MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 73 



debt is followed by leading people to live beyond 

 their incomes ; and this makes all who do so, 

 soon become demoralised and dishonest ; and, 

 when the mind has been thus blunted, and 

 degraded, anxiety and trouble must be its 

 attendants, till vice and misery close the scene. 



Amongst the acquaintances I made at the 

 workshops of Gilbert and William Gray, was 

 William Bulmer, afterwards rendered famous as 

 the proprietor of the Shakespeare Printing Office, 

 in Cleveland Row, London, who was the first 

 that set the example, and soon led the way, to 

 fine printing in England. He used, while he 

 was an apprentice, to prove the cuts I had 

 executed. In this he was countenanced by his 

 master, John Thompson, who was himself ex- 

 tremely curious and eager to see wood engraving 

 succeed ; for at that time the printing of wood cuts 

 was very imperfectly known. 



About this time I commenced a most intimate 

 acquaintance and friendship with Robert Pollard, 

 afterwards an engraver and printseller of eminence 

 in London. He was bound apprentice to John 

 Kirkup, a silversmith in Newcastle ; and, from his 

 being frequently sent to our workshop with crests, 

 cyphers, &c., to engrave, he took a great liking to 

 engraving, and was indefatigable in his endeavours 

 to become master of it. In furtherance of this, we 

 spent many of our evenings together at his father's 

 house, which to me was a kind of home. On his 

 master declining business, my young friend was 

 engaged for a term of years to learn engraving 

 with Isaac Taylor, of Holborn, London. 



In my frequent visits to the workshops of Gilbert 



Gray, and to that of his son William, I first fell 



K 



