150 The Advertisement. (CHAP. Ix. 
is wide and broad, and about a mile long. The houses are 
of hewn granite, some of them of massive and noble archi- 
tecture. Union Street is the representative street of the 
Gray City. 
Handbills were issued, and advertisements published in 
the local journals, announcing the opening of the exhibi- 
tion. In the handbill it was stated that “the objects com- 
prising this collection have been collected in the counties 
of Banff and Aberdeen, and preserved by a single individ- 
ual, and that individual a journeyman shoe-maker. They 
have been exhibited by him in Banff, to the delight and ad- 
miration 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 any thing 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 public inspection in 
this quarter, amounting, as it does, to, above two thousand 
objects; and being the work of one individual, who had to 
labor under every disadvantage, having none to tell how or 
where to find the different objects; none to teach him how 
to preserve these objects when found; no sound of prom- 
ised reward ringing in his ears to urge him on in his singu- 
lar course; no friend to accompany him in his nightly wan- 
derings; help from none; but solely dependent on his own 
humble abilities and limited resources. 
“Were it possible for words to describe, in adequate 
terms, the unexampled assiduity and unwearied persever- 
ance with which Thomas Edward has labored in the for- 
mation 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 labors. The ocean, the rocky shore, 
