Mary Fairfax grew into a lovely woman, and being of a cheerful disposition, her love of study did not prevent her taking a part in the society of Edinburgh. With the peculiarities of this society, its social suppers, with their toasts and sentiments, the Memoirs of Lord Cockburn, Sydney Smith, and others, have made us familiar, and the accuracy of their descriptions is attested by these reminiscences. From these scenes she was removed, at the age of twenty-four, by her marriage with her cousin, Mr. Greig, but in three years she returned to Scotland, a widow, with two children.

Independent now in circumstances, and rendered by her position free to follow her own tastes, her indefatigable energy enabled her to combine with the careful education of her children the vigorous pursuit of her favourite studies. Guided by Mr. Wallace, Professor of Mathematics in the University of Edinburgh, and encouraged by gaining a silver medal for solving a prize problem, she supplied herself with the best mathematical works, including La Place's "Mécanique Céleste." "I was thirty-three years of age," she writes, "when I purchased this excellent little library. I could hardly believe that I possessed such a treasure when I looked back on the day that I first saw the mysterious word Algebra, and the long course of years in which I had persevered almost without hope. It taught me never to despair. I had now the means, and pursued my studies with increased activity."

Her second marriage, in 1812, with her cousin, William Somerville, put an end to scientific pursuits for a time, but secured to her the sympathy of one who could appreciate her intellectual endowments, and gloried in her attainments. Ou her husband's appointment to the Army Medical Board, they removed from Scotland to London, and from this time Mary Somerville was brought into contact with the highest intellects of Europe and the Continent. But it was not till 1827, when she had reached the age of forty-seven, that her first great work, "The Mechanism of the Heavens," was published, and made her name illustrious. "The connection of the Physical Sciences" followed, at the age of fifty-five. When the Physical Geography was added, she had reached the advanced age of sixtynine. And in her eighty-first year she commenced, and lived to complete, the "Molecular and Microscopic Science."

Such is a brief sketch of the early life of one who was destined to prove the power of the female mind to grapple with the most abstruse subjects that can task the most masculine intellect. We have dwelt thus on the early period of the life, because we think its teachings especially valuable. At the present time, when education is, as Mill observed, the subject of so much thought in England, and when the system which has crept in

among us is rendering one species of education, that of the earliest possible development of the intellect and memory, all-important, and the example of Mr. Mill is placed before us for imitation, it is well to pause and consider whether the movement which has advanced so rapidly of late years is a movement in a right direction. It is important to consider whether the study of science, not for its own sake, but in order to acquire so much as will tell at an examination, is as valuable as the efforts of a mind following its own spontaneous longings; whether it is wise that the position of men in after life should be determined by the acquirements of the boy in one branch only of education, that of literature, at an age too early for taste to be formed; whether it is wise that our services should be supplied only by the most precocious intellects, when it is notorious that the more masculine and robust judgments are often the latest to develop; whether the system that has crept in among us is not a process for eliminating from the army and navy the Clives, Nelsons, Exmouths, and Henry Lawrences of the present generation. We think that, at a time when these questions have to be gravely considered, the life of Mary Somerville affords some lessons worthy of careful consideration. We feel sure that much of her world-wide fame was won by the freedom and fresh air of the links of Burntisland, and we long to send many a youth preparing for a competitive examination to play there with the Mary Somervilles of the present day.

But though thus tempted to dwell upon the early portion of the book before us, we must add that the whole is delightful; and it is, we think, eminently characteristic of the writer, that the memoir of the greatest female mathematician of this or of any age is, by its simple narrative of the events of a long and happy life, calculated to give as much pleasure to the ordinary unlearned reader as the memoirs of any lady who did not know Euclid from Algebra. Mary Somerville is, in her autobiography, what she was in society, the accomplished, unassuming lady, of whom, as she followed her feminine employments, no one would surmise that she had ever mastered Greek and Latin, or ever meddled with logarithms or the calculus. The volume is one which is read with eagerness and put down with regret. There are few eminent characters of the last half-century, whether men or women, English or foreign, whose names do not occur in its pages, and with all Mary Somerville was brought into pleasing association. Her recollections and impressions are related with charming simplicity, while many passages, descriptive of the beauties of nature and works of art, are such as could only be written by one whose severer studies had been relieved by the cultivation of a natural taste for music and painting.

A life prolonged as was that of this accomplished lady could

not be exempt from those ills which Dr. Johnson has so pathetically attributed to extreme old age. So universally known and so universally loved, "the general favourite as the general friend," she had to see many of those she most valued, Herschel, Murchison, Brougham, Humboldt, Faraday, taken before her. "Still drops some joy from withering life away;" nevertheless, what a delightful picture she was able to draw of a cheerful, trusting old age!—

"I am now in my 92nd year (1872), still able to drive out for several hours. I am extremely deaf, and my memory of ordinary events, and especially of the names of people, is failing; but not for mathematics and scientific subjects. I am still able to read books on the higher algebra for four or five hours in the morning, and even to solve the problems. Sometimes I find them difficult; but my old obstinacy remains, for if I do not succeed to-day, I attack them again on the morrow. I also enjoy reading about all new discoveries and theories in the scientific world and on all branches of science.

...

"Though far advanced in years, I take as lively an interest as ever in passing events. I regret that I shall not live to know the result of the expedition to determine the currents of the ocean, the distance of the earth from the sun determined by the transit of Venus, and the source of the most renowned of rivers, the discovery of which will immortalise the name of Livingstone. But I regret most of all, that I shall not see the suppression of the most atrocious system of slavery that ever disgraced humanity-that made known to the world by Dr. Livingstone, and which Sir Bartle Frere has gone to suppress by order of the British Government.

"The Blue Peter has been long flying at my foremast, and now I am in my ninety-second year I must soon expect the signal for sailing. It is a solemn voyage, but it does not disturb my tranquillity. Deeply sensible of my utter unworthiness, and profoundly grateful for the numerous blessings I have received, I trust in the infinite mercy of my Almighty Creator. I have every reason to be thankful that my intellect is still unimpaired; and although my strength is weakness, my daughters support my tottering steps, and, by incessant care and help, make the infirmities of age so light to me, that I am perfectly happy."

These are the last words of Mary Somerville. The closing scene is thus told by the daughter :

"In health of body and vigour of mind, having lived far beyond. the usual span of human life, God called her to Himself. For her death lost all its terrors. Her pure spirit passed away so gently that those around her scarcely perceived when she left them. It was the beautiful and painless close of a noble and happy life.

66

'My mother died in sleep on the morning of the 29th November, 1872. Her remains rest in the English Campo Santo of Naples."

If our readers feel, as we have felt in reading these touching passages, that there is something more that would have been

invaluable from her own pen or from that of the daughter, we can only turn to a passage in the Physical Geography for some assurance that the faith which cheered the life and brightened the death of Mary Somerville was the faith of the Bible,

"From the age of Galileo to the present day the world has been startled from time to time by the results of science; but we may rest assured that they can never be inconsistent with the Scriptures, though they frequently have been with our interpretation of them."

Dictionary of Sects, Heresies, Ecclesiastical Parties, and Schools of Religious Thought. Edited by the Rev. John Henry Blunt, M.A., F.S.A. London, Oxford, and Cambridge: Rivingtons. 1874.

MR. BLUNT is a most indefatigable and fairly successful concocter of books. Fortunately for himself, his name was nearly identical with that of a most learned and able divine, and he himself would probably be ready to admit that much of his early success was more attributable to the confusion of names than to the intrinsic merit of the works which he produced. We do not impute the slightest blame to him for this; he had a most unqualified right to the use of his own name, and to all and every benefit which could accrue to him therefrom. There are constant instances of such confusion in mercantile houses, and in no case could the old adage "caveat emptor" be more properly quoted. It is the business of the purchaser to ascertain for himself whether he is really dealing with the firm he intended, and he can only blame himself if, from want of circumspection, he makes mistakes. We have known instances of persons purchasing books written by "John Henry," under the impression that they were written by "John James," and feeling disappointment; but this was purely their own concern, and the result of their own carelessness; no imposition had been practised upon them. So, also, many have purchased boxes of Eau de Cologne when on their travels; but when there are so many Farinas in one city, it was their business to find out which they really sought for.

Of "Mr. John Henry's" books our estimate has been usually unfavourable; generally speaking, the amount of original thought or original learning in them has been small; this, however, would not so much matter, but they have been invariably partial and constantly incorrect. No one could, with any security or satisfaction, place reliance upon them as sound expositions of the subjects treated of. They have all been concocted in the

interests of a most unscrupulous party in the Church. We are very far from undertaking to aver that they were designedly intended to mislead the ignorant and unwary; but, quite apart from any such intention, they are singularly well calculated for this purpose. There is a considerable affectation of learning about them, and plausible statements are advanced which rest upon little or no foundation. It is, however, rather by what they suppress and ignore, than by what is directly asserted, that erroneous impressions are conveyed. We would hope that by this time most persons who read books are familiar with the fact that Mr. John Henry's books are what we have described them to be, the production of a strenuous partisan of that most ultra school which verges upon Rome and maintains nearly all Romish doctrine. If they are aware of this, we need not enjoin further caution upon them.

The work now before us is a compilation made by various writers sympathizing in their views with the Editor. There is a good deal of useful information in it, which can do no harm to anybody, and-not much good. It may occasionally be convenient for those who read a good deal of theology or ecclesiastical history to have at hand a work of reference which can be readily consulted, and which will at once inform them who Masbotheans, Pneumatomachi, Popoftschins, Pasagians, Runcarii, Rupitani, Majorists, Jerkers, and Barkers are; nor would it seriously matter if the information upon these and a multitude of other similar religionists were in some respects defective or unsound. Upon such matters it is not at all improbable that considerable reliance may be placed upon the Editor and his collaborateurs. We may, moreover, cordially acknowledge our obligations to them for contributing, upon these points, additions to our stock of knowledge.

When, however, we pass from such recondite lore to more familiar matters, and to subjects more intimately affecting the controversies of the day, and upon which we might also ourselves possess some information, our doubts as to the value of Mr. John Henry Blunt as a guide become very grave indeed. What, for instance, will High Churchmen think of an account of their opinions which declares that, "except in those articles which relate to the Papal Supremacy, and making allowances for differing modes of expressing the same truth," Roman Catholic doctrines, as held by English Romanists, do not much differ from those of the Church of England as held by High Church divines. As the writer of the article on "Roman Catholics" proceeds to enumerate them, High Church Anglicans are supposed to hold-That "Christ established a Church which holds communion with the See of Rome, being One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolical." That "the Canon of the Old and