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 cer