\ I V 1 V rV "I^gwethift ¦,;J?$j&: ./oi-^efa^mtiag if a. CotUgt wfftiif Cototty" 'Y^LE-¥MH¥EI^Sinr¥o PURCHASED FROM THE Gift of ALFRED E. HAMILL, YALE 1905 W*\ ¦'-- V wmMmm llpP -v-V.-' ¦ft ar™a-v ?{m* Si. 'injyMbppntrlfcy1*'' SoM' , »^Ofx -x X 7xX/^x /y?/y Xv^v/LX THE LIFE AND WORKS OF THOMAS BEWICK BEING AN ACCOUNT OF HIS CAREER AND ACHIEVEMENTS IN ART WITH A NOTICE OF THE WORKS OF JOHN BEWICK BY DAVID CROAL THOMSON ^iff) ®ne $>unbveb gttitsh'ctfions LONDON "THE ART JOURNAL" OFFICE, IVY LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW 1882 This Edition is limited to Seventy-Five Copies, of which this is a. [Ail rights reserved by the Author.} DEDICATED (BY PERMISSION) TO AN ENTHUSIASTIC ADMIRER OF BEWICK'S GENIUS, JOHN RUSKIN, M.A., LL.D., D.C.L., &c. WHOSE WRITINGS HAVE ADDED GLORY TO THE ART OF THE PAST, AND WHOSE TEACHING HAS GIVEN GREATNESS TO THE ART OF THE PRESENT. PREFACE. It has long been an acknowledged want in artistic biography that no compre hensive volume on the Life and Works of Thomas Bewick, the recognised father of the Art of Engraving on Wood in England, has hitherto been published. At various times and in different ways — as memoirs in journals, as notices in newspapers, and as biographical accounts forming prefaces to lists of his works — the outline of the story of Thomas Bewick's career has appeared ; but, except in one instance, these have not aimed at giving in detail a narrative of the interesting episodes in the artist-engraver's long, fruitful, and well-spent life. This one exception is " A Memoir of Thomas Bewick, written by himself," published upwards of thirty years after his death. It was edited by Jane Bewick, the engraver's eldest daughter, " a very superior woman, animated, intelligent, and gentle." In this the record of the early life of the artist is in every respect acceptable,* but the narrative of the later period does not give a satisfactory account of the engraver's achievements ; and it enters into the discussion of questions on which the writer had not expended more study than is given by an ordinarily thoughtful man. The purpose of the present work is to show the engraver more than the politician ; the pictorial designer in place of the religious advocate ; the energetic artist and graphic moralist rather than the letterpress teacher. In carrying out this end, the following pages, in many instances, take a bibliographic form. This is not mentioned to be apologized for, as it is necessary in describing Bewick's works ; but that the ordinary reader may not be disappointed in finding so much space devoted to the purely technical portion of the scheme. To the admirer of Bewick's prints, and to the collector of his works, the particulars of books (which have never * Mr. Ruskin recommended it to his Oxford students as ene of the first Art books they ought to obtain. a 2 vi PREFACE. previously been given in the same way) will be considered the most practically serviceable part of the whole. It has been my rule, throughout the long study necessary to compile this volume, not to describe any engraving without having seen it. Every endeavour has been made to insure accuracy, yet it is scarcely to be expected that, in detailing so large a number of works, errors of commission or of omission should have been wholly avoided, and the reader's indulgence is craved for any that may be detected. The authorities which have been specially consulted are : Bewick's Memoir, 1862; Hugo's "Bewick Collector," and the Supplement to the same ; G. C. Atkinson's Memoir of Bewick ; Chatto and Jackson's " Treatise on Wood Engraving ; " Fox's " Synopsis of the Newcastle Museum ; " Bell's "Catalogue of Bewick's Works;" and F. G. Stephens's " Notes on Bewick." I have to thank the following gentlemen for information supplied during the preparation of this volume :— Dr. Joly, Dublin ; Mr. Crawford J. Pocock, Brighton ; Mr. J. W. Ford, Enfield ; Mr. C. Welsh, London ; the Rev. Mr. Wray, Ovingham ; Mr. R. S. Nisbet and Mr. E. T. Nisbet, Newcastle, with other friends in Northumberland ; also Professor W. H. Corfield, London, and Mr. Thomas Allan Croal, Edinburgh, for special information and assist ance. My thanks are also due to the Rev. Mr. Pearson, Messrs. Griffith and Farran, Messrs. Chatto and Windus, the Rev. Mr. Buckley, Mr. C. Hopper, Mr. Salkeld, and Mr. Mozley, for the loan of blocks ; and to Mr. W. Bowman and Mr. H. Bowman for a perusal of, and permission to make extracts from, Mr. J. E. Bowman's manuscript. I have also to thank the subscribers to the volume who so quickly came forward in response to the circular issued in November last, and to hope that the publication will meet with their approval. D. C. THOMSON. London, June ist, 1S82. XX. The History of British Birds, Vol. IL, 1 804 (Water Birds) . . . 192 XXI. Private Life and Public Quarrels, 1798 — 1812 ....... 201 vm CONTENTS— ILLUSTRA TIONS. CHAP. XXII. XXIII. XXIV. xxv. XXVI. XXVII. New Editions of Quadrupeds and Birds.— Miscellaneous Works, 1805—1811 The 1818 and 1820 Fables.-Portraits.— Miscellaneous Works, 1812-1820 Later Years and Death, 1821— 1828 Water-colour Drawings > Hints to Bewick Collectors.— Bewick Books since 1828 General Survey.— Character of Thomas Bewick PAGE 212 221 2 34 249 253 262 Appendix.— Notes on a Visit to Bewick in 1825.— Bewick's Will . General Index Index to Works and Books containing Engravings by Thomas and John Bewick 266272274 Page. VII X XI I. 4- 9- 10. 16.17- 21.22. 29.29. 3°-32. 33-37- 40. 41. 46. 47- 48. 53- 54- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Frontispiece— Portrait of Thomas Bewick. Engraved on copper by H. H. Meyer, after James Ramsay. Subject. Feeding the Fowls Feather of the Water Crake The Tame Duck The Common Snipe Cherryburn The Turkey WinterThe Hungry Ewe The Butteifly and Boy Louisa and the Boy who sold the Birds The Bears and the Bees The Discontented Ass The Discontented Ass The Bee, the Ant, and the Sparrow . The Sow and the Peacock Angling Tyne Valley The Sheep and the Bramble Bush The Hound and the Huntsman The Beggar and his Dog The Pheasant . " Sweet Auburn !" The Departure . The Deserted Village Where first Published Looking Glass for the Mind British Birds British Birds Ditto The Tyne British Birds DittoDitto Select Fables, 1776 . Looking Glass . Select Fables, 1776 . Ditto Select Fables, 1784 . Select Fables, 1776 . Select Fables, 1776 . British Birds (Sketch Map) . Select Fables, 1784 . Gay's Fables, 1779 Select Fables, 1784 . British Birds Poems by Goldsmith and Parn Ditto ditto Ditto ditto Block. Ref. Pages. 1 . O.W* 149 . F.S. 195 . F.S. 199 . F.S. 196 . O.W. 4 . F.S. 189 . F.S. 187 F.S. 176 . O.W. 75 . O.W. 149 . O.W. 74 . F.S. 29- 75 . O.W. 29. 75 . F.S. 30,150,255 . O.W. 74 . F.S. 196 . F.S. 37 . O.W. 75 . G.E. 43 . O.W. 75- i9S . F.S. 188 Parnell G.E. J52 . G.E. !54 . G.E. 152 * The le'.ters O.W , G.E., and F.S. mean that the block from which the impression Is taken is the Original Wood (O.W.), a Good Electrotype (G.E.), or a Fac-Simile (F.S.). The latter have been mostly produced by Mr. John Swain's process. Of Electrotyping, Chatto and Jackson's "Treatise on Wood Engraving" says, "By this process all the finer lines of the engraving are so perfectly preserved, that impressions printed from the cast are quite undistinguishable from those printed irom the original block." LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. ix Page. Subject. Where first Published. Block. Ref. Pages. 6l. The Bear and the Two Friends . . Select Fables, 1784 . . O.W. 75 66. The Singing Milkmaid . Looking Glass . . O.W. 149 66. The Oak and the Willow . . Select Fables, 1784 . . o.w. 75 67. The Country Maid and the Milk-pail Ditto . o.w. 75 72. The Arms of Newcastle Newspaper . G.E. 72 74- Lion, Tyger, and Fox Select Fables, 1784 . . o.w. 75 75. A Shepherd and a Young Wolf . Ditto . O.W. 75 78. The Old Exchange, Newcastle . Select Fables, 1820 . G.E. 7S 79- The Sad Historian . Poems by Goldsmith and Parnell G.E. J52 80. The Brother and Sister . Select Fables, 1784 . . o.w. 75 86. " Till Death us do Part " . Looking Glass . . O.W. 149 87. The Dog under the Manger . Hewlett's Spelling Book . G.E. 170 89. J. Headlam's Book Plate . Book Plate . F.S. 38, 233 92. Christian at the Wicket Gate Pilgrim's Progress, 1806 . O.W. 219 93- The Dromedary Quadrupeds . F.S. 93, rI9 97- The Wild Bull Ditto . F.S. 116 104. The Chillingham Bull (Large Size) . F.S. 97-109 109. The Chillingham Bull (Small Size) . G.E. 108-9 no. The Lion . Quadrupeds . F.S. 120 116. The Wild Cow Ditto . F.S. 116 117. The Common Antelope Ditto . F.S. 117 120. The Tiger .... Ditto . F.S. 120 122. The Cur Fox . Ditto . F.S. 122 127. The Ford— left behind Looking Glass . . O.W. 127, 149 128. Strolling Players Quadrupeds . F.S. 127 130. The Field Mouse Ditto . F.S. I25 133- The Greyhound Fox Ditto . F.S. 122 134. The Woodcock British Birds . G.E. 196 135- Bewick's Workshop, Newcastle . Treatise on Wood Engravin g . G.E. 135-6 140. Feather ..... British Birds . F.S. 197 141. Huntsman and Hounds The Chase . G.E. 156 148. Mrs. Lenox and her Children . Looking Glass . . O.W. 149 149. Ruminating .... Ditto . o.w. 149 150. Madam D'Allone and her Pupils Ditto . o.w. 149 J53- The Hermit, Angel, and Guide Poems by Goldsmith and Parnell G.E. r54 !57- George III. Hunting The Chase . G.E. i56"7 161. The Hermit at his Morning Devotions Poems by Goldsmith and Parnell G.E. r54 162. Portrait of Thomas Bewick Treatise on Wood Engravin g . G.E. 223 168. Horse and Jockey Newspaper . o.w. 168 169. Graham's Block Advertisement . . G.E. 168 170. The Boy and the Wolf Hewlett's Spelling Book . G.E. 170 174. The Elephant . Pidcock's Catalogue . . F.S. 174 *75- ^Esop Croxall's Fables . . o.w. 175 180. The Cole Titmouse . British Birds . F.S. 188 181. The Willow Wren . Ditto . F.S. 188 187. The Poachers . Ditto . FS. 186-7 190. The Partridge . Ditto . G.E. 189 192. The Mute Swan Ditto . F.S. 198 201. The Old Man and his Ass Hewlett's Spelling Book . G.E. 170 210. Mr. Jackson and his Son Junius Looking Glass . . O.W. 149 211. Edwin and Angelina . . . . Goldsmith's Poems, 181 2 . G.E. 226 212. The Night Heron . . . . British Birds . F.S. 195 216. Northumberland Lifeboat . Broadside .... . O.W. 1 70 219. Christiana passing the River Pilgrim's Progress, 1806 . O.W. 219 220. Tender Conscience and Goo 1 Resolutio n Ditto . O.W. 219 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Page. Subject. 221. The Ford .... 228. Rocks at Hartlepool . 232. Joseph Hawks's Book Plate 232. Horace Walpole's Book Plate 233. J. W. Sanders's Book Plate 234. Head .... 236. The Cadger's Trot . 242. The Magpie 243. Newcastle Waltonian Club block 245. Waiting for Death (small size) . 248. Bewick's Grave, Ovingham 248. Waiting for Death (large size) . 249. Feathers ...... 253. Bella and the Poor Stranger, Marian . 261. William and Amelia and their Friend Charlotte 262. Travelling in the Snow 265. Finis ...... 266. Caroline, or a Lesson to Cure Vanity 272. The Spanish Pointer .... 274. Oak Tree ...... Where first Published. Block. Ref. Pages. Ferguson's Poems . . . G.E. 227 (Unpublished) .... O.W. 227-8 Book Plate .... F.S. 233 Ditto .... G.E. 233 Ditto .... G.E. 233 Spelling Book . . . .O.W. 234 Lithograph, 1823 . . . F.S. 235 British Birds .... F.S. 184 5, 243 On the Pleasure and Utility of Angling .... G.E. 241 Looking Glass .... O.W. 149, 245 Art Journal . . • G.E. 248 Print, 1832 . . • F.S. 242-7 British Birds .... F.S. 197 Looking Glass .... O.W. 149 Ditto .... O.W. 149 Treatise on Wood Engraving, 1839 G.E. 262 Tail-piece .... G.E. — Looking Glass .... G.E. 149 Quadrupeds . . F.S. 123 Bewick Collector . . .G.E. 270 Feather of the Water Crake. From the " History of British Birds," Vol. II. The Tame Duck. " The History of British Birds," Vol. II. INTRODUCTION. The Art of Engraving on Wood in England, though never practically lost from the period of its first introduction about the end of the fifteenth century, was in a very languid condition at the time when Thomas Bewick was apprenticed in Newcastle in 1767. Professors of the Art did then certainly practise in London, if not also in other places in England, but their produc tions were of a very feeble kind, though they served to keep alive the traditional methods of this branch of Engraving. In other countries at the same date Engraving on Wood was, as also in England, discarded, in the case of important work, for the practice of engraving on copper. France appears to have been the only nation whose wood engravers exhibited works of merit during the interval between the end of the sixteenth century and Bewick's time, but even the engravings of Nicholas Le Sueur and John Michael Papillon are good only in the sense of being the best of their age. For the finest early examples of works of Art multiplied by having been cut on wood we have to look to the German Schools ; to the masterpieces of Albert Diirer, Louis Cranach, Hans Holbein, and other artists of the country where such works were first produced in Europe. Few, if any, of these early b Xli INTRODUCTION. designers cut their own drawings on the wood, this part of the labour being given over to men (and it is said sometimes to women) who had no know ledge of Art, but who knew how to cut wood round the lines drawn on the flat surface, and who worked under the guiding eye of the draughtsman.* The works of Thomas Bewick are of quite a different class. They, too, as designs, are of the supremest quality. They were not only conceived and drawn, but were also engraved by him. As the productions of a thorough artist, each may be looked on as exemplifying the legitimate condition of the Art of Engraving on Wood, as opposed to plate engraving, and as different from simple wood cutting. A wood engraving ought, as a matter of course, to be a work which cannot be given in a better way by any other method for the purpose for which it is intended to be employed. The greatest use of wood engraving is to have it worked together with type for letterpress printing, and this being what no other method of artistic production could, until very recent years, readily be adapted to, therefore the first consideration is the fulfilment of this condition. It is quite possible so to engrave a wood block that it cannot satisfactorily be printed from. The most artistic work is what is termed "white -line " engraving, obtained by cutting the lines forming the picture into the wood. Fac simile engraving, or as it is sometimes, though perhaps not quite correctly, called, "black-line" work, is produced by cutting away the wood so as to leave the lines drawn by the artist untouched — cross-hatched or other wise — a style now much more extensively practised than the former. For this less freedom can be allowed than for the other, as the engraver or cutter must carefully, almost servilely, avoid the artist's pencil strokes, and show his skill (and that sometimes he does admirably) by trained hand * It is to be remembered, therefore, in examining these old German woodcuts, that while the designs are for the purpose, of the highest quality, the engraving, or, more exactly, the cutting of these blocks is only a mechanical result, and one not at all to be admired for its own sake, it being often rude in the extreme. INTRODUCTION. xiii work only, as the head can scarcely enter into the labour. At the same time it is to be observed that it is possible to combine the two methods, as is done in many modern wood engravings. It is also proper that in an engraving on wood each line should be cut with definite meaning, without inaccuracy, and also without undue hesitation. It may not by multiplicity or rigidity of line invade too far the province of plate engraving, and thus lose the advantages afforded by wood over metal ; nor of etching by unnecessary looseness or trickily obtained mystery. It must for a basis have open, honest, sound work, such as can only be produced on wood, and not by any other style of engraving. It may be thought little to claim for Thomas Bewick's works the correct observance of these conditions ; yet it was as necessary for him to observe them as it must and ever will be for engravers who wish to practise their Ar!-, not as imitating steel-plate work or original drawings in pen and ink on paper, or any other method, but as the distinct and beautiful Art of Engraving on Wood. That Bewick satisfied these provisions will be at once and without debate admitted, and it is only necessary to add a few words on his claim as a master in his profession. In the first place we find him as a youth, with fewer advantages for observing artistic labours than are now yearly afforded to thousands of children, able, before he has terminated his seven years' apprenticeship, to produce works very greatly in advance of his master ; in twelve years more to engrave blocks beside which the works of the best contemporaries are meagre and commonplace ; and in another twelve years to render himself, by his truthfully drawn designs, the first engraver in the world. The " Select Fables," the "History of Quadrupeds," and the "History of British Birds " reveal on every page the superiority of his talent in depicting with his pencil and graver the correct form and true spirit of those animals which every one may contemplate with admiration. This was a very great change in Wood Engraving. Until his time it had xiv INTRODUCTION. been content to show outlines wanting the finish of a shaded drawing, or prints usually occupying, amongst copper-plate illustrations, a place of a very inferior kind. Before Bewick's day, also, there had been little attempt at transcript from nature, and conventionality reigned supreme. The change from conventionality to natural forms was one that could not have been brought about except by one possessing the royal stamp of genius. And with this Thomas Bewick was certainly endowed. He also had the humbler, yet quite as necessary, gift of perseverance ; and together these led him to approach nature in simplicity, to receive her lessons with faithfulness, and to depict what he saw with unfailing certainty and loveliness. Thus it was with the Figures in the Birds and Quadrupeds. With the Vignettes for these works and in the Fables it was somewhat different, for here his grave humour as well as his glorious veracity displayed itself, and showed another side of the artist- engraver's powerful mind. When Bewick began his labours artistic Wood Engraving did not exist. He led it from mechanism to untrammelled and enduring excellence. It is perfectly probable the change would have come by other means, if not through his exertions ; yet it must have been slower and less individual, "here a little, there a little, line upon line," and therefore less striking. Reforms and changes in all things must come, but because of this certainty we are none the less to honour the immediate instruments who stimulate to new or more vigorous life. Bewick may only have been the inevitable exponent of a reformation, but none the less are we to bow before the heaven- born gift of ability to carry that reformation to a successful issue. The Common Snipe. The " History of British Birds," Vol. II. CHAPTER I. BIRTH AND SCHOOL LIFE. I "HOMAS BEWICK, whose works in the art of engraving have been, from -*¦ the time of their production, increasingly admired by every class, and whose career it is proposed to trace in the succeeding pages, was born on the 1 2th of August, 1753, in a small cottage standing on a slope overlooking the river Tyne, in the county of Northumberland. His father, John Bewick, who was born in 17 15, supported himself and his family partly by the proceeds of a land-sale colliery which he rented, and partly by farming. He married comparatively early in life, but his wife dying childless, he was married again to Jane Wilson, the daughter of a Cumberland farmer, who was born in 1727, and who became the mother of the illustrious engraver. Cherryburn House, where they went to live, is nearly twelve miles in a westerly direction from Newcastle, and close B 2 THOMAS BEWICK. to the little village of Eltringham, in the parish of Ovingham, whose church is on the opposite side of the river Tyne.* Bewick in his writings mentions that his mother, when still young, had been chosen housekeeper to the curate of Ovingham, the Rev. Christopher Gregson, and while there the Cumberland lass won the heart of the widower. Mr. Gregson was, in after-years, one of the warmest friends the engraver had, and Bewick records with satisfaction how readily the clergyman acknowledged the value of his young housekeeper. Mr. Gregson, whose stipend was not great, had a number of pupils to whom he imparted education, and he found his housekeeper as helpful on account of her ability to superintend the Latin lessons of the learners, as of her proficiency in her more special duties. From this scene of combined mental and practical responsibilities she was taken to preside over the cottage at Cherryburn in 1752. Here, the next year, Thomas Bewick, eldest of the family, was born. The 12th of August was the day on which he celebrated the anniversary of his birth ; but there was, even to himself, some doubt of the precise date, and it may possibly have been the 10th or the nth of the month. A tablet erected to the artist's memory in Ovingham Church gives the date as August 1 2th. The parish register only records the date of his baptism, which took place at Ovingham on the 19th August, 1753. In due time the family increased until the children numbered eight — five girls and three boys; but, with one exception, we have here very little to do with them. The exception was the second son, John, born about March, i76o,f who, inspired by his brother's example and precept, also became a celebrated engraver. William, the third son, lived until 1833, when he died at the ripe age of seventy-one ; Jane, the youngest child, was fifty-six when she died in 1825 ; Hannah, the eldest girl, died in her brother Thomas's house at the Forth in Newcastle in 1785, aged thirty-one. There * See Sketch Map, p. 37. t The parish register does not contain the exact day : the baptism took place on March 30th, 1760. THOMAS BEWICK. 3 were also Agnes (born 1756?), Ann (born 1758?), and Sarah, born in 1766, who was cut off in early maidenhood in 1782.* The house at Cherryburn where Bewick was born is to-day sadly different from what it was in the engraver's youth ; yet the surrounding scenery still possesses much of the character and beauty described in the Memoir written by himself, and published in 1862. " At the south end of the premises was a spring-well, overhung by a large haw thorn bush, behind which was a holly -hedge, and further away was a little boggy dean with underwood and trees of different kinds. Near the termination of this dean, towards the river, were a good many remarkably tall ash-trees, and one of oak, supposed to be one ofthe tallest and straightest in the kingdom. On the tops of these was a rookery, the sable inhabitants of which, by their consultations and cawings, and the bustle they made when building their nests, were among the first of the feathered race to proclaim the approaching spring. The corn-fields and pastures to the east ward were surrounded by very large oak and ash trees To the westward, adjoining the house, lay the common or fell, which extended some few miles in length, and was of various breadths. It was mostly fine green sward or pasturage, broken or divided, indeed, with clumps of ' blossom'd whins,' foxglove, fern, and some junipers, and with heather in profusion, sufficient to scent the whole air. Near the burns which guttered its sides were to be seen the remains of old oaks, hollowed out by time, with alders, willows, and birch, which were often to be met with in the same state." The cottage where Bewick was born still stands amidst trees and greenery, and the Cherryburn still runs down the steep incline to the river, though the water is less than it was in Bewick's time. The landscape, though not so heavily wooded, is doubtless much the same as the young artist saw it ; the river can be heard and seen in its course to the harbour of the Tyne ; and the rooks still congregate in the neighbourhood, though their former homes in the ash-trees have long since disappeared. * In the " Archaeologia ^Eliana " the Rev. Anthony Hedley gives the derivation of the name Bewick, which is applied to various places in the northern part of Northumberland. He says Bewick is " one of the few Norman appellations in the county ; imposed, probably, by the monks of St. Albans, who, with the church at Eglingham, had very early possession of the township and other lands in the same parish. It is composed of beau, fine, pretty, and the Saxon wick, in allusion to the happily chosen site of the village of Old Bewick." B 2 4 THOMAS BEWICK. This cannot but be noted by the visitor of the present day; and the natural beauty of the spot renders the mind ready to receive a favour able impression of the house where the father of English wood engraving was brought into the world. But alas ! instead of a neatly kept cot, as might be expected, the " house" is found to be a stall, a covering for useful and picturesque, but at close quarters not too agreeable, animals — a veritable byre with all its unpleasant odours. There is nought but the bare walls which enclose the space occupied by the room of the celebrated Cherryburn ; there is now neither window, fireplace, nor chimney, nothing of any kind to show it once was inhabited by human beings ; merely four plain stone walls, with an opening only at the door, and over it there is written, "Thomas Bewick born here." SSiS^ .'fssaigggjr Cherryburn. The accompanying cut gives a view ofthe "house" in its most favourable aspect. The artist and author of " The Tyne," Mr. W. H. Palmer (Messrs. Bell and Sons), has rendered it with all the beauty its surroundings lend, but THOMAS BEWICK. 5 his artistic sense has hidden the cottage itself as much as possible from sight. Ardent hero-worshippers may wish to view the very room where the great engraver and moralist was born, but the environs will be the attraction for most people — the scenes from which Bewick drew many of his inspirations, the Northumbrian hillsides where, as Mr. Ruskin says, he " grew into as stately a life as their strongest pine." Around, far and near, the country is one noble picture of beautiful river scenery diversified with rocks and foliage, vividly recalling the vignettes in the Birds and Quadrupeds. Here a corner of river border-land, with trees above and rocks below; there a distant view of a cultivated hill side with farmhouse nestling among the trees. One time a tail-piece is recalled by a ferry-boat waiting for passengers ; at another by a glimpse of the ruins of Prudhoe or of the Norman tower of Ovingham Church. The entire country, to one acquainted with Bewick's cuts, is filled with a series of delights and surprises. A journey there, even in the present day, unfolds the wonderful fidelity of every landscape Bewick drew, and fills the visitor with admiration and enthusiasm for the delineator of the grand simplicity and truth of nature.* Bewick's father, though not rich, was not by any means one of the poorer sort. In the pit which he rented he employed a number of miners, and his profits from the colliery must have been enough to make him a person of some consequence, f Charnley, in his slight memoir, mentions that he " was considered a great wit in his part of the country ; and being possessed of a vast fund of anecdote, was in the habit of entertaining customers with his * The family who reside at Cherryburn at the present time are descendants of Thomas Bewick's youngest brother, William. The house has been built since the engraver's youth, and is a large structure much more suited to modern requirements than the little cottage of Bewick's birth. t A Land-sale Colliery is a colliery where the coals are sold only by land-sale, i.e. they are sold at the pit's mouth and carted away, or else sent overland by rail in trucks. In speaking of a land-sale colliery it is meant the coals wrought from that colliery are not shipped. In most offices separate books are kept for " Land-sale Coals " and " Shipment Coals." 6 THOMAS BEWICK. stories, so long as he had company at the colliery." He was a man not unlike in personal appearance what his son afterwards became. " He was a stout, square-made, strong and active man, and through life was a pattern of health," relates Bewick in his Memoir. "He never would prosecute any one for theft ; he hated going to law, but he took it in his own hand, and now and then gave thieves a severe beating." But he "could not be troubled to harbour ill-will in his mind, and if he were passionate he was equally compassionate." He was always rather severe with his son, but the boy knew how to evade any punishment his father thought necessary to inflict. In one instance young Bewick had given some trouble, and he relates how he did not dare go to his usual sleeping-place until his father's passion had subsided. He cautiously remained hidden for a time, knowing that if he kept out of sight his father's displeasure would evaporate, and he would altogether escape chastisement. From what is related it is evident that the miners had occasionally no easy time with their employer's eldest son. All sorts of tricks were played by the scarcely controllable boy on the pitmen, who, ignorant and super stitious, were easily frightened at ghosts and unaccountable occurrences, of which young Bewick was often the origin. But though the boy sometimes played on their fears, he was also capable of appreciating their readiness to assist each other in moments of danger. As will be seen in the appendix, in an extract from an unpublished manuscript, it is said that Bewick worked in the pit with his father's men ; and though this is a statement unsupported by other evidence except Dovaston's, it is not at all unlikely that he did sometimes go down the pit. It may safely be presumed that he was constantly about the mine, and familiar with the methods of labour, and it is certainly no disparagement to the greatness of the artist that he was able to free himself from the debasing associations of the miner's life. Granting that he put his hand to the pick- THOMAS BEWICK. 7 axe, the fact only further displays his strength of character in the early choice he made of the high pursuits of an artist- engraver. As the boy's years became greater he was sent to school : not so much that he should learn, but that he might be kept from mischief. Doubtless, as the family increased, the parents were glad to have their restless " laddie " sent even for half the day, when they could be free from anxiety concerning him. The teacher appreciated the circumstances, and did not press his young scholar at first with many lessons, and Bewick was some time at school before he mastered his alphabet, not to mention words even of the smallest size. The teacher, though thus discreet at first, did not very long allow his pupil so much freedom ; he was a pedagogue of the old school, and thoroughly believed in the use of the birch. Soon after, Bewick was made to feel the "delicate persuasiveness" of the instrument, and, as he relates, the master frequently beat him unjustly for not learning what he was not advanced enough to comprehend. The master, in short, was a cross-grained and rather ignorant old man, without sufficient capacity to teach, and without enough cunning to rule, the boys. After a tremendous struggle one day between him and Bewick, in which the master's shins suf fered severely from the iron-hooped clogs of the scholar, the spirited boy ran away, and did not make his appearance at school again until another teacher had been appointed. He " played the truant every day," he says, and in a little burn or rivulet not far off he entertained himself by making dams and swimming boats, probably very much in the manner shown in the frontispiece to Volume II. of the " History of British Birds." When a new schoolmaster was installed Bewick was sent to see how he would succeed with him, and as the new-comer proved to be a man as naturally suited for his post as the former one was unfitted, the boy soon made friends with him, and mastered his lessons as quickly and as happily as his parents could desire. Between the time of his breaking the shins of the old master and his return to school, young Bewick had been frequently subjected to 8 THOMAS BEWICK. chastisement, both by his father and his mother, in order to compel him to go back to his lessons. The good couple had, no doubt, some anxiety over the refractoriness of their eldest boy. It was not a very terrible crime, however; boys have always been, and ever will be, truants when they are dissatisfied and can obtain an opportunity of escape. But Bewick's mother had received a fair education herself, and it must have given her serious pain to perceive in her son what could only have appeared symptoms of a dis position to despise book-learning, and which might, to the nervous apprehension of a devoted mother, seem leading to something worse. Good lady, though she did not live to witness the greatest of her son's achieve ments, she survived long enough to see all her best desires fulfilled. Her anxieties disappeared ere long, owing to the character her son established as a successful and respected citizen, and in the filial respect his growing intel ligence began to pay to his parents. When not at school young Bewick made himself useful in running errands. In a letter written after he had left Cherryburn over fifty years, he relates his well-remembered experiences of earlier days. "When a boy," he says, "I was frequently sent by my parents to the fishermen at Eltringham Ford to purchase a salmon, and was always desired not to pay twopence a pound ; and I commonly paid only a penny, and sometimes three-half pence."* The second teacher Bewick was under at Mickley school only lived to occupy the position a few years, and the boy was then sent to another master. This was to Ovingham, which, like Mickley, is about a mile from Cherryburn, but in an opposite direction and across the Tyne. There the Rev. Mr. Gregson, Bewick's mother's former employer, still received boys as day * From a letter dated April 26, 1824, to a friend on " Salmon destruction in the Tyne." Another extract from this letter is curious to read at the present time. " I have been told," Bewick writes, " an article had always been inserted in every indenture of apprenticeship in Newcastle that the apprentices were not to be forced to eat salmon above twice a week, and the same bargain was made with common servants." THOMAS BEWICK. 9 scholars, and sometimes girls too, and the boy was now handed over to him. Bewick's former character for unruliness was somewhat injudiciously imparted to the new master by the father. The hint given at the same time was acted on, and the pupil was rather severely treated. But Bewick bore no resentment for what he felt he partly deserved, and an intimacy began between teacher and pupil which afterwards ripened into friendship between man and man. The Turkey. " History of British Birds," Vol. I. Winter. From a vignette in the" History of British Birds," Vol. I. CHAPTER II. FIRST GLEAMS OF ART. IT has been well said that " we need no, testimony of the preternatural sort" to make us believe Bewick must have been very early in the habit of noticing natural beauties as well as the village surroundings in which he was placed. We have no difficulty also in believing that he took much delight in endeavouring, to the best of his ability, to make representations of their forms. Though it is evident no forcing or training could have developed Bewick's genius, and it was as natural for him to turn to artistic pursuits "as the sparks fly upward," yet we love to learn the little details of how he first came to depict the familiar objects in his works. He was emphatically a student of nature; he loved its sincerity and simplicity. Before he had seen any works of artists he began to show a strong indication of his taste, and nature and the little details of cottage life provided him with everything he longed for. It was at first only occasionally that the indications of his affection for such things were seen, although they were as characteristic of the fully developed artist as of the embryo delineator of THOMAS BEWICK. n nature. From the little window of the tiny bedchamber at Cherryburn he early observed how the seasons changed from the beginning of spring to the end of autumn : how " the bushes and trees began to put forth their buds, and make the face of nature look gay," until the first frosts of autumn bared the branches, and clad the landscape in another and quite as wonderful covering. Besides taking notice of these varying aspects, he was commencing to put his thoughts and feelings into actual shape. When at the parsonage school he filled the unoccupied portion of his books and slate with sketches of any object which came before him, and when the blank spaces of the books were full, he occupied his play-hours among the gravestones and in the church porch by drawing figures with a piece of chalk. Thus Bewick went on, spending his time between his lessons, his parents' errands, and his chalky sketches. His teacher ridiculed him, and his father reproached him for "mis-spending his time in such idle pursuits." But without much heed of the punishments inflicted by either, he persevered in making the best he could of the poor implements for drawing he pos sessed, until a friend who had taken an interest in the boy's doings presented him with some paper to sketch on. This being supplemented by brushes and colours, he was then able to make proper drawings. Hitherto he had found it necessary to work on his knees with his chalk ; at home, he relates, he had covered much of the stone floor with his sketches ; but now he was able to sit at table. At first by pen, ink, and a little blackberry-juice, and afterwards with his brushes and shells of colours, he made representations of animals and figures, or whatever took his fancy. In the eyes of the rustics of the hamlet these drawings appeared like the revelations of a great painter. It must have been at this time that Bewick first felt the inde scribable pleasure of having his works admired. They were indeed only the first weak movements of the designer who was afterwards to soar so high above his contemporaries; the beginnings of the moralist whose achievements were yet to hit hard at the frailties of his associates. But to c 2 l2 THOMAS BEWICK. the people who seldom or never saw how pictures were made, the struggling genius of the boy was in its results like the finished performances of a trained artist. Their admiration was unbounded. They did what few north- country people will do without some right good reason— they put their hands in their pockets, and paid hard cash— not much, indeed, but still cash— for the little drawings which he designed. The artistic labours of the boy were entirely the outcome of his innate feeling. At this time he had never received a lesson, and it is doubtful if he had ever heard of drawing with a pencil. In Northumberland, among the villagers, Art was almost unknown. The only specimens of painting with which they could be familiar were the glaring sign-boards of the inns in the villages. At Ovingham, the nearest one to Bewick's home, there were painted signs at the White Horse, the Salmon, the Black Bull, and the Hounds and Hare, as well as the King's arms hung in the parish church. These seem often to have haunted the boy's mind; yet from them he could have formed little idea' how to make drawings on paper or stone. There were also views of battles, and portraits of the principal leaders, hung round the room of the house at Ovingham where, as a boy, Bewick left his dinner "poke" on his way to school. These, which were also "common in every cottage and farmhouse throughout the country," were the only rude representations he was familiar with in his early youth, and it was from them, if from anything besides his own genius, that he received his first ideas of the art of making designs. How little real art they possessed let any one imagine who has seen the ordinary village painter's performances. The sign of the Hounds and Hare seems especially to have taken the lad's attention. It was much less ably painted than the others in the village, and he arrived at the conclusion that he might be able some day to produce a better hunting scene himself. Subjects of this nature were those which pleased his rustic purchasers best. In his productions, as he mentions, the huntsmen, horses, and dogs THOMAS BEWICK. 13 were, in his own as well as in his patrons' opinion, quite correctly represented. Bewick relates in his Memoir that it was at this time he commenced to have a real love for and appreciation of the birds and beasts which were in and around his home. He tells how keenly he listened to the debates and stories current amongst his father's friends, and how he frequently went with a company who would start, " it might be in the chase of the fox or the hare, or in tracing the foumart in the snow, or hunting the badger, at midnight." In such excursions Bewick was made familiar with the haunts and habits of many animals : of birds as well as beasts. During snow storms, also, the boy sometimes perched himself carefully just within shelter in order to watch the birds which, tamed by hunger and extreme cold, came close to the house at Cherryburn. This was a kind of scene Bewick seems always to have been fond of, and in several vignettes in his works he depicts such subjects with great success. The design standing at the head of this chapter is one that appears in the " History of British Birds," vol. i. The snow man is another splendid example of a winter scene ; and the houseless, hungry ewe, with its kid seeking nourishment where none is to be found, is one of the most pathetic of the exquisite series of tail-pieces. It is interesting to notice how Bewick's early observation of the animal creation asserted itself. He had great satisfaction in observing the practices of the feathered inhabitants of the surrounding woods, and also the perform ances of the ants and bees whose haunts he came across. He relates with what pure delight he watched " the birds, their nests, their eggs, and their young." The bees, returning laden with their morning spoil, were particularly noticed by him, as one of his employments was to watch before the hives to destroy or frighten away the wasps which approached to plunder their wiser and richer neighbours. The actions of spiders were sources of never-ending wonder to him ; and with ants he experimented, by overturning their work i4 THOMAS BEWICK. and watching their manner of living, until he was thoroughly acquainted with all their characteristics. Some painful incidents which happened at a hunting excursion in the neighbourhood gave Bewick a great dislike to this pursuit. He came to feel that however exhilarating and exciting the chase may be to man, the hunted animal has nothing to think of but terror and fatality. On another occasion the youthful Bewick's compassion was strongly aroused by his unexpectedly knocking down a bullfinch with a stone. Often had he thrown missiles at birds, but no victims previously had fallen into his hands. This time the wounded bird fell from the tree half dead, and as he examined it he felt the full force of what he had done, and as a result, it was the last bird he killed, though, as he truly adds, " many indeed have been killed since on my account." Had Bewick lived at the present day he would have been foremost in all the philanthropic movements relating to the prevention of cruelty to animals. Perhaps, however, he would have been more anxious to promote their welfare by agitating for rewards to those who were kind and attentive to their charges than to punish those who were harsh. His theory of such matters was, that by praising and honouring those who did their duty with marked distinction, an example was given to the vicious which would be of more efficacy than all deterrent regulations. Dog-fights, cock-fights, and man-fights were among the common enter tainments of the peasants of the period, and Bewick was often present at a set-to. With such performances he acknowledges he was not much dis pleased, though he seems to have been more amused by the grotesque grimaces of the spectators than with the unhappy combatants. How hard must Bewick have felt it to dissociate himself from the habits of the people with whom he thus passed his early life ! It is little short of a miracle that he was able to retain exalted feelings on the relationship of brute to man, for these ordinary exercises of his neighbours could only blunt the THOMAS BEWICK. 15 finer sentiments of an average human being, and even to Bewick the difficulty of keeping clear of the taint must have been very great. Bewick's earliest life has now been sketched, and, as we have glanced at his first dozen years of existence, we may pause to consider how fit he was to go out into the world to fight the great battle of life. Although it appears his education did not extend any great length beyond the usual elementary tasks of reading, writing, and arithmetic, it is certain that in these at least he got a thorough grounding. He never was passionately fond of reading ; but in the matter of written composition it cannot be said he was at all deficient, and in his later life his work in this way deserves the very highest praise. With figures he never had much to do except in his own business transactions, and in these he was always shrewd enough. In hand writing his letters and manuscripts show that he had been very carefully taught to handle his pen : his correspondence was ever the model of neat ness, and in spelling he had fair accuracy. In drawing — the principal employment of his long life — he had not received any lessons, and though he had to use chalk at first, the timely present of drawing materials enabled him to proceed with facility. Though his genius had found a loophole through which to display itself before he possessed proper implements, he under stood and quickly acted on the maxim, that " The best materials make the best work." We do not know all the subjects he tried to draw when he was young ; but in after-life he always accompanied a wonderfully feathered bird or a lifelike quadruped with a faithful representation of a country scene, or a little pictorial anecdote wherewith to "point a moral or adorn a tale." For this work, in which he was yet to succeed, the less formal training he had the better : he needed no interference from skilled hands to teach him the manner of representing the truths he saw around him ; some guidance at first would necessarily have been advantageous, but complete academical training would have utterly spoiled him. But certainly no training was better than bad i6 THOMAS BEWICK. training ; and though it might be interesting to speculate how Bewick would have bent his genius had he received competent teaching — for, as Mr. Ruskin tells us, Bewick "without training was Holbein's equal" — yet, after all, it was best as it happened ; and above everything we have to congratulate ourselves that no teacher of the false or feeble order had any hand in rearing Thomas Bewick. The Hungry Ewe and Lamb. From a vignette in the « General History of Quadrupeds.' The Butterfly and Boy. " Select Fables " of 1776 and 1784. From the original block engraved by Thomas Bewick. Lent by the Rev. Mr. Pearson. CHAPTER III. APPRENTICESHIP. "\ li THEN Bewick's father saw that his son possessed such a strong inclina- * " tion for drawing, he wisely left off exhorting him to follow other pursuits. He decided that the boy should commence as soon as possible to make use of his gift, and he had him apprenticed to an engraver. This was not accomplished until after careful deliberation. It was apparent that some business connected either directly or indirectly with drawing was the most suitable for young Bewick; and at first a bookseller and printseller was thought of, where he would have met with work calculated to develop his inclinations. However, Ralph and William Beilby, engravers, Newcastle, hearing through the boy's godmother that he was looking for an opening, and being in want of an apprentice, called at Cherryburn to talk the matter over with his parents. After giving an account of their business, no doubt as glowing as possible, for they had heard the boy was clever, it was settled 1 8 THOMAS BEWICK. that Bewick should be sent on trial to Ralph Beilby, who, together with his business of engraver and enameller, undertook other work of a very miscel laneous kind. He engraved the faces of brazen clocks, door-plates, and all kinds of seals; on steel, silver, and gold; mourning rings, coffin plates, invoice heads, and bank-notes, with only an occasional job in what they were afterwards to become famous— the execution of woodcuts for printers. In fact, Ralph Beilby, with his brothers, became the "common resort in several useful arts and accomplishments; " they declined nothing which came under the headings of engraving, chasing, or enamelling ; they were hard-working, honest men, with a desire to do good work when they were paid for it, but when an order came for cheap labour they never refused it, but did the best they could for their customers. Bewick spent some time with Beilby, and gave sufficient satisfaction for the time to be finally decided when the contracting documents were to be signed. It was a woeful day for the boy, who had hitherto spent his life in the country. At school he had had some liberty, and when he felt he wanted more he took a holiday and bore the punishment. But now he was to be chained to a room all day long. Even when night approached and work was over, his master's eye would still be upon him, ready to note any trifling misadventure or censure any wrong ; and the position . was dreadful to contemplate. He had been sufficient time in Newcastle both to like the business and esteem his master ; but, as he says, " to part from the country, and to leave all its beauties behind me, with which I had been all my life charmed in an extreme degree, I can only say my heart was like to break." The day approached, and half willing and half reluctant, a little happy that he was to prosecute the drawing he had ever been thinking about, but very sorrowful to exchange his country freedom for town bondage, he was taken by his father on the ist of October, 1767, to be apprenticed to the Newcastle engraver. While the father and son rode on horseback to the town, the elder dis- THOMAS BEWICK. 19 coursed to the younger on the many temptations he would be confronted with, and how he might avoid them ; he spoke of truth, honesty, and religion ; he impressed his son with feelings the boy had never previously considered ; he instilled sentiments of humility into his son's mind; and he spoke practically of the business they had more immediately in hand. " He urgently impressed upon me," Bewick records, "to do my duty to my master, in faithfully and obediently fulfilling all his commands, to be beforehand in meeting his wishes, and, in particular, to be always upon my guard against listening to the insinuations and the wicked advice of worthless persons whom I would find ever ready to poison my ear against him." Ralph Beilby was only twenty-four years old when Bewick was apprenticed to him. He was the third son of a once well-to-do goldsmith and jeweller in Durham, who had become insolvent and removed to Gateshead-on-Tyne, opposite Newcastle. The goldsmith's eldest son, Richard, was apprenticed in Birmingham, and there learned the business of seal engraving. William, the second son, was taught to enamel and paint on glass in the same town. Richard taught Ralph, Bewick's master, seal cutting, and William taught a younger brother and sister what he had learned. Ralph Beilby was considered by his apprentice to be one of the best masters for teaching he could have obtained ; he obliged his assistant to put his hand to all descriptions of work, fine or coarse, and thus Bewick had, in after-life, many more resources than most engravers when he desired to accomplish any end to assist him in business. When the brothers Beilby visited Cherryburn to see for themselves what the boy was like of whom the godmother spoke so well,* young Bewick had the opportunity to go either with William or Ralph Beilby; he, "liking the look and deportment of Ralph the best, gave the preference to him," and he goes on to say, " My grandmother having left me twenty pounds for an * It is stated in an account of Thomas Bewick which appears in the "Annual Biography," vol. xiv., that Beilby accidentally discovered the boy at work making chalk drawings on barn-doors, and thus was led to engage him. D 2 20 THOMAS BEWICK. apprentice-fee, it was not long till a good understanding between parties took place." During the seven years of his apprenticeship Bewick lived on good terms with his employer.* Disputes with his master, and one notable quarrel with his master's family, did certainly occur; but it was not until years after wards, when the engravers became partners and the business of publishing was carried on, that real contentions and unfortunate misunderstandings arose. The terms of the indenture were not finally settled until some minor difficulties had been overcome. Beilby had heard some tales of the boy's turbulency; and it took the persuasion of the Rev. Mr. Gregson, as well as another friend, to convince him that Bewick was likely to prove as satisfactory in business habits as he also deemed him to be in capa bility. His teacher had recognised the error that had been made since he was first told of the petty misdoings of the boy, and he was doubly anxious that no second misconception should arise. He laid special stress on the fact that Bewick was never either sulky or saucy, nor likely to prove revengeful. In the end Beilby accepted him as an apprentice, agreeing to teach him the art and mystery of engraving — not specially on wood, but that too if his patrons should furnish him with commissions. It was also settled that Bewick should form one of Beilby' s family, taking his share in the household duties as well as in the workshop. At first he was allowed considerable freedom when not engaged in business ; but one Sunday evening (Sunday was often an unlucky day with Bewick) he, as related in his Memoir, became embroiled in a fight with " three low blackguard 'prentice lads," who, after provoking a quarrel, fell all three upon him, and blackened his eyes and scratched his face. His appearance was an unpardonable crime to the mind of his master, and after this he was compelled to submit to comparative imprisonment — at least the country lad considered it so; and * Compare with Chapter VII. and Appendix, Notes on a visit to Thomas Bewick in 1825. THOMAS BEWICK. 21 doubtless the reading ofthe Bible or some other good book" was sorely against his inclination even on Sundays, although he always had the profoundest reverence for religious matters. In taking the course of sending his boy to the employment of his choice, Bewick's father deserves credit for his appreciative perception of his son's latent talent. In glancing over the early lives of painters, how often have we to lament that the elder people around the young artist should have been so dull in observing signs of the youth's genius whose charge lay to their hands ! Happily it was not so in Bewick's case. Like every one, he had obstacles to encounter ; but to his parents' honour be it said, when once they perceived the bent oftheir son's mind, and that it was not "mis-spent time," as at first they naturally supposed, they encouraged him to persevere with his art ; and they never afterwards could have had a moment's doubt that they did right in allowing their son's wishes for exercise in drawing to be completely carried out. Louisa and the Boy who sold the Birds. "Looking Glass for the Mind." From the original block engraved by John Bewick. Lent by Messrs. Griffith and Farran. The Bears and the Bees. " Select Fables " of 1776 and 1784. From the original block engraved by Thomas Bewick. Lent by the Rev. Mr. Pearson. CHAPTER IV. FIRST ATTEMPTS AT WOOD ENGRAVING. ]HHE time had now arrived when Bewick was allowed to apply himself ¦*- steadily to the art by which he is known to the world. At first his exercise with Ralph Beilby, his master, was to copy a set of published designs styled "Copeland's Heraldic Ornaments," and — to quote his own words — "this was the only kind of drawing upon which I ever had a lesson given to me by any one. I was never a pupil to any drawing master, and had not even a lesson from William Beilby or his brother Thomas, who, along with their other professions, were also drawing masters." This is written in good faith, and is perfectly credible as far as it goes ; but, although no formal lesson was ever received by Bewick, yet the mere fact of his being at times THOMAS BEWICK. 23 a witness of others working with the pencil must have assisted him consider ably in attaining to proficiency in drawing. As may be observed from the work done during his early apprenticeship, his hand frequently failed to depict what his imagination suggested or his eye witnessed ; and it was only after practising hard as well as seeing the progress of drawing in others that he arrived at his power of draughtsmanship. Every one who has essayed to draw knows that watching an artist at work, or even seeing a picture or drawing in progress from time to time, is in reality as good a lesson as if the artist had taken some pains to explain the reasons for his methods. Bewick, having been for some considerable time an inmate of Beilby' s house, must have heard much of that distinctive talk which belongs to artistic families; this being often repeated would lead him to understand the mode of manipulating artistic tools, and thus greatly smooth the way over the mechanical difficulties of his art. And, after all, what teacher can do more than point the way a pupil ought to go, and leave him by his own industry or genius to achieve greatness ?* Bewick appears to have been afraid that some day it might be asserted that he received teaching from those more advanced in methods while he was still learning. He seems only dimly to have recognised that it was his personal genius alone which his contemporaries wondered at, and which succeeding generations would so much admire. No one cares, in looking at his works now, whether or not he received lessons at some remote period in his history ; the desired result was obtained, and that being what had not previously been accomplished, it was and is duly recognised and esteemed. Bewick may therefore be said to have been advantageously placed with his first employer. Though Beilby could never ultimately have hindered Bewick from becoming what he did, yet had the young artist been placed in * It is right to mention that Charnley, the bookseller, says that Bewick " employed his leisure hours in improving himself in drawing under the care of a master ; " but he omits to give any authority for this statement, so con tradictory to the engraver's own testimony. 24 THOMAS BEWICK. a less favourable position he might have spent many years longer in learning his proper sphere of action. The first work that Bewick was put to in the art of engraving on wood was blocking out or rough-hewing the wood round the lines for diagrams ; not very high art it is true, but necessary. The diagrams having been drawn on the smooth surface of the boxwood, he was taught to cut away the corners or large open spaces between the lines, but without approaching the marks very closely. This was Bewick's occupation with the blocks for the diagrams in " The Ladies' Diary," edited by Charles Hutton, and also for the cuts for the same writer's " Mensuration." After the boy had gone as far as he was permitted, Beilby took the blocks and finished them. But this was work that Beilby did not enjoy ; his delight was to ornament silver with the elaborate chasing in which he really excelled ; so, finding his pupil apt to learn, he soon allowed him to execute the blocks from first to last without any assistance. Dr. Hutton, the mathematician mentioned, published a statement in 1822, giving the story of Bewick's first woodcuts in a somewhat different though substantially the same manner ; adding, moreover, details which are full of interest to those who wish to know exactly how Bewick first came to engrave on wood. He says, "The first edition of the work on 'Mensuration' was printed in Newcastle in 1768, where I then resided as a mathematical master, and it becoming necessary or convenient to have the numerous diagrams which occur in the work executed on wood in that town, and having during the course of several visits to London seen the process of cutting similar diagrams, I applied to Mr. Beilby to execute those which I required. I explained to him the process, and he agreed that the apprentice should undertake the work, and in consequence I procured the necessary blocks of boxwood from London, with the tools proper for cutting or engraving them, with instructions how to cut and square the blocks, and to cut or engrave on their smooth faces the necessary lines and letters in the diagrams, by which, THOMAS BEWICK. 25 and in frequently attending them for their instruction, we got the cuts tolerably well executed as they then appeared in the first and all subsequent editions. Thus, then," concludes Dr. Hutton, " I was the instructor of the very ingenious Mr. Bewick in his branch of engraving, which he has since carried to such a high state of perfection." There is some pardonable pride in Dr. Hutton claiming to be Bewick's teacher after the engraver had risen to the most prominent place in his profession. Bewick himself does not explain in his Memoir how the wood and working implements were obtained, and as there is no record of any earlier work on wood done by him, we must give some weight to Dr. Hutton' s relation of the incident. Dr. Hutton' s " Mensuration " was illustrated with numerous diagrams, and was completed in 1770. In it appear what are undoubtedly the earliest of Bewick's works, but beyond this fact there is very little interest attached to the volumes. The only cut which gives the mildest indi cations of promise is that of a diagram on page 42, in which is introduced the spire of St. Nicholas' Church in Newcastle. It is tolerably accurate, but very primitive in its treatment, and the house at the side — so disastrously out of perspective — gives little indication of its being the work of an engraver who was to gain distinction. Two of the copper-plates in the volumes are the work of Beilby (in the dedication and on page 600) ; otherwise the diagrams are understood to be Bewick's workmanship. The " Mensuration " was published in parts by subscription, the first number appearing in 1768. It is now rarely to be met with, but except to those who desire to possess every work undoubtedly Bewick's, the scarcity is no loss. " The Ladies' Diary," of about the same date, with which Dr. Hutton was connected, also contains some of Bewick's very earliest work ; but, like those in the" Mensuration," the cuts are diagrams, and exceedingly unin teresting. The sub-title ofthe book is " The Woman's Almanack, containing new Improvements in Arts and Sciences, and many entertaining particulars 26 THOMAS BEWICK. designed for the Use and Diversion of the Fair Sex." A portrait of Queen Charlotte embellishes the title-page, but this could not have been Bewick's work, as the same head had been many years in use. It was for the illustrations of these books that Bewick employed the double- pointed graver of his own making, so as to produce a clear line at one effort. The incident is related by G. C. Atkinson in his sketch of Bewick, published shortly after the artist's death : — " Bewick thought of making a chisel with two points, which being immovable would not fail to produce a line of equal thickness. There was a difficulty — no one could make him a tool sufficiently fine; here, however, his ingenuity again befriended him, for he covered the steel with a coat of etching-ground, and by the application of an acid easily pro cured a cavity of the requisite form, and found the tool answer every expectation. From this time he devoted himself more exclusively to wood engraving: his success in cutting the figures for Dr. Hutton, and their easiness of execution when compared to the heavy, laborious work he had been before engaged in on metals, gave a bias to his inclinations which led him almost entirely to relinquish the other branches of the art in favour of wood engraving." Several tools such as those described were among the collection at the Bewick Exhibition in Bond Street in 1880. It is a curious fact, however, that modern engravers have almost entirely given up using such implements, although at one time they were pretty extensively employed. In little more than a year after Bewick began his apprenticeship he was also able to produce a small woodcut which brought him into considerable notice. This was the representation of St. George and the Dragon, executed for the bar-bill of the public- house of that name at Penrith. It was the first cut done by Bewick of a kind more ambitious than the diagrams, though its execution could not have called forth much ingenuity. It was an advance, however, in the right direction, and being so much better than the cuts ordinarily seen ornamenting the legend of pints and glasses, Beilby THOMAS BEWICK. 27 and his apprentice became talked about; the Northern worthies over their potations noticing and criticizing the cut. Shortly afterwards another block was produced for use in a similar way for the Cock Inn, a celebrated house at the head of the Side in Newcastle. There is no difficulty in believing that these cuts were looked on as productions of a very superior nature when compared with the wretched contemporary engravings. Relatively crude they are in comparison with the artist's maturer efforts, but they have a certain natural air wanting in the work of others, and to Bewick collectors they are exceedingly curious, as they afford an interesting study of the engraver's earliest blocks. A little book, "Moral Instructions of a Father to his Son," gives a favourable idea of what children's books were like at the time Bewick was commencing his labours. This was one of T. Saint's publications. He had heard of Beilby's apprentice by the little designs for the bill-heads, and he gave several orders to Beilby for blocks for juvenile works published by him. Saint was a prominent bookseller in Newcastle, and it was from his shop that most of Bewick's early works appeared. For the " Moral Instructions " Bewick had something to do, but only a few of the cuts are his. They are all, throughout the work, very small — scarcely the size of a penny — and in design and execution are of an order which at the present day would be scorned even by children. The cuts illustrate a series of fables which in the letterpress form a distinct part of the book from the Instructions, and are named, "Select Fables on the most important occasions in Life: from the Ancients." There are thirty-four cuts in all, and many contain crude representations of animals. The illustration to the Fox and Bramble fable is one of the more advanced, and may possibly have been Bewick's work ; it contains a representation of a hunt with dogs, horsemen, and fox, of a similar idea as that displayed in many of his more advanced cuts. Several of the designs bear, in like manner, a certain relation to the cuts in Gay's and the "Select Fables," and it might be possible to find a linked connection between them and these early productions. e 2 28 THOMAS BEWICK. Miss Bewick is stated to have given her opinion that the cuts were engraved by her father, with the exception of one of a ship at sea done by a fellow- apprentice. In a copy of the " Moral Instructions," once the property of Miss Bewick, is inscribed the name of Thomas's younger brother John; showing that the book was well known in the family. In 1776 Saint published the first of his editions of the " Select Fables," a work much better known in the 1784 edition and the more recent reprints by Mr. Pearson than in the original. In some instances the cuts in the 1776 edition are the same as in the fables of the " Moral Instructions," but the majority are different, and fourteen at the end are from the blocks after wards used to illustrate the third part — Fables in Verse — in the 1784 pub lication. There are in all one hundred and twenty-eight engraved head pieces to the Fables, and one (used also in 1784) on the title-page. There is a copper-plate frontispiece, signed " R. Beilby delin*. et sculp'.," where ^Esop is shown discoursing, surrounded by animals of various kinds — a design repeated on wood for the " Beauties of ^Esop," 1822. The arrange ment of the 1776 is different from the 1784 edition, being prefaced by an address "To my Friend," signed "The Editor," containing a few words of counsel to the readers of the work. Then follow, as in 1784, the Life of ^Esop and an Essay upon Fable, occupying sixteen pages. The Fables, "Part I. After the manner of Dodsley's," come next, there being some difference in the letterpress; and the forty-eight cuts, like those in " Moral Instructions," are rather poorly drawn and engraved. In the sixty-six " Fables with Reflec tions" the cuts are of the same quality, while the difference is greater in the letterpress, many fables appearing which are not repeated in 1784. The "Fables in Verse" only number fourteen, as against twenty-six in 1784. Some of the first one hundred and fourteen cuts are much better in design and execution than others— the Snipe Shooter, page 48; the Angler, page 50; the Horse and Ass, page 66; and the Discontented Ass, page 148, being among the best. The great charm of the book, however, lies in the fourteen cuts THOMAS BEWICK. 29 The Discontented Ass. " Select Fables," 1776. illustrating the third part, Fables in Verse. These fourteen, with one exception, are repeated — printed from the same blocks — in the 1 784 edition, and they show the immense advance Bewick had made in his art in a short time. The cuts at the beginning of the volume are the early work of Bewick, while the fourteen referred to are known to be his work of a later period. In the former we have the young engraver struggling against technical difficulties, and not quite able to overcome them ; in the latter we have the artist growing into the moralist, telling the story of the fable with strong, firm hand, not yet indeed quite perfectly, but in a manner sufficiently plain to mark the true genius of the engraver. A fac-simile of the Discontented Ass at page 148 is introduced here to show the style ofthe early cuts in the 1776 Fables, and at the same time an impression is given from the original block of the same subject in the 1784 edition, page 142. The treatment is quite dif ferent, but the smaller cut is nearly as well drawn as the larger, and though less of a picture, possesses some artistic value, especially when taken in comparison with other cuts of the period. The Bears and the Bees at the head, and the Sow and Peacock at the end of this chapter, both appear in the 1776 and the 1784 editions, as also does the Butterfly and Boy on page 17, all being printed from the original blocks executed by T. Bewick. The only cut in the 1776 edition which does not appear afterwards is the illustration to the fable of the Bee, the Ant, and the Sparrow. This is here given as a reproduction from the rare The Discontented Ass. " Select Fables," 1784. From the original block engraved by Thomas Bewick. Lent by the Rev. Mr. Pearson. 30 THOMAS BEWICK. The Bee, the Ant, and the Sparrow. " Select Fables," 1776. print, the chief point in the design being the figure of the cat just going to spring on the "wanton sparrow" ofthe fable.* " A prowling cat the miscreant spies, And wide expands her amber eyes : Near and more near Grimalkin draws, She wags her tail, protends her paws ; Then springing on her thoughtless prey, She bore the vicious bird away. Thus in her cruelty and pride The wicked wanton sparrow dy'd." The change which Bewick wrought in juvenile literature is one of his noteworthy triumphs. To improve the style of infants' books may seem a trifling matter, but there can be no question that a child brought up among the elegant toy-books of the present day must have an aesthetic feeling that never could have been hoped to be implanted by the pitiable pamphlets of Bewick's earliest days. The revolution Bewick's art brought about in these little works is felt to the present time. He led the way with the amusing and, to young folks, entertaining alphabets of illustrated letters ; he followed by introducing rational and pleasing designs for fables and story-books, until they slowly but surely took the place of the paltry illustrations he found. As their influence became more and more widely spread, they paved the way for the high- class books of to-day. Colour he only very occasionally tried on his engravings, but he first demonstrated the fact that children are most satisfied with what is lastingly good, even in black and white ; and while the influence of the hopelessly bad cuts became * " The Looking Glass for the Mind," by John Bewick, has a block with a similar design. In the reproduc tion it will be observed that two lines run through the design. These were drawn the whole length of the page in the volume in the author's possession, from which the cut is taken. The fable, as noted, was not inserted in the 1784 edition. Is it possible that this volume, which is very rare, is the one employed by Saint when compiling the later publications, the cut being marked through to show that the page was cancelled ? THOMAS BEWICK. 31 feebler, that of his thorough work became stronger, and by its example led others into the right path. Though Bewick had already given evidence of his superiority in wood engraving, his master was not able to allow him much practice in that branch of the business, because orders for other kinds of engraving far exceeded those for woodcuts. Bewick had, indeed, some cause to grumble. Being often engaged in the engraving of clock-faces, in polishing copper-plates, and in hardening and working steel seals, his hands became as hard as a blacksmith's, and he said he felt almost inclined to give up the business. He persevered, however, in his apprenticeship, and in time the firm of Beilby, together with the apprentice, became so well known that com missions for woodcuts got to be more frequent. They were only like an oasis in the desert, which causes the surroundings to appear more dull, yet they gave hope of future pleasure and prosperity ; and for the love of his art Bewick performed the disagreeable duties as silently as he could, while his mind dwelt on the potentialities of the better-beloved work of engraving on wood. There are several little books which have always been included in lists of Bewick's works, and while it is almost certain that the young engraver executed many of the cuts therein, yet some doubt exists, as Bewick him self did not acknowledge them in after-years — possibly, as he said ofthe 1820 Fables, because he did not feel inclined " to feed the whimsies of biblio- manists." One of the earliest of these was printed in 1 771 by T. Saint for W. Charnley, and was called " A New Lottery Book of Birds and Beasts for Children to learn their Letters by As soon as they can Speak." This book, of which there are at least two editions, is now very scarce ; it contains forty- eight tiny cuts, which have much of the appearance of Bewick's first work ; it is said, indeed, to have been the third work for which he executed cuts. On the first page there are two complete alphabets in Old English characters; following this each page alternately contains the letter of the alphabet and 32 THOMAS BEWICK. small cuts of objects whose titles commence with the letter opposite. Each letter has one or two illustrations, according as it had been found easy or difficult to obtain subjects ; the birds are, as a rule, superior to the quadru peds, the Lark being especially good, though the Elephant and the Ass possess considerable animation. Another miniature book which Bewick is thought to have illustrated is the "New Invented Horn Book," containing twenty-four very small cuts not unlike those of the Lottery Book. The " Child's Tutor and Entertaining Preceptor" — Saint (three editions) — also possesses sixteen very primitive designs, of which Garrett — a personal friend of Bewick — wrote, " Engraved in the first year of Bewick's apprenticeship, though he was afterwards ashamed to own them." These books are in all cases entered in modern catalogues as containing the works of Bewick. The difficulty in deciding if they really are his has been mentioned ; but from the fact that Bewick in his Memoir says that his master received orders for cuts for children's books chiefly from Saint, and as these illustrations possess merits vastly superior — poor as they are in execution —to anything of the kind contemporaneously published, they may be safely placed amongst the engraver's earliest labours. The Sow and the Peacock. " Select Fables" of 1776 and 1784. From the original block engraved by Thomas Bewick. Lent by the Rev. Mr. Pearson. %&£W Angling. From a Vignette in the " History of British Birds," Vol. II. CHAPTER V. FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES. IX OR many months Bewick lived with his master's family, but his share in ¦*• the domestic work having led to some disagreement, he not unwillingly left Beilby' s home and went to live with an aunt, Mrs. Blackett, who resided in Newcastle. The immediate cause of Bewick's dispute with his employer was some offensive remarks made to him by one of Beilby' s brothers in regard to the part Bewick took in stable-work. We may believe that only a slight offence would give him excuse to withdraw, as he could not forget the ever-recurring irritation of confinement on Sundays. This may the more readily be credited when it is said that the dispute in question did not lead to further rupture otherwise than in household arrangements, for Bewick appears to have continued in friendly relation with the brother with whom he was indentured. Shortly after Bewick went to reside with his aunt he made the acquaint ance of a man who, though never rising above a humble position, seems to F 34 THOMAS BEWICK. have had sufficient strength of mind to make a deep impression on Bewick's yet imperfectly formed character. This was Gilbert Gray, who had lately settled in Newcastle as a bookbinder. He had been intended for a clergy man, but not liking their ways he travelled from his home at Aberdeen to Edinburgh, entered the service of Allan Ramsay, the pastoral poet, as shopman and binder of books, and after a sojourn there he removed to Newcastle. "This singular and worthy man," relates Bewick, "was perhaps the most invaluable acquaintance and friend I ever met with. His moral lectures and advice to me formed a most important succedaneum to those imparted by my parents. His wise remarks, his detestation of vice, his industry, and his temperance, crowned with a most lively and cheerful disposition, altogether made him appear to me as one of the best of characters. In his workshop I often spent my winter evenings." Bewick goes on to tell how a number of young men were also in the habit of visiting Gray's shop, " many of whom," he says, " I have no doubt he directed into the paths of truth and integrity." By steadily pursuing a temperate mode of life he accumulated small sums of money, and " this enabled him to get books of an entertaining and moral tendency printed and circulated at a cheap rate. His great object was, by every possible means to promote honourable feelings in the minds of youth, and to prepare them for becoming good members of society." Gray was in the habit of sitting beside Bewick whilst he was engraving, and being possessed of a reflective mind which led him to think and speak much on the men and manners of the vicinity, the two became intimate friends notwithstanding their disparity of age.* There can be no doubt that the instruction received from Gray had a powerful influence on Bewick. It is seen in the similarity of the two men's * Mr. Ruskin, in -Ariadne Florentine" quotes Bewick's eloquent description of Gray's character, which tells « consummate and unchanging truth concerning the life, honour, and happiness of England." The passage is one of the most notable in Bewick's writings. THOMAS BEWICK. 35 work. Gray had for his aim the promotion of virtuous and valuable principles in his pupils; Bewick in his wood engravings, especially in the tail-pieces, had exactly the same end in view And, as has been said, in Gray's strong good sense and knowledge of character we may trace something of the qualities for which Bewick was remarkable. For some unexplained reason Bewick was cut off from having access to Gray's books, of which there seems to have been some number. Gray's son William, however, who had a separate bookbinding business, and who was a lifelong friend of the engraver, was in a position to allow his companion to have access to the partly bound works of the authors which came into his hands. And as the son had added special aptitude to his parent's teaching, his business was even of a better class than his father's, and Bewick, through his kindness, had thus an opportunity of studying the best writers of the period. Bewick also managed to purchase a few volumes out of his own meagre wages. Beilby' s servant clandestinely allowed him to peruse his master's books, so he never was altogether without something elevating to read and ponder over after he had reached an age capable of enjoying the labour of others. He says, indeed, that at this time he cared for few other acquaintances besides his books. He had, however, pursued his studies too heavily. After the close atten tion required for the business of the workshop the further steady application was too much for his health, and a physician had to be called in. Beilby had noticed the pale looks of his apprentice, and was disposed to do all he could for his useful assistant. The doctor pronounced the boy " as strong as a horse," though at the same time he commented severely on his master keeping him so much chained to the working bench. Bewick was instructed to take regular pedestrian excursions, and this having been systematically performed, there was no further need for the doctor. During his walks, the sweetest medicine that could have been prescribed for Bewick, he frequently visited his father's house at Cherryburn. One f 2 36 THOMAS BEWICK. writer declared that when he did so, and when the river Tyne was too swollen to cross, he was in the habit of shouting his inquiries over the flood ; and having given and received his messages, contentedly returned to New- . castle. This, however, Bewick contradicted, calling it "babbles and nonsense," so far as the shouting was concerned, though he admits he once did such a thing. " It never happened but once," are his words, " and that was when the river had suddenly swollen before I could reach the top of the allers (a small plantation), and yet folks are made to believe that I was in the habit of doing it." Weekly visits to his parents were from this time kept up by Bewick during his apprenticeship, and indeed also for years afterwards, lasting long after the doctor's orders became unnecessary. He was in the habit of going to Cherryburn, returning on the same day ; most likely on Sundays, when he had his leave. His other holidays during his apprenticeship were at Easter and Whitsuntide, as agreed on when taken into Beilby' s employment; but these were occupied mostly with angling, a pursuit of which Bewick was, like many Northumbrians, most passionately fond. " Well do I remember," he says, in one of the passages in his Memoir, " mount ing the stile which gave the first peep of the curling or rapid stream, over the intervening, dewy, daisy-covered holme — boundered by the early sloe, and the hawthorn-blossomed hedge — and hung in succession with festoons of the wild rose, the tangling woodbine, and the bramble, with their bewitching foliage— and the fairy ground — and the enchanting music of the lark, the blackbird, the throstle, and the blackcap, rendered soothing and plaintive by the cooings of the ringdove, which altogether charmed, but perhaps retarded, the march to the scene of action, with its willows, its alders, or its sallows — where early I commenced the day's patient campaign. The pleasing excitements of the angler still follow him, whether he is engaged in his pursuits amidst scenery such as I have attempted to describe, or on the heathery moor, or by burns guttered out by mountain torrents, and boundered by rocks or grey moss-covered stones, which form the rapids and the pools in which is concealed his beautiful yellow and spotted prey. Here, when tired and alone, I used to open my wallet, and dine on cold meat and coarse rye bread, with an appetite that made me smile at the trouble people put themselves to in preparing THOMAS BEWICK 37 the sumptuous feast ; the only music in attendance was perhaps the mumuring burn, the whistling cry of the curlew, the solitary water ouzel, or the whirring wing of the moor game." The accompanying sketch map shows the district between Newcastle and Cherryburn. It is " taken from an actual survey, and laid down from a scale of an inch to a mile, by Lieutenant Andrew Armstrong and Son, and engraved by Thomas Kitchin, 1769." The line of railway from the central station at »"»i»«' The Field Mouse. " The General History of Quadrupeds." with the Quadrupeds. We begin with some letters which passed between George Allan, the purchaser of the Wycliffe Museum, and Thomas Pennant, the naturalist, and one from Allan to Bewick personally, which were published in 1827 in Fox's " Synopsis ofthe Newcastle Museum." From Thomas Pennant to George Allan, dated Downing, December 16th, 1783, there is a note evidently in reply, to one sent to him asking if he could do any service to help forward Bewick. The date is a considerable time before the Quadrupeds were commenced, and the specimens probably sent were from the 1784 " Select Fables " blocks. It is to be noted that it was through Allan that Bewick was introduced to Tunstall, for whom the Chillingham Bull was THOMAS BEWICK. 131 engraved. Pennant says, " I admire greatly Mr. Bewick's ingenuity. The moment I can make him useful I will. To make him known, if that is your wish, I would immediately strain a point." The patronising tone adopted in this note is less observable in the one dated July 17th, 1786, in which Pennant again writes to Allan, " I have bought [subscribed for ?] Mr. Bewick's pretty book of Quadrupeds. As- I am most interested in illustrating my own work with prints, let me beg your interest for some of his. I have some claim on Mr. Bewick, as my works are a con siderable help to him." Various negotiations between Bewick and him appear to have taken place, and the engraver executed at least one block for the celebrated natural his torian. In a letter to Pennant, dated December 31st, 1792, Allan says, " Bewick cut an animal of the dog genus, whereof he sent me an impression. What do you call it ? I see he has advertised a third edition of the Quad rupeds." The reply by Pennant, dated Downing, January 13th, 1793, says, " The animal you mention is the Aye Aye of Madagascar, a species of squirrel.* I rejoice at Bewick's success." In another letter, dated Downing, July 13th, 1798, Pennant further says, ". . . . I enclose this in a cover to the ingenious Mr. Bewick, from whom I was happy in receiving a letter, supposing he was no more. He is a wondrous artist." What a world of difference lies between the promise of 1783 — "the moment I can make him useful I will" — and the perfect note of praise, pro nouncing him " a wondrous artist," little more than fourteen years later. A toilsome journey it had been for Bewick during these years, with difficulties and disagreements to contend with, and many obstacles to overcome. But these fourteen years were not always beset with difficulties. Many a time since the publication of the Fables and the Quadrupeds had he had * The figure is to be found in Pennant's " History of Quadrupeds," the third edition, vol. ii. p. 142. Pennant died Dec. 16th, 1798. Allan died May 18th, 1800. S 2 132 THOMAS BEWICK. cause to be thankful for the honours he received and the influence he had attained. His admirers were numbered by thousands ; his patrons had now no need to beg influential people "to make him known;" his " History of British Birds " (1797) placed the corner-stone in the temple of his fame; and in 1798 he was in the proud position of the most popular artist-engraver of the day. An interesting letter, published in the Newcastle Natural History Society's Transactions, 1878, from John Bewick to Thomas, dated London, June 1 6th, 1790, gives an account of what London people thought of the volume of the Quadrupeds. John says : — " Since I wrote last I have been with my good friend Mr. Sharp, who has shown your work to the famous Mr. Barry, painter, which pleases him so much that he wishes to have a dozen copies more. Mr. Sharp (and several of my friends) wish to know whether they can have the animals printed in a copy without the letterpress with the names only. I could sell a great many in London. I think it would answer your purpose well to do it. I have not a book left, and between twenty and thirty bespoke, so that I wait with the greatest impatience to hear from you. Mr. Ord, of Bradley, hearing the work was in London, and impatient to see it, sent Matthew to me for three copies which I let him have, though I suppose this number has been sent to Bradley for Miss Simpson. I shall have the opportunity, through Mr. Sharp, to introduce your royal paper copy to the first artists in London. The general cry here with people that wish you well is, 'Why does not he come to Town ?'" This is a remarkable letter in several ways. It shows that besides working as an engraver, John also assisted his brother by acting as agent for the sale of his works. It gives the opinion of Barry on the Quadrupeds, and proves how early and rapidly the book made its way among the artists of the metropolis; and it states the general cry of those best able to assist Bewick to have been, " Why does not he come to Town ? " — a cry which the artist must have found some difficulty in answering to the satisfaction of his friends, but which did not move him from his firm resolve not to leave Northumberland. THOMAS BEWICK. i33 The "Annual Review" for 1804 contains an acute critical opinion on the Quadrupeds, which ably sums up the character ofthe work. It says : — " Bewick's particular turn of mind led him to observe and to delineate the form and manners of the animal creation, and he soon found that the yielding consistence of wood is better fitted to express the ease, freedom, and spirit, which ought to characterize portraits of animated beings, than the stubborn surface of a metallic substance ; he accordingly engraved wooden blocks of all the domestic and most of the wild British Quadrupeds, and neglected no opportunity of drawing such foreign animals as were exhibited in the itinerant collections which visited Newcastle-upon- Tyne. These universally show the hand of a master. There is in them a boldness of design, a correctness of outline, an exactness of attitude, and a discrimination of general character, conveying at a first glance a just and lively idea of each different animal, to which nothing in modern times has ever aspired, and which the most eminent old artists have not surpassed. But Mr. Bewick's merits as an artist extend far beyond the simple delineation of the animal ; the landscapes which he sometimes introduces as a background and relief to his principal figures, as well as the greater part of his numerous vignettes, have a similar excellence, and though the parts of which they consist are extremely minute, there is in them a truth to nature, which admits of strictest examination, and will be admired in proportion as they are more attentively observed and better understood." The Greyhound Fox. " The General History of Quadrupeds." T The Woodcock. " The History of British Birds," Vol. II. CHAPTER XV. DOMESTIC LIFE — 1 786 TO 1 797. AKING up the tale of Bewick's life as distinct from his professional career, we recall that he was married in April, 1786. On the 29th ofthe same month in the following year his first daughter was born — Jane, no doubt named after his own mother, who died only a little more than two years previously. Within a few days of another year, on April 26th, 1788, Bewick's heir and only son was born, and was christened Robert Elliot. Of him we shall occasionally have to treat, as he was trained to his father's profession. Though he never attained any distinction in the art of engraving, his assist ance was of much service to his parent, both as an apprentice and a partner ; and after his father's death he carried on the establishment and published two editions of the Birds. The second daughter, Isabella, was born on January 14th, 1790, and entered in the parish register of St. Nicholas as THOMAS BEWICK. i35 baptized on March 26th of the same year. Elizabeth, the fourth and last child, was born on March 7th, 1793. These children all survived their father, and Miss Isabella still (1882) lives in the house No. 19, West Street, Gateshead-on-Tyne, to which the family removed in 181 2. Robert Elliot died on the 27th July, 1849; Elizabeth on April 7th, 1865 ; and Jane on April 7th, 1881, all unmarried. The house at the Forth was the one in which all the children were born and arrived at maturity, and there, after the day's work was done, Bewick returned to share in the pleasures of his ever affectionate family — to comfort the mother in the little household troubles of the day, and help on the welfare of his children by ardent precept and faithful example. In the morning he would set off for busi ness in the town, walking mayhap by Westgate Street and Denton Chare, or through Forth Lane to his workshop in St. Nicholas Churchyard. The former was the nearer though the less pleasant way, while the other was by cheerful gardens and orchards, leading past the Grammar School of old to the shop, immediately behind the ancient church of St. Nicholas, in a house which still remains much as it was then. Its sur roundings, however, now bear more of the impress of a busy city's centre than they did in the early days of Bewick's married life. The accompanying Bewick's Workshop, St. Nicholas Churchyard, Newcastle. 1 36 THOMAS BEWICK. engraving, done nearly fifty years ago by John Jackson, a pupil of the Newcastle engraver, gives a fair idea of what the house was then and is now. It is, indeed, so slightly changed that one can easily fancy Bewick sitting in his little room on the floor above the doorway, ready to receive a visitor if necessary, but busy in the meantime in cutting the block of a bird, a quadruped, or a fable, or thinking out a quaint design for a tail-piece, or perhaps guiding the talent of his apprentice pupils, or writing or dictating to his son or daughter an important business epistle. Although Bewick had a choice of ways for his morning walk to business, it is not to be thought that the distance was a great one ; even at the leisurely pace the artist was wont to employ at such times, he could arrive at the shop in a quarter of an hour after leaving home, and had there been reason to hasten, something under ten minutes would have given him time to cover the ground. Punctuality, however, was one of Bewick's characteristics, and in those good old days, when people were content to take things easily, he was seldom seen in a hurry, but walking quietly along, carrying a silver-headed stick, after the prevailing fashion, and dressed in the knee breeches and buckled gaiters, which showed to so much advantage his stalwart figure. " By general repute" he was " 'a canny man,' respected for his ability and moral worth, but with decidedly a country stamp on his features and attire, reminding the beholder of a better sort of gardener or small farmer." In 1790 Bewick joined " Swarley's Club," which met in a noted public- house in Newcastle, and he spent many happy evenings with the cronies who congregated there regularly. Unfortunately, after the publication of the " History of Quadrupeds," he was obliged to shun it for a time, because the praises it received excited the jealousy of some people in the town. " They raked together and blew up," as he relates, " the embers of envy into a transient blaze ; but the motives by which I was actuated stood out of the reach of its sparks, and they returned into the heap whence they came and fell into the dust." The stories that these unfriendly acquaintances listened to THOMAS BEWICK. 137 were no doubt the accusation — sometimes unjustly made since — that the Quadrupeds was not his original work. Bewick might have remembered that " a prophet is not without honour save in his own country," and from that have taken comfort. The same tale, however, was some years afterwards publicly repeated in the " Monthly Magazine," and Bewick sent an elaborate though almost unnecessary explanation to the same publication, which is referred to in its proper place. In the same year Bewick was greatly grieved by the death of his respected and much-loved teacher, the Rev. Christopher Gregson, of Ovingham. Ever since Bewick was a boy he had looked to him for advice and guidance in many matters. In his Memoir Bewick pays a warm tribute of gratitude to the friend who had been able, at a notable turning-point in his career, to assist in his immediate entry into a position which, all things considered, was the best that could have been obtained by the young artist. In the summer of 1791 Bewick went to Wycliffe to make drawings for the first part of the " British Birds," and while he was there his wife took the children to the seaside. In a letter, quoted elsewhere, published in the 1878 Newcastle Natural History Society's Transactions, dated August 8th of that year, Bewick asks his wife to be careful, when she returns to the house at the Forth, to see that the beds are free from damp. Little Robert had been ill, and Bewick expresses the utmost anxiety for his health, and hopes the change will have done him good. In the education of his children Bewick adhered to the honoured maxim to train them " in the way they should go," and some of his written observations display the importance he attached to this duty. " They ought to be taught," he said, " that all they can do while they sojourn in this world is to live honourably, and to take every care that the soul shall return to the Being who gave it, as pure, unpolluted, and spotless as possible, and that there can be no happiness in this life unless they hold converse with God." His children well repaid all the care bestowed on their training. Never were members of a 138 THOMAS BEWICK. family more affectionately attached to their father and each other. The venera tion and esteem manifested for Bewick by his daughters have increased as years have proceeded, and there does not exist a warmer attachment between daughter and parent than at the present day, fifty-four years after the part ing, is still cherished by the survivor of the household for her dearly beloved father, Thomas Bewick. Bewick had also vigorous ideas as to the training of boys; how they should be allowed freedom " to fish, to wade, and to splash " in the waters of country rivulets; "to scamper about amongst whins and heather" on the moors, and not harassed with education before their minds are fit for it. In these theories Bewick had evidently been thinking of the advantages of his own childhood. He was brought up in the country, ran about half wild, possessed a strong flow of spirits, and was in every way the opposite of the early matured Lilliputian plants whose nurture he so forcibly condemns. Writing of the rearing of girls, he exposes the follies of tight lacing and the following of the dictates of fashion in all its absurdities, and goes on to hint what he thinks a favourable occupation for ladies. As it is one not yet taken up by the fair sex, his words may be quoted. " There is one thing," he says, " to which I would draw their attention, and that is Horticulture. And connected with this I would recommend them, as far as con venient, to become Florists, as this delightful and healthy employment— which has long been in the hands of men— would entice them into the open air, stimulate them to exertion, and draw them away from their sedentary mode of life, mewed up in close rooms, where they are confined like nuns. This would contribute greatly to their amusement and exhilarate their spirits. Every sensible man should encourage the fair sex to follow this pursuit." The actions of the British Government after the outbreak of the French Revolution called forth Bewick's strongest condemnation, and the position of public affairs weighed so strongly on his mind that in 1794 he seriously thought of removing his home to America. He was completely cast down THOMAS BEWICK. 139 by the gloomy aspect of political matters in England, and hoped in the land of the " incomparable Washington " to find laws and liberties more to his taste. In a letter dated October 4th, 1794, given in the appendix of his Memoir, he thanks his correspondent (now unknown) for the opinion sent on America, and proceeds : — " Before I get the Birds done, I have no doubt of matters being brought to such a crisis as will enable me to see clearly what course to steer. My fears are not at what you think will happen in America : it is my own much-loved country that I fear will be involved in the anarchy you speak of ; for I think there is not virtue enough left in the country gentlemen to prevent it. I cannot hope for anything good from the violent on either side ; that can only be expected from (I hope) the great majority of moderate men stepping manfully forward to check the despotism ofthe one party and the licentiousness of the other. A reform of abuses, in my opinion, is wanted, and I wish that could be done with justice and moderation ; but it is because I do not hope or expect that will take place in the way I wish it that makes me bend my mind towards America." This proposal of emigrating in the will-o'-the-wispian chase of sounder political government appears to have sunk out of Bewick's calculations. As affairs at home began to bear a more hopeful aspect, nothing is heard about what perhaps was only written in the flush of political strife, and without due consideration of all the results attendant on the carrying out of such a scheme. From the letter quoted, and from the general tone of his remarks on the Government, it is evident that Bewick was an intense Liberal in politics, though far from being what is now called Radical. He believed in universal education, in simplifying parliamentary elections, and in freedom for pisca torial pursuits. The principle of Land Bills is contained in his belief that "as an act of justice due to the industrious farmer, he ought, on entering upon his lease, to have his farm valued, and, when his lease is out, valued again ; and whatever improvements he may have made, ought to be paid for on his leaving." His remarks on the country with which the British Government has so much trouble read like paragraphs from a newly published journal. t 2 140 THOMAS BEWICK. " The people of Ireland," he says, " ought instantly to be put upon a par in every respect with their fellow-subjects." .... "Landowners in all countries, as well as in Ireland, ought, as far as possible, to spend their rents where they receive them. Where they do not do so, any country is certain to become poor." Should this take place, he thinks there "would then be no need to keep Ireland in subjection, like a conquered country, by an expensive military force." The words written nearly sixty years ago are almost prophetic in the accuracy of their description of the Ireland of 1882. Universal suffrage he protested strongly against, because he says — " I conceive that the ignorant and the wicked ought to be debarred from voting for anything ; they should neither be honoured with privileges nor employed in any office of public trust; a virtual representation is all-sufficient for them. Could matters be so managed," he continues, " that none but sensible, honest men should be allowed to vote, either for members of Parliament, or for any other public function ary, the country would in a short time put on a very improved appearance." For several years after this Bewick's whole existence appears to have been absorbed in the production of his great work, and while he spent at least one evening a week at " Swarley's Club," he worked during the others at the blocks for the Birds. His children, too, were gathering about him, and, like a faithful and affectionate parent, he felt the responsibility of their young lives, and oftemspent hours in conversing with and instructing them. From a vignette in " The History of British Birds. A vignette from " The Chase," by W. Somervile. CHAPTER XVI. JOHN BEWICK. ' I "HIS chapter is devoted entirely to an enumeration of the principal -*- engraved works of Thomas Bewick's brother John. These works are not, like those of the more famous elder brother, of great originality, and it is certainly a moot-point, had Thomas not urged his pupil-brother on, if John Bewick would ever have attained to the position he did. There can be no question, at the same time, that his engravings show much power and ingenuity. Though not so varied in execution as the works of the better- known artist, they possess a charm which is quite distinct from any design in the Quadrupeds or Birds. It is not probable that John Bewick had strength of character and indomitable spirit enough to have carried forward the art of wood engraving in the marvellous manner sustained by his brother. He had neither the requisite patience nor insight into the beauties of nature to produce such exquisite details on the blocks as is discovered on every page 1 42 JOHN BEWICK. of the Birds. Engraving on copper also he very seldom practised, but in designing his powers were almost unrivalled, and, as evidenced in the series of cuts which illustrate Goldsmith's and Parnell' s Poems and Somervile' s " Chase," they possessed potentialities which suggest that if he had been given, or had taken, the means to obtain the training of an artist, and had been taught the manipulation of colours, he would have risen to be a painter of great celebrity. Ill-health, united with an unfortunate unstability of disposition, probably deterred him from studying so much as he should have done. These, combined with being early compelled to trust to his own resources for a livelihood, and possibly with a lack of careful counsel and super vision when he left home, contributed much towards leaving his powers incompletely called forth ; and his comparatively early death cut him off at a period when he had just achieved the most notable success of his life. His elder brother and many of his London friends always spoke in high terms of his ability as a designer. Thomas, years after John's death, is recorded to have expressed his firm conviction that his brother might have attained great distinction, even more than he himself had done, if the hand of death had but spared him for a few years longer. It is not only probable, but very likely, that John Bewick, during his apprentice years in Bewick and Beilby's workshop, helped considerably in the execution of some of the cuts of the "Select Fables" of 1784. As the finishing touches, however, would all be done by Thomas, there are none in the series which completely bear the impress of John's method of work. The cut illustrating the "Brother and Sister" Fable on p. 172 of the original volume and p. 80 of this, or the "Butterfly and Boy" on p. 239 of the 1784 edition and p. 1 7 here, possess in the figures something of the style adopted by John Bewick in later years. This style is not by any means so artistic or long- satisfying as that of Thomas ; it is dry and apt to be monotonous. Yet John's JOHN BEWICK. 143 designs were, as a rule, so excellent that the method of production may easily be overlooked. John Bewick made a drawing of the house at Cherryburn in 1781, and commenced to engrave it, but left it unfinished. It was many years afterwards completed by Thomas. A few early impressions were taken from the block, which show variation in the height of the tree in front of the cottage, and also in the foliage at the corner where is written " Drawn by John Bewick, 1781." The cut was employed for the frontispiece of Bewick's Memoir, but the general result is not altogether satisfactory. After John Bewick had remained about five years with his brother, the apprenticeship begun in 1777 was broken off. Thomas relates that John diverged a little from the strict path of duty, and that he was well lectured in consequence ; but the young man — John was now twenty-two — did not care to benefit by the experience of the elder, and declined to be dictated to, as he termed it. These scoldings happening frequently without attaining any satisfactory results, the brothers quarrelled, and finally separated. John took leave of the north, and thinking of the advantages and honours to be gained in far-off London, he turned his face eagerly towards the metropolis, the place which his brother despised, and was glad to make his way out of, but in which the younger trusted to attain distinction. He thought more of having people around him pursuing his own profession than did his brother ; and he believed in being always at the head-quarters of the kingdom, where work was more plentiful, if not always of a better class. London was then what it is now becoming more emphatically every day, the special market place for those who mix in artistic or literary transactions ; and John, no doubt, felt that there he would be able to meet and bargain with publishers who, ii more exacting, commanded a wider constituency than any provincial town, and might thus bring him speedier renown than was to be gained anywhere else. When John Bewick arrived in the metropolis he found plenty of work to do. He was there, his brother mentions, " freed from his former associates; 144 JOHN BEWICK. his conduct was all that could be desired, and he was highly respected and esteemed. He was as industrious in London," Thomas continues, " as he had been with us. He was almost entirely employed by the publishers and book sellers in designing and cutting an endless variety of blocks for them. He was extremely quick at his work, and did it at a very low rate." In a letter dated January 9th, 1788, published in the Transactions of the Newcastle Natural History Society for 1878, Thomas refers to the fact of his brother's working direct for the engravers, and he gives him fraternal counsel as to his greatest failing, that of being impatient with his labour. "lam glad," says Thomas, " to find you have begun on your own bottom,, and I would earnestly recommend you to establish your character by taking uncommon pains with what work you do. I hope it will in the end turn better out than doing it slightly." John certainly took this to heart, and his later works are much more careful than his impetuous early ones, but some of the first cuts he did in London are of the poorest quality, and do much to damage his reputation as a conscientious artist. Before describing the volumes which contain prints the undoubted work of John Bewick when he was resident in London, it may be well to refer to the cuts in a publication which, if done by him at all, must have been executed before he left Newcastle. This is the i2mo edition called " Choice Emblems; or, Riley's Choice Emblems," first issued in 1772 and 1775. In the third edition, published in 1779, there are nineteen new cuts added to the previous forty-six. In Bell's Catalogue of Bewick's Works (1851) these are set down as the work of John Bewick, while Hugo, in the " Bewick Collector," (1866) expresses a doubt of their genuineness. In the first place, it is to be observed that John only began his apprenticeship in 1777, and he remained some years with his brother, so he could not have done them in London, as Bell states. It is just possible, nevertheless, for Bell seldom made a complete mistake, that he wrought them in Newcastle, and they are cer tainly poor enough to be the work of a second year's apprentice. JOHN BEWICK. 145 Amongst the earliest publications issued in London with woodcuts the authentic work of John Bewick are the " Children's Miscellany," 1787 ; the " Honours of the Table," 1788 ; and the 1786, '90, '91, and '92 volumes ofthe " Habitable World Described." The .first contains twenty-nine, said on the title-page to be by " Bewick ; " yet only a few display anything but the most ordinary spirit. Those at pp. 34 and 167 are the best, and greatly resemble the works of John: the Gilpin design, signed "J. Bewick, del' and seul'," has some action, but its correctness is questionable. The " Honours of the Table, with the whole Art of Carving Illustrated by a Variety of Cuts " (the play on the words is obvious), contains illustrations which are little else than diagrams.: the second edition (1791) has an additional block. In 1789 there was published in London a volume containing the first large series of engravings that John carried through, and one of his most important undertakings. This was the " Emblems of Mortality," issued by T. Hodgson, the publisher of the Hieroglyphick Bible, whose office was in George's Court, St. John's Lane, Clerkenwell, close to where John resided. The frontispiece represents a general procession of all ranks proceeding slowly to the grave, each mortal being accompanied by a skeleton ; there are a pope, an emperor, a prince, a canoness, a bishop, and others lower in the spiritual and social scale. This engraving was prepared specially for this edition, as the English publisher found it inexpedient to insert the design in the original, which represented the Godhead in the dress of a pope. The general illus trations are taken from the Latin edition of " Imagines Mortis," Lyons, 1547, with some additional designs from one published in French in 1562. As an introduction, designs representing the Creation, the Fall, and the Curse of Man are first given. Then follow those intended specially to display the mortality of man, with a picture of the Pope : " Soon shall thy office in the place a successor admit." Although the work is scarce in Bewick's editions, the designs have been so often described that it is needless to do so here. They are summed up in the words, " In these small leaves there is a world of u 146 JOHN BEWICK thought, and relations united together with highest mastery." The blocks were done from tracings by John Bewick which are still in existence, and they preserve much of that precise, neatly drawn work for which Holbein is famous. Though Bewick's execution is a little rough, they bear evidence of having been wrought by one who knew well how to handle the graver. Bell, in his Catalogue, states — " The work went through only three editions, the blocks being destroyed by fire in London. The third edition is much inferior to the two first. Charnley, of Newcastle, at a subsequent time, reprinted the title, inserting his own name in lieu of Hodgson's, but retaining the original date. Another edition of this work, with woodcuts resem bling those of Bewick, but much inferior, was published in London at a subsequent period, but has the same number of cuts, and is also of great rarity." The letter from Thomas Bewick to John, previously quoted, dated January gth, 1788, says: — " I am much pleased with the cuts for ' Death's Dance,' and wish much to have the book when it is done. I am surprised that you would undertake to do them for 6s. each. You have been spending your time and grinding out your eyes to little pur pose indeed. I would not have done them for a farthing less than double that sum. I showed them to Mr. Edwards, a very capital and eminent [scene] painter, as well as a very worthy man. He approved much of them, but was surprised when I told him the price you had for them." We cannot wonder, on reading a letter which tells of such hard working for so paltry sums, that John Bewick was not long able to stand the anxiety and toil of London life. Unfortunately, although he worked constantly, he was not able always to give lasting beauty to his blocks. In the same year as the letter just quoted was written, the " New Robinson Crusoe" was issued with thirty- two illustrations, called on the title " beautiful cuts." They are, nevertheless, very badly drawn and most carelessly engraved ; and though more than a dozen are signed, they are altogether discreditable to John Bewick's reputa tion as an engraver. Indeed, unless they had been signed they might easily be supposed to be the work of a vastly inferior artist. JOHN BEWICK. 147 On May ist, 1790, a small volume was published which the author, Dr. Trusler, says "is a proper book to amuse and instruct youth, and the price, viz., 3s. half-bound, will hurt no one." It is called "Proverbs Exem plified and Illustrated by Pictures drawn from Real Life." Dr. Trusler states in his preface that, " having met with an artist (Mr. John Bewick) who knew how to illustrate the follies and vices of mankind better than most men, I have profited by his abilities." The engravings are fifty in number. These exhibit the influence of Holbein's " Dance of Death " over John Bewick's gradually increasing power as a designer and engraver. The best points of the education received from the elder Bewick are also clearly visible, while the designs retain sufficient individuality to be entirely original works. John Bewick was acting on the good advice tendered by his brother in the January 1788 letter; he was taking " uncommon pains " to arrive at excellency, and without doubt he found it " turn better out than doing them slightly." A similar volume to " Proverbs Exemplified" is one that bears no date, and was not published until some time afterwards, perhaps not until 1800 — the " Bewick Collector" says possibly 18 10. It is called " Proverbs in Verse; or, Moral Instructions conveyed in Pictures," with fifty-six blocks by John Bewick. The engravings in this are at least equal in merit to those in "Proverbs Exemplified." At page 13 there is one of three little boys bowing and advancing towards their instructor, which is as clever as anything John Bewick did of the kind. The engraving of " Sic Transit Gloria Mundi," at the end, a funeral procession approaching the church, possesses a solemnity and deep sense of feeling unusual in his work. These two blocks also appear in the " Progress of Man and Society," 1791. Many of the cuts in " Proverbs Exemplified" are repeated here, while in the tail-pieces there are a considerable number of new designs. The " Beauties of Creation," 1790, two volumes, has a large number of signed engravings by John Bewick. They are representa tions of quadrupeds, birds, insects, trees, and flowers, and are interesting specimens of his labour. The " Wallachian Sheep" is signed Lee, and it u 2 148 JOHN BEWICK. is very probable that a number in the work were done by this inferior engraver. In 1 79 1 a most attractive book was published, setting forth the life of man in all ages and pursuits. This — the "Progress of Man and Society" — contains a large number of blocks by John, executed with much felicity ; they commence with representations of man in an infant state, then go on with the amusements and occupations of boys, girls, and men : with man as he is in a state of nature, and civilised, the whole forming one complete story. The " Looking Glass for the Mind," the first edition of which was pub lished in 1792, contained blocks "designed and engraved on wood by John Bewick," to the number of seventy- four. The letterpress is chiefly translated from the French work, "L'Ami des Enfans," by M. Ber- quin. The difference in style between the engraved work of John and Thomas Bewick is at once ap parent in these woodcuts. This lies principally in the manner of using the graver, the inattention to the advantages to be obtained in care fully drawn backgrounds, and the more pronounced use of the full dark and pure light, which by Thomas would have been much more softened and refined. The difference, however, is in style only, for the merit displayed in the prints is unmistakable ; in one sense they surpass the cuts of Thomas, the figures being well drawn, and the faces piquant and beautiful. This was a kind of work the elder never was thoroughly good at, and few of the human figures engraved by him can bear comparison with the little children produced by John. Mrs. Lenox and her children Leonora and Adolphus. "The Looking Glass for the Mind." From the original block engraved by John Bewick. Lent by Messrs. Griffith and Farran. JOHN BEWICK. 149 By permission of Messrs. Griffith and Farran, St. Paul's Churchyard, the successors of Newbery, the original publisher of the work, impressions from the chief blocks are inserted at various places throughout this book. Of those illustrative of the letterpress, the best are " Louisa and the Boy who sold the Birds," at p. 21, and " Mrs. Lenox and her children Leonora and Adolphus," at p. 148. In these the cleverness of the draughtsman and engraver is fully displayed, particularly in the attitudes and the racy expression of the faces in the first mentioned. The others — viz. "Mr. Jackson and his son Junius" (p. 210), "Madam D'Allone admonishing her four, pupils" (p. 150), and the following towards the end: "William and Amelia, and their friend Charlotte," "Bella and the poor stranger Marian," and "Caroline, or a lesson to cure vanity" — have all been chosen as among the best pictures John Bewick en graved for children's books. Ofthe six vignettes, " The Singing Milk maid" (p. 66), and "Feeding the Fowls" (above our Table of Contents), are as dainty and delightful pictures as possibly can be obtained ; they excel anything Thomas Bewick did in human figure engravings. "Till death us do part " (p. 86) possesses a large element of comicality; "Ruminating" (above) is an animal not far short of those in the Quadrupeds, while "The Ford — Left behind" (p. 127), and "Waiting for Death" (p. 245), have been chosen on account of similarity to cuts by Thomas Bewick. The first will be found to be of a corresponding character with "The Ford" (p, 220), taken from Ferguson's Poems, and the other exhibits a sentiment closely allied to the large block of "Waiting for Death." The cut of a gravestone, with the inscription " Firmum in vita nihil," is in the Quadrupeds, and is also like that in the " Pleasing Instructor," *%%t Ruminating. Vignette in the " Looking Glass for the Mind." From the original block engraved by John Bewick. Lent by Messrs. Griffith and Farran. i5<> JOHN BEWICK. 1795, p. xii. The sketch of the Mad Bull is similar to the chase depicted in the background of the Bull in the Quadrupeds, and the tail piece to "Clarissa" of a Cat and Bird bears a striking resemblance to the cancelled cut of the 1776 Fables given on p. 30. A number of the tail-pieces are also printed in the "Beauties of History," published by Newbery in 1796. The Shepherd travelling with a Dog amid wind and rain was shown in the Bewick Exhibition of 1880 as a sepia sketch. About this time John Bewick found it necessary to revisit his native place. Hard work and close confinement had told on his constitution. He appears never to have been so healthy as his brother, and no doubt the anxieties consequent on his not receiving adequate remuneration for his labours helped to keep him from getting so strong as he might have done. He repaired to North umberland, remained breathing the invigorating air of his birth place until he believed he had recovered his health, and returned once more to his labours in the metropolis. Besides his work in London as an engraver, John also acted as an agent for the sale of his brother's books. In one of his letters, dated June 16th, 1790, quoted at page 132, he writes asking to have a number of the Quadrupeds sent by land if Thomas had not an immediate opportunity to send them by sea, and he mentions that he had received orders for between twenty and thirty copies, which could not be fulfilled until his brother sent a fresh supply. In 1793 the first volume of the " Peerage of Great Britain and Ireland," Madam D'Allone admonishing her four pupils. " The Looking Glass for the Mind." From the original block engraved by John Bewick. Lent by Messrs. Griffith and Farran. JOHN BEWICK. 151 by Robert Pollard, appeared. The author, a Northumbrian, was one of the greatest of Thomas Bewick's friends when he spent his short sojourn in London, and friendship also existed between him and John. An announce ment made with the publication of this book promised to issue a volume every six months, to be printed by Bulmer, who afterwards produced the Goldsmith and Parnell, "The Chase," and other fine works; but the sale of this, the first part, being very small, it was resolved to discontinue it. No other volume, therefore, appeared, although the preface states that the subjects for the second had been put into the hands of the respective artists. There are numerous copper-plates in the volume published, but the woodcuts only are by John Bewick. That of Classical Ruins on page 33 is signed ; a very fine cut of a ruin, with carefully drawn trees, is on p. 105 (repeated on p. 136) ; the others are artistically arranged heraldic devices and weapons of warfare. The next year, 1794, E. Newbery published the " Amusing and Instructive Tales for Youth." This work contains thirty-five engravings by John, which — questionably, however — have been pronounced to be " among the highest efforts of his genius." The letterpress was composed by J. H. Wynne, the author of "Riley's Choice Emblems," and it was meant to be a companion book to that work. The prints are of a similar character to those in the "Progress of Man and Society," though they are scarcely so good on the whole. The best-known design in the volume is the one on page 55, a cat prowling along the edge of a river bank watching some fish which pop their heads up out ofthe water, after the manner of Japanese and pre-Raphaelite productions. The figure of the cat is surprisingly clever, and though it is scarcely true that it is the most natural likeness of the animal ever engraved up to that time, as has been said, yet it is, when well printed, an exceedingly fine representation of the stealthy, tiger-like movement the cat sometimes makes. In April, 1 794, William Bulmer, an intimate friend of the Bewicks, who had become successful as a publisher in London, issued a circular to the following effect : — 152 JOHN BEWICK. " Shakespeare Printing Office, Cleveland Row, St. James's. W. Bulmer having long intended to execute a work at the Shakespeare Press that should at once combine the various beauties of printing, type-founding, engraving on wood, and paper- making, as well with a view to ascertain the near approach to perfection which these had attained in this country as to invite a fair competition with the best typo graphic productions of other nations, he is now happy to inform the public that he has finally completed his arrangements." These arrangements were made with a view to publish the volume, issued in 1795, °f poems by Goldsmith and Parnell, and the publishers promised that " The volume, to render it in every respect curious and valuable, will be enriched with twelve engravings on wood from the most interesting passages of the poems by Thomas Bewick, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, and John Bewick, of London, some of which are of a large size, the whole forming the most extraordinary effort of the art of engraving on wood that has ever been produced." This volume, and that of Somervile's poem " The Chase," issued the following year, contain the finest of all the cuts designed by John Bewick. Few of them, however, were engraved by him. Though not mentioned in the publisher's notice just quoted,' there were also other artists who aided in the designing and engraving of the illustra tions. Thomas Bewick's pupil, Robert Johnson, assisted, and his cousin, John Johnson, drew the Hermit, here printed on p. 161. Charlton Nesbit engraved the four vignettes for the "Traveller " and the " Deserted Village," two of which are given on pp. 48 and 54 ; and R. Westall drew the large design of the Traveller. John Bewick engraved the important block ofthe "Sad Historian" on page 79. This is distinguishable from his brother's work by the lack of life and natural growth in the foliage, and by the strong contrasts made by the introduction of pure high lights and deep dark shadows. The drawing of the figure is fine, however, and the details of the foreground are carefully wrought out. The other cuts engraved by John are those on the title-pages JOHN BEWICK. i53 of the two subdivisions of the volume: on the title to Goldsmith's Poems, a ruined memorial stone, on which can be deciphered the words, " Oliver Gold smith, 16 Apr. 1774 JE 45 years;" and the cut on the "Hermit" title, a decayed monument, presumably to the honour of the writer. A characteristic ~VX^§X iiifc The Hermit, Angel, and Guide. Drawn by R. Johnson. Engraved by T. Bewick. From Poems by Goldsmith and Parnell. piece of John Bewick's work is seen in the carefully drawn, half-rotten tree, placed sharp and clear against a dense mass of foliage, producing an effect which is pretty, but unnatural. x 154 JOHN BEWICK. The blocks engraved by Thomas Bewick are " The Departure " (see p. 53), "The Traveller," "The Hermit, Angel, and Guide" (p. 153), and "The Hermit at his Morning Devotions " (p. 161). The engraving of the two latter is particularly skilful, the large masses of foliage freely drawn, yet careful, and withal perfectly natural. In a volume which was shown in the Bewick Exhibition, 1880, there are some extracts from letters written by Bulmer to Thomas Bewick, which are interesting as being the instructions the engraver received from the publisher. Of " The Departure " Bulmer says : — " Give as much character to the faces as you possibly can ; and suppose you make the foreground rather coarser than you generally do, in order to form the stronger contrast with the finer finishing of the block." Of " The Traveller " he writes : — " Mr. Westall, you will see, has drawn an outline to this painting which will assist you much. Be very particular in finishing the block, and above all things preserve the characteristic sentiment of the face which so happily accords with the language of the poet. Without this the whole force of the drawing will be lost. The shrub, too, must be exactly copied. Omit the R. W. at the corner." Of " The Hermit, Angel, and Guide" Bulmer further says : — " Give the Hermit more of age and feebleness, and keep the landscape part gloomy, rugged, and dangerous. The drowning man to remain as it is Let the drapery of the Angel seem floating and free, and the face delicate and sweetly interesting." These remarks show how capable Bulmer was to direct what should be done to assist the engraver in the translation of the drawings to the wooden block. He had a proper notion also what was the right sentiment that should animate the engraver when at work, and the last sentence quoted gives, in a few words, a complete idea of what the poet had written, and to what it was best the engraver should direct his attention. The volume which is frequently coupled with the Goldsmith and Parnell is JOHN BEWICK. 155 that of " The Chase," a poem by William Somervile. It was published by Bulmer in 1796, and containing, like the Poems, work both by Thomas and John Bewick, is as interesting a volume for the Bewick collector as can be desired. On the title-page is a cut of a Sportsman and four pointers waiting to commence the pursuits of the day. The address or preface which follows, written by Bulmer, and dated May 20th, 1796, gives an account of his dealing with John Bewick, and being written in a sympathetic strain, again makes manifest the appreciative employer he was to the delicate young artist. It proceeds : — " Unfortunately for his friends and the admirers of the art of en graving on wood, I have the painful task of announcing the death of my early acquaintance and friend, the younger Mr. Bewick. He died at Ovingham, on the banks of the Tyne, in December last of a pulmonary complaint. Previously, how ever, to his departure from London for the place of his nativity, he had prepared and indeed finished on wood the whole of the designs except one which embellish the Chase ; they may therefore literally be considered as the last efforts of this ingenious and much to be lamented artist." The engraving of the blocks drawn by John was executed by Thomas Bewick. Bulmer sent word to him to take up the work unfortunately left unfinished by his brother, and in a letter dated December 10th, 1795, Bulmer asks him to make " a bold effort to finish them in the specified time." This letter, given in the Memoir, goes on to say that " the whole number is only twelve blocks, besides the vignette for the title. Many of the tail-pieces are small. I wish fine execution in them, I confess, but yet there must be that happy mixture of engraving in them that will at the same time produce a bold ness of effect." Bulmer also says in the address that Thomas, in executing the engravings, had bestowed every possible care on them, and the beautiful effect produced from the joint labours of the brothers would, he had no doubt, meet with approbation. Thomas was, besides his usual carefulness, most likely to be actuated by a desire to produce engravings of the very highest quality for the sake of the brother he had taught and laboured to make a true artist, x 2 156 JOHN BEWICK. and after the Birds and Quadrupeds there are few finer specimens of his engraving than in " The Chase." The work begins with an essay on Somervile and a preface by the author, and then Book I. of the poem commences. The frontispiece to this is an incident after the chase, when the spoils of the day — a dead stag and a hare — with various implements of hunting, lie at the foot of an oak-tree, two pointers keeping watch over them. To the poem itself there is a head-piece, where on the banks of a river a huntsman is whipping up his hounds ; at the end is a tail-piece of several Beagles which lie waiting underneath a thickly foliaged tree, the effect of the various coloured dogs being greatly heightened by the dark background. On the title to Book II. a stag drinks at a well, a very graceful beautiful animal, powerfully drawn and charmingly engraved; the head-piece to the letterpress being a hunter dismounted, and amidst a throng of hounds holding up a fine hare. The composition is well managed, except that the trunk of the tree is placed in the centre of the design, while in the engraving the foreground is so black as almost to appear unfinished. The tail-piece to this Book is the death of a Tiger, the chase of which is described in the poem. The ferocity and rage of the royal brute fairly overpowered by his enemies are ably depicted. The cut on the title of the Third Book shows a Lion's head and skin and hunting material. The head-piece is a fox hunt, one of the most spirited of all John Bewick's works. The hounds chase the fox very closely, and poor Reynard is seen in the foreground fleeing like lightning from his pursuers. The chase seems actually to move along, and the dash and vigour of the impetuous animals are splendidly accurate. The tail-piece represents King George III. at a chase in Windsor Park ; and wit nessing the misery of the hunted stag, he rebukes the "disappointed hungry pack" in the manner mentioned in the poem. The King is nearest 'the spectator, but he wants life, and appears somewhat inanely riding amidst his courtiers. The trumpeter sounds the close of the chase, while the poor wearied stag labours up an incline in the background. Farther off the JOHN BEWICK. *57 King's carriage awaits his Majesty to take him to Windsor Castle, seen in the distance. The subject of this block probably explains why King George III. took such a deep interest in the manner in which it was executed, as mentioned in the " Treatise on Wood Engraving." It there says that the King " thought so highly of the cuts that he could not believe that they were engraved on wood, and his bookseller, Mr. George Nicol, obtained for his Majesty a sight of the blocks in order that he might be convinced of the fact by his own inspection." Perhaps, however, as Chatto says, the King George III. hunting. From " The Chase," by W. Somervile. merely desired to see the blocks, as he was unacquainted with the difference between wood and copper-plate engraving. The fourth title cut is a Tiger's skin and head, with Eastern weapons for the hunting-field. The head-piece shows an Otter in the foreground in the act of devouring a magnificent salmon he has just caught. In the distance, and half hidden from the otter by a projecting rock, some hunters with their dogs wait a favourable moment to begin the chase of the unconscious animal. The tail-piece shows the death of another otter caught beside its native waters. In almost every case the engravings in "The Chase" have been carefully and beautifully 158 JOHN BEWICK. printed, and there can scarcely be any difficulty in the collector procuring a volume with good impressions. The volumes issued in 1795 °f a collection of all the Ancient Poems, Songs, and Ballads relating to Robin Hood was illustrated by fifty-eight engravings by Thomas and John Bewick. The first, a Forester relating his tale to a friend, is signed " T. B.," and is not unlike the work in the Quad rupeds. The tail-pieces appear to be by Thomas, while John's work is apparent in the cut of Robin Hood and the Beggar, Robin Hood and Little John, and Robin Hood's Death and Burial. In Bewick's Memoir a letter from Ritson, the compiler of the Robin Hood Songs, gives a glimpse into the transactions of the time when the book was being prepared. Dating from Gray's Inn, Ritson says he was " sorry he was gOne out when Mr. Bewick called; but hopes he will proceed with the other cuts, which shall be left entirely to his own fancy, and in which he will undoubtedly consult his own reputation." * The " Blossoms of Morality," by the Editor of the " Looking Glass for the Mind," London, 1796, is scarcely so clever as the " Looking Glass." Here and there the prints are nearly equal in merit, but others are far below. Newbery, the publisher, in the preface expresses the obligation he was under to John Bewick for the illustrations, and says, " Much time has elapsed since the commencement of this edition owing to a severe indisposition with which the artist was long afflicted, and which unfortunately terminated in his death. And sorry, very sorry are we to be compelled to state that this is the last effort of his incomparable genius." The following letter, in the possession of Mr. C. J. Pocock, dated from Crouch End, March 9th, 1795, 1S apparently in answer to one written either by Newbery about the " Blossoms of Morality," or by Bulmer respecting " The * In the appendix to Bewick's Memoir there are three blocks printed which are stated to have been engraved for Ritson's work by John Bewick ; while proofs of the same blocks in the British Museum collection have Thomas Bewick's name attached to them. They do not, however, appear in the 1795 edition, the reprint of 1832, nor in the 1820 edition of the Poems : the cuts in the last, it may be mentioned, are not by Bewick. JOHN BEWICK. 159 Chase " or " Les Fabliaux." When it is borne in mind that the " Blossoms " was completely finished, while " The Chase " and " Les Fabliaux" were not at the time of John Bewick's death, it is more probable that the letter was written concerning one of the latter : which, it is difficult to say, as the manu script bears no address. " Gentlemen, — I received yours and shall be very happy to undertake your job, if you can allow a sufficient time to do them, but as I am not acquainted with the subjects, nor the size of the cuts, or whether or not the designs are to be made therefrom, cannot pretend to fix a time when they can be done. I could not begin upon them immediately, but I think in the course of a couple of months shall be able to finish a job in hand. If that time can be made convenient to you, shall be happy to serve you, and am " Your very humble servant, Jno. Bewick." "Les Fabliaux," or Tales abridged from French manuscripts, Bulmer, 1796, contain twenty-five cuts in the first volume, none of which can be said to be very fine. These cuts were partly executed by John when he was residing at Cherryburn in the year in which he died, and are among the last works he executed. After his death a few were completed by Thomas, who also did those in the second volume, which appeared in 1800. These illustrations, when contrasted with the Birds, or the Goldsmith and Parnell Poems, are found to be greatly inferior, the large ones being especially poor. In the first volume the foliage of the tail-pieces deserves at the same time some commendation, and the vignette of armour beside a tree on p. 142 is unusually fine. In the second volume the "Road to Paradise" is carefully drawn, and the " Griseldis" cut has foliage very like that in the Goldsmith and Parnell. The chief works of John Bewick have now been described ; a few were finished by his brother soon after his death, and various editions of the more popular were published later, but nearly all appeared during his lifetime. Their list is not so long in proportion to the time he lived as his elder 1 60 JOHN BE WICK. brother's, but only those actually executed by him have been noted, while in the case of Thomas the cuts done in his shop by apprentices, and probably only finished by the master, as well as those wholly executed by his own hand, have to be enumerated. After residing some time in London on returning from Northumberland, John again fell into ill-health, and was once more compelled to flee from the atmosphere which agreed so badly with him, and again he sought recreation in the North. Soon he seems to be restored, and once more returned to London, this time not altogether to his former close confining labour, but also to try teaching drawing as a means of livelihood. He obtained a situation at Hornsey Academy, and daily rode there from his work-office. This arrange ment lasted until, as Thomas says — "His health began to decline and he finally left London in the summer of 1795, and returned yet once more to the banks of the Tyne. Here he intended to follow the wood engraving for his London friends, and particularly for Wm. Bulmer, for whom he was engaged to execute a number of blocks for ' The Fabliaux,' or ' Tales from Le Grand,' and for Somervile's ' Chase.' Many of the former he had, I believe, finished in London, and had sketched others on the blocks which he finished at Cherryburn. He had also sketched the designs on the blocks for the ' Chase,' and to them I put the finishing hand after his decease." John Bewick died on December 5th, 1795, and was buried beside his father and mother, in the place where, thirty-three years after, his brother Thomas was to be laid, in the family burial-ground at Ovingham. He was nearly thirty-six years old when he succumbed to the disease which had so long affected him. The " Gentleman's Magazine," in mentioning his death, said, " The works of this young artist will be held in estimation, and the engravings to Somervile's ' Chase' will be a monument of fame of more celebrity than marble can bestow." Bulmer, his last and loving friend, mourned his death as something above an ordinary loss, and wrote to Thomas testifying how much the news had disturbed him. "He was a young man," he said, JOHN BEWICK. 161 " whose private virtues and prdfessional talents I equally admired ; so much so, indeed, that, as a grateful tribute to his memory, I have clothed myself in mourning. His death has affected me in a manner that has much depressed my spirits." Thomas was also greatly grieved at his brother's early death ; and, as he affectionately says in his Memoir, he put up a stone to his memory on the west wall of Ovingham Church, just above the family graves, " where I hope when my glass is run out to be laid down beside him." The inscrip tion thereon is brief, but in its few words it comprehends the character of John Bewick's life, which' is summed up in the words, " His Ingenuity as an Artist was excelled only by his Conduct as a Man." The Hermit at his Morning Devotions. Drawn by John Johnson. Engraved by T. Bewick. From Poems by Goldsmith and Pamell. Thomas Bewick. Engraved by his pupil, John Jackson. CHAPTER XVII. PREPARATION FOR THE HISTORY OF BRITISH LAND BIRDS ; MINOR WORKS FROM 1 79 1 TO 1804. WHILE Thomas Bewick was busy preparing and publishing the second and third editions of the Quadrupeds his thoughts turned to another project in which it had long been his ambition to succeed. From his good fortune with the Quadrupeds he rightly judged that he had a fair chance of producing another book, which, while there was a promise of profit, the undertaking was one full of highest pleasures for the artist; of difficulties THOMAS BEWICK 163 also to be attacked and delightfully overcome by the designer; and of mechanical and artistic triumphs for the engraver. This was the celebrated " History of British Land and Water Birds," the first volume of which was issued in 1797, and the second in 1804. Bewick in 1791, the year in which he actively commenced preparations for the publication, was in the very prime of life. At thirty-eight his early ideas and schemes had matured; and his experience had become greatly enlarged while preparing for and issuing the volume on Quadrupeds. Besides this, the long practice in engraving endowed his hand with a superior cunning to what it had before possessed. The time, there fore, was favourable to begin another important work, and however much we may be pleased with the History of Quadrupeds, we cannot but acknow ledge that the History of British Birds very far surpasses it. Bewick's opportunities were also better. Not only had he the advantage of prolonged experience, but his fame had so increased that, when the public heard of the project, he had no difficulty in finding ample material wherewith to make his illustrations. Mr. Constable, who had inherited the Wycliffe Museum from Tunstall, invited him to visit, inspect, and draw from the objects in his collection. Friends wrote offering him all sorts of help in the way of description and anecdotes, and many sent him rare and fine specimens of birds newly shot. These, accompanied with his determination to draw only from nature, and his having diligently studied the standard works of Natural History of the day, combined with his skill in the artistic representation of birds, as well as the keen insight into human life shown in the vignettes, make the volumes of the British Birds Bewick's greatest and most lasting achievement. The Natural History written by Thomas Pennant had been published, and Bewick was greatly indebted to him for the method pursued in the compilation of the Birds, but to Pennant's arrangement he did not strictly adhere. Buffon's plates also supplied him with much knowledge of the y 2 1 64 THOMAS BEWICK. forms of birds with which he was not fully acquainted, and White's History of Selborne, he says, pleased him exceedingly. To these and several other books Bewick acknowledges his indebtedness.* It is scarcely necessary to say that had he depended entirely on the knowledge thus acquired he would never have produced works of permanent fame. It was his truthfulness to nature, his ability to grasp whatever was most near the actual fact, his unaffectedness and sincerity, that made him the celebrated artist he became. These, as Mr. F. G. Stephens says, in his Notes on Bewick, "produced a mode of art which is manifestly so great in respect to style that, from the little cuts in the Fables, which were the works of his youth, to the Birds, hardly one is not a treasure of grave yet graceful, dignified yet homely and elegant design." On July 1 6th, 1791, as recorded in his own writings, Bewick started from Newcastle on a visit to Wycliffe. For two complete months he worked among the stuffed specimens in the museum there, making careful drawings — many, if not most, in water colours — of the birds he wanted after wards to engrave for the proposed publication. These drawings are now the property of the British nation, and are exhibited in the British Museum. One of his letters written while there tells how hard he wrought, and how anxious he was for the welfare of his wife — " My Bell," as he fondly called her — and for the health of his children, more particularly Robert, who had been taken to the seaside to strengthen his constitution. " If, upon my return," he says, " I find him recovered, I think I shall be frantic with joy. Indeed, if, upon my return, I find you all well, I shall look upon my fire- * 1° 1744 tnere was published at Salop a book in two volumes called " Ornithologia Nova, or a New General History of Birds." This contains 350 wood engravings equal, and in many cases superior, to those in the "Three Hundred Animals." The weak parts ofthe drawings are the claws, they being invariably made too large and clumsy. The Flamingo, the Reeve, the Kingfisher, the Heron, and several of the Parrots, Wrens, and Bullfinches possess considerable excellence. There are a number of tail-pieces, but they are chiefly ornamental. Other editions are dated Birmingham, 1743, and London, 1745. THOMAS BEWICK. 165 side at the Forth like a little heaven. I hope I shall, when I return, but I think it will be about three weeks yet before I have that pleasure. I have plenty of work before me to keep me closely employed a much longer time ; but I am tired out already and wish it was over. I have dulled myself with sticking to it so closely. In short, I lose no time in order to get through with the business. . . . Tell Jane and Robert that if they behave well I will let them see a vast of little pictures of Birds when I come home, and I hope my little Bell will be able to say more than dadda when I see her again." And he signs himself, " My Bell's loving husband." Having completed his mission at Wycliffe, Bewick set off on foot again for Newcastle, and on his arrival at home at once commenced engraving the drawings he had been employed with. " But," he says in his Memoir, " I had not been long thus engaged till I found the very great difference between preserved specimens and those from nature ; no regard having been paid, at that time, to fix the former in their proper attitudes, nor to place the different series of the feathers so as to fall properly upon each other. It had always given me a great deal of trouble to get at the markings of the dis hevelled plumage ; and, when done with every pains I never felt satisfied with them. I was on this account driven to wait for birds newly shot, or brought to me alive, and in the intervals employed my time in designing and engraving tail-pieces, or vignettes." For over two months, therefore, Bewick had laboured almost entirely in vain. The only good he got by his residence at Wycliffe was a more thorough knowledge of the colours of the various birds ; and also, no doubt, the studies he made of the heads and claws would be afterwards found useful. Through having to wait for specimens from which he could make drawings true to natural form, many delays took place in the preparation of the volume, and nothing was publicly announced for some years. As to the time Bewick took to execute individual blocks of the Birds, it is mentioned by Atkinson that he was sometimes able to finish one in a day, or sometimes in a few hours, when the foliage was slight, or when there was none at all ; but, as he seldom wrought a complete day at a block, it would have been difficult even for him to say exactly how long an engraving would have taken him if he had kept right on without attending to other work. 1 66 THOMAS BEWICK. About six weeks after his return from Wycliffe, Bewick sent one or two presents to his friends there, in token of the kindness with which he had been treated. The following characteristic and interesting letter was sent at the same time, for the use of which the author has to thank the Rev. Mr. Buckley, of Middleton Cheney ; it is addressed to " Mr. Jno. Goundry Wycliffe (with a small parcel p. favour of Mr. G. Cosh)," and is dated from Newcastle, 28th October, 1791 : — " Friend John, — A hurry of Business, since my arrival in Newcastle, has long prevented me from writing to you, but I cou'd not resist the present opportunity of sending you these few lines by Mr. G. Cosh who is so obliging as to take the trouble of delivering them to you — he has also taken a letter from me to Mr. Collier. I have herewith sent you a stamp for marking your linen, which please to accept off as a trifle sent in remembrance of your civility during our short acquaintance at Wycliffe — Be so obliging as to give your Father the Razor herewith sent, with my best wishes and kindest respects to him — I cou'd think of nothing else to send him and whether it may be a good one or a bad one I cannot tell but it will never be sharp enough to cut the thread of friendship that I have for him — I was really grieved when I bid him farewell, and I am now affraid it will be the last time of my ever seeing him again, as I find all things are to be sold at Wycliffe — I wish I had stayed a while longer as I did not get my business completed. I was in hopes of seeing you all again in the ensuing spring if the Library and the Museum had not been disposed off — but I have not now any hopes of having that pleasure — I am now very busily employ'd in cutting the Birds from the drawings which I made while I was with you — I cou'd soon have them all done if I was not taken off with other Jobs — Give my best respects to your Bro1; & Sister at the Mill, your Bro^ & Sister Copeland & all enquiring friends — Compt! to Ml Jn? Porter & Wife — and when you write to me, which I hope you will do at your leisure, inform me how your father is in health, also your Nephew Tommy, he seems rather tender — any news or particulars from Wycliffe will always be interesting to me — the remembrance of every thing that passed at Wycliffe is as clearly before me as if I was now looking at it. I can imagine that I hear Robin singing in the Mill, old John Baylis riding upon the Poakes & poor old Kitty Wycliffe talking about Clocks and Sun Dials, &c. — I am, friend John, Yours, &c, Thomas Bewick. — P.S. I have not yet forgot your works of diff.' colour'd wax but have not been able yet to get them." * * This letter was in a copy of Bewick's Quadrupeds, Second Edition, 1791, in the original binding, having on the fly-leaf the following inscription by Bewick, in an oval, very beautifully written : — The Gift of Thomas Bewick to John Goundry, 179 1. THOMAS BEWICK 167 What may be termed the minor works executed by Thomas Bewick from 1 79 1 to 1804 are neither of large number nor of great interest. The engraver's mind and hands were so much occupied with preparations for the Birds, and with the two new editions of the Quadrupeds, that he could undertake only a very little more labour than these publications required.* The first to be mentioned are the figures of Quadrupeds in the periodical published at Edinburgh called "The Bee." From 1791 until 1794 a number of cuts appeared there which had been engraved with the highest skill ; they are mostly copies from the illustrations in the Quadrupeds, but from the perfection of the workmanship they may fairly be taken as Bewick's own work. It is only in minute points that they differ from the engravings undoubtedly by the master hand. In 1791 also commenced the publication of the engravings of the heads of the Kings of England, which were used to illustrate Goldsmith's Abridgement of the History of England. This work was printed in many editions down to 1820. There were also a series of large heads done by Bewick for Mozley's Gainsborough edition of the same work. These heads are not by any means favourable specimens of Bewick's skill; they are in numerous instances ill-drawn, characterless, and loosely engraved. For many years various cuts appeared in the Northumberland news papers. Though not all executed by Bewick, they were in several instances his work, while others were probably done in his shop under his superin tendence. In advertisements of coursing meetings a figure of a pointer was employed ; for letting a residence, a house ; and for the notice of a death, a coffin-lid grimly, headed the lines. A figure of Fame — an angel flying and sounding a trumpet — was used ; and a very well-executed Anchor and Key formed the design employed by a hardware merchant. Others were * At this time Charlton Nesbit was an apprentice of Bewick's, he having joined in 1 789, when he was fourteen years of age. Shortly after the expiration of his apprenticeship he executed a large engraving (15 by 12 inches) of St. Nicholas, Newcastle, for which he received a medal from the Society of Arts. Many of his engravings were from designs by Thurston : his work, though very careful, lacks the genius of the master, yet he was considered one of the best of Bewick's pupils. His cuts for Northcote's Fables are amongst his best, and are reckoned by Chatto to rank with the finer productions of the art of wood engraving of his time. He died November nth, 1838. 1 68 THOMAS BEWICK. fashionable linen-drapery surrounded with floral decorations ; an eye for an oculist's sign ; a set of three feathers in one newspaper and a sign in another for an upholsterer ; a suspended sheep for a woollen -draper ; a naked foot for a chiropodist ; and a horse and jockey for a stallion advertisement. About 1 794 Bewick did a remarkably beautiful block for Graham, printer, of Alnwick ; the foliage much richer and varied than usual, an impression being given on the opposite page. The copper-plates done for the Society of Cord- wainers and the " Hebbern Main " colliery are excellent ; the sheaf of wheat and anchor for the Cheap Flour Society also contains some careful work. Of this, Garret, in the "Bewick Collector," says : — " In 1795, when corn and flour were so dear in Newcastle, a very respectable society was founded by the gentry to supply the poor with bread. They got Bewick to engrave this beautiful cut for their manifestoes." In 1 795 Beilby and Bewick were employed to engrave plans of a canal, which it was proposed to make from Newcastle to Carlisle. Bewick, in his Memoir, says of this project, " My partner and self were busily engaged in engraving the plan After a great deal of scheming and manoeuvring, the whole of this great, this important national as well as local undertaking was baffled and set aside." Bewick was engaged to labour for the opposing parties, yet he heartily sympathized with the project, and regretted the failure of the negotiations. The reason of this failure was not far to seek; the coal owners " below bridge " fancied the undertaking might hurt their trade, and, as Bewick says, "private interest was found to over power public good." THOMAS BEWICK. 169 In 1796 the block done for the Newcastle Royal Exchange Fire Assurance Office, being a view of the Exchange building, appears as an advertise ment, and also one of a Phcenix. Bewick also did a small distant view of Newcastle with rocks and luxurious foliage, employed to embellish a ball ticket. In 1797* he executed a book plate for Thomas Bell, it too being a distant view of the city, and in the foreground an ancient oak-tree with an ornamented oval having " T. Bell, 1797" on it, and the full name underneath in script. The Custom House was done for Harrison, tea dealer, and an important cut, with appropriate designs, for Ed. Wilson, spirit merchant. Three little book plates, executed for the Hewitsons, of Newcastle, are beautiful and rare specimens of Bewick's engraving. One is of a pool over which hang a rock and a tree ; in the dis tance are a coach and pair ap proaching a milestone ; on the rock is the date April 24th, 1800, and on the trunk of the tree "Jane Hewitson." Another of similar subject, with a cottage, is not so carefully executed, and appears later in date ; on the rock is W. C. Hewitson. The other was Henry Hewitson, cut with the initials amidst foliage. About 1 799 Bewick engraved a block 7 by 3^ inches, which was never used, of a four-horse waggon descending a hill, which Atkinson mentions was done for a carrier in Leeds, who objected to the price when it was sent to him, and returned it. In its passage to or from Leeds the block was injured, which irritated Bewick considerably. * 1797. Luke Clennell was apprenticed to Bewick on April 8th. Having applied himself with diligence to the business, he was soon able to assist his employer very much, and it is even maintained by Chatto that he engraved many ofthe tail-pieces for the second volume of the Birds. In 1809 his beautiful cut of the Diploma of the Highland Society gained the gold medal of the Society of Arts. Clennell had also some reputation as a painter. In 181 7 he became suddenly insane, and though he lingered on until 1840, he was never able to do any more engraving. Z 170 THOMAS BEWICK. Amongst numerous other designs executed for private people was one in memory of Solomon Hodgson, Bewick's printer, who died on April 4th, 1800. It is a tombstone with Hodgson's name and date of decease, placed in a rural churchyard, and was used, as well as elsewhere, in Bell's Catalogue, 1 85 1. Another was made for Gregson and Bullen, upholsterers, of Liverpool — an oak-tree with distant view, with various implements used in the trade, signed with Bewick's initials in the usual monogram. Bells and Hedley's Ewe and Sucking Lamb, signed " T. Bewick, sculp4.," is an interesting copper plate of about this date, and the one of Laidler the "Taylor," also signed, shows a frequent design of Bewick, being the royal arms with the merchant's name in script. The Lifeboat, with Tynemouth in the distance, given on a subsequent page, was employed for broadsides in connection with the Northumberland Lifeboat.. A similar design was published in the "Select Fables" of 1820, but smaller, and a larger and different rendering of the same subject in the "Monthly Magazine," vol. xiii. 1802. l!ll|IMlt.,..,,ilMlll(! The Boy and the Wolf. Hewlett's " Spelling Book.' J. Hewlett's " Introduction to Reading and Spelling," published in various editions at the end of the century, contains a number of Fable blocks by Bewick, some of which are signed. Three of them are given in this volume — the Dog under the Manger, page 87 ; the Old Man and his Ass, page 201 ; and the Boy and the Wolf, printed above. Although inferior to the engrav ings in the " Select Fables," they have a certain character which gives them the stamp of originality. Relph's Poems, published January ist, 1798, is chiefly remarkable for the foliage cuts by Bewick; Bulmer's "Julia, or Last Follies," 1798, contains two excellent engravings ; and the "(Economist" of the same year has a fine figure THOMAS BEWICK. 171 typical of Liberty. The " Literary Miscellany," or, as Bewick calls it in his Memoir, " Elegant Selections from various Authors," was published in parts in and about 1799, each part containing one or two unimportant blocks by Bewick. " Recreations in Agriculture," by Anderson, who conducted " The Bee," was published in London as a periodical, commencing 1799, and in it there are several engravings after Bewick, and one signed by him, a view of St. Machar Cathedral, Aberdeen. This is a very poor production ; the per spective is faulty, and the foliage about the worst Bewick ever attached his name to — if indeed he actually engraved the block. In 1800 the first edition of the "Charms of Literature," in Prose and Poetry, was published in Newcastle, having eight woodcuts in each volume ; the best being Wolkmar and his wife, Harley' s visit to Bedlam, and Louisa Venoni. In 1801 Nicholson of Poughnill published the " Elegiac, Shaw's Monody, &c," containing a clever block illustrating the " Elegy on my dying Ass Peter," engraved by Bewick, the turn of the ass's head being amusingly expressive, while the knee-breeched man is a very well-drawn figure. " Morn ing's Amusement," by Mrs. Mathews, is a beautiful little York book, illus trated with a number of Fable cuts. " Anecdotes of the Clairville Family" is a similar publication, and, as will be gathered from our list at the end, there are a number of York publications which are almost all illustrated with engravings executed for Fables, many of them of the greatest beauty. " A Short Treatise on that Useful Invention called the Sportsman's Friend," by H. U. Reay, was published in June, 1801. The invention is 1 shown in an etching by Bewick to be simply a peg to which was attached a rope for the horse's bridle, and the peg driven into the ground. This plate is signed, but possesses little artistic merit. The other two illustrations are woodcuts, also full octavo pages, and much better than the frontispiece etching. The Bay Pony is as fine a Quadruped as Bewick ever drew. The landscape behind was probably a recollection of some Highland scene, and possesses considerable variety, with church, cottage, mountain, and loch. z 2 172 THOMAS BEWICK. Another point in the design is a cow drinking in a pool, magnificently brought out by its contrast with the dark pony and the tinted rocks behind. " The Beauties of Modern Literature," Richmond, 1802, contains a well- finished title cut. "Rural Tales, Ballads, and Songs," by R. Bloomfield, Vernor and Hood, 1802, contains a number of vignettes, but none bear the impress of Bewick's work, nor of having been engraved in his workshop. Of Bloomfield's " Farmer's Boy," published in twelve editions, from 1800 to 181 1, and so persistently sold by booksellers and auctioneers as containing Bewick's work, it is enough to look carefully at the prints to ascertain that they are not by Bewick. Some indeed are signed "Nesbit." No book of a similar kind is more often retailed as a genuine Bewick than this, the mistake probably arising from the British Museum Catalogue, which classes it as the great engraver's work. Fisher's "Spring Day," 1803, has four blocks, the chief attractions of which are the foliage and landscapes. The Flowering Hawthorn and the Man Deranged are particularly fine. Besides those mentioned there were a number of works published during these years containing engravings by Bewick ; the more important are noticed, and the reader is referred to our list at the end for the titles of the others. Bewick relates, in his writings, that when he was occupied in engraving the figures ofthe second volume of the Birds, as well as writing the letterpress for the same, he was also executing plates for various banks to be employed in printing their notes. In 1798 he did one for the Carlisle Bank, and of this he furnishes the following account : — " It happened, one evening, that whilst I was in company with George Losh, Esq., who was in some way connected with the Carlisle Bank, he asked me if I could engrave a bank note that could not be easily forged. In reply I told him I thought I could. ' Then,' said he, ' do it immediately ; ' and I lost no time in beginning upon it My object was to make the device look like a wood-cut ; and in this, though a first attempt, I succeeded ; and the number of impressions were sent to Carlisle." This copper-plate was for a note of One Pound ; it had the arms of Carlisle THOMAS BEWICK. 173 surrounded by a floral design. The Berwick Bank Note for One Guinea and the Five Pounds of the same, issued shortly afterwards, have some very superior engraving. In 1799 one of Bewick's bank notes was shown to George III., " who greatly admired and approved of it ;" and in 1801 an official of the Bank of England wrote respecting its execution, asking various questions as to how it had been engraved. Bewick states he was strongly advised not to give the information ; but he did not take this advice, and " after a deal of trouble in writing to them," he was cavalierly told that though such a plate "would do well for country banks, it would not do for the great number wanted for the Bank of England." The plates which Bewick engraved for the Berwick Bank were made so as to prevent further forgeries in pen and ink ; and similar work was put on the Northumberland Bank plates (signed " Bewick "), for One and Five Pounds. This was a combination of plate and wood engraving, the script being done on the copper, and a neat little view executed on wood, and probably printed after wards. At this time there was great controversy in Parliament and throughout the country respecting forgeries of bank notes, and the punishments connected therewith. But although Bewick's ingenious device of employing both wood and copper engraving rendered imitation very difficult, he did not reap any benefit from his labours. This was a sore point with Bewick, and, as will be seen further on, cost him much trouble and anxiety. In 1802 he did a plate for the Dumfries Banking Company for One Guinea. The figure of Hope with which it was decorated fitly symbolized the feelings of the bank's creditors. Bewick for his work received three of the notes signed, but on presentation it was found that the bank had stopped payment.* In 1799 Bewick executed four large wood engravings of animals for Gilbert Pidcock, the owner of a travelling menagerie. They were representa- * The "Scottish Banking Magazine," in "A History of Banking in Scotland," refers to "a wretched attempt at Dumfries, where James Grace, with the assistance of his son and another partner, started the Dumfries Commercial Bank in 1804, only to succumb four years later with a deficiency of 10s. per pound." 174 THOMAS BEWICK. tions of an elephant, a lion, a zebra, and a tiger, and are now rarely met with. Before the blocks were handed to Pidcock there were printed 250 of the elephant, 200 of the tiger, and 150 each of the zebra and the lion. These were also re-engraved subsequently, probably as exercises by his more advanced apprentices, either Temple or Nicholson, receiving general supervision, and most likely a few finishing touches, by Bewick. The Elephant here reproduced has been copied from a very rare impres sion on India paper in the possession of Professor Corfield. It is one of the second series of the cuts, and is reversed from Bewick's first block. It is given as a contrast to the Chillingham Bull, which, from the richness of the foliage and the border, makes a far more successful print. It is to be observed that the block was engraved almost entirely without cross-hatching, the little that is done being with the white line, and not, as most modern engravers would execute it, with the black. For a young engraver no better lesson could be found than to copy this in fac-simile. The Tiger and Zebra were also done twice ; the first Tiger without any background ; the Zebra with very little foreground, the second of the same having some plants. The Lion was afterwards three times engraved : the original has its head to the right and its tail elevated, glaring furiously at some supposed object in the foreground ; the second was similar, but reversed ; the third was commenced by Harvey and finished by the master, the head to the right, the appearance of hair being rather unsatisfactory ; the fourth has the head also to the right, and some foliage is introduced : of it only a very few were printed. One of each of these was published in 1 800, by Pidcock, in a second edition of notes on his animals, where the engravings are said to have been executed by Bewick. In this the Elephant looks to right (being the one repro duced) ; the Tiger to the left ; the Zebra to the left ; and the Lion to the right. Hugo, in the "Bewick Collector," gives other details of these large blocks. ^Esop. From the original wood block executed by Bewick for Mozley, Gainsborough, about 1808, for an edition of Croxall's " Fables." Lent by Mr. Mozley, Derby. CHAPTER XVIII. NEW EDITIONS OF THE HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS, 1 79 1 TO 1804. r I "HE sale of the first edition of the Quadrupeds being immediate and ¦*- continuous, Bewick published the second edition in the following year (1791). There was a great improvement in the illustrations in this ; many large gaps were filled, and important additions made both in the figures of the animals and in the tail-pieces. The majority of the purely insipid cuts which found places in the 1790 edition were dispensed with, the impressions of the cuts do not show any signs of wearing, while the whole having been revised with the experience gained through the first edition, the 1791 176 THOMAS BEWICK. work is generally more desirable than the previous publication. There were 1,500 copies printed on demy 8vo paper, for which the partners found it advisable to charge 9s. in place of the 8s. for the same size of the first edition, and 300 on royal 8vo, sold, like the 1790 copies, at 12s. The pages were increased to 483, with 212 figures and 108 vignettes, several of the latter being repeated. The profits of this edition are stated by Bell to have been ^342 5s. nd. The first addition to the second edition is the Arabian Horse. The next are the Long-horned or Lancashire Breed and the Kyloe Ox. The latter animal is the same as that represented in Bewick's large copper- plate issued in 1790; it is executed with the greatest vigour and beauty. The characteristic Polar Bear is new, replacing the weak one of the first edition. Three new cuts are added among the dogs, the first being the Ban Dog, another remarkable example of Bewick's skill, the variety of tones and the manipulation of texture displaying everything that wood engraving can legitimately attain. The greyness of the Irish Greyhound is conveyed by dexterous use of delicate shade, while the third, of the Turnspit, is not nearly so clever, being stiff and ungraceful. The block of the Spotted Cavy at page 346 replaces a very poor one in the 1790 edition. The other new engravings are the Long-tailed Squirrel, the Short-eared and Long-eared Bats, and the Roussette. Various changes are also made in the titles of the figures. The vignettes added in the second edition of the Quadrupeds are in some instances very noteworthy. The first new one is the Old Coachman and the Young Squire, in which the young gentleman rides importantly along on a little pony, followed by an ill-favoured servant on a very high horse. One of the finest and most touching designs Bewick ever drew is " The Hungry Ewe" — fac-similed at p. 16 — vainly trying to get food in a snow- covered country and beside a desolated house. Her little lamb kneels on the snow as it endeavours to obtain sustenance from the source to which nature prompts it to apply, but which, alas ! is empty. It is said, in " The Treatise THOMAS BEWICK. 177 on Wood Engraving" (page 487), "Though the subject be simple, yet the sentiment which it displays is the genuine offspring of true genius. Near to a ruined cottage, while all around is covered with snow, a lean and hungry- ewe is seen nibbling at an old broom, while her young and weakly lamb is sucking her milkless teats. Such a picture of animal want — conceived with so much feeling, and so well expressed — has perhaps never been represented by any artist except Bewick." A boy waving his hat as he courses along on the back of a goat is new, and at pages 121 .and 357 (it being repeated) is a vignette of an old man carrying his young wife and child across a stream. The cut ofthe old soldier at pages 127 and 386 is new. The poor man has travelled far, and has still far to go, the milestone he is just passing marks eleven miles one way and fifteen the other, a blinding storm of wind and sleet blows in his face, his garments are in tatters, his feet appear through his worn shoes, and he gazes wistfully for his destination, which as yet does not appear. Life has evidently been a thorny path for him, and his present journey seems to be only one of many troubles he has had to encounter. Another print shows three tinker's children in a pair of panniers on an ass's back. The time is winter, and one ofthe children's faces bears signs of feeling the chilly atmosphere. The donkey tries to get something eatable out of some faggots, and in the distance a couple of cottages and a haystack are seen, the chimney sending up a thick smoke, telling of big fires inside to keep out the cold. Although the block at page 419 is quite out of place in being among the apes, it is allowed to be one of Bewick's best works. A nurse left in charge of a babe has, in the blandishments of her lover, forgotten her duty, and while she is engaged with her wooer the child has toddled over the field to where a young unbroken colt has been grazing, and pulling the hairs of its long tail, has roused in it a wrath which causes it to lift its heel, and possibly to kick if further provoked. The mother from the house has suddenly noticed the danger to which her child is exposed, and in an agony of fear leaps down the stile from her garden to rescue the innocent babe. This is said A A 178 THOMAS BEWICK. to have been an incident that happened in Bewick's own family at Cherry burn. The second edition of 1,800 having sold as rapidly as the 1,600 copies of the first, Bewick made arrangements to print a third, which was published in 1792. This was almost a reprint of the previous year's volume; no animals were added, but five new tail-piece vignettes were inserted, and the whole of them rearranged, and blocks repeated in the other edition were now only printed once. The new tail-pieces are a Tiger waiting to spring on an Antelope, which is seen running along half suspicious that danger is near (page 192) ; Ruins of an Ancient Castle (page 236) ; an Eagle with a hare preparing to make a meal of it, though the victim is rather unconcerned in the matter (page 344) ; a Weasel and bird (page 357) ; and a boy dragging a toy cart in which a playmate is seated. In the letterpress there was a note added at page 392, containing information regarding a new use of mole-skins in the manufacture of hats. The number of copies, price, and size were the same as in the second edition. Bewick was now deeply engaged with the publication of the Birds, and not employing himself with another edition of the Quadrupeds for some time, the fourth did not appear until February 22nd, 1800, nearly three years after the issue of the first volume of the Birds. This edition was more scientific than any of the three earlier ones ; to the vulgar names of the animals the Linna^an and Buffonian were added ; and the work appeared more ambitious, though it is doubtful if all the changes were improvements. An innovation was made in the size of the copies, as 230 were issued in imperial 8vo, and uniform with the largest paper of the Birds, the price being a guinea; and there were 300 royal 8vo at 15s., and 100 on demy 8vo at half-a-guinea. The publication of this gave rise to some misunderstandings between those concerned in the returns, and it was decided that Bewick, Beilby, and Hodgson should each have a third part of the edition, and sell it as best he might. Beilby had retired from the publishing business, and he sold his portion THOMAS BEWICK. 179 to John Bell, bookseller, Newcastle, whose name appears on part of the edition in the title-page. Beilby subsequently sold his interest in the copyright of the volume to Bewick, it being after this that the quarrel arose between the engraver and the widow of Hodgson, as detailed in Chapter XXI. The blocks added in the fourth edition are — The Old English Road Horse, the Improved Cart Horse, the Heath Ram, the Cheviot Ram, the Tees Water Breed (of Sheep), the Improved Breed (of Sheep), the Sow of the Improved Breed, and the Chinese Sow ; and the Spotted Hyena replaces a former poor cut. Several additional vignettes appear in the fourth edition ; namely, the farmyard in winter, with a man and dog labouring through the snow, page 34 ; two cows standing in a pool at page 37, also used in the Birds with the addi tion ofthe hawk; a lame man looking at a direction-post, page 171 ; a crow and frog on rock at page 173 ; and the fox and the fowls at page 455. The vignettes are actually fewer in number than in the third edition because of the omission of several of the ornamental cuts, which the book was better with out. The "Addenda" contain two cuts of rare animals sent to the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle — the Wombach and an unnamed amphibious animal (the Ornithorhynchus) — both very poor engravings. In 1804 an American edition ofthe " History of Quadrupeds " was issued. In it no thanks are given to Bewick, nor is there any further acknowledg ment than appears on the title-page, which reads as follows: — "A General History of Quadrupeds. The figures engraved on wood, chiefly copied from the original of Thomas Bewick by A. Anderson. First American edition with an appendix containing some American animals not hitherto described. New York, printed for G. and R. Waite, No. 64, Maiden Lane, 1804." Anderson was an extensive copier of the Bewicks' works, and engraved those in the "Looking Glass for the Mind" and other books. These publications are pure piracies. Bewick's name does certainly appear on the title, though that was probably done to make the book sell better. Occasionally the letterpress is altered to suit the different circumstances a a 2 i8o THOMAS BEWICK. of the publication, as where in the " Addenda " to Bewick's volume it is said, "We are favoured by the Literary and Philosophical Institution with the figures," and in Anderson's is changed to "the figures and description were sent to the Literary and Philosophical Institution, Newcastle." The English edition of 1800 was followed by the American publishers ; the pages are a little smaller, but the blocks are almost identical in size, the American work having 531 pages, and the English 525. The figures are all reversed, that, of course, being easier than drawing them the contrary way on the block ; the designs are faithfully copied, but the workmanship is very decidedly inferior. Several are fair copies, and one or two are nearly equal to Bewick's; but the majority are stamped with the lack of genius, and form a sufficient answer to those who maintain that Bewick as an engraver did nothing which could not be easily and successfully imitated. The few cuts of American animals are the Hamster of Georgia, an amphibious animal (no name given), the Viviparous Shark of Long Island, the Wild Sheep of California, and the Mammoth of New York. All these illustrations are of the most ordinary class, and form a sorry comment on the education received from copying the engravings of Bewick. Ihe Cole Titmouse. " The History of British Birds," Vol. I. The Willow Wren. " The History of British Birds," Vol. I. CHAPTER XIX. "THE HISTORY OF BRITISH BIRDS," VOL. I. 1797- (LAND BIRDS.) TN the arrangement of the volumes of the "History of British Birds" -*¦ Bewick acted differently and more discreetly than with the Quadrupeds. It was his intention at one time to make a General History of the bird creation, after the style of that of the four-footed animals.* But this would have had a much wider area than the Quadrupeds, and if there were difficulties found in obtaining specimens of these, that embarrass ment was greatly increased with the birds. It is also to be observed that a History of British Birds comprehends a more varied scheme than any History of British Quadrupeds can do, and by pressing into service every feathered visitant to these islands, Bewick was able to fill two volumes * The preface to the Engravings of the Land Birds, published separately in 1800, says, with reference to the fourteen foreign birds which are added there, that they " were originally intended for a General History of Birds, but the design, comprehending a work of too great magnitude, was laid aside." 182 THOMAS BEWICK. of equal size with the volume on four-footed animals. Moreover, Bewick was aware that "his talents were best displayed when employed on representations of such subjects as he was able to see alive;" and it is distinctly observable throughout the Quadrupeds that the figures not drawn from life are far inferior to those taken from nature. For these reasons, therefore, Bewick arranged to have a work which required the illustrations to be drawn from the feathered flocks of Britain only. Taken as a whole, the "History of British Birds " is a greater work than the " History of Quadrupeds." There are few, if any, failures, and when the artist-engraver had obtained special opportunities for studying the living birds, the figures have all the spirit and character of the animated original. Of these, and in the majority of the landscape backgrounds, the engraving is well-nigh perfect, resulting in effects which no other style of art can more appropriately convey. In the representations of the feathered coverings it is quite unsurpassed, and in the marvellously dexterous employment of the graver unsurpassable. At the same time it is entirely different from any other method of engraving, being, in fact, the art of wood engraving in its most pure, healthy, and proper condition. The entire form of the work — thanks for this in the Land Birds as much to Beilby as to Bewick — is also more carefully thought out than in the earlier compilation, and it is more concise and correct as well as clearer in the letterpress. It is not, however, in the mere arrangement, or even in the engraving, that the Quadrupeds is excelled. It is also in the gallery of tail-pieces scattered profusely throughout the volume; the stories of humanity told in a few square inches, the satires on life conveyed with unfailing certainty and with no apparent exertion, and the beauties of nature exhibited in the little landscapes. Success of the supremest quality is also displayed in the figures of the Birds, which, without exaggeration, are the most faithful to life that have ever been executed. Beautiful illustrations have since been published, and more thoroughly scientific arrangements other natural historians have THOMAS BEWICK. 183 employed ; but no one has given us the true living bird, as has been done in these volumes by Thomas Bewick. The work was divided into two great parts, Land Birds and Water Birds. The latter was not published until 1804; but the first volume, being the Land Birds, appeared on October 7th, 1797. The edition consisted of 24 copies on imperial 8vo paper at 21s., 850 each on thick and thin royal 8vo at 15s. and 13s., and 1,000 on demy 8vo at 10s. 6d. each.* The Introduction is headed by the famous design of the English farm yard, a representative engraving, being a foretaste of what the reader may expect in the pages following, and well fitted to preface a work on British Birds. The Table of Contents is headed by a print of a heavily laden pedlar, with many miles yet to travel ; and at the end of the same is a figure said to be Bewick himself when on his travels in Scotland. It is not possible to name each bird or vignette separately, as a large volume could be filled with details of the inexhaustible merits of the designs. It will be sufficient to point to any interesting matter in connection with them. " In order to recognise one of Bewick's Birds, the naturalist is not compelled, however rapidly, to go over the inventory of his characteristics — to compare the greater or less coverts, the quills primary or secondary — to glance at the contents of his tail, or ascertain the length, breadth, or thickness of his bill. The bird, whether rich or rare, is before him, and he recognises it as he would the living original. In the best of Bewick's landscape sketches, much of the same wonderful precision is unquestionably to be found. It is difficult to study them attentively and not arrive at the conclusion that many of them are literal transcripts of that which existed, altogether or in part." t The first figure represents the Golden Eagle, a beautiful engraving, giving all the characteristics of the magnificent bird at a glance ; the work " leaps to the eye," a complete representation of the king of birds. The Sea Eagle, * Except when otherwise stated, the numbers of copies printed are taken from Bell's Catalogue, 1 85 1 . f "The British Quarterly Review," vol. ii. 1845, p. 569. 1 84 THOMAS BEWICK. like a few others (notably the Magpie and the Blackbird) was slightly altered by Bewick ; in most copies it has the words, " Wycliffe, 1 791," at the foot, but the early impressions are without them, while all after the first edition (including the 1798 edition) are so marked. The Goshawk is a charming engraving, correctly drawn, carefully tinted, and full of animation. The Sparrow-hawk is almost as fine, the featheryness of the plumage being particularly beautiful. The exquisite and noble series of the Owls, in which every one is a perfect study, are specimens of the highest class of Bewick's engravings. The White Owl was done from a water-colour drawing by Bewick which bears the inscription, " Mr. Wm. Hawke; shot 17th March, 1792 ; " and this block and the Tawny Owl show the greatest skill that any worker with the graver has yet attained. The arrangement of the work differs at this place from that of Pennant, and, by placing the Shrike after the Owls, the lines laid down by Buffon are observed. The cleverly engraved vignette following represents a miller, who, having loyally made himself drunk on the old king's birthday, is sleeping off the effects under a bush. The numerals which make this inference fair do not, however, appear in the original water-colour sketch. Amongst birds of the Pie kind the Hooded Crow is particularly excellent from the ashen colour of the feathers. After the Jackdaw there is a lovely tail-piece of two cows standing in shade in a pool on a hot summer day. This forms a complete picture, possessing all the elements necessary for a large painting. In the same cut in mid-air " we have most intelligibly depicted the futile attempts of a hawk to make his escape from the buffetings of two tyrannical crows ; the magpies, like school-boys, only being there to see the fun." The Magpie engraving presents a fine contrast of tones in its various shades of black and white. This is a block which was more than once altered during the various editions. In the first state it has a double-branched decayed stick conspicuously in the foreground, as shown in the reproduction at p. 242. In the 1798 edition— with the date 1797, THOMAS BEWICK. 185 and having the word "engravera" on the title-page — one of the branches disappears, and in all the later editions the black mass is transformed into a beautiful piece of foreground work. In the background an ill-fed horse is breathing its last — " Waiting for Death." The Red-Legged Crow is placed in the foreground of a landscape very like that round Tynemouth Castle; it is a fine and true representation, but " the crow, as a crow, fails to impress the world with his dignity, because, compared with the utter nigritude of the raven's plumage, his feathers are a little 'seedy,' weather-beaten, and dimmed; he always looks a little ' out at elbows,' and reminds one of our hired mutes at a ' respect able' funeral."* The Snow-man vignette is a scene at Cherryburn, the little boy on the stool being meant for Bewick himself. The boys have nearly finished their large snow figure, but how the head was placed so high by the small urchins is difficult to understand; their joy and pride at beholding their work are unmistakable, however, and they are quite happy, though chilled "to the bone" by the severe frost. The vignette of the Runaway Horse is a satirical comment on the practice of long lingering at taverns by last-century drivers. The children amusing themselves in the empty cart have startled the horse, which rushes off more and more frightened by the screams of the terrified children. A boy tumbles out at the back of the cart, the driver hurries from the tavern, while a woman adds to the confusion by shrieking her loudest, This design was also employed on Sunday School broadsheets to exemplify the evil effects of children's rashness and disobedience. The vignette of a Blind Man standing in a street patiently fiddling away while no passengers are within eye or ear shot is excellent. The dog seems to be quite aware of the humour of the proceeding, and sits with a superior sort of consciousness, as if it thoroughly enjoyed the position. The Black Ouzel, or Blackbird, has * From F. G. Stephens's "Notes," 1881. B B l86 THOMAS BEWICK. a pleasant view of Cherryburn in the background. The bill of the bird was several times re-engraved. The tail-piece "Pensioners," two horses standing in a downpour of rain on a miserable evening, is a well-engraved block, one which Mr. Ruskin, in his St. George's Museum copy of the Birds, says has "highest possible quality — an amazing achievement in engraving, and for feeling of melancholy in rain."* The Field Fare which follows is one of the finer of the series, and the Cuckoo is a charming and splendid engraving, in which the bird literally lives. The tail -piece styled " The End of Evil Men " represents a demon who, having caught a coal merchant, is preparing to suspend him from gallows under which the coal cart has been driven. The frightened looks of the man and the horse's horror-stricken appearance, together with the evident satisfaction of the demon, are admirably rendered. Bewick designed this cut in order to frighten a coal dealer who had cheated him, and the idea so impressed the dealer that he "confessed his guilt and on his knees implored pardon." At the end of the notes on the Grosbeak another demon smokes a pipe, while in the distance a man is suspended from a gibbet, the demon being of opinion that he has done a good day's work. The Bullfinch is a pretty print, and treated differently from those immediately preceding it, as it has no background ; the figure from this loses something in delicacy in the feathery look of the wings and breast, but it gains in beauty of line. The Yellow Bunting is one of the finest, and was considered by Bewick as the most beautiful of all his bird engravings. That it is among the best there cannot be any question, but that it is the very best is doubtful ; yet the delicacy in the feathers could not be surpassed, and by a subtilty quite unexplainable the yellow colour of the bird seems to be present in the woodcut. The tail-piece called "The Poachers" represents a snow-clad landscape, * It may interest some to know that this copy of Bewick's work — being in the Sheffield Museum solely for educational purposes— has the vignettes at pp. 42, 47, 254, 285, and 317 cut entirely away. THOMAS BEWICK. 187 over which a man and dog pursue a hare, whose flight is intercepted by a man appearing at a hedge at the farther end of the field. The hare leaves marks of its tracks in the snow, which the dog follows, as shown in the fac-simile here given. Of this Mr. Ruskin, in his St. George's annotated copy, says, " Quite glorious in all intellectual and executive qualities. Seen, thought, and done, to the uttermost, so far as the subject had anything in it to see, think, or do, and as his means went." The House Sparrow is treated in the letterpress at some length, though the engraving fails to convey the ordinary colour ofthe bird. "The Howdy," a tail-piece at p. 157, represents a man hurrying off a midwife, his horse's The Poachers. From a vignette in " The History of British Birds," Vol. I. head and half of the background being covered with a leaf engraved as if it were laid on after the drawing had been finished. Bewick said the design was intended to convey that this person's work was one that should be concealed from view. The snow landscape, a tail-piece reproduced at p. 10, is one of the finest little sketches in the collection, and the original drawing possesses very remarkable breadth and beauty. The Skylark is usually printed in an admirable grey tone, greatly enhancing the engraving. The tail-piece to the Nightingale is an old man pondering over the inscription, " Vanitas Vanitatum omnia Vanitas," on a tombstone in a ruined churchyard. A b b 2 1 88 THOMAS BEWICK. thoughtless and happy boy runs after his hoop, like an ideal mortal pursuing pleasure, while the aged stands thinking over all that has come and gone. The Willow Wren, reproduced on p. 181, is a pretty engraving, the varieties of tint and beauty of line making it very attractive. The Greater Titmouse, a foreshortened delineation of the happy and active little bird, was drawn, no doubt, from the pet in Bewick's own home. The Cole Titmouse, given in fac-simile on page 180, is also a dainty representation. Of the Gallinaceous Birds we have a brilliant example in the Domestic Cock. It "is such a masterpiece of style that if it had been carved by a Greek in marble it could hardly have been finer." * The varied tints of the feathers in the tail contribute greatly to the grandeur of the engraving; feather rises above feather in regular gradation, and every detail is minute and true. It is somewhat curious that, although the subject is well and even gracefully described in the text, there is no engraving of a sitting hen, the "lively emblem of the most affectionate solicitude and attention." It is, however, noticeable that Bewick seldom engraved the female of any of his animals. The Pheasant is another statuesque production ; the long line of its back elegantly curved, and every detail brought out with great power. A fac-simile of it is given on page 47. On the details and condition of the vignette on page 285 of the Birds depend the rarity and value of the volume. Not that the engraving itself indicates intrinsically any superiority, but it is a well-established fact that on the publication of the first volume in 1797, Bewick found many objections raised to the grossness of this tail-piece. He therefore, after the issue of the twenty- four on imperial paper, and probably a few of the thick royal, inked over the cut so as to obliterate, or at least apologize for, the rudeness of the design. In many instances the ink has so dried in that the complete design may be observed through it, and in unscrupulous dealers' hands the cut has sometimes been cleaned so as to endeavour to cause it to be taken for an * From F. G. Stephens's "Notes," 1881, THOMAS BEWICK. 189 uninked impression. This, however, can never be so entirely done as to deceive a careful observer. In the 1805 and later editions the design is materially altered, and the most indelicate part taken away, and all are therefore without the ink stain. The fine block of the Turkey, given in fac-simile on page 9, like the Pheasant, the Cock, and the succeeding design of the Peacock, is carefully drawn and powerfully executed ; the delicate colouring of the head and neck being simply wonderful, while the dark-tinted foreground helps to give effect to the half-tints of the rest of the design. The Peacock is one of the largest of the blocks. The details are marvellously minute, while the engraving is delicate, though there is scarcely enough aerial perspective shown in the background. The deep tone of the head and breast, with their fine flowing lines, makes this cut at once commanding and pleasing. The Pintado seems in the design to be much larger than it is in reality. It appears nevertheless, from the following interesting note, given by Hugo in his " Collector," to have been drawn from life : — " Bewick drew this bird from a living specimen at Elswick Hall, near Newcastle. Accompanied by his daughter Jane, then a child, he made the sketch whilst out walking between five and six o'clock on a fine summer morning. The gate of the yard being fast, he had to climb over the wall to obtain an entrance, and has represented this incident in the background to the cut. Though very minute, the resemblance to himself ofthe figure on the wall is quite perfect." * The Partridge given on the next page is from a copy by John Jackson. This is a cut which may be looked on as one of those more peculiarly characteristic of Bewick. The form is perfect, the position easy, and the down and feathers as downy and feathery as nature itself. The Quail is a remarkable little gem, delightfully varied in light and shade. The Plovers, though usually placed among the water birds, are inserted here because the editors " cannot help considering the greater part of * The note is signed R. Robinson. i go THOMAS BEWICK. them as partaking entirely of the nature of land birds." One of the tail-pieces depicts a man reaping — a composition which, from the openness of the view and the variety of the country represented, is very favourable to a much larger size of picture. The Dotterel shows the cheery, contented, yet self- conscious animal in its best features. The Ring Dotterel is another bird which is decidedly aware of its consequence, and it is succeeded by the last engraving in the volume, that of a feather, executed from a marvellously minute water-colour drawing made by Bewick. The last page of the first The Partridge. " The History of British Birds," Vol. I. volume of the third edition of the Birds has frequently an advertisement of the Quadrupeds, and sometimes it is a blank. In 1798, no doubt because the sale proved large, a further impression of the volume was printed, consisting of 207 in imperial 8vo, 669 in royal 8vo, and 750 in demy 8vo.* Though printed and published a year after the 1797 edition, they bear the date 1797, and do not carry any words on the title- page to show that they are later. They may, however, easily be distinguished from the first by a slight difference in the title and in the preface, as well as * These were advertised in the Newcastle Chronicle for August 25th, 1798, as follows:—" ' History of Birds.' The public is respectfully informed that a few copies of this work are just printed on a wove imperial paper at one guinea each. Super Royal 18s., Fine Thick Royal 15s., Royal 13s., Demy 10s. 6d. Printed for R. Beilby and T. Bewick, and sold by them and all booksellers." A similar advertisement appeared in the London Morning Herald of October 10th, 1798 : in this the figures are said to have been " engraved by J. Bewick." THOMAS BEWICK. 191 by other minor changes throughout the text. The engravings are the same in both issues. The 1797 edition bears on title, " The figures engraved on wood by T. Bewick," while the 1798 says, "The figures engrave??," etc. In the first also the price appears thus: "(Price \l. is. in boards)," in the other it is "one guinea." The 1798 preface has a line less on the first page than the other, and the words " and necessary," on p. 4, line 5, are deleted, making an improvement in the composition. The other differences in the text * show that the two impressions were not taken from the same setting of types. That the latter was printed before 1804, and not printed then to sell with the second volume, is proved by the advertisement at the end, which announces the fourth edition of the " Qua drupeds " as "In the press and speedily will be published;" the fourth edition appearing in 1800. This advertisement also marks these copies as being later than 1797, from the fact that the earlier ones have (when there is an advertisement at all), "Lately was published the third edition ofthe 'History of Quadrupeds.' " It may also be useful to note that the first volumes of the Birds, which bear the date 1804, are simply second (1805) editions with a different title-page. This with many collectors constitutes another edition, and makes, with the usually acknowledged eight editions and the 1798 impression, ten different editions ofthe first volume. In 1800 the figures and tailpieces of the Land Birds volume and fourteen foreign birds were printed without letterpress in demy 8vo, and 500 impres sions were issued at 12s. each. This was done, as stated in a short preface, " in compliance with the wishes of many of the editors' friends, who were desirous of possessing good impressions of the British Birds, unaccompanied with the descriptive part;" but nevertheless the sale of the copies was far from satisfactory, and many of them were destroyed. A very few of the engravings ofthe Water Birds were also printed in 1804. * Differences will be found at the following pages, as well as in others : 14, 20, 31, 52, 81, 95, 108, 120, 130, 148, 162, 183, 216, 223, 251, 273, 292, 316, and 335. The Mute Swan. " The History of British Birds," Vol. II. CHAPTER XX. "THE HISTORY OF BRITISH BIRDS," VOL. II. 1804. (WATER BIRDS.) THE second volume of the " History of British Birds," being the Water Birds, did not appear until August, 1804, or nearly seven years after the publication of the volume on Land Birds. As mentioned in the suc ceeding chapter, Beilby and Bewick dissolved partnership as from January ist, 1798, and thus the latter was left to pursue or abandon his scheme for the publication of a complete history of the British feathered creation. Bewick wisely decided to proceed, and while the exercise of having both to design the figures and write the descriptions told severely on him, yet he steadily persevered, and though he published it so many years after the issue of the other part of the work, it sold quite as readily as the first volume. THOMAS BEWICK 193 So soon as Bewick's friends heard that he was proceeding with the Water Birds he received — as in the case of the first volume — many presents of specimens from which to make drawings. He also acknowledges in the preface to have received literary help from the Vicar of Bedlington, the Rev. Henry Cotes. After Bewick had written his observations on the birds, Mr. Cotes carefully revised the composition, and in some instances, it is said, also made considerable additions to it. Bewick, as we are aware, was able to write remarkably well, but he knew his training had never been specially directed to this employment, and doubtless he was sufficiently engaged with his engraving to prevent him thoroughly thinking out the descriptive matter. " Two heads are better than one," he knew, at such a time, especially when he had been so unexpectedly called upon to take up his pen ; and it is satis factory that he was sufficiently aware of the desirability of revision to accept Mr. Cotes' s assistance. If a similar friend had been found for his Memoir, published in 1862, much of the extraneous matter there would have been omitted, and a volume produced in every way worthy of the man. The volume was printed at Walker's office by George Barlow, " who was brought down from London to print Bewick's works, and outshine Simpson (who printed the Land Birds at Hodgson's), which he never could nor did, but was much beholden to Simpson for his knowledge of overlaying the tympan so as to reach the lower parts of the blocks." (" Bewick Collector.") There were 1,000 demy 8vo copies printed, and the price was 12s. ; also 850 copies each on thin and thick royal 8vo, at 15s. and 18s. each; and a number in imperial 8vo, at 24s. The engraving on the title-page represents boys playing with toy ships not far from Newcastle. The boys might represent Bewick and his play fellows when he played truant, and, as he says, amused himself " by making dams and swimming boats, in a small burn, which ran through a place then called the ' Colliers' Close Wood,' till the evening, when I returned home with my schoolfellows." The vignette at the head of the Advertisement c c 194 THOMAS BEWICK. shows an old man saying grace with closed eyes, while his cat avails herself of the opportunity to make free with his porridge— a block which the Rev. Mr. Cotes, his literary friend, desired Bewick to withdraw ; but Chatto relates that he declined, saying he could not help laughing at the over-righteous man who, " while craving a blessing with hypocritical grimace, and with eyes closed to outward things, loses a present good." The original sketch for this is now in the British Museum. In the Advertisement Bewick mentions his indebtedness to the Wycliffe Collection and to Buffon's coloured prints of birds. He states that, "not withstanding this help, the figures of several birds are still wanting," which was attributed to the difficulties in obtaining many of the rarer animals ; and he apologizes for the long period which had elapsed since the appearance of the Land Birds. At the head of the Introduction an old soldier and his comrade exchange salutations and utter laments for the days gone by. The tail-piece to the same teaches how by mutual help difficulties may be overcome : a blind man carrying a lame fellow-traveller across a rivulet. The head- piece to the Contents is an old man on horseback, laden with goods for the market, on a rainy, windy day. Chatto says, " The horse on which he is mounted has become restive, and the rider has both broken his stick and lost his hat. The horse seems determined not to move until it suits his own pleasure ; and it is evident that the old man dare not get down to recover his hat, for, should he do so, encumbered as he is, he will not be able to remount." Bewick had grim pleasure in depicting his fellow-creatures in small troubles like these. The first bird is the Sanderling, an engraving not possessing any marked qualification above others for the position it sustains. The Long-Legged Plover is enhanced by a half-caricature of its lengthy limbs in the tail-piece, where a sportsman crosses some water elevated on high stilts. The vignette at page 9, representing a man on a blowy day bending to the blast, while the string of a boy's kite catches his head, is a design of which Bewick did no THOMAS BEWICK. 195 less than three drawings, slightly varying in details. The vignette of the feather of the Water Crane (reproduced at an earlier page) is a very sig nificant print. "In these marvellous specimens," Mr. Stephens says, "we have not only the peculiar texture and form of the subject, but the very cohesion of the fibres of the feathers is expressed by, as is usual with Bewick, the cutting out of the light of the block with perfect delineation of the half tint, while not the least hint of an outline, or margin of any sort, is to be seen anywhere." The tail-piece at p. 23 is a view of Bywell Boat-pool and Bywell Castle — a man, with a salmon leister, wading in the water : this is said to be the first of the series of vignettes executed by Bewick at his work-bench. For a vignette to the fine Spoonbill there is a poor, hungry, wooden -legged beggar eating ravenously from a bone, while his equally hungry dog looks on watching for the least morsel, and waiting for the entire dainty when his master has finished his meal. In strange and striking contrast to the group, there is on a distant wall a well-fed strutting peacock, an emblem of the luxury within the walls at the door of which the beggar sits. In the "Select Fables" of 1784 a similar design appears (printed on page 46 here), but with the addition ofthe Courtier's Dependant. The next tail-piece represents a man who, to secure a bird's nest seen in the upper part of a tree overhanging a river, has come to grief by the branch giving way, and his descent is rapid towards the running water below, illustrating how " we must bow to fate in trusting to a rotten stick." The Heron is in the act of devouring its prey, while in the distance another stands waiting in its patient way for a similar meal. The tail-piece shows another kind of animal waiting for prey — this time a human one — and a miserable time he is having of it. Notwithstanding his four rods he seems little likely to catch the fish, while his personal wretchedness, amidst the heavy rain, gives a vivid idea of the occasional discomforts of angling. The Night Heron (reproduced at page 212), though scarcely to be called a British bird, is introduced into Bewick's work on account of its occasional c c 2 1 96 THOMAS BEWICK. visitation to these lands. The cut was drawn from a bird preserved at Wycliffe, and is exceptionally fine, coming from such a usually unsatisfactory source. The Bittern is one of the large cuts of the series, and one of those the background of which is as beautiful as the figure itself.* The succeeding tail-piece of " an old codger fettling his hooks " is one of the charming series of angling cuts; and the next on page 52, here reproduced on page 33, gives an angler standing ankle-deep in the flowing water— a fine sketch, and carried out with pleasing effect. The vignette following the Curlew represents a noted character — a tanner— enjoying the sport of seeing three thoughtless boys chase a dog at whose tail is strung the proverbial tin pan : the frightened look of the poor dog is a contrast to the pleasure depicted on the man's face and to the eagerness of the youthful torturers. Bewick is said to have watched for a long time to see how leather leggings were worn by a tanner of the Westgate, Newcastle, so that he might be correct. The Whimbrel, engraved by Henry Hole, one of Bewick's pupils, is a pretty cut, with its half-misty distance : the roundness of the back was altered afterwards, as it was drawn from a badly prepared specimen. The tail-piece shows a sportsman who, in shooting at a woodcock, now flying away, has hit a magpie, which has fallen dead, while the man strongly expresses his disgust at his ill-luck, looking round at the woodcock while he reloads for another, and, let us hope, a better result. The Woodcock is a wonderful specimen of Bewick's art. A fac-simile of it is given on page 134, executed by Jackson for the " Treatise on Wood Engraving." The Common Snipe, given here as a fac-simile on page 1 , is almost equal to the Woodcock, and the purely English background has an impression of direct truthfulness and of a perfect transcript from nature. The other two cuts of Snipes are not far behind this ; and the landscape of the Judcock is * The following note was written by Bewick in a volume having the Bittern coloured. This copy, which contains several other interesting notes, is now in the possession of Professor Corfield. " One of these birds from which the print was coloured was sent to me on November 14th, 1817, being shot in Sutton Pasture. It exactly accorded with the description." THOMAS BEWICK. 197 very similar to that given with the Snipe. As Mr. Ruskin says, in his St. George's Museum copy of the Birds, when, as in these cases, Bewick felt he had done the birds very well, he usually went in enthusiastically for the back grounds also. Of the five figures of the Godwits the merit varies consider ably : the Spotted Redshank and the Redshank are fairly well done, though the spottiness of the birds detracts from the designs as pictures. The vignettes to them are as different as delightful : at page 82 there is a sports man bringing down his bird, to which the dog runs; at page 84, the Pedlar and Mastiff design, with the man protecting himself from the ferocious brute; at page 85, a man crossing the frozen pond with a branch between his legs to save him from going down too far if the untried ice breaks, with the dog at the side afraid to venture over ; a vagrant blowing a fire with wonderfully expressive face; and at page 90, another of the lovely feather series. Of the Sandpipers there are eight magnificent examples, every one a perfect representation of the birds. The Reg-Legged Sandpiper is a very full design, and is perhaps the best ; but nothing can exceed the delicate beauty of the Purre and the Little Stint. The vignettes to the series are the feathers reproduced at page 249 ; the Ungrateful Beggars leaving the gate open, letting in all the dirty-footed animals to soil the bleaching clothes ; a Tyneside view; Bird-nesting on the old walls of Newcastle (as seen from Bewick's house at the Forth) ; the pastoral scene of the Old Shepherd reading while his flocks graze — either a Border bit, or a remembrance of the visit to Scotland ; and the feathers, one of which is given in fac-simile at page 140. The vignettes at this part of the volume are of greater interest than the birds. The cut of a man ploughing, with the words underneath, " Justissima Tellus," has a great deal of good work. Then comes the Beggar attacked by a mastiff, the man holding up his staff in the only way a dog can be kept at bay. A little farther on we have a burial-ground by moonlight, with a tombstone on which the inscription runs, " Good times and Bad times and all times get over," another of the character- making designs, bringing in a i98 THOMAS BEWICK. motto, a saying, or a moral at the most unexpected moment. How true the sentiment of the words is, we all realise for ourselves : as we look back to things past, and remember the many delights we have had, and the many sorrows, we marvel how they seem to have passed so almost entirely away, leaving only a vague sense of pain or pleasure. At page 173, the penny- wise and pound-foolish owner of a cow is seen up to the waist in a running stream. In the distance a bridge crosses the water, but beside it stands a toll-house, and the payment there is what has caused the miserly man to risk life and limb. The cow has started for the other shore, and though its master would now fain turn back, the animal goes on regardless of the cries and gesticulations of the men on the other side who give warning of still further dangers. The man's hat has blown off, and he has laid hold ofthe cow's tail* illustrating " the use of entailed property." The engravings of the birds at this place are neither interesting from association nor specially fine in execution, and not until we reach the Black- backed Gull do we find one more than ordinarily good, though all have certain qualifications to make them noteworthy above other engravers' work. Of the tail-pieces, the wintry landscape at page 198 is one of the gems of the volume — the chilly feeling given by the snow spread on the ground and the bared trees makes a lovely little picture. At page 208 an old man stops his donkey to speak with a beggar ; and the next, on page 211, is a satire on gourmands who did not, like Bewick's friend Gilbert Gray, eat only when hungry, and drink when dry. At page 220 an old man reads a lesson to a boy from an ancient stone standing in the midst of a civilisation of another age ; while the next vignette gives a sarcastic touch concerning the water in which the washerwoman makes clean her clothes. The Mute Swan, reproduced at the head of this chapter, is singularly rich in its composition, and though the water is not so reflective as it ought to be, the eye instinctively rests on the feathers and the foliage, wrought with all Bewick's grace and skill. At page 245 is a sketch of Wetherall Church THOMAS BEWICK. 199 standing on a pinnacle overlooking the sea ; a few gravestones surround it, and on one close to the foreground are the words, " This stone was erected to perpetuate the memory " exhibiting the fallacy of human hopes, for the stone, which was to make the memory imperishable, is broken in two, and likely soon to be swallowed by the waves. Page 248 contains a vignette which might easily pass unnoticed. It appears as if it only represented a rock by the seashore ; but, on looking closely, it will be seen to have the topmasts of a sunken ship a short distance from the shore. Half in the waves close at hand there is a sailor's hat thrown up by the treacherous waters. Yesterday it seethed and foamed around, and finally overwhelmed the vessel, perhaps within sight of home and harbour ; to-day it encircles and almost fondles the only remnant which has come to land of the once-gallant ship now falling to pieces at the bottom of the sea. The Monkey turning the roast with a r^-hot poker, at page 263, is a capital print, giving the household appliances of Bewick's time. Farther on are two pretty vignettes — one a man crossing a falling stream by a plank On which he trembles ; the other a man getting over a quiet water by a more precarious method, yet with considerable confidence in his manner. At page 271 is the cut of Geese going home, which Mr. Stephens says " is full of the fruits of study and knowledge laboriously and faithfully accumulated, and delineated with ineffable skill and delicacy." At page 286 an old man takes his geese to market on a bleak wintry day, the birds tied in sacks, and their heads protruding, and all laid on the back of the tired horse. The large engravings of the Geese are all excellent, the backgrounds being frequently fine landscapes from nature. That in the Grey Lag Goose is a faithful drawing of a scene beside a frozen loch, and that behind the Tame Goose is a farmhouse — very like that which Bewick often drew. The Eider Duck is well engraved ; and the Mallard is also one on which much labour was bestowed, but the most beautiful of all the birds is the Tame Duck, given in fac-simile as a heading to our Introduction. The care 200 THOMAS BEWICK. and skill lavished on this little block are quite beyond praise. Few of the birds after this are of note, though the Shoveler, the Pochard, the Pintail Duck, and the Teal are all specimens of what is good and legitimate in wood engraving. The Tufted Duck was engraved by Henry Hole, and is one of the three, with the Whimbrel and Lesser Tern, mentioned in Atkinson's Memoir as not being Bewick's work. The vignette, at page 291, of an old woman driving geese away from a well, is, in Mr. Ruskin's Sheffield volume, sarcastically said to be " Bewick's idea of refined female character and features in advanced life," but containing so much splendid engraving work that " if any modern wood-cutter can do more I should like to see it." The next but one is the Road to Glory, where a number of boys are seated on gravestones. The first blows a trumpet, and the others are clothed fantas tically in imitation of different kinds of warriors. "This," says the "British Quarterly Review" (vol. ii. 1845), "generally passes for mere ' burlesque of war,' but the sting goes deeper. Upon the highest stone, next the trumpeter, it will be seen that the artist has placed the well-dressed gentleman's son ; the next to him is sans shoe or stocking, and the last is the quintessence of a poor little ragged urchin, probably destitute of father, mother, or friend, a true picture ofthe system of promotion in the British army at this hour." At page 319 a sportsman, in reaching over a river for his bird, seems likely, from the breaking branch, to receive a ducking; at page 337 an old countryman leans smoking over a gate, beer-pot in hand, contemplating a couple of "quacks; " and farther on a woman administers the water-cure to a man with most woe-begone countenance. The print at page 370 was done as a book plate for the Rev. Henry Cotes, who revised the letterpress, but some misunderstanding arising concerning it, Bewick, who liked the cut, took away Cotes' s name and employed it for a vignette : the first impressions of it are rare. The last of all is on page 400 — a hull of a ship, containing wonder fully felicitous wood engraving of the strong, firm character so eminently Bewick's own. The Old Man and his Ass. Hewlett's " Spelling Book.1 CHAPTER XXI. PRIVATE LIFE AND PUBLIC QUARRELS. I 798 — l8l2. TXROM the ist of January, 1798, the dissolution of the partnership -*- ' between Bewick and Beilby took effect, but Beilby appears to have retained his interest in the Quadrupeds and the first volume of the Birds for some time. In 1800 Hodgson, the partner in the Quadrupeds to the extent of a third, died, and disputes arising between the other partners and Hodgson's widow, Beilby, "in order to avoid this cloud of mischief," retired from the partnership altogether, and sold Bewick his share in the Quadrupeds and the first volume of the Birds. Disagreements about money matters also arose, and in referring to the time when he purchased the. shares from Beilby, Bewick says in his Memoir : — " I had no sooner agreed to give the price demanded, than many recollections of the past crowded upon my mind, and, looking at the unfavourable side, I could not help thinking of the extra labour and time I had spent in the completion of these works, wherein he [Beilby] had borne comparatively a small part — not even an equivalent in time and labour in the other department of our business ; and in this instance, I could not help thinking that he had suffered greediness to take possession of his mind ; but having promised to pay the sum, I made no further observations to anyone." D D 202 THOMAS BEWICK. Bewick, as we have seen, was considerably troubled by Beilby's defection at the critical time when the second volume of the Birds wasstill unfinished, yet he did not dismiss the long- established friendship without a word of regret, and he generously continues : — "On the other side of this account, I called to my remembrance the many obligations I owed him for the wise admonitions he had given, and the example he had set me, while I was only a wild and giddy youth. These I never could forget, and they implanted so rooted a respect for him that I had grudged nothing I could do to promote his happiness." * In April, 1798, and during the following months, Bewick busied himself with new engravings for the Quadrupeds, and visited many neighbouring districts; Woodhall, Barmton, and Darlington being among the places to which he went to make sketches of animals. After the fourth (1800) edition of the Quadrupeds was published, his whole time was taken up in preparing the second volume of the Birds. Swarley's Club, however, he appears to have continued to visit, and there, " by way of unbending the mind after the labours of the day," he and a number of " staunch advocates of the liberties of mankind " debated the great questions then agitating the whole world. Bewick's children were now beginning to have a personality of their own, and we learn with what keen pleasure Bewick entered into their sports and pastimes, one of his greatest delights being to be present at any meeting of the younger folk, and be a witness of the enlivening dances in which they took part. " And when his own daughters aided the grace of the female part of the company, the circumstance gave additional zest to the natural feelings of the father." f Bewick had a quick ear for music, and he enjoyed listening to the strains * Ralph Beilby, after separating from Bewick, became a watch-glass and clock-work manufacturer. In many ways Beilby was a clever man : his literary compositions and his engravings on metals have been noticed ; he was also a great lover of music, and occasionally performed in public ; he was one of the promoters of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle, still a flourishing institution, and he was always highly esteemed by his con temporaries. He died on January 4th, 1817, at the age of seventy-three. t " British Quarterly Review," 1845, vol. ii. THOMAS BEWICK. 203 of the players as much as watching the dancers. His son was able to perform with some power on the "Northumberland small pipes," and the same reviewer relates that on occasions when his son piped and his daughters assisted in the dance, especially when the music and the figures were purely Northumbrian, "the rapture of the artist was at its height, and he would exclaim with almost tears of pleasure in his eyes : ' There they go — queens of England ! queens of England ! ' The scene was indeed animating and the sight beautiful, and few, we suppose, could scruple to join Bewick in his exclamation, or fail to respect and love enthusiasm such as his, even when carried thus far." * Solomon Hodgson, the partner of Beilby and Bewick in the publication of the Quadrupeds, and printer both of it and of the first volume of the Birds, died on April 4th, 1800, and, as mentioned, some serious difficulties arose during the succeeding years between Mrs. Hodgson, his widow, and Bewick. On the title-page ofthe " History of Quadrupeds" of 1790, 1791, 1792, and 1800 the imprint was "Printed by and for S. Hodgson, R. Beilby, and T. Bewick," while the first volume of the Birds, 1797, carries, "Printed by Sol. Hodgson for Beilby and Bewick." This shows at once that Hodgson's position was materially different in the two cases. f During Hodgson's life affairs between Bewick and him were always con ducted harmoniously, but the widow and executrix appears never to have been satisfied with the arrangements found existing, and in 1805 a violent explosion took place, the quarrel being carried on in public. The attack was too violent to be allowed by Bewick to pass unnoticed ; but it drew such an interesting statement, in reply, from the engraver, that we have now no reason to regret the publicity given to the discussion. The"Annual Review" for 1804 (p. 731) published an article giving Bewick the credit of having conceived and brought forth the Quadrupeds and Birds, * "British Quarterly Review," 1845, vol. ii. f The second volume of the Birds, 1804, bears, "Printed by Edward Walker for T. Bewick," and both volumes of the 1805, 1809, 1816, 1821, and 1826 editions are the same. D D 2 204 THOMAS BEWICK. and, after mentioning the dissolution of partnership between Beilby and Bewick, proceeds to say : — " We are sorry to learn from private information that an alliance so honourable to the parties and so beneficial to the public was dissolved upon not the most friendly terms. Mr. Bewick, we understand, has purchased Mr. Beilby's interest in the concern, but, through a disagreement with the other partner or his executors, the first volume has for some time been out of print and is not likely to be republished. We cannot but consider this as a public loss." These remarks aroused the full strength of Mrs. Hodgson's ire, who, though "eminent for her integrity, benevolence, and intelligence," seems thoroughly to have lost her good temper, and she sent a letter to the editor, giving her view of the matter. This letter the editor did not insert or notice (he had the excuse that no letters were appearing in his publication), and Mrs. Hodgson forwarded it to the " Monthly Magazine," where it was published. After referring to the article on Bewick's works, and allowing that — " It is the lot of all editors to be imposed on by correspondents at a distance," she says she is prepared to send documents " by which you [the editor] will be convinced that Mr. Bewick was neither the original projector nor author of either the ' History of Quadrupeds ' or of the first volume of the ' History of Birds.' Mr. Bewick," she proceeds, " was employed merely as the engraver, or wood-cutter, and that he should be held up in the article now under consideration as the first and sole mover of the concern, together with the insidious use which has been made to me of your remarks on the subject, by a friend of Mr. Bewick's, leave no doubt in my mind from what source you have had the communication My late husband paid his proportion, or share, of expense both to the person who compiled and arranged the letterpress of the work, or in other words, the author's charge for his labours, as he did for the expense of the wood engravings — therefore, both equally belong to me I shall conclude with observing that I have used every endeavour in my power to have the ' History of Quadrupeds ' put to press, and if the public has sustained a loss by the book having been so long out of print, I have the satisfaction to say I am not to blame. — (Signed) Sarah Hodgson, widow and executrix of Solomon Hodgson. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, June 16, 1805."* This is an essentially feminine letter : the composition of one unaccus- * The "Monthly Magazine," 1805, vol. xx.,p. 5. THOMAS BEWICK. 205 tomed to write for publicity, and carried away with the heat of her imagina tion. Poor Mr. Hodgson must have had a sad time with her if she were often so excited. Be that as it may, it was evidently the lady's notion that her husband was a greater and more eminent man than the "wood-cutter," Bewick. Mr. Hodgson had been, indeed, a clever editor and business man, and his widow was doubtless unwilling that all honour should not be ren dered to him. Nevertheless, her argument is not worthy of serious considera tion. That her husband paid his proportion of expense of the author's labours and the wood engravings is true; "therefore," she triumphantly asserts, "both equally belong to me." Certainly both equally belonged to her — in their proportion ; but that she had a shadow of a claim on the whole was unquestionably absurd, for the words employed conclusively show that it was only a share Mr. Hodgson paid. It is possible that Mrs. Hodgson supposed the entire works to belong to her husband because she found receipts for the moneys nominally paid to Bewick and Beilby in settlement of their claims as engraver and compiler, just as Beilby and Bewick probably held receipts from Hodgson for his printing. This is only conjecture, but it was reasonable that the artist and author should have been first paid a sum for their work in the same way that Hodgson required something above his share of the profits to pay for the setting up and printing ; and, from what Bewick says, it appears that such sums were actually arranged. Bewick's answer to the charge was a powerful letter repelling all the insinuations. After replying to a statement in Pinkerton's " Scottish Gallery," * he says : — " In answer to Mrs. Hodgson, I may be allowed to ask if I was merely employed as the ' wood-cutter ? ' Who gave me the order and furnished the design ? I * Pinkerton, in the introduction to his " Scottish Gallery," 1799, refers to the death of Bewick's pupil, Robert Johnson, whom he had engaged to make copies of portraits at Taymouth Castle. He says, " His correspondent informed him that Johnson had been bound apprentice to Bewick," and "Bewick, observing his uncommon genius for drawing, employed him to trace the figures on the wood in his elegant * History of Quadrupeds.' " This state ment led Bewick to reply, at the beginning of the 1805 letter, " It is only necessary for me to declare, and this will be attested by my partner, Mr. Beilby, who compiled the ' History of Quadrupeds,' and was a proprietor of the work, that neither Robert Johnson, nor any person but myself, made the drawings, or traced or cut them on the wood." 206 THOMAS BEWICK. challenge the publication of the documents she mentions. They can only prove that her late husband paid one-third part of the price of the engravings, and a similar compensation for compiling the book. Her property therein has never been denied by me, and therefore it was unnecessary for her to attack my character under the pretext of an ' Address to the Editor of the " Annual Review," ' for whose mistakes I am not answerable." Then follows the paragraph quoted on page 94 under "Preparation for the Quadrupeds," where Bewick details the origin of that volume, and the work undertaken by Beilby. He goes on to say : — " As the cuts [of the Quadrupeds] were engraved, we employed the late Mr. Thomas Angus, of this town, printer, to take off a certain number of impressions of each, many of which are still in my possession. At Mr. Angus's death the charge for this business was not made in his books, and at the request of his widow and ourselves, the late Mr. Solomon Hodgson fixed the price ; and yet the widow and executrix of Mr. Hodgson asserts in your Magazine that I was merely employed as the engraver, or wood-cutter, (I suppose) by her husband ! Had this been the case, is it probable that Mr. Hodgson would have had the cuts printed in any other office than his own ? The fact is the reverse of Mrs. Hodgson's statement ; and although I have never, either ' insidiously ' or otherwise, used any means to cause the reviewers, or others, to hold me up as the ' first and sole mover of the concern,' I am now dragged forth by her to declare that / am the man." Bewick proceeds with the sentences quoted in detail at page no, mention ing how Hodgson was consulted, and how, from his great interest in the undertaking, he was received into partnership with Beilby and himself on April 10th, 1790. " What Mr. Hodgson did in correcting the press, beyond what falls to the duty of every printer, I know not ; but I am certain that he was extremely desirous that it should have justice done it. In this weaving of words I did not interfere, as I believed it to be in hands much better than my own, only I took the liberty of blotting out whatever I knew not to be truth. This work was published in 1790. The History of Land Birds was begun 1791, and published in 1797, under circum stances exactly similar to the former work, excepting that Mr. Hodgson had no share, and was merely employed as the printer. The History of the Water Birds, from Mr. Beilby's declining [retiring from] the engraving business, devolved wholly upon myself. In undertaking this, the vanity of being an author never entered into THOMAS BEWICK. 207 my mind ; there was no choice ; absolute necessity compelled me to ' write a book.' In 1800 death deprived us of Mr. Solomon Hodgson, after he had printed four editions of the Quadrupeds, and the first volume of the Birds. With him we might have gone on peaceably to the end, but we soon found his ' widow and executrix ' to be a very different person, and disputes without end were what we had to look to. In order to avoid this cloud of mischief Mr. Beilby sold me his share in the Quad rupeds and left me the publication of that book to do the best I could with my new associate. With our squabbles it would be impertinent to trouble the world ; they have been painful to me ; they have been with the widow of my deceased friend. By these disputes I was compelled to intrust the printing of the Water Birds to another office, where this kind of work had not previously been attended to, and consequently I had to run the hazard of an experiment which might have injured the reputation of the work. Fortunately this experiment succeeded, and this, I believe, is one motive for Mrs. Hodgson's attack. — I am, Sir, &c, THOMAS Bewick. Newcastle, October 8th, 1805." * This is one of the most interesting letters Bewick ever wrote, and gives us a better conception of the man's aims and methods than is elsewhere to be found. The editor of the Magazine declined to allow further correspondence on the subject, and no more is heard publicly of the matter, but better counsels prevailed, and the publication of the fifth edition of the Quadrupeds took place on May 13th, 1807. This was, however, "Printed by Ed. Walker for T. Bewick and S. Hodgson," being a change in the imprint from the 1800 edition, which bears, "Printed by and for S. Hodgson, R. Beilby, and T. Bewick." The sixth edition (181 1) was again different, and is, " Printed by Edward Walker for T. Bewick and Longman," etc. ; the 1820 and 1824 editions being the same as the 18 11, as regards the proprietors' names. In an article in the Newcastle Courant for April 14th, 1881, which claims to have been written by one who knew Bewick personally, it is said that at the beginning of the century — " The business of engraver was thought highly genteel, and the country gentry were glad to apprentice their sons to a rising artist like Bewick. Some of these votaries of the graving tool had rather aristocratic notions — not having heard the * The "Monthly Magazine," 1805, vol. xx. p. 303. 208 THOMAS BEWICK. grand lectures of our day on ' the dignity of labour.' They were expected, however, to take in their turn certain servile duties, which always fell to the lot of the last- comer. One of these was to go to the well-known ' pant ' of ' The Two Sisters,' so called from its twin spouts, at the head of the Side. A pitcher stood in the shop from which the men refreshed themselves, and it had to be replenished at least once a day. A youth of the ' better class ' of society having entered upon his novitiate was duly informed that he would be expected to act as water-carrier ; but he stoutly refused to undertake what he deemed a degrading duty. Bewick heard of this dire revolt ; but instead of administering a storm of rebuke, he donned his hat and coat, seized the obnoxious jug, and quickly desiring the youth to follow him, sallied forth to the 'pant.' The unusual sight was immediately the subject of gossip. Mary Jane told Sally, maid told mistress, and scores of gossips rushed out to see ' Bewick carrying the jug.' The news spread like wild-fire ; and on the return of master with jug and apprentice without, the reason having leaked out of 'this strange eventful history,' the hapless lad was smothered with ridicule and reproach by groups of tittering women and girls. The lesson was not forgotten. It was the first and last time Bewick carried the water-jug past Amen Corner." Among these pupils was Isaac Nicholson, who was, a fellow-apprentice afterwards said, "one of Bewick's cleverest scholars had his ambition cor responded with his taste." He achieved some distinction in his profession, and executed many cuts in the style of his master, illustrating works on Fables, Quadrupeds, Birds, History of England, Robinson Crusoe, and others. He died in 1848. Another of Bewick's favourite pupils, and the one who succeeded Nicholson, was William Harvey, who was born at New castle in 1796, and who entered the workshop about 18 10. Harvey and a succeeding apprentice who joined shortly after him, W. W. Temple, were the scholars on whom Bewick afterwards leant for considerable aid. It is acknow ledged in Bewick's Memoir that Harvey greatly assisted him with the cuts for the Fables, published in 1818. Harvey left Newcastle for London in 1817, and from that time was engaged in drawing and engraving many important works. Two years previously, in 1815, Bewick gave his much-esteemed apprentice a New Year's gift of a copy of the Birds, and with it a charac teristic letter which is quoted in the " Treatise on Wood Engraving." This contains a small piece of personal history, for there is no doubt, however THOMAS BEWICK. 209 Chatto may scoff, that the concluding sentence of the letter was written more with a keen remembrance of his personal experience than with a clear idea of his pupil's future course of life. "When your mind grows rich in integrity," he says, " you will fear the frowns of no man, and only smile at the plots and conspiracies which it is probable will be laid against you by envy, hatred, and malice." On January ist, 1812, the following advertisement appeared in the New castle papers : — THOMAS BEWICK, Engraver and Copperplate Printer, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, RETURNS his grateful Thanks to his Friends and Customers for past Favours, and begs Leave to inform them, that he has taken his Son, ROBERT ELLIOT BEWICK, into Partnership. The Business will be carried on in all its Branches, under the Firm of Thomas Bewick & Son ; and all Orders with which they may be favoured, will be punc tually executed, in the best Manner, and on the lowest Terms. An APPRENTICE wanted. A few Imperial Copies of the History of Quadrupeds, Price il. us. 6d. ; and Royal Copies ofthe History of British Birds, 2 Vols. il. 16s., remain for Sale. — Newcastle, Jan. I, 1812. Throughout the artist's writings we hear very little of his son Robert. He appears to have suffered from some serious complaint. In a letter dated 7th May, 1 82 1, written by Thomas Bewick to Richard Wingate, it is said, " My son had another bad bout since I saw you ; he was attacked with it on Friday after dinner, and it kept him in great misery till about midnight on Saturday or towards Sunday morning. It has left him very faint and weak."* Bewick did not think highly of his son's aptitude for engraving; and he closes one of the chapters in his Memoir with the words, " And now, when the time is fast approaching for my winding up all my labours, I may be allowed to name my own son and partner, whose time has been taken up with attending to all the branches of our business, and who, I trust, will not let wood engrav ing go down ; and though he has not shown any partiality towards it, yet the talent is there, and I hope he will call it forth." In the " Synopsis of the Newcastle Museum," published in 1827, there are * From a letter in the possession of Admiral Mitford. E E 2IO THOMAS BEWICK. two engraved copper-plates by him, one of the Rakkelhan Grous, after a drawing by Thomas, and the other of the Wombat (in a different position from that given in the Quadrupeds), but neither of these shows any artistic feeling. The Rev. Mr. Turner said that Robert possessed eminent talents as an engraver on wood, and that his " accuracy in delineation was, perhaps, equal to his father's; " but none of them are really of more than ordinary merit. As is mentioned farther on, Thomas Bewick was engaged on a work to be called "A History of British Fishes," and had completed a good number of the illustrations before his death in 1828. Commenting on this, Mr. Turner said, " It was hoped that his son would have gone on with and completed the work, but in this the public have been disappointed, and now that Mr. Yarrell's work is completed it possibly might not suit." Mr. Jackson and his son Junius. " The Looking Glass for the Mind." From the original block engraved by John Bewick. Lent by Messrs. Griffith and Farran. This may have been the actual reason why the son did not proceed with this work, but it is much more probable, if we may judge from " The Golden Chain," published two years after Thomas Bewick's death, that dearth of talent and want of will were the real obstacles in young Bewick's progress. "The Golden Chain" was published at Berwick, a little book, "embel lished with cuts by Bewick." Any admirer of the father who purchases this THOMAS BEWICK. 211 work, thinking it by the master, will be grievously disappointed. There are four blocks by Robert, and all are of the most elementary description. They are not much worse in execution than a few of Thomas Bewick's and some of John Bewick's early works ; but there is a total lack of genius, or original feeling, that is almost amazing, especially considering the training Robert had, or at least might have had — for there is no evidence to show that he took advantage of his position. These cuts display how far the son halted after the father's genius. In all there is scarcely a redeeming quality, though, in a feeble way, the father's wonderful power of rendering foliage is imitated in certain parts of the designs. The best block that Robert did is the engraving of " Bewick's Swan," in the 1832 and 1847 editions of the Birds, this exhibiting some artistic power. The copper-plates of Bywell Bay, on the Tyne, a separately printed engraving, and the Maigre, in the 1862 Memoir, also contain much conscientious work ; the seaside view at page 3 2.3 of the Memoir is likewise by Robert, and is one of his best productions. After his father's death in 1828 Robert took charge of the business, publishing the 1832 and 1847 editions of the Birds. He died on July 27th, 1849, and was buried at Ovingham. Edwin and Angelina. Goldsmith's Poems, 1812. E E 2 The Night Heron. " The History of British Birds," Vol. II. CHAPTER XXII. NEW EDITIONS OF QUADRUPEDS AND BIRDS MISCELLANEOUS WORKS. 1 805 TO 1 8 1 I . T ~\ TE have now come to the turning-point in Bewick's artistic career. * * Hitherto every step he had taken had been one of progress ; first, from a boy with rude implements, to an apprentice with every difficulty to be overcome by his own exertion and ingenuity ; then, after mastering the techni calities of his art, to roam about for a time, and finally settle down to labour in his well-beloved Newcastle, satisfied that by steady application he could reach perfect workmanship, and assured by his inward power that when this was done, his genius would find full scope in following the dictates of Nature. He had been able to enter into the very soul of the subjects his pencil or graver depicted, reveal their inner meaning, and give freshness and life to what formerly was mere dry-as-dust research. Having attained his highest artistic powers, faithfully expounded the message given him to deliver, and fulfilled and justified the reason of his being, he had now reached the time when he could not hope further to improve. THOMAS BEWICK. 213 He was over fifty years of age ; and though he had done his work well in days gone by, and could look back with serenity on what he had accom plished, the time had come when he could not surpass these labours. Age was gradually but surely creeping on him; his vigour was none the less, yet his hand did not make progress, but instead had begun slowly to lose its cunning ; and though his knowledge of the world — animal and moral — never ceased to grow, nothing he did after the second volume of the Birds reached the great standard attained by that work ; and, as years went by, it became more and more evident that his greatest achievements were in the past. Bewick had no sooner published the second volume of the Birds than the speedy sale and increasing demand required another edition of the already popular work, so he issued a new edition of both volumes in 1805. One figure of a bird and seven vignettes, besides eleven diagrams to illustrate the new technical introduction, were added to the first volume. In the second volume only one new block was inserted — that of the Swan Goose at page 281. The addition to the first volume, the figure of the Grey Linnet, is an engraving showing little exceptional merit above the general quality of the others, but at the same time scarcely below it. Of the vignettes, the two dyers carrying a tub, at page 17, is new. Atkinson says these are portraits of two old men who belonged to Ovingham. They are conveying chamber-lye to the dye- house, and, as Atkinson mentions, "the olfactory organs of both are evidently affected by the pungent odour of their load." The next new vignette, the Suicide (page 70), is a painful and suggestive idea ; the contrast between the calm beauty of the natural scene and the distracting thoughts which only recently had filled the mind of the man now hanging dead, is immediately perceived, and leads to thoughts of stern truth and everlasting judgment. Ploughing, at page 173, is new, but feeble; while the other additions, a woman gathering flowers (page 211), and one seated in a bower (page 228), have much excellent work in the foliage, though the figures are somewhat weak. The closely wedged ring of rough men shown on page 3 1 2 214 THOMAS BEWICK. is a company eagerly engaged either with a dog or a man fight, a sight then not uncommon in Northumberland. The last addition is the man on a donkey, at page 300 of the volume. Bell states that no demy copies of the 1 805 edition were printed ; but the following letter proves that there were five hundred taken off. This letter ap pears to have been addressed to Messrs. Vernor, Hood, and Sharpe, with whom Bewick frequently had transactions of this nature : it is now in the possession of Mr. Crawford J. Pocock, of Brighton, who has kindly lent it for publication :— "Newcastle 14 Sept. 1805. Gentlemen, — A new Edition consisting of 500 Sets of the British Birds, in two Volumes Demy, is now ready for delivery — shou'd you be disposed to buy any quantity of them, I will send them to you immediately— my terms are these — they must be packed and shiped at your expence and risk — and be paid for by a Bill @ 6 months, more or less according to the number ordered — and charged to me @ 9s $¦ Vol: in Boards the selling price is 12s. If these terms are agreable to you be so good as to write to me as soon as convenient. The Imperials and Royals of the same work are now at press and will be finished in about 4 Months hence — Messrs. Longman & Co. names are printed on the Title as the publisher's, but I do not mean, as I did before to confine the sale to them only. The good opinion I entertain of your House, as well as the obligations I owe it, induces me to give you this first offer. The Cuts you have had done, at the prices you named in your Letter amounts to fs ,8* I will send you a Bill of particulars at a future opportunity — and in the meantime wou'd be obliged if out of this sum you wou'd be so good as to pay Mr. B. Lepard, Stationer Cov'. Garden j 'i which I owe him for paper and Cards and tell him the goods arrived yesterday. The sooner you can send me the designs you mention the better, as short and dark days are fast approaching and the difficulty of doing them well is thereby greatly increased — I am Gentlemen Yours most obedIy Thomas Bewick." The third edition of the Birds was issued in 1 809, and it differs in several important points from the earlier editions. It was printed only on demy octavo paper, and the title-pages are marked Part I. and Part II. in place of Volumes I. and II. The volumes thus form one book, and are usually bound together. The type employed was smaller, and the pagination different, the ordinary pages being numbered in after the Contents and Introduction. The alteration of type making some changes, the vignettes are arranged on THOMAS BEWICK. 215 another plan ; and as the figures do not always head the pages, as in the earlier volumes, the work is altogether less imposing in style. Notwithstand ing these alterations, only three very insignificant new cuts are added, on pp. 294, 296, and 327, in the first Part. The paper employed for this edition, though much poorer in quality than any of the others, has produced impres sions of the cuts more generally perfect than in later or earlier copies. Even the first edition does not always excel these, and the proofs published in 1825 are in many cases distinctly inferior, they having lost by insufficient pressure in printing many of the delicate parts of the blocks " lowered " according to Bewick's usual method. That this system was not always successful is evidenced by the varying impressions, for when the thick hard paper of many of the editions had not been sufficiently damped, the lowered parts are sometimes not taken at all. The 1809 edition, being of thin and slightly absorbent paper, was easily pressed into the minute parts of the blocks, and occasionally details are brought up in these prints which in others are only vaguely felt. An eminent naturalist and bird-stuffer in Newcastle, Richard Wingate, coloured a complete set of Bewick's Birds, spending many years over the task. The prints were of the 1805 edition, printed faint, so as to take colour. Of these exquisitely coloured proofs Bewick wrote, " I think there is in them a fidelity and a nearer approach to truth and nature than anything ofthe kind I ever saw." On May 13th, 1807, the fifth edition of the Quadrupeds was adver tised for sale. Of this edition none were printed on royal octavo, and for the imperial octavo and the demy octavo copies the prices were put up to £1 us. 6d. and 13s. respectively. This edition contains only one new figure, that of the Musk Bull, p. 49, a cut almost exactly a reverse of one published on January ist, 1794, in the eighteenth volume of "The Bee." Three new vignettes are introduced, viz. a Rainy Day, a Stag, and a Stage-coach, at pp. 65, 142, and 251. A letter, in the collection of Mr. Pocock, from Bewick to Messrs. Vernor, Hood, and Sharpe, dated 216 THOMAS BEWICK. Newcastle, June i, 1807, states that he had that day shipped two boxes containing copies of the Quadrupeds at the following prices: twelve imperial copies dX £1 2s., ^"13 4S- ; eighteen royal at 15s., /13 10s. ; and fifty demy at 9s., ^22 10s. ; in all, ,£49 4s. ; and Bewick goes on to state that he hopes they will arrive safely, and regrets he has not charged the London trade all the same price, but will do so in future.* The sixth edition of the Quadrupeds, published in 181 1, was printed only on demy octavo, and the price augmented to a guinea. The difference between this and the fifth edition is very slight, being only in the letterpress and arrangements of vignettes after p. 510, where a foot-note being inserted anent Short-eared Bats, the text is altered up to p. 520. The Northumberland Life Boat at Tynemouth. From the original block. The more valuable of Bewick's minor works published between 1805 and 181 1 have now to be mentioned. Some are specially interesting, while others are disappointing from their meagreness and want of artistic * Bell states that Bewick sold his share in this, the fifth (1807) edition to Longmans, taking his authority from a letter, fac-similed in his Catalogue, dated 22nd July, 1811, in which Bewick informs a firm (probably Vemor, Hood, and Sharpe) that " I have sold the whole of my share of the impression of the Quadrupeds to Messrs. Longmans and Co., excepting those copies which were subscribed for by you and some other of my London friends.'' In place of being the fifth edition that was thus disposed of, it appears much more likely to have been the sixth. This was pub lished in 181 1, and would therefore only recently have been subscribed. It is scarcely likely that Longmans would purchase a part of an edition of a work already four years old, and with a new edition just coming out. The 18 1 1 volume also bears Longmans' name as one ofthe publishing firms, which the 1807 edition does not. THOMA S BE WICK. 2 1 7 merit. Taking the more noteworthy in chronological order, we commence with "The Seasons," by Thomson (1805), which, according to the title, has "engravings on wood by Bewick from Thurston's designs." The blocks in this volume are quite different in workmanship from those in the Birds ; they are so much like several of Bewick's pupils' work as to make it exceedingly doubtful if the master did more than superintend their execu tion. "The Holy Bible," 1806, is a thick folio volume with about fifty full-page copper- plate engravings, thirty-six signed " Engraved by Beilby and Bewick." Hugo says the plates do not increase the artist's reputation, but that is treating the large series of important plates rather shabbily. Out of thirty-six it may readily be believed that some at least are good, and indeed a few are of very great merit. The third edition of the "Hive of Ancient and Modern Literature" was published in Newcastle in 1806, the second having appeared in 1799, and the first earlier (undated), about 1798. In this edition the cuts were increased to fourteen by Bewick, and nine by Clennell, together with tail pieces by the latter. There is some distinction in the style of the two engravers' works. Clennell' s are softer, more mannered, and perhaps more learned than Bewick's rugged and natural, yet far cleverer manner of work. "The Hermit of Warkworth," issued from Alnwick in 1806, contains ten engravings by Bewick; a few copies of the second edition, in 1807, were published on large paper ; a London edition was also published in 1 806 with Bewick's cuts, and another with blocks by Nesbit and Clennell, after Thurston. The next book of importance to which Bewick contributed was " Burns' s Poetical Works," with " engravings on wood by Bewick, from designs by Thurston," in two volumes, 1808. There are in all 54 woodcuts, 32 in the first volume and 22 in the second, but none are very favourable specimens of the engraver's works, and in these illustrations Bewick appears to have lost the greater part of the subtle charm of his earlier labours. The engravings which display something ofthe old magic are " Going Home," a F F 2 1 8 THOMA S BE WICK. lovely block — when well printed — showing a man returning from market with his unladen donkey. " Tam o' Shanter chased by the Witches " is fair, and the Cows on p. 30, the Fox Hunt at p. 85, and the Dog and Cat, p. 140, in the second volume, are excellent examples of Bewick's best style at this period. At least three editions of these Poems, in two volumes, were published. The one described was issued by Catnach and Davison, Alnwick, and dated 1808, the first volume having pp. i — vii, 17 — 276, and the second pp. i — viii, 9 — 266. A similar edition with the same date, but with William Davison's name only on the title, has in the first volume pp. 1 — 6, vii — xiii, 43 — 266, and in the second pp. i — viii, 9 — 270. Another edition was published later by W. Davison, probably in 18 12, copies with the original boards bearing that date on the cover, the pages numbering in the first volume i — vii, i — xiii, 43 — 297, and in the second i — xii, 13 — 320, 1 — 26. The partnership between Catnach and Davison lasted only from the end of 1807 until towards the close of 1808. There were a number of editions of Burns published from Alnwick between 1 808 and 1 840, some being issued in parts and sold at one shilling each. In all the pagination is very defec tive, and in the 1812 (?) edition there are a number of engravings additional to those in the 1 808 volumes. Another and quite different edition appeared in 1828 in one volume, published by Davison, with twenty engravings, several being from the earlier editions.* " The Repository of Select Literature," 1808, contains few prints which had not previously appeared in other Alnwick publications. It is ludicrous to find, among several others, the cut which appears in Burns as the " Poet and Coila" doing duty as an illustration to the "Vision of Azidah " in the Repository, and the Burns block of "The Lammas Night" illustrating the meeting of Edwin and Ethelinde. Bunyan's " Pilgrim's Progress," printed in Taunton by J. Poole, 1806, has six designs drawn by Thurston * Davison in 1811 made a proposal to print a three-volume foolscap octavo edition of Burns's Poems, with three copper-plates and eighteen woodcuts by Bewick, at the price of eighteen shillings, but the project was abandoned. THOMAS BEWICK. 219 and engraved by Bewick. The " Treatise on Wood Engraving" tells us that Thurston, who died in 182 1, was at first a copper-plate printer, and latterly a designer on wood. " He drew very beautifully, but his designs are too frequently deficient in natural character and feeling." This is to a certain extent true of the design now under notice, for none of the six in the "Pilgrim's Progress " are of the highest class ; and besides, the engraving m m^i Christiana passing the River. "Pilgrim's Progress," 1806. From the original block lent by the Rev. Mr. Buckley. bears evidence of other workmanship than Bewick's, though in the foliage parts now and again his hand is visible. By the kindness of the Rev. Mr. Buckley three of the cuts are introduced into this volume, the impressions being taken from the original wood blocks. That of "Christian at the Wicket Gate," on p. 92, is the frontispiece; the one above represents " Christiana passing the River," the grace of Thurston's drapery drawing therein being specially observable ; and on the next page is the design of Tender Conscience and Good Resolution at the Cave. f f 2 220 THOMAS BEWICK. In 1809 a large series of small engravings, many by Bewick, illustrating Natural Histories of Quadrupeds, Birds, Fishes, Reptiles, Serpents, and Insects, was published by Davison, Alnwick. There are in all 247, and many being representations of animals not elsewhere drawn by Bewick, the work is interesting. It is not difficult to be obtained, and is sometimes in one or two volumes, or in seven separate parts. The " General View of the Agri culture of Durham, 1810," by Bewick's friend Bailey, contains six engravings by Bewick, the best being the Durham Ox and Mr. Mason's Cow, two very carefully engraved animals, the execution clean and neat, the Ox being the better, while the foliage in both is good. During the years 1 805 to 1 8 1 1 many interesting little books were published in York, Alnwick, and Newcastle, containing impressions from blocks by Bewick. The majority had been previously published, but there were also a number of books which contain minor prints by the engraver. The volumes are named in our list at the end. Tender Conscience and Good Resolution. " Pilgrim's Progress,'' 1806. From the original block lent by the Rev. Mr. Buckley. The Ford. " The Poetical Works of Robert Ferguson," Vol. II. CHAPTER XXIII. THE l8l8 AND 1820 FABLES — PORTRAITS — MISCELLANEOUS WORKS. l8l2 TO 1820. I" N 18 1 2 Bewick went through a severe illness, which laid him aside for a -1- considerable time. It was hardly expected that he would recover, but his strong constitution was proof against the disease, although it left him very feeble. His thoughts were busy when his limbs were idle, and he made up his mind, if strength returned to him, to proceed with engravings for a volume on the Fables of ^Esop, a project of which, years before, he had often thought, but to begin it there had not been found an opportu nity. "While I lay helpless, from weakness," he says, "and pined to a skeleton, without any hopes of recovery being entertained either by myself or any one else, I became, as it were, all mind and memory. ... I could not help regretting that I had not published a book similar to Croxall's ' ^Esop's Fables,' as I had always intended to do. I was extremely fond of that book ; and as it had afforded me much pleasure, I thought, with better executed designs, it would impart the same kind of delight to others that I had experienced from attentively reading it." After his recovery he there fore went on with this work, but it was not until 1818 that it was published. In 1 8 1 2 the family removed from their house at the Forth, and went to reside 222 THOMAS BEWICK. on the opposite bank of the river, in the place then called the Back Lane, now No. 19, West Street, in the township of Gateshead-on-Tyne. In those days this wa's a vastly different place from what it is in 1882. At the present time West Street is completely built round with dwellings and workshops, is fairly busy with traffic, often dingy from the smoke of neighbouring furnaces, and not at all a desirable place for an artist to live in. Seventy years ago, however, there were the verdant meadows of the Barney Close, with cultivated fields and a long stretch of pleasant country by the side of the water, and with the picturesque Windmill Hill close at hand, all forming an outlook at any time delightful, and at sunset peculiarly attractive. From the Back Lane Bewick's customary way to business was down the Bottle Bank to the bridge over the Tyne (now the Low Bridge), and up to his workshop in St. Nicholas's Churchyard through the Sand-hill, the Side, Dean Street, and the Churchyard Stairs. In all these places Bewick had friends and acquaintances, whom he either merely saluted and passed by, or stopped to have a gossip with about the topics of the day. Bewick having now become a famous man, many of his admirers desired to possess his portrait. In 1798 there was published the weak copper-plate by T. A. Kidd, after a painting by Miss Kirkley, of " Thomas Bewick, Restorer of the Art of Engraving on Wood," previously described. J. Summerfield engraved a plate from a miniature by Murphy, painted about the beginning of the century, and published it on November ist, 1815. The " Graphic Illustrator," 1834, gives an interesting letter, addressed to Summerfield, from Bewick, concerning this engraving, where he says, under date Newcastle, 3rd January, 1814 : — " Dear Sir, — I have just been with Mr. Busby, who informs me that he will pack up his parcel which is to contain this & the portrait of me, by Mr. Murphy, this Evening. — I fear the portrait of me, which he has in hand, will not be finished to send along with the other— but I don't know whether or not — he has, however, promised me to send you his remarks upon Mr. Murphy's, which he examined & compared with the Original— and considering the length of time it has been done THOMAS BEWICK. 223 (12 or 13 years), he thinks it very like. I hope you will do it to please yourself, & that you will reap sufficient profit by it in the sale as a frontispiece to my Books. — Mr. Kidd's was so very unlike, that it was almost universally condemned by my London Friends, & of course fell into neglect. An eminent Bookbinder here, who bought Kidd's Plate, has, however, sold a great number of them. ... I am Dear Sir with best wishes, yours, Thomas Bewick." In 1 816 Thomas Ranson, a pupil of Kidd, executed a fine plate in line of a portrait by Nicholson, Bewick's pupil. On October 25th, 181 7, Colnaghi published the very excellent portrait of Bewick, engraved by John Burnett after James Ramsay, which was reprinted in Bell's Catalogue in 1 85 1. In 1820 Nesbit's wood engraving of Bewick was issued, having been taken from a picture by Nicholson. It was used in the " Select Fables" of that date, together with reduced woodcuts of the four plates above named. A portrait, also by Nicholson, has been recently published as an etching, executed by one of the first of modern artists, Leopold Flameng. John Jackson drew two portraits of Bewick, both on wood, one of which was printed in Bell's Catalogue and the other in the " Treatise on Wood Engraving: " it is also to be found in this volume at page 162. Baily's bust, mentioned further on, was engraved in 1830, but the sculptor thought it "not like the cast from which it has been taken, nor like the great original." " Howitt's Journal," No. 38, 1846, has a woodcut, and Jardine's "Naturalist's Library" (Parrots volume), 1843, a small steel plate by Lizars. A full-length portrait by F. Bacon, after Ramsay (painted in 1823), was published in 1852, and used also in Hugo's folio volume, 1870, and in Mr. Pearson's large " Select Fables." This is a full-length portrait of the old man, and at once recalls the "better sort of gardener, or small farmer," to which Bewick has been likened. The original belongs to Mr. R. S. Newall, Ferndene, Gateshead. The Frontispiece to our volume is from a plate engraved by Meyer after Ramsay, which has been kindly lent for use here by the Rev. Mr. Pearson. The other portraits in oil colour that exist of Bewick are the two head-size canvases by Ramsay, one in the artist's house at Gateshead, and the other 224 THOMAS BEWICK. in the Literary and Philosophical Institution, Newcastle-on-Tyne. A cabinet full-length seated portrait of the engraver, painted by T. S. Good, of Sunder land, also belongs to Miss Bewick, and the water-colour by Nicholson (recently etched) is the property of Mr. T. Crawhall, Newcastle. Dr. Joly, Dublin, has two pencil portraits of Bewick, one by Ranson, the other by Meyer.* On the visit of the Grand Duke Nicholas (afterwards the Emperor of Russia, against whom "General Fevrier turned traitor"), in 1816, to New castle, Bewick was put on the list of notables, and on December 13th "he had the honour of laying before the Grand Duke some specimens of his skill in the art of engraving on wood," as the local papers said ; " and of explain ing the mode of execution, of which his Highness was pleased to express approbation." In March, 181 8, Bewick gave details of his method of preventing bankT note forgeries to Sir M. W. Ridley, at the time when a Parliamentary Com mission was appointed to inquire into the great increase of false notes. In May Bewick further communicated with Ridley, asking him to lay his plans before the Commission. These were to print bank-note paper for the use of country banks with elaborate borders, which would be extremely difficult and very expensive to imitate ; the Government to exact duties on the papers sold ready to be filled up, rather than to stamp those submitted by the bank. In September Bewick wrote to Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society, on the same subject, stating, besides, that almost any number could be printed from the blocks prepared by his method. In 1 8 19 Bewick received a letter from the Secretary to the Parliamentary Commission, in answer to his communication, in which he was told, "With regard to that part of your letter which relates to country banks, it does not appear to come within the limits of the Commissioners' duties, but rather to * A Bewick admirer, residing in London, possesses a portrait in oil which he purchased as being a likeness of Bewick, after Good. The resemblance is very strong, but after careful inquiry the owner has not been able to ascertain the original proprietor or verify the artist's name. THOMAS BEWICK. 225 belong to the directors of the Bank to make such arrangements as they may think proper with regard to it."* In the "Repository of Arts, 1822," an account of Sir W. Congreve's plan for the prevention of forgery is given, illustrated with three specimens of bank notes executed by Robert Branston. In this Congreve's method of combining various printings in colour on one note, and his extensive employ ment of engine-turned engraving, are commented on. It also refers to the " great obligation which the country bankers, and indeed the country at large, owe to Sir William Congreve for the introduction of the coloured stamps in lieu of the common dry stamp used in stamping bank notes." This statement drew forth a letter from Bewick which appeared in the "Monthly Magazine" for May, 1822. In this he protests against Congreve having all the merit of inventing inimitable bank notes, and refers to his communications with Sir M. W. Ridley and Sir Joseph Banks on the subject in 181 8, and to a correspondence he had with Samuel Thornton, M.P., and Sir T. Frankland in 180 1. He shows that he had long advocated something very similar to Congreve's inventions, but admits that the engine-turning was not his idea.f The "Repository of Arts," in its June number of the same year, publishes a letter from R. Branston, the engraver, which warmly maintains Congreve's right to be called the inventor of the notes previously published, and of two more given in the same number of the magazine. The writer lays stress on the fact that he was anxious "to undeceive a very worthy man, Mr. Bewick, of Newcastle," whose letter had partly been copied in the news papers, giving a colour to the matter not favourable to Congreve. Branston says he witnessed the progress of the invention for upwards of three years, and he believed Bewick would find himself mistaken in supposing that * "Monthly Magazine," May, 1822. The Parliamentary Commission presented their report on January 22nd, 1819, but it arrived at no definite conclusion. t Sir W. Congreve was in the English travelling suite of the Grand Duke Nicholas, and doubtless saw Bewick in 1816. G G 226 THOMAS BEWICK. Congreve's method was borrowed from him. " Mr. Bewick is indeed too good an artist," says Branston, " and too candid a man, after taking credit for the security of surface printing in one colour, which was his own proposition, not to admit it when combined with the additional difficulties arising from the perfect register of colour in the compound plate, which is the essence of Sir W. Congreve's plan." * Bewick requested Congreve to say if the scheme were his own or Bewick's, but, as our engraver says in his Memoir, " neither Sir William nor any of the commissioners took any notice," excepting Branston's letter, which, "though it began very impudently, did not answer my letter at all. This I could not help treating with contempt; to enter into a paper war with such a person," Bewick continues, "I thought would be great folly." So, notwithstanding all his trouble, he did not gain anything by his exertions, and the project dropped. It must be admitted, however, that Bewick's plan was not nearly so complete for the prevention of forgery as that of Sir William Congreve, though Bewick's artistic skill and ingenuity displayed in the note engravings were very conspicuous. The works published from 1813 to 1820 with new engravings by Bewick were not large in number, but are in several cases important publications. The "Poetical Works of Oliver Goldsmith," Alnwick, 1812, contain two vignettes in the body of the volume, and the block (printed here at p. 211) of Edwin and Angelina, from the Hermit, employed as a frontispiece. It has no very great merit beyond other contemporary work by Bewick. Marshall's " Epistles in Verse," 181 2, contain a collection of woodcuts, each of which fills the quarto page. There are examples by Clennell, Nesbit, and others, and one by Bewick. The " Poetical Works of Robert Ferguson," Alnwick, 2 vols. 1814, contain in the first volume over twenty engravings, but, with the exception * Bewick's notes were in one colour only, Congreve's in two or three. Branston promised in' his letter to produce further evidence of Congreve's method, but does not appear to have done so. THOMAS BEWICK. 227 of one or two of the tail-pieces, none are of much merit. The best are the resting traveller and the man and donkey, which were used in the editions of Burns' s Poems; several of the others were also employed by Davison for various publications. The second volume contains about the same number of blocks, and of a better quality than those in the first. The three cows, the traveller amid rain, and the Ford are the best. The latter, printed on our page 221, is thus spoken of by The Times of January 3rd, 1882, when reviewing The Fine Art Society's " Bewick Notes :" — " The back of the sturdy rider who is crossing the stream is turned towards us, and yet we are struck at once by the acquaintance with anatomy it displays. But there is far more in it than mere anatomical knowledge. The angles of the tucked-up thighs and the arms, the stoop of the shoulders, the set of the short back, the very creases in the clothes, as rendered in a line or two, all convey irresistibly the idea of a man who is concentrating his energies in avoiding being splashed, while the rock under the scraggy tree in the foreground, with the gate and wind-beaten bushes in the middle distance, makes a charming sketch of Northumbrian land scape." The fourth edition of both volumes of the " History of British Birds " was published in 1816, being printed on demy octavo paper only, and in separate volumes. The only additional figures in the first volume are the Peregrine Falcon and the Pied Flycatcher. In the second volume the Eared Grebe is the only new one. The vignettes of the fowls under cover on a rainy day and the guillemots on the seashore are vigorously drawn, and rendered with much beauty in black and white. The " History of Hartlepool," by Sir Cuthbert Sharp, 18 16, contains a number of wood engravings stated, in a note in the work, to be by Bewick and Nicholson. They are principally coats of arms, seals, medals, and initial letters, with a few uninteresting views of old erections. The two largest represent a fisherman coming home from the sea, and a group of detached rocks at Hartlepool — an engraving, the text says, which " may convey a faint resemblance of their general appearance." The block given here, which is g g 2 '^ljJHl8lP§|*[liffillX - apBaa. sEEKfe,,. .. . ...... JWTJH^fi 228 THOMAS BEWICK. printed for the first time, is a view of the same place, with a coat of arms placed on the central rock. This block was supplied by Bewick to Sir Cuth bert Sharp for the "History of Hartlepool," but, like one mentioned in the "Bewick Collector," p. 463, it was not printed. It is now the property of Mr. C. Hopper, Sunderland, who acquired it from Sir Cuthbert' s housekeeper, and who has lent it for publication here. In 1 817 an association was formed in Newcastle in order to reprint the interesting and scarce tracts connected with the north of England. These were pub lished from 1 8 17 until 1845, and form an important series. Some contain several engravings by Bewick, but the majority were embellished only by a single block, which had been done for a private patron. There were six different ones employed : Adamson's, Brockett's, Fenwick's, Garrett's, Hodgson's, and Straker's. The "Fisher's Garland," from 1821 to 1845, was among this series, which altogether numbers nearly a hundred. In connection with the publication of one of these, which contains a copy of one of his designs, Bewick sent a letter to Charnley, which conveys a severe comment on the practice of copying another's work. The original letter is in the possession of Mr. Crawford J. Pocock, Brighton, who has given permission for its insertion here. It is dated Gateshead, May 22, 1826, and, after mentioning his illness that year, Bewick says : — " While I was beset with grief and disease, Mrs. Roxby's pretty little ' Fisher's Garland ' was put into my hands, and this, as far as it went, threw in upon me its proportion of vexation. This I never expected from Mr. Charnley, whom I had fondly considered as my friend, and who ought to have known better than to get my design copied to embellish the little book. The copyright of every artist's design is secured to him by an express law, and the punishment for copying or imitating them is quick, short, and summary, both upon the person who employs an artist THOMAS BEWICK. 229 and the artist himself who executes them. I trust you will see this u. its proper light, and in future not attempt to act so improperly. I suppose Mr. Nicholson was the artist employed in this unfriendly business. If so, I shall be obliged to convince him of the impropriety of his conduct. He knows perfectly well how easy it is to make a fac-simile of any design on wood, and that an impression from any woodcut can, line by line, be transferred to a plain block, so that there is no difficulty in cutting the lines so distinctly thus burnished on. If I do not put a stop to this kind of work, then I may expect the next move will be to copy the Quadrupeds, Birds, and tale pieces, and every original design I have done." This is one of the most forcible letters Bewick ever wrote, and the words "quick, short, and summary" comprehend a world of meaning in their brevity. In 1 8 1 7 a few copies (about twenty-five) of the Figures of the Land and Water Birds, with the Foreign Birds, were printed without the letterpress, and published at two guineas each quarto volume ; and the same number of the Figures of the Quadrupeds and Vignettes was issued the following year. " The Fables of .^Esop, and others, with Designs on Wood by Thomas Bewick," 18 18, were commenced under the circumstances narrated at the beginning of this chapter. Bewick acknowledges the assistance he received with the work from his son, and from his pupils, William Harvey and William Temple, " who were eager to do their utmost to forward me," says Bewick in his Memoir, " in the engraving business, and in my struggles to get the book ushered into the world." The engravings are all different from those in the preceding volumes of Fables, neither is the letterpress the same, but both the text and the prints are similar in design to those in the 1784 edition. Some disappointment was felt on the publication of the work because it did not reach the exalted standard of the Birds. Nevertheless the engravings are wonderfully clever, and, as a matter of fact, received more actual expenditure of labour than did the Birds. It must be admitted, however, that what they gain in finish they lose in force ; and, while we have refined and delicately manipulated designs, 230 THOMAS BE WICK. we have engravings executed in a manner foreign to that by which Bewick made his name, and which are somewhat feelingless in character and feeble in workmanship. This sentiment of disappointment, nevertheless, has not been endorsed by succeeding critics ; and though it is acknowledged that the engravings are not all Bewick's, yet the 1818 Fables are as eagerly sought after as the Quadrupeds or Birds. The tail-pieces in one or two cases are somewhat broad for a book devoted to leading " hundreds of young men into the paths of wisdom and rectitude," and materially "assisting the pulpit." The letterpress was either Bewick's own composition, or selected and prepared by him. The royal 8vo edition may be known from the demy 8vo (even if cut down) by the vignette on page xvi, which is an allego rical subject, the smaller paper copy having a demon there. A small number were printed on imperial 8vo paper. The following letter, in the possession of Prof. Corfield, who has kindly consented to its publication, gives additional interest to Bewick's work. It is dated Newcastle, 24th August, 1818, and is addressed to " Messrs. Tipper and Fry," paper merchants : — " Gentlemen,— We want two quires of Imperial paper the same as this \ sheet, to finish the Book of Fables & the Press now waits for it. Mr. Hollingworth furnish? the paper & I think we paid you for it, and how he or you happens not to know the kind we want, rather puzzels us. If Mr. H. could refer to his Books he W? see both the kind, quality,* and quantity he sent us— should it happen that you cannot exactly match this— something near it, as you can, must be sent-for it is very disagreable to stop the press to wait for it. We are well aware that this business is both of triffling import and troublesome to you but at present we do not need a grearter quantity. We were quite disappointed at the contents of your letter rec? to day-instead of the two quires of paper,-We are Gentlemen Your most obed* T. Bewick & Son. P.S. please to observe it is not plate paper we want but letterpress paper.' 't The seventh edition of the Quadrupeds was published in 1820, in * Quality had been written in afterwards, so that " both" was at first correct t The letter is written by Thomas Bewick, who signs for the firm. The mistakes in spelling and grammar seem partly due to haste ; and probably the annoyance of receiving a letter, instead of the paper for printing, also made Bewick less than ordinarily careful. THOMA S BE WICK. 2 3 1 imperial, royal, and demy 8vo, at £2 2s., £1 ns. 6d., and £1 is. respec tively. In a newspaper advertisement of this, " T. Bewick begs leave to inform his friends, that the execution of this edition he conceives on the whole to be the best that has appeared, particularly the imperial, which nearly equals in size an ordinary quarto and only a small number is printed. T. B. has sold the principal part of the edition to Mr. Charnley, reserving to himself a few copies for his private sale amongst his friends, whose orders will be thankfully received." This edition is not materially different from the sixth (181 1). With the exception of the cut at the end of the index, the volume is the same up to page 410; after this the order is changed slightly, the Beaver being placed before the Rats ; the Musquash, a new cut and description, coming between these. The block of the Mouse, which was becoming worn and is really a poor example of Bewick's art, was replaced in 1820 by another, which, though more formal, is in some respects a better design, but the hardness in the outlines is a little objectionable. The "Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Luis de Camoens," the Portuguese poet, were published in 1820, and contain in the first volume four woodcuts : a coat of arms, two medals of Camoens, and a small design showing the pen and sword crowned with laurel. The medals were both cut by Bewick, the first giving a remarkably fine profile portrait of the poet. The other is in outline only, and was done altogether by Bewick himself. Adamson, the author, noticed that the thick stroke of the x in the word excvdi was reversed and made by the engraver to read X ; he pointed out the error to Bewick, who, however, " coolly looking at the impression, and without being put out of his way, said, ' Well, Mr. Adamson, it's still an X.' " In a letter relating to this, in the author's possession, Adamson says he has no complete recollection of the remark, but as he knows the X was shown to Bewick, he entertains little doubt the remark was made. In the second volume there are three engravings: a medallion portrait of Camoens, and two very coarse wood fac-similes of old heads of Portuguese 232 THOMAS BEWICK. heroes.* In 1820 Bewick also engraved a block, 4J by 3 in., of the Setting Sun public-house, used in a small tract entitled "The Genteel Sabbath Breaker" — a scene more nearly allied to the art of Hogarth than any of Bewick's contemporary work, as it represents the effects of liquor in the most straightforward way. On August 3rd, 1820, a selection of the early works of the Bewicks was published, under the principal title of "Select Fables," being a reprint of the cuts in the 1784 Fables, but with different letterpress and arrangement, and with a short sketch of the lives of the engravers, and a brief catalogue of their works. It contains about three hundred and forty prints, some being among Thomas Bewick's earliest works, and others done just before publication. Some of the tail-pieces are by Nicholson. It was printed in demy 8vo, 15s. ; with a few copies, royal 8vo, 21s.; im perial 8vo, 3 is. 6d. ; and twelve of the largest size, with India-paper proofs, £5 5 s. The sizes being similar to the Birds and Quadrupeds, it forms an excellent companion to them, and the volume is altogether a desirable one. The Fable blocks were altered for this edition, and many of the ornamental borders taken away, thus somewhat spoiling their effect. In Mr. Pearson's reprints, and in those printed in the early part of this volume, these have, as far as possible, been restored. Horace Walpole's Book-plate. * 1820. Under this date there are in the British Museum a number of little pamphlets with engravings said to be by Bewick. They are miserable productions, and certainly not his, though a few are copied from his designs. THOMAS BEWICK. 233 During many years Bewick executed a considerable number of book plates, which form a brilliant series of engravings ; they were mostly done for private gentlemen, and "being well paid for, were invariably excellently engraved." On June 26th, 1822, Bewick received £5 from R. E. Croker for one. Several have already been described: the later ones were : — "J. H. Affleck, Newcastle-on-Tyne," a copper-plate of a shield among flowers. A woodcut, with rock, foliage, and a distant view of Newcastle, done for William Armstrong, and afterwards altered, and used on the title-page of Bewick's Memoir, 1862. A view of Strawberry Hill House, exe cuted for the Honourable Horace Walpole, of which an impression is given opposite. A Hawk standing on rock was done for W. Hawks, and a similar bird alone, with the name in script, for Joseph Hawks, for which see previous page. Armorer Donkin's book-plate contains a beautifully varied cluster of foliage, and Wm. Taylor's and John Stobart's (which are very like each other) contain excellent work. The woodcut done for J. W. Sanders (given here) is another fine engraving, and the copper-plate for " John Headlam, M.A.," reproduced on page 89, contains much characteristic work. John Adamson' s cut — ruins — is among the very best ofthe series, and Brockett's — a doorway not unlike that in Jedburgh Abbey — W. Garret's (sometimes also used for a concert ticket), and Straker's cuts were all employed at different times to embellish the titles of the Newcastle reprints of 1 8 1 7 and onwards. Bewick also did some excellent engravings on silver, several impressions from such work being in the British Museum collection. H H J. W. Sanders's Book-plate. From the original wood block executed by Bewick for Mozley, Gainsborough, for a Spelling Book. Lent by Mr. Mozley, Derby. CHAPTER XXIV. LATER YEARS AND DEATH. 1 82 1 TO 1828. T70R the best descriptions of Bewick during his later years we have to -*- look to accounts which have been left of visits paid to him by admirers attracted to Newcastle by the greatly extended fame of the engraver. J. E.X3owman and J. F. M. , Dovaston visited him together in 1823 and in 1825, and Audubon, the naturalist, in 1827. All have left details of their visits, that of J. E. Bowman being partly inserted in our Appendix, from the highly interesting unpublished manuscript. THOMAS BEWICK. 235 In August, 1823, Bewick visited Edinburgh in company with his daughter Jane. They started on the 1 ith, and remained a fortnight, Bewick finding time to make and renew previous acquaintance with many of the notables in the Scottish capital. It was during this visit to Edinburgh that Bewick executed the only lithographic design — the " Cadger's Trot" — he ever produced. He appears to have been anxious to ascertain the capabilities of Senefelder's recent discoveries. It was hurriedly drawn one morning before breakfast, and, as Bewick says in his Memoir, " the proofs were taken from it on the same day. In doing this," he continues, " I could see what that manner of making prints was capable of." Hugo's story that Bewick drew the design to correct a man he saw drawing in Ballantyne and Robertson's printing office is in direct contradiction to Bewick's own statement, and is a very unlikely occurrence. Only a small number of these prints was taken, and the drawing was then washed off the stone. Bell gives the number as 20, Hugo at 25, and others have said 19 only. They are printed on paper of various tints ; some are creamy white, others green, and others on a ruddy colour. The accompanying fac-simile is from one on creamy white paper in the possession of Professor Corfield, who kindly lent it for reproduction ; the original has the name " Ballantyne and Robertson" in very minute characters at one side, but this has been purposely left out in the fac-simile. On October 1st, 1823, Dovaston and Bowman saw Bewick for the first time, their visit being thus described in the "Magazine of Natural History," vol. ii. page 317, 1829. " We had been told that Bewick retired from his workshop on evenings to the Blue Bell in the Side, for the purpose of reading the news. To this place we repaired. . . . Bewick was sitting by the fire in a large elbow chair, smoking. He received us most kindly, and in a very few minutes we felt as old friends. He appeared a very large athletic man, then in his seventy-first year, with thick, bushy, black hair, retaining his sight so completely as to read aloud rapidly the smallest type of a newspaper. He was dressed in very plain clothes, but of good quality, h H 2 236 THOMAS BEWICK. with large flaps to his waistcoat, grey woollen stockings, and large buckles. In his under lip he had a prodigious large quid of tobacco, and he leaned on a very thick oaken cudgel, which, I afterwards learned, he cut in the woods of Hawthornden. His broad, bright, and benevolent countenance, at one glance bespoke powerful intellect and unbounded good-will, with a very visible sparkle of merry wit. The discourse at first turned on politics (for the paper was in his hand), on which he at once openly avowed himself a warm Whig, but clearly without the slightest wish to provoke opposition. I at length succeeded in turning the conversation into the fields of natural history. ... In many instances, though frequently succeeding to the broadest humour, his countenance and conversation assumed and emitted flashes and features of absolutely the highest sublimity." In the summer of 1825 a project was put into tangible form of having a marble portrait bust of Bewick "executed by an eminent artist at the expense of his friends, to be placed in the Library Room" (then new) "of the Literary and Philosophical Society, as a testimony of respect to their distinguished townsman due to his high character and talent." A meeting was called on June 6th, and a resolution to the foregoing effect having been unanimously passed and the subscription limited to one guinea, " in order to give his numerous friends an opportunity of testifying their respect," it was arranged to ask Baily, the celebrated sculptor, to undertake the execution of the bust. Subscriptions were duly received, and Bewick having given his consent to the project, the next thing to consider was the costume in which he was to be taken. Baily proceeded to Newcastle from London, and proposed to put the usual loose garment round the shoulders. " Against this, however, Bewick at once rebelled: he was resolved," says the "British Quarterly Review," "if he must appear on earth after his death, to do so after the fashion of Hamlet's father, ' in his habit as he lived,' and from this resolution he would not budge. The toga was accordingly given up, and the artist was taken in his coat and waistcoat, not forgetting his neckcloth and ruffled shirt." The bust still remains in the Institution. Early in 1826 the first break in Bewick's family circle took place, and when the newspapers announced, "At Gateshead, on Feb. 1, died, aged F^*»-\ XT^ y ,,^ . ( - '~Xj / ' X--X i y^,riJ^ i f < 67-9. 72. 75-6. 95 Scotland, Bewick visits, 51-2 Senefelder, J. A., 235 Sign-boards, 12 Silver engraving, 24, 6r, 233. 251 Society of Arts, 44, 112 Spencer, Earl, 104 Stephens, F. G., on Bewick, 164, 185, 188,195,199,261 Stirling, 51-2 Summerfield, J., 222 Sunday, Bewick's unlucky day, 20, 33, 102, 247 Swarley's Club, 136, 140, 202 Temple, W. W., 208, 229 Thurston, J., 217-19 Tipper and Fry, 230 Townsend, Rev. G., 105 Trevelyan, Miss J., 240 Tunstall, M., 89, 97-9, 101, 104, 126, 163 Turner, J. M. W., 60, 90, 250 Turner, Rev. Mr., onBewick, 38, 101, 210, 259 Tyne Valley, 5, 37, 39, 222 Value of Bewick Books, 257 Vaughan, Rev. Dr. (See "British Quarterly Re view," Book Index) Vellum copies of Chilling ham Bull, 104 Vernor, Hood, and Sharpe, 214-16 Walker, E., printer, 207, 244 Welsh, Charles, 69 Westall, R., 152, 154 Wilson and Spence, York, 75 Wingate, Richard, 209, 215 Wordsworth on Bewick, 262 Wycliffe drawings, 137, 165 Zoological Gardens, 96, 246 N N INDEX TO WORKS BY THOMAS AND JOHN BEWICK, DESCRIBED OR ALLUDED TO IN THE VOLUME, FORMING A COMPLETE LIST OF THE BOOKS CONTAINING IMPORTANT ENGRAVINGS BY THE ARTISTS. *** In this Index-Catalogue the books marked with an asterisk (*) are volumes containing authentic woiks by Thomas or John Bewick, but which have not been considered of sufficient importance to describe in the letterpress. Many of these also contain impressions of Engravings which appeared in several different books. L. means that the work was published in London ; A., Alnwick; B., Bath ; G., Gainsborough; M., Manchester; N., Newcastle; S., Sunderland; Y., York; and the date is the year of first publication. The other numbers refer to the pages in the volume. *Adams's, Thomas, Works, A., 1811 *Alnwick, History of, A., 1813 * Ain wick Castle, A. (no date) Amusing and Instructive Tales, 151 •Angler's Garland, N., 1870-1 Angling, Pleasure of, 242 Annual Biography, 260 Annual Review, 133, 203 * Ancient Popular Poetry, £., 1 79 1 •Antiquarian Trio, 1826 •Antiquities of Anglo-Saxon Church, N., 1806 •Archseologia JEliana, N, 18 16 Aristotle's Complete Masterpiece, 72 ?Aristotle's Works, L., 1792 •Art of Preserving Health, M., 1795 Atkinson's Memoir. (See Atkinson, General Index) •Battledores (Various), Y. (n. d.) •Beauties of jEsop, L., 1786 and 1822 •Beauties of British Poetry, £., 1801 Beauties of Creation, 147 Beauties of History, 150 Beauties of Modern Literature, 172 Beauties of Natural History, 90, 119 Bee, The, 167, 215 Bell's Catalogue, 90, 144, 214, 216, 223, 260 •Bell, T., Sale Catalogue, N., i860 •Be Merry and Wise, L., 1781 Bewick's Memoir, -3, 6, 36, 39, 43, 62, 65, 84, 138-9, 158, 160, 165, 172, 201-2, 241, 258, 267-iS Bewick Collector. (See Hugo, General Index) Bible, 217 •Bible, Abridged, Y., 1802 Bible, Hieroglyphick, 58 •Bible in Miniature, Y., 1802 •Bibliotheca Lusitana, N., 1836 Birds and Beasts, Lottery Book, 31 •Birds, History of, Y., 1802 Bishopric Garland, 77 •Blackwood's Magazine, 1825 and 1828 Bloomfield's Farmer's Boy, 172 Bloomfield's Rural Tales, 172 Blossoms of Morality, 158 British Birds, Preparations, 162 ; Vol. I., 181 ; Sea Eagle, 183 ; Magpie, 184,242-3; " Page 285," 188 ; 1798 Edition ot Vol. L, 190; Vol. II., 192 ; 2nd Edition, 213 ; 3rd do., 214; 4th do., 227; 5th do., 239; 6tn do., 239; 7th do., 258; 8ih do., 258 ; Bewick's Swan, 258 ; Figures, separately, 191 ; Proofs, 215 ; Supplement, 229, 239 ; Ad denda, 240; Additamenta, 240 •British Champion, Y., 1797 •British Field Sports, £., 1818 •British Literature, N., 1827 •British Picture Books, A. (a. d.) •British Primer, N. (filth edition) British Quarterly Review, 100, 183, 200, 236, 264 •Brockett, J. T., Sketch of, N., 1843 Buffon's Works, 95, 163 Burns's Poems, 217-9, 227 INDEX TO WORKS. 275 •Caledonian Muse, L., 1821 Camoens' Memoirs, 231 •Carey, Rev. W., Sketch of, N., 1843 •Carlisle, History of Family, L., 1820 •Catnach, James, Z. (n. d.) •Cato, a Tragedy, M., 1799 •Charlotte, Princess, Interment of, N., 1817 •Charms for Children, Y., 1806 Charms of Literature, 171 •Charnley's Catalogues, 1816-24 •Charnley's Specimens, 1858 Chase, The, by W. Somervile, 152, 155 •Chevy Chase, A. (n. d.) Children's Books, 67 Children's Miscellany, 145 •Child's Monitor, Y., 1806 Child's Tutor, 32 Choice Collection of Hymns, 72 Choice Emblems, 144 Christian Piety, Instruction in, 77 Clairville Family, 171 Clef des Champs, La, 95 •Companion to the Altar, N. (n. d.) •Comus, M. and Z., 1800 Consett's Tour, 87, 91 •Cook's Voyages, N., 2 vols., 1790 Copeland's Heraldic Ornaments, 22 •Cortex Salicis Latifolia;, N. (n. d.) •Crazy Jane, A., 1813 •Cumberland Dialect Ballads, A. (n.d.) •Cumberland, History of, Z., 1794 •Davison's Sale Catalogue, N. (n. d.) •Day : A Pastoral, A. (n. d.) •Divine Songs, Y. 1800 •Dobbinson, Life of D., Z., 1824 •Dodsley in Miniature, Y., 1801 •Douglas, M., 1800 Dovaston's Memoir. (See Dovaston, General Index) Dovaston's Poems, 242 •Ducks and Pease, N. and A., 1827 Durham, Agriculture of, 220 •Durham, Cooke's, Z. (n. d.) Durham, History of, 78 •Dyche's Guide to English, Y., 1801 (Economist, 170 •Elegant Poems, 67., 1812 Elegant Selections, 171 Elegiac, 171 •Elmina, £., 1800 Emblems of Mortality, 145 •English Anthology, £., 1792 •Entertaining Naturalist, £., 1843 Epistles in Verse, 226 Fables, iEsop's (1818), 221, 229, 245 Croxall's, 76, 78, 221 Gay's, 42-5, 68 Select (1776), 28, 52, 76 Select (1784), 29, 73, 76 Select (1820), 69, 223, 232 Select (Edition de luxe), 74 Fabliaux, Les, 159 •Fabulous Histories, £., 1815 •Fairing, The, Y., 1805 •Family at Smiledale, Z. (n. d.) •Fairer, Rev. J., Z., 181 1 •Fashionable Songster, N, 1802 •Father's Legacy, £., 1795 •Fenning's Spelling Book, Y., 1794 Ferguson's Poems, 226 Fisher's Garland, The, 228 Fisher's Spring Day, 172 Fishes, History of, 210, 240-1, 266 •Florist's Companion, N, 1794 •Flowers of British Poetry, N. (n. d.) •Flowers of Poesy, £., 1798 •Forsaken Infant, Derby (n. d.) •Foundling, The, N, 1805 Fox's Newcastle Museum, 88, 209, 242 •Freemason's Companion, N., 1774 •French Revolution, Historical View, N, 1796 •Friendly Fairy, L., 1815 •Garden Vade Mecum, £., 1789 •Garlands, Right Merrie, N., 1864 Genteel Sabbath Breaker, 232 Gentleman's Magazine, 260 •Gentle Shepherd, A., 1836 •Gododin, Z. and A., 1820 Golden Chain, 210 Goldsmith's and Parnell's Poems, 52, IS2 Goldsmith's History, 167 •Goldsmith's Poems (Various), 1795 Goldsmith's Poems, A., 226 •Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield, Z., 1798 •Goodville Family, Y. (n. d.) •Gracioso and Percinet, G., 1806 Graphic Illustrator, 222 •Grave, The, and Gray's Elegy, A., 1808 •Grave, The, Ludlow, 1800 •Grecian Daughter, M., 1800 Habitable World Described, 145 •Hails, W. A., Notice of, N., 1845 •Hamburg, Senate of, N., 1843 •Happy Family, K, 1800 •Happy Village, Shields, 1802 •Harrison's Nursery Picture Book (n. d.) Hartlepool, History of, 227 •Haunted House at Willington, 1849 •Hebrews, Explanation of the, TV., 1813 Hermit of Warkworth, 217 •Hervey's Meditations, G., 1812 Hewlett's Spelling Book, 170 Hiei oglyphick Bible, 58 •Highland Girl, N., 1818 •History, Events in English, £., 1842 History of All Nations, 77 •History of a Schoolboy, £., 1788 •History ofthe Earth, etc., A., 1810 Hive of Modern Literature, 217 Do. Engravings for, N., 1805 •Hodgson's Specimens, N., 1862 •Holiday Present, Y, 1805 •Honey Jug, Y., 1813 Honours of the Table, 145 Howard, Life of John, 91 •Howdy, and the Upgetting, £., 1850 Howitt's Journal, 223, 246, 260 •Hunting, Thoughts on, Z., 1810 •Hutton, Memoir of Dr., N., 1823 Hutton's Ladies' Diary, 24-5 Hutton's Mensuration, 24 •Hymns in Prose, A. (n. d.) •Indian Cottage, N., 1810 Jardine's Naturalist's Library, 223 •Joinville, John Lord de, £., 1807 Julia, or Last Follies, 170 Knaresborough Castle, History, etc., 73 •Kunopaedia, £., 1814 Ladies' Diary, 24-5 Lawrence, Book of the Horse, 245 •Lessons of Truth, Y., 1800 •Lilliputian Magazine, £., 1783 •Literary Cabinet, S., 1805 Literary Miscellany, 171 •Little Goody Two Shoes, Y., 1803 •Local Records, Sykes', N., 1824-33 Looking Glass for the Mind, 148, 245 •Lusitana Illustrata, N., 1842 •Lyttleton's History, G., 1807 •Mack, Rev. J., Notice of, N., 1846 •Man of Feeling, N., 1805 •Markham's Spelling Book (Various) •Marshman, Sketch of J., N.. 1843 •Mary Stuart, Schiller's, £., 1824 •Matlock, Beauties of (n. d.) •Measure for Measure, M., 1800 Mensuration, Hutton's, 24 •Mirror for Female Sex, £., 1798 Mirror : Looking Glass for both Sexes, 72 •Mitchell's Blocks, Impressions of, N. (n. d.) •Monitor, The, N., 1803 Monthly Magazine, 94, 110,137, 204-7, 225 Moral Instructions of a Father, 27 Morning's Amusement, 171 Natural Histories (small), 220 •Natural History, Buffon, N, 1814 Natural History, Magazine of, 235, 237 Natural History Society, Newcastle, 260 Naturalist's Library, 260 •Newcastle, Account of, 1787 Newcastle Almanack, 78 •Newcastle Antiquarian Society, N., 1814 Newcastle Courant, 71, 89, 207 Newcastle Directory, 68 •Newcastle Election Papers, 1830 •Newcastle, Great Newes from, £., 1851 •Newcastle, Guide through, N, 1846 •Newcastle, History of, Z., 1789 •Newcastle Library Catalogue, 1829 •Newcastle, Mackenzie's, N., 1827 •Newcastle Magazine, 1785 Newcastle Museum Synopsis, 88, 242 •Newcastle, Picture of, N. (n. d.) •Newcastle Songster, N, 1803-5-6 •New Epitome of the Annals of Great Britain, N., 1777 276 INDEX TO WORKS. New Invented Horn Book, 32 New Lottery Book, 31 •New Preceptor, N., 180 1 New Robinson Crusoe, 146 •New Songster, Penrith (n. d.) •Newspaper Extracts, A., 1842 Newton's, Sir Isaac, Works, 68 New Year's Gift, 67 •Northern John Bull, N., 1830 Northumberland, Agriculture of, 99 •Northumberland Garland, N., 1793 •Northumberland, History of, N, 1820 •Northumberland, Mackenzie's, N, 1825 •Northumberland, Metrical Legends of, A., 1834 •Northumbrian Minstrel, A., 181 1 •Norton's, Mrs., Story Book, Z. (n. d.) Notes on Bewick. (See F. G. Stephens, General Index) •Oak Plantations, £., 1825 •Odd Collection of Odd Songs, N., 1825 •Ornaments, Cast Metal, A. (n. d.) Ornithologia Nova, 95, 164 •Oxford Sausage, £., 1815 •Parlour Menagerie, £., 1878 Parnell's Poems, 52, 152 •Peg Top, Memoirs of a, Y., 1803 •Philip Quarll, Y., 1802 •Picture Book, or York Toy, Y. (n. d.) •Picture Room, Y., 1805 Pilgrim's Progress, 219 Pinkerton's Scottish Gallery, 90 Pismire Journal, 68 •Pitt Club, N., 1815-23 •Pleasant's, Mrs., Story Book, Y., 1804 Pleasing Instructor, 149 •Pleasing Moralist, K, 1803 •Poetical Fabulator, Y., 1810 Pollard's Peerage, 150 •Portfolio, The, £., 1824-5 •Pour Deviner, etc., Z. and N. (n. d.) Pretty Book of Pictures, or Tommy Trip's History of Beasts and Birds, 68, 95 •Pretty Poems, Y., 1800 •Primrose Pretty Face, K, 1804 •Princess of Wales, Anecdote of, N., 1807 Princess of Zanfara, 89 Progress of Man and Society, 147-8 Proverbs Exemplified, 147 Proverbs in Verse, 147 •Psalms of David, Sunderland (n.d.) •Pupil's Friend, N., 1805 Quadrupeds, History of, begun, 81 ; First block for, 93 ; First Edition, 110-133; Second do., 175; Third and Fourth do., 178, 202 ; American do., 179; Fifth do., 207, 215; Sixth do., 216; Seventh do., 230; Eighth do., 238; Disputes concerning, 201-8; Figures of, 229-243 Reading made Easy (Hastie), 46 Recreation in Agriculture, 1 7 1 •Reed Water Minstrel, 1809 Relph's Poems, 170 Reprints, Newcastle, 228-232 Repository of Arts, 225 Repository of Literature, 2 18 •Rhymes of Northern Bards, N., 1812 Riley's Choice Emblems, 144 Robin Hood Poems, 158 •Robinson Crusoe, Y., 1802 Robinson Crusoe, New, 146 Robinson Crusoe (Supplement), 73 •Rural Felicity, £., 1809 •Sam's Catalogue, 1822-6 •Scarborough, Tour from, 1824 •School Companion, N. (n. d.) •Scotland's Skaith, N., 1800 •Scottish Dialect, Poems in, A., 1809 •Scottish Songs, Select, £., 1810 •Scripture Illustrated, £., 1807 •Selborne, Natural History of, £., 1875 Shaw's Monody, 171 •Shipton's, Mother, Prophetic Legacy, Y., 1797 •Shorter Catechism, Y., 1809 •Sleeping Beauty, N. (n. d.) and Y., 1804 •Snow Shroud, N. and £., 1845 •Soldiers, Memoirs of Two Veteran, N., 1807 •Songs, Excellent, A. (n. d.) •Specimens of Wood Engraving, N., 1798 •Sporting Anecdotes, Z. (n. d.) •Sporting Magazine, £., 1793 •Sportsman's Cabinet, 2 vols., Z., 1803 •Sportsman's Calendar, £., 1818 Sportsman's Friend, 52, 171 •Sportsman's Repository, £., 1831 Spring Day, Fisher, 172 •Steel's Naval Chronologist, Z. (n.d.) Stevens's Songs, Comic and Satyrical, 46 •Stockdale's Poems, A., 1800 •Stockton-on-Tees, £., 1796 •Sugar Plum, Y., 1804 •Summer Migrant, Our, £., 1875 •Surveyor, The Practical, N., 1809 •Ta ble-Book, Richardson's, £., 1 84 1 -b Tales for Youth, 151 •Tales, Poetry, and Fairy Tales, £., 1878 Three Hundred Animals, 69, 94-5, 240 •Three Instructive Tales, £., 1869 •Thomson's Seasons, Y., 1797 Thomson's Seasons (1805), 217 •Thornton's Family Herbal, £., 1810 •Time's Telescope, Z., 1829 Times, The, on Bewick, 227 •Tommy Careless, Z., 1809 •Tommy Lovebook, 1809 Tommy Trip's History, 68, 95 Tour through Sweden, Consett and Liddell, 87, 91 •Triumph of Good Nature, Z. (n. d.) •Trusler, Memoirs of Dr. J., B., 1806 •Tyne, Great Flood on, N., 1816 •Tynemouth: A Poem, N., 1792 •Tyneside Songster, A. (n. d.) Vignettes, 342 •Vocal Miscellany, N., 1799 •Warden's Spelling Book, N., 1812 •Watson, Peter, N., 1840 •Watts's Songs, N, 1819 •Wat Tyler, Dramatic Poem, N. (n. d.) •Wawn's Poetic Sketches, N., 1825 White's Selborne, 164 •Whole Duty of Man, New, N., 1793 •Wilkinson on the Horse, 1818 Wood Engraving, Treatise on. (See Chatto, General Index) •Workington Agricultural Society, 1810 •Wreath, The, Y. (n. d.) •York Guide, Y., 1798 •Young Reader, N., 1806 •Youngsteirs' Diary, A. (n. d.) •Youthful Recreations, Z. (n. d.) Youthful Instructor, 46 Bank Notes, 172-3 Barber's Shop Card, 70 Book Plates, 168-70, 228, 233 Broad and Crown Glass Company, 72 Bywell Bay, 211 Cadger's Trot, 235 Chillingham Bull, 97-109 Cock Inn Bar Bill, 27-73 SEPARATE ENGRAVINGS. Cocks, Fighting, 70 Kyloe Ox, 90, 252 Lion, Tiger, Elephant, and Zebra, 173 Lost, Stolen, or Strayed, 70 Miscellaneous, 168-70, 228, 241, 252 Negro Kneeling, 89 Newcastle Arms, 72-89 Newcastle Crow's Nest, 77 Newcastle Race Cards, 67 Newspaper Cuts, 68, 71-2, 89, 167 Pidcock's Animals, 173-4, 2S2 Portraits of Bewick, 59, 222-4 Ryton Church, 241 St. George and the Dragon, 26 Wailing for Death, 185, 239, 243-5 Whitley Large Ox, 90 PRINTED BY J. S. VIRTUE AND CO., LIMITED, CITY ROAD, LONDON.