156 THE ADVERTISEMENT. CHAP. ix. 



a journeyman shoemaker. They have been exhibited 

 by him in Banff, to the delight and admiration of 

 every visitor all being surprised at the beauty, order, 

 and multitude of the various objects, some going so 

 far as to doubt the fact of the proprietor being a shoe- 

 maker, saying that it was impossible for a person of 

 that trade being able to do anything like what they 

 saw before them ! " 



" Thomas Edward takes the liberty of stating that 

 the Collection is allowed by eminent Naturalists to 

 be one of the greatest curiosities ever offered for pub- 

 lic inspection in this quarter, amounting, as it does, 

 to above two thousand objects ; and being the work 

 of one individual, who had to labour under every dis- 

 advantage, having none to tell how or where to find 

 the different objects, none to teach him how to pre- 

 serve these objects when found, no sound of promised 

 reward ringing in his ears to urge him on his singular 

 course, no friend to accompany him in his nightly 

 wanderings ; help from none ; but solely dependent 

 on his own humble abilities and limited resources. 



" Were it possible for words to describe, in ade- 

 quate terms, the unexampled assiduity and unwearied 

 perseverance with which Thomas Edward has laboured 

 in the formation of his Collection, it would surprise 

 every individual capable of reflection. Such not being 

 the case, a visit to the Exhibition can alone enable 

 the public to form any idea of the extent of his 

 labours. The ocean, the rocky shore, the shingly and 



