8o MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 



have to encounter, in their endeavours to keep the 

 wicked within due bounds. 



My last fellow-lodgers, before I was out of my 

 apprenticeship, were John Hymers, who had been 

 a sergeant in the Life Guards, and had retired 

 upon his pension, and Whittaker Shadforth, a 

 watch-maker, and also a musician.* The latter 

 was of a quite different character from those 

 before noticed, but was wild, enthusiastic, and 

 romantic. Among the many whims and fancies 

 we indulged in, one of them was to learn the 

 manual exercise. The sergeant, who had often 

 laughed at our frolics, very readily agreed to 

 undertake this task, provided we would strictly 

 obey the rules he prescribed to us. This we agreed 

 to. He began with a kind of lecture on the 

 necessity of soldiers being obedient to their 

 officers, and standing like a brick wall without 

 flinching; adding that he would not use his cane 

 upon our backs, but only to put us in mind to be 

 very attentive. This being settled, we were in the 

 mornings to appear before him in "bare buffs," that 

 is, without our shirts and upper-clothing. This 

 discipline was pursued steadily for some time, 

 notwithstanding the switches he gave us on our 

 bare backs with his rod or cane, which we bore 

 with the utmost sang froid. I think the sergeant, 

 notwithstanding the entertainment we thus af- 

 forded him, began to tire first ; for he- at last lay 

 in bed while he was giving us our lessons, and 

 at length gave the business up.f 



* He left England and went to America before the war broke out 

 between the two countries, and when this happened he was obliged 

 to serve in the American army. 



[t A copy of the "Memoir" was forwarded by Miss Bewick 

 to Mr. Gladstone, who, though he acknowledged it formally, 



