1862-64 TOO QUICK FOR THE EMPEROR i49 
These lectures were delivered on January 4, ii, 
and 18. 
To secure the safe arrival of the collection a 
second visit to France was necessary. On Feb- 
ruary 13, 1864, he writes to his sister Eliza : ‘ The 
Trustees have bought the whole of the Viconite 
de Lastic’s collection, and / m^lst go, with a pro- 
fessional packer from Paris, to superintend the 
packing . . . The Emperor sent a commissioner 
to see and report on the collection the day after I 
left Salette, but I have been too quick for him.’ 
‘ This time,’ Owen writes to his wife (February 
1 9), ‘ we had a frightful passage, being detained for 
a long time off Calais in a dense fog. I arrived 
at the Vicomte de Lastic’s feeling desperately 
queer, but nothing could be kinder than my nurses 
here. I have been able to superintend the 
packing (February 22), and all will go off to 
London to-morrow. . . . My dear old rtfe 
cha7nbre seems to have slept by snatches of fifteen 
minutes during the last few days and nights, for I 
think she has not left me longer out of her sight 
day or night, and our colloquies have been of the 
most comical description.’ 
In March and April 1864 Owen had the 
honour of lecturing before the Queen and royal 
children at Windsor Castle in the White Drawing- 
room. There being no conveniences for the 
display of diagrams, the Professor utilised a high- 
backed chair as an easel and illustrated his lecture 
