1 64 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. V. 



O' Kerry and a Mr. Trench are the other guests, 

 I must not forget, in describing the house, to men- 

 tion the peacocks which for many generations — 

 of peacocks — have adorned it, perched on the 

 window-sills or under the arches of the cloisters ; 

 to my ear their wild scream early of a morning is 

 not unmusical. Peat, turf, and wood are the kinds 

 of fuel consumed here, and a huge wicker-basket 

 of turf is placed by the side of each fireplace. 

 . . . I read the last number of " Nicholas Nickle- 

 by " in bed the other night.' 



On September 13, 1839, he writes to Clift, 

 still from Florence Court : ' I have angled in 

 the river and caught trout ; trolled in the lough 

 end taken huge predatory pike ; traversed the 

 heath-clad moors and shot grouse. An appetite 

 sharpened by previous fasting, exercise, and 

 mountain air, has enabled me to do ample justice 

 to Irish good cheer, and to carry to bed with the 

 decorum suitable to a Professor the quantum of 

 claret which my lord's guests are under the 

 obligation of swallowing when made free of the 

 house out of King William's Mustard-pot. . . . 

 I may spend a day with Mr. Hawkins at Street, 

 and take a run down to make love to Mary 

 Anning at Lyme, and then post home as fast as 

 stage-coach can carry me.' 



In a letter sent by Owen to his sister Eliza on 

 October 18, 1839, after his return to London, 

 he writes : ' I accompanied Lord Cole to his 



