1857-59 PUBLIC DINNER TO LIVINGSTONE 71 



with them. I had a plate of soup and a pleasant 

 chat, and Lord Dufferin, who was of the party, 

 walked back with me home. Lord John looking 

 wonderfully well. Says he will walk over to see 

 us, now we are come back. No politics, only a 

 little bit of British Museum matters, to prime him, 

 as he has to move the Estimates in the House.' 



In February 1858, both Professor Owen and 

 his wife attended the public dinner given to Dr. 

 Livingstone, and Mrs. Owen gives the following 

 account of it in her diary : — 



'I found Mrs. Livingstone in the ladies' gal- 

 lery, and we sat together. Miss Burdett-Coutts 

 came in and sat on the other side of her, and then 

 Lady Franklin next to her. There were between 

 three and four hundred at the dinner. Poor Mrs. 

 Livingstone was in a stout linsey dress, and thick 

 bonnet, and, as the heat was overpowering, even 

 the rest of us (who were in evening dress) suffered 

 considerably from it. I persuaded her to take 

 off as much as she could. She bore the scene 

 wonderfully well, but I saw she kept her eyes 

 intently fixed on her husband the whole time. 

 The honours, paid with three times three, to one 

 woman by such an assembly would have been 

 almost too much to bear for most people, but no 

 Hottentot could have betrayed less emotion under 

 the trying circumstances than she did ; there is 

 doubtless much activity of mind hidden under her 

 extreme quietness. She betrayed, by a slight 



