370 Review of the Memoir of Thomas Bewick. 



dominie, and then to a school of a higher class, kept by the 

 clergyman of the parish. But he showed no love for bookish 

 learning, preferred Robinson Crusoe to Latin grammar, and, 

 above all, to sketch birds and beasts in the margin of his books. 

 He thus traces the development of his schoolboy taste as an 

 artist : — 



" At that time I had never heard of the word ' drawing •' nor 

 did I know of any other paintings besides the king's arms in 

 the church, and the signs in Ovingham of the Black Bull, the 

 White Horse, the Salmon, and the Hounds and Hare. I always 

 thought I could make a far better hunting-scene than the latter ; 

 the others were beyond my hand. I remember once of my 

 master overlooking me while I was very busy with my chalk in 

 the porch, and of his putting me very greatly to the blush by 

 ridiculing and calling me a conjuror. My father also found a 

 deal of fault for 'misspending my time in such idle pursuits;' 

 but my propensity for drawing was so rooted, that nothing 

 could deter me from persevering in it ; and many of my evenings 

 at home were spent in filling the flags of the floor and the 

 hearthstone with my chalky designs. 



" After I had long scorched my face in this way, a friend, in 

 compassion, furnished me with some paper upon which to exe- 

 cute my designs. Here I had more scope. Pen and ink, and 

 the juice of the brambleberry, made a grand change. These 

 were succeeded by a camel's-hair pencil and shells of colours ; 

 and, thus supplied, I became completely set up ; but of patterns 

 or drawings I had none. The beasts and birds, which enlivened 

 the beautiful scenery of woods and wilds surrounding my native 

 hamlet, furnished me with an endless supply of subjects. I 

 now, in the estimation of my rustic neighbours, became an 

 eminent painter, and the walls of their houses were ornamented 

 with an abundance of my rude productions, at a very cheap rate. 

 These chiefly consisted of particular hunting-scenes, in which 

 the portraits of the hunters, the horses, and of every dog in the 

 pack were, in their opinion as well as my own, faithfully de- 

 lineated. But while I was proceeding in this way, I was, at the 

 same time, deeply engaged in matters nearly allied to this 

 propensity for drawing ; for I early became acquainted, not only 



