On 1 June 1850, The Illustrated London News announced the safe arrival of the first living hippopotamus to be seen in England; it had been imported by the Zoological Society, and was now on view in the Society's gardens. An excellent engraving of the beast with its Arab attendant showed the public what to expect. On 8 June the same periodical was able to report that
'the long lines of carriages which are daily to be seen at the entrance of the Society's Garden are conclusive evidence that the Hippopotamus has now, as we prognosticated, completely established himself as the great lion of the day.'
Note from Thomas Macaulay, from Literary Anecdotes