392 
PROFESSOR OWEN 
CH. XII. 
harmony of autumnal tints, and I think the garden 
never was more lovely. ... We were able to 
o er our guests a dish of Cornish cream of home 
manufacture with their apple tart, and Dickens 
enjoyed it like a schoolboy. ... We discussed 
some “ Household Words” articles which I am to 
try and find time to write for him.’ 
Charles Dickens soon afterwards wrote the 
ollowing letter to Owen reminding him of this 
discussion : — 
Tavistock House ; Saturday, November 20, 1853. 
‘ My dear Owen,— What do you think as a 
general subject for a series of papers of some 
articles describing the^peculiarities and points of 
interest of many of the animals in the Zoological 
Gardens under some such title as “ Private Lives 
of Public Friends .? ” / think they would be very 
good in such hands as yours. 
‘ F aithfully yours ever, 
‘Charles Dickens.' 
In November 1852 Owen attended the 
funeral of the Duke of Wellington, along with 
Dean Conybeare, Dr. Bliss, Dr. Ogle, and other 
Oxford friends, of which ceremony he sends an 
account to his sister Catherine on the 20th. In 
this letter he says he walked along the Strand 
‘very leisurely, looking at the sloping pile of 
human faces, from the barriers on each side to the 
