MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. i i 



though at other times extremely wild, they were 

 quite tame, and seemed to know me. 



From my sheep thus drawing into shelter, gave 

 rise to an opinion I formed, and which has been 

 confirmed by long reflection, that much may yet be 

 done to protect the larger flocks from being over- 

 blown and lost on the bleak moors, in great snow 

 storms. Were long avenues made by double rows 

 of whin hedges, planted parallel to each other at 

 about six feet asunder, and continued in the form 

 of two sides of a square, with the whins of each 

 side drawn together, and to grow interplatted at 

 the tops, so as to form an arched kind of roof, the 

 sheep would, on instinctively seeing the coming 

 storm, immediately avail themselves of such 

 asylums, and particularly in the lambing season. 

 In the corner of the angle of this square, the 

 shepherd might have his hovel, thatched with 

 heather and ling, and his beds for himself and his 

 dogs, made of the same materials ; and the whole 

 of this "bield" might be rendered so snug as 

 greatly to defy the severity of the winter-'-s drifting 

 blasts and wreaths of snow. 



At that time of life, every season had its charms; 

 and I recollect well of listening with delight, from 

 the little window at my bed-head, to the murmuring 

 of the flooded burn which passed my father's house, 

 and sometimes roused me from my bed, to see what 

 it was like. On such occasions I would have cut a 

 " shive " from the black sour rye loaf, and gone 

 to bed again to eat it. After this, my first and 

 common employment was to "muck" the byer; 

 and, when the servant girl did not come soon 

 enough, I frequently tried my hand at milking the 

 cows; and I was always particularly keen of being 



