1857-59 LETTER FROM DICKENS 65 



July 17, at which Macaulay, Murchison, the 

 Speaker of the House of Commons (Denison), 

 and Sir P. Egerton were present. On the 22nd 

 the Queen of Holland visited the Museum, and 

 Owen showed her the chief things of interest in 

 his own department. 



His August holiday was spent with his wife 

 in the Isle of Wight, and at a visit to Carisbrook 

 Castle he notes with indignation ' the bronze 

 armour carefully rubbed bright ! ' He spent his 

 time ' walking about antiquity-hunting ' and ' get- 

 ting very wet in rides about the island on the top 

 of stage-coaches.' 



Shortly after their return to Sheen Lodge, 

 Charles Dickens wrote Mrs. Owen a characteristic 

 letter, in which he mentions the efforts he had 

 been making in order to raise a fund for the 

 widow of Douglas Jerrold : — 



Gad's Hill Place, Higham by Rochester : 



Wednesday, September 2, 1857. 



' My dear Mrs. Owen, — Your pleasantest of 

 letters finds me here, stopping to breathe after 

 the fatigues of the last two months, which have 

 been on the whole as great as I have ever under- 

 gone, and which have left me, for the moment, 

 just a little dashed. However, we have happily 

 gained the limit I presented to myself in setting 

 out — we have raised two thousand pounds — and 

 our success has been enormous. 



vol. 11. f 



