1843-44 DINNER AT PEEL'S 231 



that under the present registration system the 

 instances of people passing a century would be 

 much diminished. . . . Before dinner Sir Robert 

 informed me that he intended to apply 2,000/. in 

 aid of the publication of the Natural History 

 collected in the late expedition to the South Seas, 

 and that he wished to be favoured with my 

 opinion on the best mode of applying it to that 

 purpose. . . .. I shall communicate in writing my 

 conclusions.' 



Not long afterwards, Owen describes to his 

 sister Maria the occasion of his meeting the King 

 of Saxony at Sir Robert Peel's : ' Sir R. Peel 

 will be very popular in Germany when they 

 hear of the nature of the party he invited to meet 

 the King of Saxony — not the great by birth and 

 wealth, but the representatives of the literature 

 and science of the day. It was a proud and 

 gratifying event to me, I must confess, to be in- 

 cluded in the dinner list. There was a large 

 accession to the evening party, which included 

 Whewell, with Murchison, Garrett, Sir Wm. 

 Hooker, Brodie, and Lawrence [Sir Thomas], &c, 

 &c. At the dinner . . . were Rogers, Hallam, 

 Sydney Smith, Lord Northampton, P.R.S., 

 Bishop of Norwich, P.L.S., Dr. Buckland, Robert 

 Brown, and myself; the rest were composed of 

 His Majesty and suite. . . . Brown and I went 

 together, and arrived about five minutes after the 

 half-hour ; Hallam and another were there, and 



