1839-40 VISIT TO IRELAND 161 



at Sir Robert Peel's at his seat near here. Thir- 

 teen of the Association have been selected. 

 Perhaps nothing could have given me more 

 pleasure. Middlemore has, however, been peep- 

 ing down the red lane, and he says I must not go 

 with my throat in its present state, but must 

 nurse at home on slops and febrifuges. To this 

 I reluctantly consent, as the only means of getting 

 my voice into order to read my report on Thurs- 

 day, for, what with abbreviations and railroad 

 scribblings, nobody could read the MS. but 

 myself.' 



Writing next day to Clift, he again refers to 

 his disappointment at not being well enough to 

 go to Sir Robert Peel's, and says the reading of 

 his report has been put off till the Saturday. 



On September 3, 1839, Owen writes to his 

 wife from Florence Court, Fermanagh, the seat 

 of Lord Cole, where he had gone from Birming- 

 ham. He says : ' I was sufficiently well on 

 Saturday morning to read my report, which was 

 satisfactory to all concerned ; it lasted from 

 10 till 12.30. I had just time afterwards to 

 pack, eat a hasty lunch, and set off by the mail 

 train to Liverpool. There we were transferred 

 from the steam carriages to the steam-boat, and 

 set sail on Saturday evening with a dark, lowering 

 sky. . . . The journey [to Enniskillen from Dub- 

 lin] was extremely interesting to me. The Irish 

 cabin beats description. You might imagine a 

 vol. 1. M 



