SOCIETY IN LONDON--CORONATION OF GEORGE IV.--LETTER TO DR. SOMERVILLE.
We went frequently to see Mr. Babbage while he was making his
Calculating-machines. He had a transcendant intellect, unconquerable
perseverance, and extensive knowledge on many subjects, besides being a
first-rate mathematician. I always found him most amiable and patient in
explaining the structure and use of the engines. The first he made could
only perform arithmetical operations. Not satisfied with that, Mr.
Babbage constructed an analytical engine, which could be so arranged as
to perform all kinds of mathematical calculations, and print each
result.
Nothing has afforded me so convincing a proof of the unity of the Deity
as these purely mental conceptions of numerical and mathematical science
which have been by slow degrees vouchsafed to man, and are still granted
in these latter times by the Differential Calculus and the Higher
Algebra, all of which must have existed in that sublimely omniscient
Mind from eternity.
Many of our friends had very decided and various religious opinions, but
my husband and I never entered into controversy; we had too high a
regard for liberty of conscience to interfere with any one's opinions,
so we have lived on terms of sincere friendship and love with people who
differed essentially from us in religious views, and in all the books
which I have written I have confined myself strictly and entirely to
scientific subjects, although my religious opinions are very decided.
Timidity of character, probably owing to early education, had a great
influence on my daily life; for I did not assume my place in society in
my younger days; and in argument I was instantly silenced, although I
often knew, and could have proved, that I was in the right. The only
thing in which I was determined and inflexible was in the prosecution of
my studies. They were perpetually interrupted, but always resumed at the
first opportunity. No analysis is so difficult as that of one's own
mind, but I do not think I err much in saying that perseverance is a
characteristic of mine.
* * * * *
Somerville and I were very happy when we lived in Hanover Square. We
were always engaged in some pursuit, and had good society. General
society was at that time brilliant for wit and talent. The Rev. Sidney
Smith, Rogers, Thomas Moore, Campbell, the Hon. William Spencer,
Macaulay, Sir James Mackintosh, Lord Melbourne, &c., &c., all made the
dinner-parties very agreeable. The men sat longer at table than they do
now, and, except in the families where I was intimate, the conversation
of the ladies in the drawing-room, when we came up from dinner, often
bored me. I disliked routs exceedingly, and should often have sent an
excuse if I had known what to say. After my marriage I did not dance,
for in Scotland it was thought highly indecorous for a married woman to
dance. Waltzing, when first introduced, was looked upon with horror, and
even in England it was then thought very improper.
One season I subscribed to the Concerts of Ancient Music, established by
George the Third. They seemed to be the resort of the aged; a young face
was scarcely to be seen. The music was perfect of its kind, but the
whole affair was very dull. The Philharmonic Concerts were excellent for
scientific musicians, and I sometimes went to them; but for my part I
infinitely preferred hearing Pasta, Malibran, and Grisi, who have left
the most vivid impression on my mind, although so different from each
other. Somerville enjoyed a comic opera exceedingly, and so did I; and
at that time Lablache was in the height of his fame. When Somerville and
I made the tour in Italy already mentioned, we visited Catalani (then
Madame Valabrèque) in a villa near Florence, to which she retired in her
old age. She, however, died in Paris, of cholera, some years later.
Somerville liked the theatre as much as I did; so we saw all the
greatest actors of the day, both in tragedy and comedy, and the English
theatre was then excellent. Young, who was scarcely inferior to John
Kemble, Macready, Kean, Liston, &c., and Miss O'Neill, who after a short
brilliant career entered into domestic life on her marriage with Sir
William Beecher, were all at the height of their fame. It was then I
became acquainted with Lady Beecher, who was so simple and natural that
no one could have discovered she had ever been on the stage. A very
clever company of French comedians acted in a temporary theatre in
Tottenham Court Road, where we frequently went with a party of friends,
and enjoyed very pleasant evenings. I think my fondness for the theatre
depended to a certain degree on my silent disposition; for unless among
intimate friends, or when much excited, I was startled at the sound of
my own voice in general conversation, from the shyness which has
haunted me through life, and starts up occasionally like a ghost in my
old age. At a play I was not called upon to make any exertion, but could
enjoy at my ease an intellectual pleasure for the most part far superior
to the general run of conversation.
* * * * *
Among many others, we were intimate with Dr. and Mrs. Baillie and his
sisters. Joanna was my dear and valued friend to the end of her life.
When her tragedy of "Montfort" was to be brought on the stage,
Somerville and I, with a large party of her relations and friends, went
with her to the theatre. The play was admirably acted, for Mrs. Siddons
and her brother John Kemble performed the principal parts. It was warmly
applauded by a full house, but it was never acted again. Some time
afterwards "The Family Legend," founded on a Highland story, had better
success in Edinburgh; but Miss Baillie's plays, though highly poetical,
are not suited to the stage. Miss Mitford was more successful, for some
of her plays were repeatedly acted. She excelled also as a writer. "Our
Village" is perfect of its kind; nothing can be more animated than her
description of a game of cricket. I met with Miss Austin's novels at
this time, and thought them excellent, especially "Pride and Prejudice."
It certainly formed a curious contrast to my old favourites, the
Radcliffe novels and the ghost stories; but I had now come to years of
discretion.
Among my Quaker friends I met with that amiable but eccentric person
Mrs. Opie. Though a "wet" Quakeress, she continued to wear the peculiar
dress. I was told that she was presented in it at the Tuileries, and
astonished the French ladies. We were also acquainted with Mrs. Fry, a
very different person, and heard her preach. Her voice was fine, her
delivery admirable, and her prayer sublime. We were intimate with Mr.
(now Sir Charles) Lyell, who, if I mistake not, first met with his wife
at our house, where she was extremely admired as the beautiful Miss
Horner. Until we lost all our fortune, and went to live at Chelsea, I
used to have little evening parties in Hanover Square.
* * * * *
I was not present at the coronation of George the Fourth; but I had a
ticket for the gallery in Westminster Hall, to see the banquet. Though I
went very early in the morning, I found a wonderful confusion. I showed
my ticket of admission to one official person after another; the answer
always was "I know nothing about it." At last I got a good place near
some ladies I knew; even at that early hour the gallery was full. Some
time after the ceremony in the Abbey was over, the door of the
magnificent hall was thrown open, and the king entered in the flowing
curls and costume of Henry the Eighth, and, imitating the jaunty manner
of that monarch, walked up the hall and sat down on the throne at its
extremity. The peeresses had already taken their seats under the
gallery, and the king was followed by the peers, and the knights of the
Garter, Bath, Thistle, and St. Patrick, all in their robes. After every
one had taken his seat, the Champion, on his horse, both in full armour,
rode up the hall, and threw down a gauntlet before the king, while the
heralds proclaimed that he was ready to do battle with any one who
denied that George the Fourth was the liege lord of these realms. Then
various persons presented offerings to the king in right of which they
held their estates. One gentleman presented a beautiful pair of falcons
in their hoods. While this pageantry and noise was at its height, Queen
Caroline demanded to be admitted. There was a sudden silence and
consternation,--it was like the "handwriting on the wall!" The sensation
was intense. At last the order was given to refuse her admittance; the
pageantry was renewed, and the banquet followed. The noise, heat, and
vivid light of the illumination of the hall gave me a racking headache;
at last I went out of the gallery and sat on a stair, where there was a
little fresh air, and was very glad when all was over. Years afterwards
I was present in Westminster Abbey at the coronation of our Queen, then
a pretty young girl of eighteen. Placed in the most trying position at
that early age, by her virtues, both public and private, she has
endeared herself to the nation beyond what any sovereign ever did
before.
* * * * *
I, who had so many occupations and duties at home, soon tired of the
idleness and formality of visiting in the country. I made an exception,
however, in favour of an occasional visit to Mr. Sotheby, the poet, and
his family in Epping Forest, of which, if I mistake not, he was
deputy-ranger; at all events, he had a pretty cottage there where he and
his family received their friends with kind hospitality. He spent part
of the day in his study, and afterwards I have seen him playing cricket
with his son and grandson, with as much vivacity as any of them. The
freshness of the air was quite reviving to Somerville and me; and our
two little girls played in the forest all the day.
We also gladly went for several successive years to visit Sir John
Saunders Sebright at Beechwood Park, Hertfordshire. Dr. Wollaston
generally travelled with us on these occasions, when we had much
conversation on a variety of subjects, scientific or general. He was
remarkably acute in his observations on objects as we passed them. "Look
at that ash tree; did you ever notice that the branches of the ash tree
are curves of double curvature?" There was a comet visible at the time
of one of these little journeys. Dr. Wollaston had made a drawing of the
orbit and its elements; but, having left it in town, he described the
lines so accurately without naming them, that I remarked at once, "That
is the curtate or perihelion distance," which pleased him greatly, as it
showed how accurate his description was. He was a chess-player, and,
when travelling alone, he used to carry a book with diagrams of
partially-played games, in which it is required to give checkmate in a
fixed number of moves. He would study one of them, and then, shutting
the book, play out the game mentally.
Although Sir John was a keen sportsman and ox-hunter in his youth, he
was remarkable for his kindness to animals and for the facility with
which he tamed them. He kept terriers, and his pointers were first rate,
yet he never allowed his keepers to beat a dog, nor did he ever do it
himself; he said a dog once cowed was good for nothing ever after. He
trained them by tying a string to the collar and giving it a sharp pull
when the dog did wrong, and patting him kindly when he did right. In
this manner he taught some of his non-sporting dogs to play all sorts of
tricks, such as picking out the card chosen by any spectator from a
number placed in a circle on the floor, the signal being one momentary
glance at the card, &c. &c. Sir John published a pamphlet on the
subject, and sent copies of it to the sporting gentlemen and keepers in
the county, I fear with little effect; men are so apt to vent their own
bad temper on their dogs and horses.
At one of the battues at Holkham, Chantrey killed two woodcocks at one
shot. Mr. Hudson Gurney some time after saw a brace of woodcocks carved
in marble in Chantrey's studio; Chantrey told him of his shot and the
difficulty of finding a suitable inscription, and that it had been tried
in Latin and even Greek without success. Mr. Gurney said it should be
very simple, such as:--
Driven from the north, where winter starved them,
Chantrey first shot, and then he carved them.
Beechwood was one of the few places in Great Britain in which hawking
was kept up. The falcons were brought from Flanders, for, except in the
Isle of Skye, they have been extirpated in Great Britain like many other
of our fine indigenous birds. Sir John kept fancy pigeons of all
breeds. He told me he could alter the colour of their plumage in three
years by cross-breeding, but that it required fully six to alter the
shape of the bird.
* * * * *
At some house where we were dining in London, I forget with whom, Ugo
Foscolo, the poet, was one of the party. He was extremely excitable and
irritable, and when some one spoke of a translation of Dante as being
perfect, "Impossible," shouted Foscolo, starting up in great excitement,
at the same time tossing his cup full of coffee into the air, cup and
all, regardless of the china and the ladies' dresses. He died in
England, I fear in great poverty. He was a most distinguished classical
scholar as well as poet. His remains have been brought to Italy within
these few years, and interred in Sante Croce, in Florence.
* * * * *
I had a severe attack of what appeared to be cholera, and during my
recovery Mrs. Hankey very kindly lent us her villa at Hampstead for a
few weeks. There I went with my children, Somerville with some friends
always coming to dinner on the Sundays. On one of these occasions there
was a violent thunderstorm, and a large tree was struck not far from the
house. We all went to look at the tree as soon as the storm ceased, and
found that a large mass of wood was scooped out of the trunk from top to
bottom. I had occasion in two other instances to notice the same effect.
Dr. Wollaston lent me a sextant and artificial horizon; so I amused
myself taking the altitude of the sun, the consequence of which was that
I became as brown as a mulatto, but I was too anxious to learn something
of practical astronomy to care about the matter.