Somerville was also a helpful influence in Ada's life, according to this passage in London Lights by James Hamilton, a fascinating book about scientists and art

Somerville was also a helpful influence in Ada's life, according to this passage in London Lights by James Hamilton, a fascinating book about scientists and artists on the London scene in those days: Ada Byron began to make a habit of going to Babbage's with the Somervilles ... Her natural brilliance in the abstract language of mathematics that few understood, her disturbed upbringing as Byron's daughter, and the elevated position in society it was her lot to display and maintain created a confused and uncertain young woman. ... It was the rare piece of real good fortune for Ada, however, that she had the sensible and structured example of Mary and William Somerville's family life to balance her self-absorption, the insistence of her many suitors, and Charles Babbage's frantic self-certainty. ...