6o 
PROFESSOR OWEN 
CH. II. 
itself to our union — to the consummation of the 
great happiness, as I do believe it will be, of both 
our lives.’ 
In the same letter Owen refers to his income, 
and gives some interesting details of his work : — 
‘I have heard that Harrot^ and you once 
projected living like two Vestals in a cottage ; do 
you think she would object to your introducing a 
third party into the plan, in the shape of your 
husband, who, besides the additional protection, 
might add to the resources of the company 200/. 
per annum ? You know it must be in time, but 
at present our ruling Goths are blind to what 
every one else sees, which, to speak very modestly, 
is my merit. Mr. Keate is, I understand, very 
wrath because I have been proposed for the New 
Council at the Zoological Society, together with 
two lords and a baronet, but only let him express 
it in a tangible form. Nautilus^ is nearly com- 
l^leted, and I am preparing a paper for the R.S. 
which, if the subject were your merits, would give 
me little trouble notwithstanding its necessary 
length. . . . 
‘Above all, trust me,’ he concludes, ‘your 
ever devoted and affectionate Richard.’ 
On May 3, 1832, Owen again writes to Miss 
Clift, who had answered the former letter : — 
1 AgreatfriendofMiss Clift’s, “ Memoir on the Pearly 
afterwards her bridesmaid, by Nautilus. 
name Miss Harriet Sheppard. 
