Ixxxvi Proceedings. 
doing more than to deal with the life of one of these great men. 
I have therefore chosen Thomas Edward, as the least well known. 
A naturalist is not made, but born. The naturalist may be 
‘a man in the humblest station of life, or he may be in the 
highest. Thomas Edward was of the former class. He was 
born in the year 1814, of parents not wealthy, his father before 
marriage being in the militia; after marriage he became a 
handloom cotton-weaver. 
Edward at a very early age commenced to show the latent 
love for animals which was to be the ruling passion of the 
man’s life. Where animal life existed, there Edward was in his 
glory. In his infantile days he was found catching flies, after- 
wards making the acquaintance of all the cocks, hens, and pigs 
in the village. 
His great delight, as he advanced in age, was roaming away, 
by way of Dee-side, Ferryside, and the Inches, in search of 
tadpoles, horse-leeches, rats, or any other living thing; the 
prizes obtained on such occasions being carefully conveyed to 
his parents’ house, which often brought him into trouble with 
his parents or their neighbours. 
Although I admire Edward to the highest degree, I must allow 
he was not an obedient child; it may have been owing to the 
want of proper parental influence, or to the too frequent failing 
of parents in relying too much on corporal punishment. 
Edward appears to have led for many years of his boyhood an 
absolutely wild life; off early in the morning and home late at 
night, none saw him in the interim; very often he was alone, 
sometimes with other boys, bird-nesting, rat-catching, crab- 
hunting, but on his return always laden with many trophies. 
His mother endeavoured to check his ardour by throwing his 
animals and birds’ nests away, and he was strictly forbidden to 
bring any more home. His failing to comply with these in- 
structions often brought him into contact with his father, who 
was not backward at punishing his son with the strap. Flogging 
failing to cool the ardour of their son, locking him up was tried ; 
this to young Edward was a much greater punishment, but he 
even then often evaded his parent’s efforts, and on one occasion 
he even went off with only a piece of his mother’s skirt tied 
round him, his own clothes having been taken away from him. I 
am sorry to hear the boy was found to be thoroughly incorrigible; 
he was self-willed and stubborn, and one might call him a young 
ne’ er-do-well. 
An amusing little incident, showing the determined character 
of the lad, I should like to mention. One day, whilst Edward 
was out on one of his excursions with some other lads, one of 
the party sighted a ‘‘byke” (a wasps’ nest) ona tree. A byke 
was looked upon as a great trophy. Young Edward mounted 
