MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 33 



hedge ; and further away was a little boggy 

 dean, with underwood and trees of different kinds. 

 Near the termination of this dean, towards the 

 river, were a good many remarkably tall ash trees, 

 and one of oak, supposed to be one of the tallest 

 and straightest in the kingdom. On the tops of 

 these was a rookery, the sable inhabitants of 

 which, by their consultations and cawings, and 

 the bustle they made when building their nests, 

 were among the first of the feathered race to pro- 

 claim the approaching spring. The corn-fields 

 and pastures to the eastward were surrounded 

 with very large oak and ash trees. Indeed, at 

 that time, the country between Wylam and By- 

 well was beautified with a great deal of wood, 

 which presented the appearance of a continued 

 forest ; but these are long since stubbed up. 

 Needy gentry care little about the beauty of a 

 country, and part of it is now, comparatively, as 

 bare as a mole-hill. 



To the westward, adjoining the house, lay the 

 common or fell, which extended some few miles 

 in length, and was of various breadths. It was 

 mostly fine greensward or pasturage, broken or 

 divided, indeed, with clumps of "blossom'd whins/' 

 foxglove, fern, and some junipers, and with 

 heather in profusion, sufficient to scent the whole 

 air. Near the burns, which guttered its sides, 

 were to be seen the remains of old oaks, hollowed 

 out by Time, with alders, willows., and birch, 

 which were often to be met with in the same 

 state ; and these seemed to me to point out the 

 length of time that these domains had belonged to 

 no one. On this common, the poor man's herit- 

 age for ages past, where he kept a 'few sheep, or 



