150 ANIMAL PAINTERS 



Fisher allowed Scott to make use of his name in 

 addressing to Robert Pollard a request for em- 

 ployment in London. Pollard, also a native of 

 Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was then plying his craft 

 in Spa Fields ; his opinion of the specimens of 

 engraving submitted by Scott is sufficiendy evi- 

 denced by his reply to the application. He pro- 

 mised his young fellow-townsman work, and on 

 Scott's arrival in London, took him not only 

 without premium, but at a weekly wage, which he 

 increased in ratio with the young man's progress. 



It was in 1795, when Scott was in his twenty- 

 first year, that his work attracted the notice of Mr. 

 John Wheble. Mr. Wheble was the founder of 

 The Middlesex Joui'tial and The County Chronicle-, 

 and he achieved no little notoriety by identifying 

 himself with the movements promoted by Wilkes, 

 Home Tooke, and other fiery politicians ot the 

 same class. For aiding Wilkes to avoid the law, 

 Mr. Wheble was summoned to the Bar of the 

 House of Commons ; he was acquitted, and as 

 showing the popular feeling of the time, it is worth 

 noting that the Constitutional Society voted him 

 an award of 100 guineas in recognition of his 

 courage in assisting Wilkes to hide. It is not, 

 however, with Mr. Wheble the politician that we 

 are concerned, but with Mr. Wheble the book- 

 seller and journalist. One of the ventures was The 



