264 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. IX. 



Another of his oldest friends was Pearson 

 Langshaw, of Lancaster. The following anecdote, 

 gleaned from his experiences as a commissioner to 

 inquire into the water-supply of his native town, is 

 extracted from a letter written to his fellow- towns- 

 man by Owen in March 1 889. It at least illustrates 

 the way in which his mind reverted to the home 

 and familiar accents of his childhood. ' I knew,' he 

 writes, ' the wretched character of its water-supply 

 from household wells and pumps, which yielded 

 very hard water. I also knew that a hill of 

 primitive rock, a few miles from the town, going 

 from a level higher than the church steeple, 

 carried off the purest rainfall to the neighbouring 

 sea. That fine water was brought to the town, 

 and has proved an unfailing supply to every class 

 of dwelling. There were two elderly widows, 

 inhabiting neighbouring abodes, who had adopted 

 the economical habit of taking tea with each 

 other alternately. On the first occasion of using 

 the purer water, the visitor exclaimed, " Eh ! 

 Betty, thou's put a power o' tea into pot to-neet ! " 

 " Nay, Jennie," replied the hostess, " it's nobbut 

 t' new watter." ' 



As the circle of his old friends contracted it 

 was hardly to be expected that their places would 

 be taken by new. Sir Richard lived out of 

 London, almost in country retirement. Unable, 

 except at rare intervals, to travel to town, and 

 especially incapable of night journeys, he was 



