66 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. in. 



1 On Monday I am going away for a run to 

 certain out-of-the-way places in opposite corners 

 of the map of England, with an eye to " House- 

 hold Words." It is probable that I shall not be 

 back here until September is far advanced. I 

 shall then have to give myself up for a week or 

 two to some friends who are coming, and then 

 the dreary leaves will begin to fall and my wintry 

 plans will gather about me. 



' So I am afraid I shall not see the old house * 

 this summer. But you describe it so wonderfully 

 well, that I seem to have seen it already and to 

 be perfectly acquainted with it. That — and your 

 and Owen's remembrance of me — are my con- 

 solation. 



1 With kindest regards to him, and to your 

 son, in which all here join, believe me, 



' Always most faithfully yours, 



'Charles Dickens.' 



In this month there was an interesting dis- 

 covery made by some engineers at Newcastle, 

 which Owen was called upon to inspect. We 

 have in the diary an account of his report and 

 explanation of the same : — 



'September n. — R. going to Newcastle to 

 examine into a discovery which has been made 

 there of the fossil stump of an old forest-tree, 



1 An old house in Mortlake which Charles Dickens had said he 

 would like to see. 



