196 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. vi. 



this in bright sunshine from ten till five. We 

 caught upwards of 200 eels, which were conveyed 

 to the eel cage. All the small fish — dace, roach, 

 perch, &c. — held a meeting the next day and sent 

 a vote of thanks for our timely interference and 

 deliverance of them from the crafty and preda- 

 ceous family which had so long tyrannized over 

 the stream.' 



On leaving Oulton Park Owen joined his wife 

 and child again at Lancaster. There he went 

 the rounds with his old preceptor, Dr. Harrison, 

 in order to see the patients at Lancaster Gaol, 

 and to revisit the scenes of his early adventures 

 there. Before returning home to London, Owen 

 went with his family to Heysham, and, writing 

 from that place to Mrs. Clift (July 21), he says : — 



' Five young urchins have been bathing under 

 my special care and guidance, ranging from Willie 

 the youngest — and who took his first dip under the 

 salt water most manfully — up through six years, 

 seven, nine and ten, the good-natured sons of our 

 host, all at home, holiday-time, and who volun- 

 teered to go to the rocks as soon as they heard of 

 my intention to bathe. I carried little Willie in, 

 dipped him and rubbed him well over with the 

 salt water. You may imagine the scene at com- 

 ing out. The habiliments of two or three of the 

 little folk tumbled confusedly together, and the 

 Professor head-nurse and sole nurse. I never 

 realized the complexity of a child's dress before : 



