EDITOR'S PREFACE. xiii 



133 in the present reprint had been reached. 

 There is a further record that the portion from 

 p. 133 to 185 was written at Tynemouth in 1823, 

 during" Bewick's stay at that place, which ter- 

 minated on the 22nd December. After this there 

 is no further account of the progress of the 

 manuscript, which ends abruptly as at p. 314, 

 where, in the first edition, another hand, probably 

 that of Miss Bewick, added the date "November 

 ist, 1828," a few days before Bewick's death. He 

 must therefore have been employed upon it almost 

 to the last. 



A very superficial examination of this autograph- 

 copy served to show that it presented many minor 

 divergences from the version printed in 1862, and 

 that considerable portions had, in that version, 

 been omitted. Part of these omitted portions, 

 being crossed out in pencil, were at once dis- 

 tinguishable; but in other cases where large 

 excisions had been made, there was no indication 

 of the fact. My first thought was the very 

 natural one that, if practicable, the book should 

 be printed as its author had left it, and as, 

 from the reference at p. 266 in this volume, he 

 evidently intended it should be printed. But a 

 very little consideration showed that this was 

 impossible. Although, as many loose sheets 

 among the Bewick MSS. proved, it was itself 



