396 
PROFESSOR OWEN 
CH. XII. 
she is very much obliged to you ; ” and so waked 
up by Albert the page from my after-dinner nap. 
The thanks from our neighbours being for three 
out of half a score jack, caught in the great pond 
this morning by Mr. Gould and me. . . . We 
had two capital chess battles last night — each 
winning one [Hon. Adolphus Liddell]* — and his 
beautiful wife playing the most charming airs from 
good old “ Don Giovanni.” The breach being quite 
practicable between the twogardens, three minutes’ 
walk in the bright moonlight clears the distance.’ 
Owen’s enthusiasm for the ‘ Cottage ’ and its 
beautiful surroundings knew no bounds. In a 
letter to his sister Catherine (January 3, 1853), he 
refers to a ‘ grand battue ’ which took place in the 
park on that day, and says : ‘ His Royal Highness 
[the Duke of Cambridge] ordered a couple of 
hares to be left for us at the close of the day, so 
what with these and the good Duchess’s venison 
and the carp, I begin to find the advantage of 
living in a “ preserve.” I don’t know that l" ever 
enjoyed the snug place more than now ; but the 
season has been so extraordinary that it is like a 
prolonged mild spring, and we have occasionally 
splendid sunsets. The walks are very enjoyable, 
wet or fine, the exercise being always good.’ 
On March i, 1853, he sends an account of the 
first Club dinner that season : ‘ Hallam was in 
‘ The garden of whose house of Sheen Lodge by a breach in 
could be entered from the garden the hedge. 
