302 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. IX. 



and October was devoted to work on the Sani- 

 tary Commission, of which Edwin Chadwick 

 was an active member ; but we see from the 

 following letter, dated November 5, that Owen 

 was able to relax his arduous labours on this 

 public service : — 



' I have just returned from the first meeting 

 this season of the Literary Club, and as we were 

 favoured by the company of Mr. Brooke, the 

 Rajah of Sarawak, I am induced to put down 

 a few notes of the sayings and doings of the 

 evening, and I believe they will interest you. 

 It is something to see in real flesh and blood 

 what one had been accustomed to regard as 

 a mere myth of the nursery — viz., a man who 

 had sailed away to seek his fortune, conquered 

 an island, and become a king. One had supposed 

 that all such events and possibilities had long since 

 passed away, and were altogether incompatible 

 with this prosaic, matter-of-fact age ; but the 

 history and achievements of the present hero and 

 lion of the town is a literal paraphrase of the old 

 fairy-tale adventure. He is a well-built, average- 

 sized, middle-aged man, with a strong, square, 

 rather overhanging forehead, and a good spice 

 of determination marked by a beetling brow, 

 compensated by a frank, good-natured character 

 of the mouth and lower part of the face. When 

 I arrived at the Club — St. James's Palace clock 

 was striking six as I passed — most of the members 



