INTRODUCTION. Ixxiii 



London, with the professed view of improvement in the 

 art of shoemaking: but in reahty with higher objects and 

 better hopes ; though he hardly ventured to own them to 

 himseh". The manners and morals of his fellow workmen 

 were ill suited to his feelings and pursuits ; and served 

 onl}' to encrease his dislike for the profession to which he 

 had been doomed. But it was some consolation to retiect 

 that he was in the great mart of human knowledge : and 

 thouo;h unfriended, and a stranoer, he found that informa- 

 tion flowed in upon him on every side. His mind was fil- 

 led, but not satisfied. Every museum, auction room, and 

 book stall, every object to which his attention was called, 

 he visited with a rapid and unsatiable curiosity ; gleaning 

 information wherever it was to be had, and treasuring it 

 up with systematic care. His account of what he obser- 

 ved in the capital is said to exhibit an obvious and striking 

 proof of an inquisitive, diligent, and discerning mind. A 

 person of this stamp could not long remain in London 

 without meeting with kindred spirits. One of these asso- 

 ciates, speaking of Cranch, observes, " our conversations 

 and philosophical rambles near London, have often cal- 

 led forth such observations and disquisitions from him on 

 the various qualities, attributes, combinations, provisions 

 and arrangements of nature, as marked vast comprehen- 

 sion, as well as the most delicate subtilties of discrimina- 

 tion in an intellect, which seemed indeed to be calculated 

 to grasp magnitude and minutia? with equal address, and 

 which could at once surprise, delight, and instruct." 



After a residence of some time in London, he returned 

 to the haunts of his childhood ; but it was soon discovered 

 how little chance the " bootmaker from London" hagl of 



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