1848-49 DEATH OF MR. AND MRS. CLIFT 341 
to cold boiled beef, cold fowl and tongue, salad, 
lobsters, sherry and ginger beer, ... all more or 
less like millers ; my lord the whitest, particularly 
one side of his nose, being short-sighted. Dixon 
occupied himself in penning a pretty little sonnet 
to mark the occasion, of which I quote the last 
few lines : — 
But should some scientific mind behold 
This ancient tomb of lizards, birds and fish, 
Of shells, and smaller forms of every mould, 
Their flinty shroud removed, will meet his wish. 
These lines to mark a happy day are writ 
With Owen, Gray, and keen Northampton’s wit.’ 
From Worthing he went on to Lady Hastings’, 
at Lymington, and in a letter to his sister Kate 
(June 19, 1849), he says of Lady Hastings’ col- 
lection : ‘ Rare and wonderful beasts, carnivorous 
and herbivorous, are represented by the numerous 
jaws and bones of all parts of the skeleton which 
Lady H., by encouragement to the poor women 
and children, has received from the old Eocene 
beds about here.’ 
About a week after Owen’s return to the 
College of Surgeons a great grief befell him and 
his wife — the death of both Mr. and Mrs. Clift. 
Mrs. Clift, who had been ailing some time, first 
passed away, and her death was quickly followed 
by that of her husband. Owen had always the 
strongest feelings of respect and affection for 
William Clift, with whom so many events and 
