1837-38 LETTER FROM LANCASTER 115 
entered into the researches of younger men in the 
following passage: ‘We were soon joined by 
Edward Mason The poor lad hobbled 
up to us on the parade with great glee. He was 
anxious to have my opinion whether the pink and 
the smelt were both the same fish, as Colonel 
Parker and Sergeant Bond both maintained — the 
pink being the salmon of the first year, the smelt 
of the second. Now, Edward had caught a pink 
with roe in it, and he believes it to be the parr of 
Yarrell (see that fish in my copy). Edward is to 
catch specimens of each, and we shall have a 
glorious evening at the Lancaster Branch of the 
Grand Junction Philosophical Society of Natural 
History. If we don’t beat the military men, or 
if we leave them a single leg to stand on, poor 
Edward’s crutches will have wheeled most ener- 
getically to the Crook of Lune for nothing.’ 
Owen refers in the same letter to his connec- 
tion with the Honourable Artillery Company, for 
he tells his wife to ‘ let Mr. Cooper have my cap 
for a pattern. He will also ask for my coat, 
which please to let him have for his tailor.’ 
On the 29th he writes to his wife in answer to 
a letter from her announcing an interesting addi- 
tion which was shortly to occur in their household. 
In this letter he refers thus to his mother : — 
‘ My dear mother too I have evidently seen 
for the last time that she could derive pleasure 
from my visit. Her mind, though shaken, is still 
