1346-47 AT THE MANSION HOUSE 285 



bad as ever, and have prevented me from work- 

 ing as I could have wished to do. . . . 



' I remain in great haste, yours for ever, 



' C. L. Pr. Bonaparte.' 



On July 15, 1846, Owen attended a Mansion 

 House dinner, and in writing to his sister Kate an 

 account of the ceremony mentions : ' I had Pro- 

 fessor de Morgan on one side and Dr. Budd on 

 the other, Capt. Sir James Ross opposite, and not 

 far below him D' Israeli, Bowring, and Monckton 

 Milnes. The chief peculiarities of the feast were 

 the grand calling-over of all the 200 guests after 

 dinner, to whom my Lord Mayor drinks in a loving 

 cup. Then go round said goblets, with the usual 

 old ceremony. The toasts followed, with flourish 

 of trumpets — all very grand, as our little books 

 used to say when I had not dreamt of invitations 

 from Lord Mayors.' 



In August Owen went over to Ireland, and 

 was again a guest at Florence Court (Lord Ennis- 

 killen's). This visit was chiefly for pleasure, but 

 much interest was centred in the Florence Court 

 collection of London Clay fish remains. He sends 

 in one of his letters a message to Agassiz that he 

 must not think of completing his great work on 

 ' Poissons Fossiles ' without seeing the specimens 

 preserved at Florence Court. His musical accom- 

 plishments were always much appreciated in this 

 house, and he writes to his wife, August 26, 1846 : 



