1850-51 COURT DRESS 355 



products of the animal kingdom seem to have 

 included anything from tallow candles and gelatine 

 to tortoise-shell and pearls. 



In March, Owen attended his first Levee, where 

 he was presented to the Prince Consort by the 

 Earl of Carlisle. From a long account of the 

 ceremony given in a letter to his sister Maria we 

 make the following extract : — 



' Finding, after my invitation to the Prince's 

 Council at Buckingham Palace, that I could no 

 longer postpone paying my humble duty in form, 

 I sent for a Court tailor, and Carry and I devised 

 a very handsome and elegant attire, I think quite 

 as good as any Court dress I saw. A rich sort 

 of dahlia-brown cloth, with bright steel buttons, 

 buckles, sword, &c, and a white satin waistcoat 

 with rich flowers embroidered. Lace cravat full 

 and long, and the same for the cuffs. Cut-steel 

 loop in the cocked-hat. All very fine', as Pepys 

 would say, ' and gave great satisfaction to Carry 

 and Catherine when finally fitted on this morning.' 



Besides attending the Committee meetings of 

 the Great Exhibition, he sat on the Smithfield 

 Commission on the Meat Supply of London at 

 frequent intervals. An entry in the diary (Feb- 

 ruary 19), states that a City deputation attended 

 the meeting on that day ' with a ridiculous plan of 

 patching up the market, instead of doing away 

 with it, and also of adding slaughter-houses. 

 The minds of those whose firmness was of such 



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