Yours,
H.B.
(Henry Brougham.)
FROM MRS. MARCET TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.
Geneva, 6th April, 1834.
I am desired by Professor Prevost to inform you that you were elected an honorary member of the Société de Physique et d'Histoire Naturelle de Genève on the 3rd April, and that a diploma will be forwarded to you by the earliest opportunity. After all the honours you have received, this little feather is hardly worthy of waving in your plume, but I am glad that Geneva should know how to appreciate your merit. You receive great honours, my dear friend, but that which you confer on our sex is still greater, for with talents and acquirements of masculine magnitude you unite the most sensitive and retiring modesty of the female sex; indeed, I know not any woman, perhaps I might say, any human being, who would support so much applause without feeling the weakness of vanity. Forgive me for allowing my pen to run away with this undisguised praise, it looks so much like compliment, but I assure you it comes straight from the heart, and you must know that it is fully deserved.... I know not whether you have heard of the death of Professor de la Rive (the father); it was an unexpected blow, which has fallen heavily on all his family. It is indeed a great loss to Geneva, both as a man of science and a most excellent citizen.
M. Rossi[12] has left us to occupy the chair of political economy of the late M. Say, at Paris; his absence is sadly felt, and it is in vain to look around for any one capable of replacing him....
Yours affectionately,
J. Marcet.
FROM ADMIRAL W.H. SMYTH TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.
Crescent, Bedford, October 3rd, 1835.