1862-64 TOO QUICK FOR THE EMPEROR 149 



These lectures were delivered on January 4, n, 

 and 18. 



To secure the safe arrival of the collection a 

 second visit to France was necessary. On Feb- 

 ruary 13, 1864, he writes to his sister Eliza : ' The 

 Trustees have bought the whole of the Vicomte 

 de Lastics collection, and / must go, with a pro- 

 fessional packer from Paris, to superintend the 

 packing . . . The Emperor sent a commissioner 

 to see and report on the collection the day after I 

 left Salette, but I have been too quick for him.' 



' This time,' Owen writes to his wife (February 

 19), ' we had a frightful passage, being detained for 

 a long time off Calais in a dense fog. I arrived 

 at the Vicomte de Lastic's feeling desperately 

 queer, but nothing could be kinder than my nurses 

 here. I have been able to superintend the 

 packing (February 22), and all will go off to 

 London to-morrow. ... My dear old femme de 

 chambre seems to have slept by snatches of fifteen 

 minutes during the last few days and nights, for I 

 think she has not left me longer out of her sight 

 day or night, and our colloquies have been of the 

 most comical description.' 



In March and April 1864 Owen had the 

 honour of lecturing before the Queen and royal 

 children at Windsor Castle in the White Drawing- 

 room. There being no conveniences for the 

 display of diagrams, the Professor utilised a high- 

 backed chair as an easel and illustrated his lecture 



