WILLIAMSON: JOHN WILLIAMSON. 
307 
which that disting-uished g-eologist formed of the labours of the two 
cousins. And at a later pag-e of the volume quoted (p. 193), he 
adds, " Since the former issues of this work, the search for fossils in 
the Yorkshire cliffs, which had been prosecuted with unrivalled 
success by Mr. Bean and Mr. Williamson, had been continued by 
many followers, not unworthy of such admirable leaders." And in 
the same page Phillips makes a further reference to their " fine and 
well-arranged cabinets." 
About the year 1826 our home life was diversified by a not 
unimportant event. William Smith, " the father of English Geology," 
had long been interested in Scarborough and its vicinity, and in the 
year referred to, he and his eccentric wife took up their abode in 
our house, where they remained for two years. I need scarcelj^ 
add that the value, to me, of this close association with the creator 
of modern geology, was great. Just beginning to join my father 
in his excursions, and to take an interest in their results, the 
constant presence of a man like Smith was not calculated to diminish 
that interest. 
But a still more important event was at hand. A Literary and 
Philosophical Society was established in Scarborough, and a museum 
erected in 1829. To this Society my father sold his fine collection 
for £1 5 ; returning- one third of the money as a contributionto the 
Society's funds. At the same time he accepted the office of 
" Keeper" of the museum, with the extravagant remuneration of £30 
per annum. In their third annual report for 1830-31, I find the not 
inappropriate reference to the salary of that verj- inadequately 
paid, but valuable servant, the Keeper." 
This appointment gave a new turn to my father's life. With 
the exception of continuing to superintend the gardens and vineries 
of a Mr. Frank Henderson, professional gardening was now 
abandoned. The Society of whose museum he took charge, had no 
collections of its own, save a few fossils and minerals of small value 
that had been left by Thomas Hinderwell, the historian of Scar- 
borough. My father's fossils, recent shells and minerals, constituted 
the principal nucleus around which future accumulations had to 
gather. Of birds and animals there were none ; but an arrangement 
