MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 71 



" I had never parted from him without our reci- 

 procally thinking it would be the last ; but this time 

 we both thought otherwise, for his health was 

 very much ameliorated. Black Monday at length 

 came; and though the sun shone broad on every 

 thing around, they walked slowly, and methought 

 strangely silent, with me (I leading Rosalind, heavy 

 as a nightmare), about two miles on the road, 

 where, after saluting the young ladies, and shaking 

 the good old Bewick's hand, though I hope to enjoy 

 their friendship yet many years, it was on that 

 mountain side that with him I parted for ever ; and 

 looking back, till the road turned the corner of a 

 rock, dimly saw them kindly gazing after me : and 

 this was the last time I ever beheld the portly per- 

 son of my benevolent and beloved friend. We 

 continued, however, to correspond frequently ; not 

 only on natural history, but (as the Irish scholar 

 said) ' de omnibus rebus, et quibusdam aliis,' on the 

 manners of both feathered and unfeathered bipeds. 

 The next summer, he visited London about his 

 works; and thence he wrote me several very hu- 

 morous letters on the utterly artificial life of the 

 cockneys ; with the mass of whom, since he was 

 among them half a century before, he thought the 

 march of intellect had not equalled the march of 

 impudence. He was, however, very honourably re- 

 ceived by many learned societies and individuals, of 

 whom, and of whose collections, he wrote in rap- 

 tures. On his return, the London and provincial 

 papers had many paragraphs respecting this visit, 



