1839-40 VISIT TO IRELAND 161 
at Sir Robert Peel’s at his seat near here. Thir- 
teen of the Association have been selected. 
PerhajDs nothing could have given me more 
pleasure. Middlemore has, however, been peep- 
ing down the red lane, and he says I must not go 
with my throat in its present state, but must 
nurse at home on slops and febrifuges. To this 
I reluctantly consent, as the only means of getting 
my voice into order to read my report on Thurs- 
day, for, what with abbreviations and railroad 
scribblings, nobody could read the MS. but 
myself.’ 
Writing next day to Clift, he again refers to 
his disappointment at not being well enough to 
go to Sir Robert Peel’s, and says the reading of 
his report has been put off till the Saturday. 
On September 3, 1839, Owen writes to his 
wife from Florence Court, Fermanagh, the seat 
of Lord Cole, where he had gone from Birming- 
ham. He says : ‘ I was sufficiently well on 
Saturday morning to read my report, which was 
satisfactory to all concerned ; it lasted from 
10 till 12.30. I had just time afterwards to 
pack, eat a hasty lunch, and set off by the mail 
train to Liverpool. There we were transferred 
from the steam carriages to the steam-boat, and 
set sail on Saturday evening with a dark, lowering 
sky. . . . Thejourney [to Enniskillen from Dub- 
lin] was extremely interesting to me. The Irish 
cabin beats description. You might imagine a 
