LIFE OF ALBANY HANCOCK. XXvii 



society, which elicited his powers of mind, and in which he 

 bore his part without assumption of superiority. He was 

 not averse to argument, in which he always displayed large 

 views, and an evident desire to arrive at a correct estimation 

 of the matter under discussion; and his opinion once formed 

 was firmly adhered to and difficult to shake. His great 

 general information, his thoughtfulness and sound judgment, 

 were well known, and in many cases of doubt or difficulty his 

 decision was appealed to, with much advantage by others as 

 well as by the members of his own family. Naturally mild, 

 grave, and contemplative, he was courteous, sensitive, and 

 somewhat diffident. He was kind and sympathizing towards 

 the oppressed, and instances are not wanting in which his 

 warm sympathy for his friends in misfortune or domestic 

 affliction acted as balm to the wounded heart. There was 

 benevolence in his smile and in his tear, and his conduct was 

 marked throughout by purity and uprightness. Children he 

 loved, and was beloved by them, though he was never 

 married. He could partake of their simple joys and sorrows, 

 and he was always ready to impart information and to teach 

 them to observe with attention the objects around them. 



His time was much occupied with his laborious researches 

 and his study of authors on his favourite subjects, neverthe- 

 less he kept himself abreast of the current knowledge of the 

 day, not only in Natural History, but in general Anatomy 

 and Physiology, in Archaeology, general Literature, and 

 Politics, in all of which, and in the Fine Arts, he took especial 

 pleasure. 



The modesty and diffidence of his sensitive nature pre- 

 vented him from taking part in discussions at public meetings, 

 even on scientific subjects ; and though he was solicited in 

 1850 to give a course of lectures on Zoology and Comparative 

 Anatomy in the Newcastle College of Medicine, he modestly 

 declined to undertake the task as one unfitted to his frame of 

 mind. DENNIS EMBLETON. 



ADDENDUM. 



Albany Hancock was a member of a talented family. He 

 lived with a brother and two sisters, none of whom married. 

 One of his sisters was a good painter in water-colours, while 

 his brother John was preeminent as an Ornithologist, a 

 Taxidermist, a Modeller, and a Landscape Gardener. The 

 Newcastle Museum contains a very valuable collection of 

 birds made and mounted by him most admirably in natural 

 attitudes; while the wonderful rock-gardens of Lord Armstrong 



