MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 47 



good gentleman, after breakfast, soon betook himself 

 to his labours, and began to shew me, as he laugh- 

 ingly said, how easy it was to cut wood ; but I soon 

 saw that cutting wood in his style and manner was 

 no joke, although to him it seemed indeed easy. 

 His delicate and beautiful tools were all made by 

 himself, and I may with truth say that his shop was 

 the only artist's * shop* that I ever found perfectly 

 clean and tidy. In the course of the day Bewick 

 called upon me again, and put down his name on 

 my list of subscribers in behalf of the Literary and 

 Philosophical Society of Newcastle. In this, how- 

 ever, his enthusiasm had misled him, for the learned 

 body for which he took upon himself to act, did not 

 think proper to ratify the compact. 



" Another invitation having come to me from 

 Gatehead, I found my good friend seated in his usual 

 place. His countenance seemed to me to beam with 

 pleasure as he shook my hand. * I could not bear 

 the idea,' said he, ' of your going off, without telling 

 you, in written words, what I think of your Birds of 

 America. Here it is in black and white, and make 

 of it what use you may, if it be of use at all.' I 

 put the unsealed letter in my pocket, and we chatted 

 on subjects connected with natural history. Now 

 and then he would start and exclaim, * Oh, that. I 



