262 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. viil. 



Maynard, Mr. Gregson, Dr. Croly, and myself. 

 The great work by Humboldt, " Cosmos," came 

 under discussion. You should have Bailliere's 

 translation of it. . . . To say that it does not give 

 the richness of the original is only to say that the 

 man who could worthily render the diction of 

 Humboldt is not yet found. . . . Arnold I have 

 almost wholly read ; but I mean to buy that 

 remarkable record of a man who could, and dared 

 to, think : a greater rarity than the moa? 



'On July 24,' Mrs. Owen writes in her diary,. 

 ' Sir H. de la Beche came with a message from 

 Sir Robert Peel to ask Richard if knighthood 

 would be acceptable to him. After talking the 

 matter over with me, R. declined, as I desired. 

 It would not add much to our comfort or re- 

 spectability, and if the time should come when 

 the collection had become part of a great national 

 museum, then it might all be very well.' 



Early in August Owen met Theodore Hook 

 and J. M. W. Turner, at a dinner given by his 

 friend Broderip, who was a great connoisseur of 

 pictures. A few days after this dinner Turner 

 invited Owen and Broderip to see his pictures 

 in his house in Queen Anne Street. Owen's 

 account of this visit is amusing. He tells how, 

 on a very bright August day, Broderip and he 

 walked together to Turner's residence, which was 

 slightly dingy in outward appearance. When 

 they arrived at the door, they waited some time 



