BEVERLEY BEWICK. 



299 



the certified value of 31 6s. 8d., and in the pa 

 tronage of the corporation. The church of S 

 Martin no longer exists. The church of St John 

 which is popularly called Beverley minster, was 

 founded on the site of an ancient structure, in 

 1060, by Kinsius, archbishop of York. The pre- 

 sent building is supposed to have been completed in 

 the reign of Henry III. and is a venerable cruciform 

 structare, with two lofty towers at the west end. 



The following account is given by Tanner 

 ''John, archbishop of York, afterwards called St 

 John of Beverley, is said to have founded, about 

 the year 700, in the choir of the parish church 

 here, a convent of monks dedicated to St John 

 the Baptist ; in the nave of the church, a college 

 of seven secular canons vvith seven clerks, to the 

 honour of St John the Evangelist ; and in the 

 chapel of St Martin, adjoining this church, a so- 

 ciety of religious virgins or nuns. But, about one 

 hundred and sixty years after, the religious here 

 were murdered, and the church and buildings 

 plundered and burnt to the ground by the Danes. 

 Not long after, some of the seculars who had fled 

 from and escaped the Danish fury, began to settle 

 here again and to repair the church, which was 

 completed and endowed with revenues for seven 

 canons, and with large privileges (to the honour of 

 St John of Beverley,) by king Athelstan, and the 

 favour and bounty of succeeding kings, and of the 

 archbishops of York, who claimed the immediate 

 patronage. This collegiate society flourished to 

 that degree that it consisted, at the dissolution, of 

 a provost, eight prebendaries, a chancellor, precep- 

 tor, seven rectors choral, nine vicars choral, with 

 many chantry priests, clerks, choristers, officers and 

 servants." 



The town owed the origin of its prosperity to 

 this monastic establishment. St John of Beverley, 

 to whom the church is dedicated, held the see of 

 York for thirty-three years, with a reputation for 

 great sanctity, and afterwards retired to finish his 

 days in obscurity and devotion in the monastery 

 which he had founded here. " He was educated," 

 says Fuller, " under Tlieodorus the Grecian, and 

 archbishop of Canterbury. Yet was he not so 

 famous for his teacher as for his scholar, Venerable 

 Bede, who wrote this John's life, which he hath so 

 spiced with miracles that it is of the hottest for a 

 discreet man to digest into his belief." After his 

 death, which took place in 721, he was canonized 

 by the title of St John of Beverley. Population 

 of Beverley in 1831, 8302; in 1841, 8409. 



BEVERLEY, JOHN OF. See the preceding 

 article. 



BEWDLEY; a borough town in the county of 

 Worcester, fourteen miles N. W. from Worcester, 

 and 122 N. W. from London. It is situated on the 

 western bank of the river Severn, over which a 

 very handsome stone-bridge was erected in 1797. 

 The houses are in general well-built and of a re- 

 spectable aspect, especially in the principal street, 

 which diverges right and left from the bridge, and 

 is partially paved but not lighted. The inhabitants 

 have a plentiful supply of water, and the air is 

 salubrious. 



The trade of Bewdley is chiefly connected with 

 the carrying trade on the river Severn. It was 

 formerly the mart from which the neighbouring 

 towns were supplied with many imported articles 

 of consumption, but this trade has fallen off very 

 much, in consequence of the recent construction of 

 a canal from Stourport to Stourbridge. It was 



formerly famous for the manufacture of a species of 

 woollen caps called Dutch caps, which was intro- 

 duced here in consequence of the plague breaking 

 out at Momnouth, where it had been previously 

 carried on, but this trade has fallen into decay. 

 The tanning of leather and making of combs are 

 carried on to a considerable extent, and much malt 

 is made for exportation. Markets were formerly 

 held here twice a-week, but only one is now held, 

 on Saturday. 



Bewdley, with the parish of Ribbesford, and the 

 hamlets of Wribbenhall, Hoarstone, Blackstone, 

 Netherton, and Lower Mitton with Lickhill, under 

 the reform act, returns one member to parliament. 

 Population in 1831, 3908; in 1841, H58. 



BEWICK, THOMAS, a very eminent designer 

 and engraver on wood, was born at Cherry Burn 

 in the county of Northumberland, 12th Aug. 1753. 

 His father possessed a landsale colliery at Mickley 

 Bank. He early indicated the bent of his genius 

 by sketching figures with chalk on the walls and 

 doors of almost every house in Cherry Burn. This 

 propensity was the means of introducing him to his 

 future master, who, in passing accidentally through 

 the hamlet, witnessed these pictorial exhibitions of 

 the future wood-cutter, and, after the necessary 

 introduction to his parents, secured him as his ap- 

 prentice. At the age of fourteen he was bound 

 apprentice to Mr Beilby of Newcastle, a respect- 

 able engraver, and one who took delight in instruct- 

 ing his pupils and encouraging their rising talents. 

 Whether young Bewick would at an after period of 

 life, and without the suggestion of others, have 

 directed his attention to wood-cutting, it is diffi- 

 cult to say, but at all events an accidental circum- 

 stance determined his future career in the arts. 

 The celebrated Dr Button, at that time a school- 

 master in Newcastle, was preparing in 1770 his 

 great work on mensuration, and having applied to 

 Mr Beilby to supply copper plates of the mathe- 

 matical figures, he was advised to employ wood- 

 cuts instead. The great mathematician acceded to 

 this proposal, and Mr Beilby entrusted the execu- 

 tion of them to his apprentice. With such beauty 

 arid accuracy were they finished, that the young 

 engraver was advised by his master to turn his chief 

 attention to this long-neglected art, and the conse- 

 quence was a succession of mathematical works il- 

 lustrated with very beautiful diagrams engraved on 

 wood. These figures, consisting chiefly of lines, 

 are not so difficult of execution as those in which 

 shading and a variety of waving and blending lines 

 are necessary to give effect, and present an image 

 of the object to be represented. But the useful- 

 ness of the art was not long to be limited to the 

 illustration of mathematical works. After his ap- 

 prenticeship had expired, Bewick spent a short 

 time in the metropolis, and also paid a visit to 

 Scotland, after which he returned to Newcastle, 

 and became a partner in his master's business. His 

 jrother John, who was seven years his junior, be- 

 came their joint apprentice, and he soon evinced 

 ialents and skill equal if not superior to those of 

 iis elder brother. Unfortunately for the arts and 

 ? or society, of which he was an ornament, this 

 promising individual was cut off in the thirty-fifth 

 ?ear of his age. The publication of an edition of 

 Say's Fables afforded an opportunity for the Be- 

 wicks displaying their talents in the higher branches 

 of wood-engraving, by the illustrations which they 

 'urnished for the work. One of these, the Old 

 Sound, obtained the premium offered by the So- 



