1 86 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. vi. 



visited Bodmin, a place of special interest to both 

 of them, as being the birthplace and early home 

 of Mr. Clift. In a letter to Clift, dated Bos- 

 venna (Bodmin), September 8, 1841, Owen says : 

 * We arrived at this place, of equal interest to 

 us both, this morning. About two miles from 

 Bodmin we got out and walked up a long ascent 

 in the road, gathering blackberries off, probably, 

 the same bushes, or their " posteriors," as Mrs. 

 Davenport used to say, that you may have 

 climbed to reach in younger days. Arrived at 

 " Oliver's Hotel," a new construction, six years' 

 standing, and therefore since your time. After 

 dinner our first visit to Post Office, Town Hall, 

 and then to the church — a very handsome struc- 

 ture. First we visited the spot, ten yards to the 

 north-east of the tower, where a slight eminence 

 we fancied, close to the still open oblique path, 

 might indicate the tranquil resting-place of our 

 grandfather and grandmother. My next search 

 was for Betty Oliver, the sextoness, who keeps 

 the key of the church. Betty dwells in Cas 

 Street, and well she remembers when you helped 

 your brothers, that hard winter, to dig away the 

 snow from her mother's doorway and windows : 

 they were blockaded on their side of the way, 

 while yours was comparatively free. The Phari- 

 saical rogues have whitewashed the interior of the 

 church. . . . Mrs. Gilbert's and the poor little 

 infant's monuments we saw with interest ; also 



