PROFESSOR OWEN 
CH. VI. 
1 86 
visited Bodmin, a place of special interest to both 
of them, as being the birthplace and early home 
of Mr. Clift. In a letter to Clift, dated Bos- 
venna (Bodmin), September 8, 1841, Owen says : 
‘ We arrived at this place, of equal interest to 
us both, this morning. About two miles from 
Bodmin we got out and walked up a long ascent 
in the road, gathering blackberries off, probably, 
the same bushes, or their “ posteriors,” as Mrs. 
Davenport used to say, that you may have 
climbed to reach in younger days. Arrived at 
“ Oliver’s Hotel,” a new construction, six years’ 
standing, and therefore since your time. After 
dinner our first visit to Post Office, Town Hall, 
and then to the church — a very handsome struc- 
ture. First we visited the spot, ten yards to the 
north-east of the tower, where a slight eminence 
we fancied, close to the still open oblique path, 
might indicate the tranquil resting-place of our 
grandfather and grandmother. My next search 
was for Betty Oliver, the sextoness, who keeps 
the key of the church. Betty dwells in Cas 
Street, and well she remembers when you helped 
your brothers, that hard winter, to dig away the 
snow from her mother’s doorway and windows : 
they were blockaded on their side of the way, 
while yours was comparatively free. The Phari- 
saical rogues have whitewashed the interior of the 
church. . . . Mrs. Gilbert’s and the poor little 
infant’s monuments we saw with interest ; also 
