MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 29 



me apparently with little effect. As a cure for my 

 misdeeds, my worthy master, however, at length 

 found out a better and more effectual way. He 

 one day invited me to dine with him, and after 

 showing me the greatest kindness, he followed 

 this up in a friendly, plain, and open way, by 

 remonstrating with me on the impropriety of my 

 past conduct, the evil tendency of it, and the pain 

 and trouble it had given him ; urging me, at the 

 same time, in such a persuasive tone, instantly to 

 desist from it, that I felt quite overpowered with 

 his discourse, and fell into a flood of tears. The 

 result was, I never dared to encounter another of 

 these friendly meetings ; and, while I remained 

 at his school, he never again had occasion to find 

 fault with me. 



The transactions in which I afterwards became 

 engaged, afforded me more real enjoyment. As 

 silent time stole away, in the varied seasons of 

 the long-measured years, changes gradually took 

 place in many of the erroneous notions I had 

 formed of things. As the mind became more 

 expanded, curiosity led me to enquire into the 

 nature of the objects which attracted my attention. 

 Among the first was that of birds, their nests, 

 their eggs, and their young. These to me were 

 long a source of great delight, and many a spring 

 morning I watched and looked after them. I also 

 spent many a summer evening, on my way home 

 from school, lost in wonder in examining the 

 works going forward among a nation of ants. The 

 place they occupied was on the top of the "Boat 

 Hill," near Eltringham, and the colony was the 

 largest I had ever seen. From it their narrow 

 roads, through the grass, radiated in various direc- 



