XVlll LIFE OF ALBANY HANCOCK. 



more from principle than from love of it, for he used to say, 

 when leaving his young companions for the shop, that he 

 " was going to his duty." 



When business was slack and the weather fine, he was in 

 the habit of making, with two or three like-minded friends, 

 trips on foot into various parts of these northern counties; 

 spending the day in a delightful search after plants, insects, 

 and shells, in the fields and woods, by the riversides, or on 

 the rocky promontories and sandy beaches of the coast. 



John Hancock and his friends were contemporary with 

 Bewick, but worked in the departments of Botany, Entomo- 

 logy, and Coucliology. What they gathered John Hancock 

 studied, named, and arranged, and in a few years he had 

 amassed a considerable collection, in which shells predomi- 

 nated. That he was in advance of his time as a devoted and 

 successful student of Nature, this collection and his library 

 demonstrate. The very best standard works of the day were 

 his, and for a quiet provincial naturalist and tradesman, must 

 have appeared extravagantly expensive. He also possessed 

 one of the best microscopes of that day, and made much use 

 of it, 



He died at the comparatively early age of forty-three, in 

 September, 1812, leaving a widow and six children, the 

 eldest being eight years of age. Mrs. Hancock carefully 

 treasured up the collections and books of her husband until 

 her sons were old enough to value them. It was a day of 

 surpassing interest, one which had been eagerly looked 

 forward to, and which would never be forgotten by her 

 children, when the cabinet and bookcase were formally 

 opened for their admiration and use. 



Albany, the third child and second son of John Hancock, 

 was bo rii on Christmas Eve, 1806, in the family house at the 

 Bridge End. Losing the paternal example and guidance at 

 the early age of six, he was, with his brothers and sisters, 

 brought up by a tender and excellent mother, who succeeded 

 in fostering their tastes and keeping alive the memory of 

 their father. Of the six children, Albany, John, and Mary 

 afterwards embraced the study of different branches of 

 Natural History and the Fine Arts, but the exigencies of 

 business compelled Thomas to relinquish his inclination for 

 Geology. Thus four of the family appear to have inherited 

 more or less a bias towards their father's studies. 



Albany was sent early to the school of the Misses Prowitt, 

 and afterwards to that of Mr. Henry Atkinson, both noted 

 seminaries in Newcastle in those days. In the latter he 

 remained about seven years. At the age of nineteen he was 



