1855-56 DOMESTIC EXPERIENCES h 
about how her uncle loved me and how she loved 
you, and, when I asked her some professional 
questions, said she would speak the truth. I 
assured her I had not doubted it ; but when she 
said she had taken nothing but a drop of tea, I 
thought it had left a most uncommon odour of 
gin and peppermint. Thereupon I gave her a 
composing draught and took away her candle, 
and of course she is quite well this morning. . . • 
‘ She took herself off last night,’ he says in a letter 
of the 15th, ‘with a restoration of robustness and 
voice which would have been miraculous if the 
prostration and pangs of the previous evening 
had been real.’ 
In September, Owen had another visit from 
Prince C. L. Bonaparte, who brought with him 
his daughter and son-in-law, the Comte and 
Comtesse di Campello. In this month an entry 
in the diary states that Owen made the acquaint- 
ance of Staunton, the famous chess-player, with 
whom he played several games of chess, ‘at 
which he came off with some credit, considering. 
On October 2, 1855, Owen writes to his 
sister Eliza : — 
‘ I dined yesterday at St. Bartholomew s on 
the occasion of the opening of the Medical 
Session. I was placed at the right hand of the 
chairman at the dinner, and on that of the Pre- 
sident of the Hospital in the grand old hall at 
the introductory address, and was called upon to 
