ON THE
FORM AND ROTATION OF THE EARTH AND PLANETS--SECOND
EDITION OF "THE CONNEXION OF THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES"--LETTERS
FROM MARIA EDGEWORTH, MISS BERRY, LORD
BROUGHAM, MRS. MARCET, ADMIRAL SMYTH--DOUBLE STARS--ECLIPSE
OF DOUBLE STARS--LETTER FROM ADMIRAL SMYTH--SIR
WILLIAM HERSCHEL--NEBULÆ--LETTER FROM LORD
ROSSE--LETTER FROM SIR JOHN HERSCHEL--SIR JAMES
SOUTH'S OBSERVATORY--MR. JOHN MURRAY--MISS BERRY--LORD
DUDLEY--MR. BOWDITCH AND OTHER DISTINGUISHED
AMERICANS--MRS. BROWNING WASHINGTON--LETTER FROM
THE REV. DR. TUCKERMAN--SIR WILLIAM FAIRFAX ATTACKED
BY HIGHWAYMEN 198
CHAPTER XIV.
ROME, NAPLES, AND COMO--BADEN--WINTER AT FLORENCE--SIENA--LETTER
FROM LORD BROUGHAM--MR MOUNTSTEWART
ELPHINSTONE--LIFE AT ROME--CAMPAGNA CATTLE 230
CHAPTER XV.
ALBANO--POPULAR SINGING--LETTERS FROM MRS.
SOMERVILLE--GIBSON--PERUGIA--COMET
OF 1843--SUMMER AT VENICE--LETTERS
FROM MRS. SOMERVILLE AND MISS JOANNA BAILLIE--ELECTED
ASSOCIATE OF THE COLLEGE OF RESURGENTI AND
R.I. ACADEMY OF SCIENCE AT AREZZO 243
CHAPTER XVI.
PUBLISHES "PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY"--LETTER FROM HUMBOLDT--CHRISTMAS
AT COLLINGWOOD--LETTER FROM MRS. SOMERVILLE--FARADAY--LETTER
FROM FARADAY--KEITH JOHNSTON'S
MAPS--WINTER AT MUNICH--SALZBURG--LAKE OF GARDA--MINISCALCHI--POEM
BY CATERINA BRENZONI--LETTER FROM
BRENZONI--LETTER FROM MRS. SOMERVILLE--ÉLOGE BY
MINISCALCHI--WINTER AT TURIN--BARON PLANA--CAMILLO
CAVOUR--COLLINE NEAR TURIN--GENOA--TERESA DOVIA--FLORENCE--MISS
F.P. COBBE--VIVISECTION--EXCURSIONS IN
THE NEIGHBOURHOOD--CHOLERA--MISERICORDIA--PIO NONO
IN TUSCANY--COMET--TUSCAN REVOLUTION--WAR IN LOMBARDY--ENTRY
OF VICTOR EMMANUEL INTO FLORENCE--LETTERS
FROM MRS. SOMERVILLE--MY FATHER'S DEATH--LETTER
FROM MISS COBBE 286
CHAPTER XVII.
SPEZIA--GENOA--BEGINS MOLECULAR AND MICROSCOPIC
SCIENCE--TURIN--SPEZIA--BRITISH FLEET--LETTERS FROM
MRS. SOMERVILLE--GARIBALDI--SEVERE ILLNESS--FLORENCE--MY
BROTHER'S DEATH--NAPLES--ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS--J.S.
MILL--CHANGE IN PUBLIC OPINION ON WOMEN'S EDUCATION--EIGHTY-NINTH
YEAR--DESCRIBES HER OWN CHARACTER--THOUGHTS
ON A FUTURE LIFE--PROGRESS IN KNOWLEDGE OF
GEOGRAPHY--VICTORIA MEDAL--MEDAL FROM ROYAL ITALIAN
GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY--LETTER FROM MENABREA--ROME,
CAPITAL OF ITALY--AURORA BOREALIS 329
CHAPTER XVIII.
ECLIPSE--VISITS OF SCIENTIFIC MEN--LIFE AT NAPLES--DARWIN'S
BOOKS--REMARKS ON CIVILIZATION--FINE AURORA BOREALIS--DEATH
OF HERSCHEL--SUMMER AT SORRENTO--BILL FOR
PROTECTION OF ANIMALS--NINETY-SECOND YEAR--LETTER
FROM PROFESSOR SEDGWICK--GRAND ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS--LAST
SUMMER AT SORRENTO, PLANTS FOUND THERE--CONCLUSION
354
PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS
OF
MARY SOMERVILLE.
* * * * *
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION--PARENTAGE--LIFE IN SCOTLAND IN THE LAST CENTURY--EARLY
EDUCATION--SCHOOL.
The life of a woman entirely devoted to her family duties and to
scientific pursuits affords little scope for a biography. There are in
it neither stirring events nor brilliant deeds to record; and as my
Mother was strongly averse to gossip, and to revelations of private life
or of intimate correspondence, nothing of the kind will be found in the
following pages. It has been only after very great hesitation, and on
the recommendation of valued friends, who think that some account of so
remarkable and beautiful a character cannot fail to interest the public,
that I have resolved to publish some detached Recollections of past
times, noted down by my mother during the last years of her life,
together with a few letters from eminent men and women, referring almost
exclusively to her scientific works. A still smaller number of her own
letters have been added, either as illustrating her opinions on events
she witnessed, or else as affording some slight idea of her simple and
loving disposition.
Few thoughtful minds will read without emotion my mother's own account
of the wonderful energy and indomitable perseverance by which, in her
ardent thirst for knowledge, she overcame obstacles apparently
insurmountable, at a time when women were well-nigh totally debarred
from education; and the almost intuitive way in which she entered upon
studies of which she had scarcely heard the names, living, as she did,
among persons to whom they were utterly unknown, and who disapproved of
her devotion to pursuits so different from those of ordinary young girls
at the end of the last century, especially in Scotland, which was far
more old-fashioned and primitive than England.
Nor is her simple account of her early days without interest, when, as a
lonely child, she wandered by the seashore, and on the links of
Burntisland, collecting shells and flowers; or spent the clear, cold
nights at her window, watching the starlit heavens, whose mysteries she
was destined one day to penetrate in all their profound and sublime
laws, making clear to others that knowledge which she herself had
acquired, at the cost of so hard a struggle.
It was not only in her childhood and youth that my mother's studies
encountered disapproval. Not till she became a widow, had she perfect
freedom to pursue them. The first person--indeed the only one in her
early days--who encouraged her passion for learning was her uncle by
marriage, afterwards her father-in-law, the Rev. Dr. Somerville,
minister of Jedburgh, a man very much in advance of his century in
liberality of thought on all subjects. He was one of the first to
discern her rare qualities, and valued her as she deserved; while
through life she retained the most grateful affection for him, and
confided to him many doubts and difficulties on subjects of the highest
importance. Nothing can be more erroneous than the statement, repeated
in several obituary notices of my mother, that Mr. Greig (her first
husband) aided her in her mathematical and other pursuits. Nearly the
contrary was the case. Mr. Greig took no interest in science or
literature, and possessed in full the prejudice against learned women
which was common at that time. Only on her marriage with my father, my
mother at last met with one who entirely sympathised with her, and
warmly entered into all her ideas, encouraging her zeal for study to the
utmost, and affording her every facility for it in his power. His love
and admiration for her were unbounded; he frankly and willingly
acknowledged her superiority to himself, and many of our friends can
bear witness to the honest pride and gratification which he always
testified in the fame and honours she attained.
No one can escape sorrow, and my mother, in the course of her long life,
had her full share, but she bore it with that deep feeling of trust in
the great goodness of God which formed so marked a feature in her
character. She had a buoyant and hopeful spirit, and though her
affections were very strong, and she felt keenly, it was ever her nature
to turn from the shadows to all that is bright and beautiful in mortal
life. She had much to make life pleasant in the great honours
universally bestowed upon her; but she found far more in the devoted
affection of friends, to say nothing of those whose happy lot it has
been to live in close and loving intercourse with so noble and gentle a
spirit.
She met with unbounded kindness from men of science of all countries,
and most profound was her gratitude to them. Modest and unpretending to
excess, nothing could be more generous than the unfeigned delight she
shewed in recognising the genius and discoveries of others; ever jealous
of their fame, and never of her own.
It is not uncommon to see persons who hold in youth opinions in advance
of the age in which they live, but who at a certain period seem to
crystallise, and lose the faculty of comprehending and accepting new
ideas and theories; thus remaining at last as far behind, as they were
once in advance of public opinion. Not so my mother, who was ever ready
to hail joyfully any new idea or theory, and to give it honest
attention, even if it were at variance with her former convictions. This
quality she never lost, and it enabled her to sympathise with the
younger generation of philosophers, as she had done with their
predecessors, her own contemporaries.
Although her favourite pursuit, and the one for which she had decidedly
most aptitude, was mathematics; yet there were few subjects in which she
did not take interest, whether in science or literature, philosophy or
politics. She was passionately fond of poetry, her especial favourites
being Shakespeare and Dante, and also the great Greek dramatists, whose
tragedies she read fluently in the original, being a good classical
scholar. She was very fond of music, and devoted much time to it in her
youth, and she painted from nature with considerable taste. The latter
was, perhaps, the recreation in which she most delighted, from the
opportunity it afforded her of contemplating the wonderful beauty of the
world, which was a never-failing source of intense enjoyment to her,
whether she watched the changing effects of light and shade on her
favourite Roman Campagna, or gazed, enchanted, on the gorgeous sunsets
on the bay of Naples, as she witnessed them from her much-loved
Sorrento, where she passed the last summers of her life. All things fair
were a joy to her--the flowers we brought her from our rambles, the
sea-weeds, the wild birds she saw, all interested and pleased her.
Everything in nature spoke to her of that great God who created all
things, the grand and sublimely beautiful as well as the exquisite
loveliness of minute objects. Above all, in the laws which science
unveils step by step, she found ever renewed motives for the love and
adoration of their Author and Sustainer. This fervour of religious
feeling accompanied her through life, and very early she shook off all
that was dark and narrow in the creed of her first instructors for a
purer and a happier faith.
It would be almost incredible were I to describe how much my mother
contrived to do in the course of the day. When my sister and I were
small children, although busily engaged in writing for the press, she
used to teach us for three hours every morning, besides managing her
house carefully, reading the newspapers (for she always was a keen, and,
I must add, a liberal politician), and the most important new books on
all subjects, grave and gay. In addition to all this, she freely visited
and received her friends. She was, indeed, very fond of society, and did
not look for transcendent talent in those with whom she associated,
although no one appreciated it more when she found it. Gay and cheerful
company was a pleasant relaxation after a hard day's work. My mother
never introduced scientific or learned subjects into general
conversation. When they were brought forward by others, she talked
simply and naturally about them, without the slightest pretension to
superior knowledge. Finally, to complete the list of her
accomplishments, I must add that she was a remarkably neat and skilful
needlewoman. We still possess some elaborate specimens of her embroidery
and lace-work.
Devoted and loving in all the relations of life, my mother was ever
forgetful of self. Indulgent and sympathising, she never judged others
with harshness or severity; yet she could be very angry when her
indignation was aroused by hearing of injustice or oppression, of
cruelty to man or beast, or of any attack on those she loved. Rather
timid and retiring in general society, she was otherwise fearless in her
quiet way. I well remember her cool composure on some occasions when we
were in great danger. This she inherited from her father, Admiral Sir
William Fairfax, a gallant gentleman who distinguished himself greatly
at the battle of Camperdown.[1]
My mother speaks of him as follows among her "Recollections," of which I
now proceed to place some portions before the reader.
* * * * *
My father was very good looking, of a brave and noble nature, and a
perfect gentleman both in appearance and character. He was sent to sea
as midshipman at ten years of age, so he had very little education; but
he read a great deal, chiefly history and voyages. He was very cool, and
of instant resource in moments of danger.
One night, when his little vessel had taken refuge with many others from
an intensely violent gale and drifting snow in Yarmouth Roads, they saw
lights disappear, as vessel after vessel foundered. My father, after
having done all that was possible for the safety of the ship, went to
bed. His cabin door did not shut closely, from the rolling of the ship,
and the man who was sentry that night told my mother years afterwards,
that when he saw my father on his knees praying, he thought it would
soon be all over with them; then seeing him go to bed and fall asleep,
he felt no more fear. In the morning the coast was strewed with wrecks.
There were no life-boats in those days; now the lives of hundreds are
annually saved by the noble self-devotion of British sailors.
My mother was the daughter of Samuel Charters, Solicitor of the Customs
for Scotland, and his wife Christian Murray, of Kynynmont, whose eldest
sister married the great grandfather of the present Earl of Minto. My
grandmother was exceedingly proud and stately. She made her children
stand in her presence. My mother, on the contrary, was indulgent and
kind, so that her children were perfectly at ease with her. She seldom
read anything but the Bible, sermons, and the newspaper. She was very
sincere and devout in her religion, and was remarkable for good sense
and great strength of expression in writing and conversation. Though by
no means pretty, she was exceedingly distinguished and ladylike both in
appearance and manners.
My father was constantly employed, and twice distinguished himself by
attacking vessels of superior force. He captured the first, but was
overpowered by the second, and being taken to France, remained two years
a prisoner on parole, when he met with much kindness from the Choiseul
family. At last he was exchanged, and afterwards was appointed
lieutenant on board a frigate destined for foreign service. I think it
was the North American station, for the war of Independence was not over
till the beginning of 1783. As my mother knew that my father would be
absent for some years, she accompanied him to London, though so near her
confinement that in returning home she had just time to arrive at the
manse of Jedburgh, her sister Martha Somerville's[2] house, when I was
born, on the 26th December, 1780. My mother was dangerously ill, and my
aunt, who was about to wean her second daughter Janet, who married
General Henry Elliot, nursed me till a wetnurse could be found. So I was
born in the house of my future husband, and nursed by his mother--a
rather singular coincidence.
During my father's absence, my mother lived with great economy in a
house not far from Burntisland which belonged to my grandfather, solely
occupied with the care of her family, which consisted of her eldest son
Samuel, four or five years old, and myself. One evening while my brother
was lying at play on the floor, he called out, "O, mamma there's the
moon rinnin' awa." It was the celebrated meteor of 1783.
Some time afterwards, for what reason I do not know, my father and
mother went to live for a short time at Inveresk, and thence returned to
Burntisland, our permanent home.
* * * * *
[This place, in which my mother's early life was spent, exercised so
much influence on her life and pursuits, that I am happy to be
able to give the description of it in her own words.]
* * * * *
Burntisland was then a small quiet seaport town with little or no
commerce, situated on the coast of Fife, immediately opposite to
Edinburgh. It is sheltered at some distance on the north by a high and
steep hill called the Bin. The harbour lies on the west, and the town
ended on the east in a plain of short grass called the Links, on which
the townspeople had the right of pasturing their cows and geese. The
Links were bounded on each side by low hills covered with gorse and
heather, and on the east by a beautiful bay with a sandy beach, which,
beginning at a low rocky point, formed a bow and then stretched for
several miles to the town of Kinghorn, the distant part skirting a range
of high precipitous crags.
Our house, which lay to the south of the town, was very long, with a
southern exposure, and its length was increased by a wall covered with
fruit-trees, which concealed a courtyard, cow-house, and other offices.
From this the garden extended southwards, and ended in a plot of short
grass covering a ledge of low black rocks washed by the sea. It was
divided into three parts by narrow, almost unfrequented, lanes. These
gardens yielded abundance of common fruit and vegetables, but the
warmest and best exposures were always devoted to flowers. The garden
next to the house was bounded on the south by an ivy-covered wall hid by
a row of old elm trees, from whence a steep mossy bank descended to a
flat plot of grass with a gravel walk and flower borders on each side,
and a broad gravel walk ran along the front of the house. My mother was
fond of flowers, and prided herself on her moss-roses, which flourished
luxuriantly on the front of the house; but my father, though a sailor,
was an excellent florist. He procured the finest bulbs and flower seeds
from Holland, and kept each kind in a separate bed.
The manners and customs of the people who inhabited this pretty spot at
that time were exceedingly primitive.
Upon the death of any of the townspeople, a man went about ringing a
bell at the doors of the friends and acquaintances of the person just
dead, and, after calling out "Oyez!" three times, he announced the death
which had occurred. This was still called by the name of the
Passing-bell, which in Catholic times invited the prayers of the living
for the spirit just passed away.
There was much sympathy and kindness shown on these occasions; friends
always paid a visit of condolence to the afflicted, dressed in black.
The gude wives in Burntisland thought it respectable to provide
dead-clothes for themselves and the "gude man," that they might have a
decent funeral. I once saw a set of grave-clothes nicely folded up,
which consisted of a long shirt and cap of white flannel, and a shroud
of fine linen made of yarn, spun by the gude wife herself. I did not
like that gude wife; she was purse-proud, and took every opportunity of
treating with scorn a poor neighbour who had had a _misfortune_, that
is, a child by her husband before marriage, but who made a very good
wife. Her husband worked in our garden, and took our cow to the Links to
graze. The wife kept a little shop, where we bought things, and she told
us her neighbour had given her "mony a sair greet"--that is, a bitter
fit of weeping.
The howdie, or midwife, was a person of much consequence. She had often
to go far into the country, by day and by night, riding a cart-horse.
The neighbours used to go and congratulate the mother, and, of course,
to admire the baby. Cake and caudle were handed round, caudle being
oatmeal gruel, with sugar, nutmeg, and white wine. In the poorest class,
hot ale and "scons" were offered.
Penny-weddings were by no means uncommon in my young days. When a very
poor couple were going to be married, the best man, and even the
bridegroom himself, went from house to house, asking for small sums to
enable them to have a wedding supper, and pay the town fiddler for a
dance; any one was admitted who paid a penny. I recollect the prisoners
in the Tolbooth letting down bags from the prison windows, begging for
charity. I do not remember any execution taking place.
Men and old women of the lower classes smoked tobacco in short pipes,
and many took snuff--even young ladies must have done so; for I have a
very pretty and quaint gold snuff-box which was given to my grandmother
as a marriage present. Licensed beggars, called "gaberlunzie men," were
still common. They wore a blue coat, with a tin badge, and wandered
about the country, knew all that was going on, and were always welcome
at the farm-houses, where the gude wife liked to have a crack (gossip)
with the blue coat, and, in return for his news, gave him dinner or
supper, as might be. Edie Ochiltree is a perfect specimen of this
extinct race. There was another species of beggar, of yet higher
antiquity. If a man were a cripple, and poor, his relations put him in a
hand-barrow, and wheeled him to their next neighbour's door, and left
him there. Some one came out, gave him oat-cake or peasemeal bannock,
and then wheeled him to the next door; and in this way, going from house
to house, he obtained a fair livelihood.
My brother Sam lived with our grandfather in Edinburgh, and attended the
High School, which was in the old town, and, like other boys, he was
given pennies to buy bread; but the boys preferred oysters, which they
bought from the fishwives, the bargain being, a dozen oysters for a
halfpenny, and a kiss for the thirteenth. These fishwives and their
husbands were industrious, hard-working people, forming a community of
their own in the village of Newhaven, close to the sea, and about two
miles from Edinburgh. The men were exposed to cold, and often to danger,
in their small boats, not always well-built nor fitted for our stormy
Firth. The women helped to land and prepare the fish when the boats came
in, carried it to town for sale in the early morning, kept the purse,
managed the house, brought up the children, and provided food and
clothing for all. Many were rich, lived well, and sometimes had dances.
Many of the young women were pretty, and all wore--and, I am told, still
wear--a bright-coloured, picturesque costume. Some young men, amongst
others a cousin of my own, who attempted to intrude into one of these
balls, got pelted with fish offal by the women. The village smelt
strongly of fish, certainly; yet the people were very clean personally.
I recollect their keeping tame gulls, which they fed with fish offal.
Although there was no individual enmity between the boys of the old and
of the new or aristocratic part of Edinburgh, there were frequent
battles, called "bickers," between them, in which they pelted each other
with stones. Sometimes they were joined by bigger lads, and then the
fight became so serious that the magistrates sent the city guard--a set
of old men with halberds and a quaint uniform--to separate them; but no
sooner did the guard appear, than both parties joined against them.
Strings of wild geese were common in autumn, and I was amused on one
occasion to see the clumsy tame fat geese which were feeding on the
Links rise in a body and try to follow the wild ones.
As the grass on the plot before our house did not form a fine even turf,
the ground was trenched and sown with good seed, but along with the
grass a vast crop of thistles and groundsel appeared, which attracted
quantities of goldfinches, and in the early mornings I have seen as many
as sixty to eighty of these beautiful birds feeding on it.
My love of birds has continued through life, for only two years ago, in
my extreme old age, I lost a pet mountain sparrow, which for eight years
was my constant companion: sitting on my shoulder, pecking at my
papers, and eating out of my mouth; and I am not ashamed to say I felt
its accidental death very much.
Before the grass came up on this plot of ground, its surface in the
evening swarmed with earthworms, which instantly shrank into their holes
on the approach of a foot. My aunt Janet, who was then with us, and
afraid even to speak of death, was horrified on seeing them, firmly
believing that she would one day be eaten by them--a very general
opinion at that time; few people being then aware that the finest mould
in our gardens and fields has passed through the entrails of the
earthworm, the vegetable juices it contains being sufficient to maintain
these harmless creatures.
My mother was very much afraid of thunder and lightning. She knew when a
storm was near from the appearance of the clouds, and prepared for it by
taking out the steel pins which fastened her cap on. She then sat on a
sofa at a distance from the fire-place, which had a very high chimney,
and read different parts of the Bible, especially the sublime
descriptions of storms in the Psalms, which made me, who sat close by
her, still more afraid. We had an excellent and beautiful pointer,
called Hero, a great favourite, who generally lived in the garden, but
at the first clap of thunder he used to rush howling indoors, and place
his face on my knee. Then my father, who laughed not a little at our
fear, would bring a glass of wine to my mother, and say, "Drink that,
Peg; it will give you courage, for we are going to have a rat-tat-too."
My mother would beg him to shut the window-shutters, and though she
could no longer see to read, she kept the Bible on her knee for
protection.
My mother taught me to read the Bible, and to say my prayers morning and
evening; otherwise she allowed me to grow up a wild creature. When I was
seven or eight years old I began to be useful, for I pulled the fruit
for preserving; shelled the peas and beans, fed the poultry, and looked
after the dairy, for we kept a cow.
On one occasion I had put green gooseberries into bottles and sent them
to the kitchen with orders to the cook to boil the bottles uncorked,
and, when the fruit was sufficiently cooked, to cork and tie up the
bottles. After a time all the house was alarmed by loud explosions and
violent screaming in the kitchen, the cook had corked the bottles before
she boiled them, and of course they exploded. For greater preservation,
the bottles were always buried in the ground; a number were once found
in our garden with the fruit in high preservation which had been buried
no one knew when. Thus experience is sometimes the antecedent of
science, for it was little suspected at that time that by shutting out
the air the invisible organic world was excluded--the cause of all
fermentation and decay.
I never cared for dolls, and had no one to play with me. I amused myself
in the garden, which was much frequented by birds. I knew most of them,
their flight and their habits. The swallows were never prevented from
building above our windows, and, when about to migrate, they used to
assemble in hundreds on the roof of our house, and prepared for their
journey by short flights. We fed the birds when the ground was covered
with snow, and opened our windows at breakfast-time to let in the
robins, who would hop on the table to pick up crumbs. The quantity of
singing birds was very great, for the farmers and gardeners were less
cruel and avaricious than they are now--though poorer. They allowed our
pretty songsters to share in the bounties of providence. The
shortsighted cruelty, which is too prevalent now, brings its own
punishment, for, owing to the reckless destruction of birds, the
equilibrium of nature is disturbed, insects increase to such an extent
as materially to affect every description of crop. This summer (1872),
when I was at Sorrento, even the olives, grapes, and oranges were
seriously injured by the caterpillars--a disaster which I entirely
attribute to the ruthless havoc made among every kind of bird.
* * * * *
My mother set me in due time to learn the catechism of the Kirk of
Scotland, and to attend the public examinations in the kirk. This was a
severe trial for me; for, besides being timid and shy, I had a bad
memory, and did not understand one word of the catechism. These
meetings, which began with prayer, were attended by all the children of
the town and neighbourhood, with their mothers, and a great many old
women, who came to be edified. They were an acute race, and could quote
chapter and verse of Scripture as accurately as the minister himself. I
remember he said to one of them--"Peggie, what lightened the world
before the sun was made?" After thinking for a minute, she said--"'Deed,
sir, the question is mair curious than edifying."
Besides these public examinations, the minister made an annual visit to
each household in his parish. When he came to us, the servants were
called in, and we all knelt while he said a prayer; and then he examined
each individual as to the state of his soul and conduct. He asked me if
I could say my "Questions"--that is, the catechism of the Kirk of
Scotland--and asked a question at random to ascertain the fact. He did
the same to the servants.
When I was between eight and nine years old, my father came home from
sea, and was shocked to find me such a savage. I had not yet been taught
to write, and although I amused myself reading the "Arabian Nights,"
"Robinson Crusoe," and the "Pilgrim's Progress," I read very badly, and
with a strong Scotch accent; so, besides a chapter of the Bible, he made
me read a paper of the "Spectator" aloud every morning, after breakfast;
the consequence of which discipline is that I have never since opened
that book. Hume's "History of England" was also a real penance to me. I
gladly accompanied my father when he cultivated his flowers, which even
now I can say were of the best quality. The tulips and other bulbous
plants, ranunculi, anemones, carnations, as well as the annuals then
known, were all beautiful. He used to root up and throw away many plants
I thought very beautiful; he said he did so because the colours of their
petals were not sharply defined, and that they would spoil the seed of
the others. Thus I learnt to know the good and the bad--how to lay
carnations, and how to distinguish between the leaf and fruit buds in
pruning fruit trees; this kind of knowledge was of no practical use,
for, as my after-life was spent in towns, I never had a garden, to my
great regret.
George the Third was so popular, that even in Burntisland nosegays were
placed in every window on the 4th of June, his birthday; and it
occasionally happened that our garden was robbed the preceding night of
its gayest flowers.
My father at last said to my mother,--"This kind of life will never do,
Mary must at least know how to write and keep accounts." So at ten years
old I was sent to a boarding-school, kept by a Miss Primrose, at
Musselburgh, where I was utterly wretched. The change from perfect
liberty to perpetual restraint was in itself a great trial; besides,
being naturally shy and timid, I was afraid of strangers, and although
Miss Primrose was not unkind she had an habitual frown, which even the
elder girls dreaded. My future companions, who were all older than I,
came round me like a swarm of bees, and asked if my father had a title,
what was the name of our estate, if we kept a carriage, and other such
questions, which made me first feel the difference of station. However,
the girls were very kind, and often bathed my eyes to prevent our stern
mistress from seeing that I was perpetually in tears. A few days after
my arrival, although perfectly straight and well-made, I was enclosed in
stiff stays with a steel busk in front, while, above my frock, bands
drew my shoulders back till the shoulder-blades met. Then a steel rod,
with a semi-circle which went under the chin, was clasped to the steel
busk in my stays. In this constrained state I, and most of the younger
girls, had to prepare our lessons. The chief thing I had to do was to
learn by heart a page of Johnson's dictionary, not only to spell the
words, give their parts of speech and meaning, but as an exercise of
memory to remember their order of succession. Besides I had to learn the
first principles of writing, and the rudiments of French and English
grammar. The method of teaching was extremely tedious and inefficient.
Our religious duties were attended to in a remarkable way. Some of the
girls were Presbyterians, others belonged to the Church of England, so
Miss Primrose cut the matter short by taking us all to the kirk in the
morning and to church in the afternoon.
In our play-hours we amused ourselves with playing at ball, marbles, and
especially at "Scotch and English," a game which represented a raid on
the debatable land, or Border between Scotland and England, in which
each party tried to rob the other of their playthings. The little ones
were always compelled to be English, for the bigger girls thought it too
degrading.
Lady Hope, a relative of my mother, frequently invited me to spend
Saturday at Pinkie. She was a very ladylike person, in delicate health,
and with cold manners. Sir Archibald was stout, loud, passionate, and
devoted to hunting. I amused myself in the grounds, a good deal afraid
of a turkey-cock, who was pugnacious and defiant.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: Sir William Fairfax was the son of Joseph Fairfax, Esq., of
Bagshot, in the county of Surrey, who died in 1783, aged 77, having
served in the army previous to 1745. It is understood that his family
was descended from the Fairfaxes of Walton, in Yorkshire, the main
branch of which were created Viscounts Fairfax of Emly, in the peerage
of Ireland (now extinct), and a younger branch Barons Fairfax of
Cameron, in the peerage of Scotland. Of the last-named was the great
Lord Fairfax, Commander-in-Chief of the armies of the Parliament,
1645-50, whose title is now held by the eleventh Lord Fairfax, a
resident in the United States of America.]
[Footnote 2: Wife of the Rev. Dr. Thomas Somerville, minister of
Jedburgh, already mentioned (p. 2). Dr. Somerville was author of
Histories of Queen Anne and of William and Mary, and also of an
autobiography.]