1855-56 MACAULAY'S PROPOSITION 15 



country, and it is painful to me to think that a 

 man of his merit should be approaching old age 

 amidst anxieties and distresses. He told me that 

 eight hundred a year, without a house in the 

 Museum, would be opulence to him. He did not, 

 he said, even wish for more. He seems to me 

 to be a case for public patronage. Such patron- 

 age is not needed by eminent literary men or 

 artists. A poet, a novelist, an historian, a painter, 

 a sculptor, who stood in his own line as high as 

 Owen stands among men of science, could never 

 be in want except by his own fault. But the 

 greatest natural philosopher may starve while his 

 countrymen are boasting of his discoveries, and 

 while foreign Academies are begging for the 

 honour of being allowed to add his name to their 

 list.' 



On May 26, 1856, Owen received the appoint- 

 ment that Macaulay had suggested, with a salary 

 of 800/. a year. 



But before the final arrangements were com- 

 pleted he confesses to have felt very unsettled, as 

 there was some uncertainty connected with the 

 nature of the appointment, and from the number 

 of suggestions which were brought forward he 

 was apprehensive of considerable delay. As 

 his connection with the College of Surgeons had 

 ceased, he had no more Hunterian Lectures to 

 give, but filled up a good deal of the time in 

 giving lectures elsewhere at various places. He 



