EDITOR'S PREFACE. xi 



supply gossip to the antiquary; something there 

 was, too, which might serve to brighten the 

 pages of a very leisurely biographer ; but there 

 was also much from which any interest it may 

 have originally possessed had wholly evaporated. 

 Even the correspondence, large as it looked, was 

 not strong where one most desired it to be 

 strong i.e. as regards Bewick himself. His own 

 letters, addressed to other people, had, except 

 when the recipients were members of his own 

 family, naturally passed into other hands, and 

 although as a rule he had kept rough copies, 

 these could not with safety be regarded as 

 faithfully representing the originals. The largest 

 group emanating from a relative, and in some 

 respects the most interesting group of all, was 

 that of the letters written by John Bewick from 

 London in 1786-95, two of which are reprinted 

 in the Appendix. Another large bundle of 

 letters (and, it may be added, letters of the 

 largest size, since one, now before me, measures 

 nearly two feet square) was from the William 

 Gray mentioned at pp. 67-8. But the Bewick 

 interest of these is comparatively slender, and 

 although, among the rest, a letter here and 

 there seemed to possess some permanent quality, 

 the majority of the correspondence could hardly 

 be said to deserve the honours of reproduction 



