64 MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 



to affect), c Gie me sax penn'orth o* bawbees ;' and 

 throwing the copper among the children, said 

 kindly, and with a merry flourish of his cudgel, 

 * There, chields, fit yoursels wi' ballats, and gae 

 hame singing to your mammies.' He w r as particu- 

 larly fond of playing with little children, who, not- 

 withstanding his bulky appearance, and extremely 

 rough face, suffered themselves to come unto him ; 

 and among the numerous and ill-sorted contents of 

 his capacious pockets, he generally (like the all- 

 hearted Dandy Dinmont) had an apple, a whistle, 

 or a bit of gingerbread, together with pencil ends, 

 torn proofs, scraps of sketches, highly tinted with 

 the yellow ooze of huge pigtail quids, in divers 

 stages of mastication. 



" Yet gentle, generous, and playful as he was, 

 his personal strength and courage was prodigious : 

 and notwithstanding his ardent feelings of humanity 

 towards all animals, particularly dogs, horses, and 

 birds, in defending many whereof he had drawn 

 himself into scrapes ; yet, when his own safety was 

 at stake, he could repel an attack w r ith a vigorous 

 neart and arm : for he told me, as how going into a 

 tanyard, a great surly mastiff sprung upon him, and 

 how he caught said mastiff by the hind legs, and 

 ' fetched him, wi' his cudgel, such a thwacker owre 

 the lumber vertebrae, that sent him howling into a 

 hovel/ 



" We enjoyed our evenings as may well be 

 conceived, with such a host at our head ; often till 

 broad morning began to spread her bright drapery 



