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By this time, Ada and Charles’ friendship had blossomed. The Difference Engine had

so inspired her, she threw herself into studying maths and in 1839 asked Charles to
help find her a tutor, writing to him, “Do not reckon me conceited, for I am the very
last person to think highly of myself, but I believe I have the power of going just as far
as I like in such pursuits, and where there is so very decided a taste, I shall almost say
a passion, as I have for them, I question if there is not always some portion of natural
genius even.” Their letters were easy and light-hearted in tone; he called her his
“Fairy” and “an Enchantress”. She attended his regular soirees, attended by up to 300
guests, including Dickens, Darwin, Lyell (the geologist), Mary Somerville, and once, in

1842, Victoria, Albert and Wellington.

Meanwhile, in 1835 her mother had succeeded in her quest of finding Ada a good
husband. Was Babbage in the running? As a respected wealthy widower with
children, he had potential, but in 1836 Ada married the aristocrat William Lovelace,
Lord King, later created Earl of Lovelace (making Ada a Countess). He was very
wealthy, well connected and intellectual. He and Ada had two boys and a girl by

1839. They were an affectionate couple. He deferred to her superior intelligence. But
in time, she found him aimless, content in life to manage his various homes. He was
fond of building tunnels; no one knew why.

Was there anything more than friendship between Ada and Charles? Their letters
show a lightness of manner and mutual regard. Writers have tried to find even
oblique hints of something more (Babbage called her a “fairy” and “an enchantress”)
but in reality, there is nothing to suggest anything more than a close personal,

intellectual and professional friendship, founded on their shared passion for
mathematics and the Engines.

Charles meets Peel
On 11 November 1842 Babbage had a fateful meeting with Conservative Prime
Minister Sir Robert Peel to persuade him to grant further government funds to build

the complete Analytical Engine requiring 20,000 cog wheels. Peel was unconvinced.
He was tetchy, and had just written to his wife that he was “fagged to death” with
the burdens of office. Babbage irritated him further. Instead of giving a clear account
of his work and its economic potential, he was sullen, defensive, bad-tempered and
self-pitying, complaining about his difficulties and lack of support. Peel lost patience -
hadn’t he already had money for a still unfinished machine? - and refused his
request. Babbage rushed home and furiously scrawled his record of the meeting that
killed his vision.