Personal Recollections, from Early Life to Old Age, of Mary Somerville Part 7

Sir William Herschel had discovered that what appeared to be single stars were frequently two stars in such close approximation that it required a very high telescopic power to see them separately, and that in many of these one star was revolving in an orbit round the other. Sir James South established an observatory at Campden Hill, near Kensington, where he and Sir John Herschel united in observing the double stars and binary systems with the view of affording further data for improving our knowledge of their movements. In each two observations are requisite, namely, the distance between the two stars, and the angle of position, that is, the angle which the meridian, or a parallel to the equator makes with the lines joining the two stars. These observations were made by adjusting a micrometer to a very powerful telescope, and were data sufficient for the determination of the orbit of the revolving star, should it be a binary system. I have given an account of this in the "Connexion of the Physical Sciences," so I shall only mention here that in one or two of the binary systems the revolving star has been seen to make more than one revolution, and that the periodical times and the elliptical elements of a great many other orbits have been calculated, though they are more than 200,000 times farther from the sun than we are.

After Sir John Herschel was married, we paid him a visit at Slough; fortunately, the sky was clear, and Sir John had the kindness to show me many nebulae and cl.u.s.ters of stars which I had never seen to such advantage as in his 20 ft. telescope. I shall never forget the glorious appearance of Jupiter as he entered the field of that instrument.

For years the British nation was kept in a state of excitement by the Arctic voyages of our undaunted seamen in quest of a north-west pa.s.sage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. The idea was not new, for a direct way to our Eastern possessions had been long desired. On this occasion the impulse was given by William Scoresby, captain of a whaler, who had sailed on the east coast of Greenland as high as the 80th parallel of lat.i.tude, and for two successive seasons had found that the sea between Greenland and Spitzbergen was free of ice for 18,000 square miles--a circ.u.mstance which had not occurred before in the memory of man. Scoresby was of rare genius, well versed in science, and of strict probity. When he published this discovery, the Admiralty, in the year 1818, sent off two expeditions, one under the command of Captains Franklin and Buchan to the east of Greenland, and another under Captains Ross and Parry to Baffin's Bay. Such was the beginning of a series of n.o.ble adventures, now the province of history.

I had an early pa.s.sion for everything relating to the sea, and when my father was at home I never tired asking him questions about his voyages and the dangers to which he had been exposed. Now, when I knew something of nautical science, I entered with enthusiasm into the spirit of these Arctic voyages; nor was my husband less interested. We read Scoresby's whaling voyages with great delight, and we made the acquaintance of all the officers who had been on these northern expeditions.

Sir Edward Parry, who had brought us minerals and seeds of plants from Melville Island, invited us to see the s.h.i.+ps prepared for his third voyage, and three years' residence in the Arctic seas. It is impossible to describe how perfectly everything was arranged: experience had taught them what was necessary for such an expedition. On this occasion I put in practice my lessons in cookery by making a large quant.i.ty of orange marmalade for the voyage. When, after three years, the s.h.i.+ps returned, we were informed that the name of Somerville had been given to an island so far to the north that it was all but perpetually covered with ice and snow. Notwithstanding the sameness which naturally prevails in the narratives of these voyages, they are invested with a romantic interest by the daring bravery displayed, and by the appalling difficulties overcome. The n.o.ble endeavour of Lady Franklin to save her gallant husband, and the solitary voyage of Sir Leopold McClintock in a small yacht in search of his lost friend, form the touching and sad termination to a very glorious period of maritime adventure. More than fifty years after these events I renewed my acquaintance with Lady Franklin. She and her niece came to see me at Spezia on their way to Dalmatia. She had circ.u.mnavigated the globe with her husband when he was governor in Australia. After his loss she and her niece had gone round the world a second time, and she a.s.sured me that although they went to j.a.pan and China (less known at that time than they are now), they never experienced any difficulty. Seeing ladies travelling alone, people were always willing to help them. The French sent a Polar expedition under Captain Gaimard in the years 1838 and 1839; and the United States of North America took an active part in Arctic exploration. Whether Dr.

Kane's discovery of an open polar ocean will ever be verified is problematical; at all events, the deplorable fate of Sir John Franklin has put a stop to the chance of it for the present; yet it is a great geographical question which we should all like to see decided.

Captain Sabine, of the Artillery (now General Sir Edward Sabine, President of the Royal Society), was appointed to accompany the first expedition under Captains Ross and Parry on account of his high scientific acquirements. The observations made during the series of Arctic voyages on the magnetism of the earth, combined with an enormous ma.s.s of observations made by numerous observers in all parts of the globe by sea and by land, have enabled Sir Edward Sabine, after a labour of nearly fifty years, to complete his marvellous system of terrestrial magnetism in both hemispheres. During that long period a friends.h.i.+p has lasted between Sir Edward and me. He has uniformly sent me copies of all his works; to them I chiefly owe what I know on the subject, and quite recently I have received his latest and most important publication. Sir Edward married a lady of talent and scientific acquirements. She translated "Cosmos" from the German, and a.s.sisted and calculated for her husband in his laborious work.

I do not remember the exact period, but I think it was subsequent to the Arctic voyages, that the theory was discovered of those tropical hurricanes which cause such devastation by sea and land. Observations are now made on barometric pressure, and warnings are sent to our princ.i.p.al seaports by telegraph, as well as along both sides of the Channel; but notwithstanding numerous disastrous s.h.i.+pwrecks occur every winter on our dangerous coasts. They were far more numerous in my younger days. Life-boats were not then invented; now they are stationed on almost every coast of Great Britain, and on many continental sh.o.r.es.

The readiness with which they are manned, and the formidable dangers encountered to save life, show the gallant, n.o.ble character of the sailor.

CHAPTER IX.

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 a.n.a.lytical 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 friends.h.i.+p 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 a.s.sume 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 a.n.a.lysis 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 Valabreque) 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 princ.i.p.al 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, Hertfords.h.i.+re. 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 pa.s.sed 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 woodc.o.c.ks at one shot. Mr. Hudson Gurney some time after saw a brace of woodc.o.c.ks 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 cla.s.sical 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 ma.s.s 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 s.e.xtant and artificial horizon; so I amused myself taking the alt.i.tude 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.

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.

Our happy and cheerful life in Hanover Square came to a sad end. The illness and death of our eldest girl threw Somerville and me into the deepest affliction. She was a child of intelligence and acquirements far beyond her tender age.

[The long illness and death of this young girl fell very heavily on my mother, who by this time had lost several children. The following letter was written by her to my grandfather on this occasion. It shows her steadfast faith in the mercy and goodness of G.o.d, even when crushed by almost the severest affliction which can wring a mother's heart:--]

MRS. SOMERVILLE TO THE REV. DR. SOMERVILLE.

LONDON, _October_, 1823.

MY DEAR FATHER,

I never was so long of writing to you, but when the heart is breaking it is impossible to find words adequate to its relief. We are in deep affliction, for though the first violence of grief has subsided, there has succeeded a calm sorrow not less painful, a feeling of hopelessness in this world which only finds comfort in the prospect of another, which longs for the consummation of all things that we may join those who have gone before. To return to the duties of life is irksome, even to those duties which were a delight when the candle of the Lord shone upon us. I do not arraign the decrees of Providence, but even in the bitterness of my soul I acknowledge the wisdom and goodness of G.o.d, and endeavour to be resigned to His will. It is ungrateful not to remember the many happy years we have enjoyed, but that very remembrance renders our present state more desolate and dreary--presenting a sad contrast.

The great source of consolation is in the mercy of G.o.d and the virtues of those we lament; the full a.s.surance that no good disposition can be lost but must be brought to perfection in a better world. Our business is to render ourselves fit for that blessed inheritance that we may again be united to those we mourn.

Your affectionate daughter, MARY SOMERVILLE.