MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 83 



tunes, from the well-known, exhilarating, wild 

 notes of the Northumberland pipes,* amidst the 

 buzz occasioned by " foulpleughs" (morrice or 

 sword dancers) from various parts of the country. 

 This altogether left an impression on my mind 

 which the cares of the world have never effaced 

 from it. The gentry, the farmers, and even the 

 working people, of that day had their Christmas 

 home-brewed ale, made only from malt and hops. 

 This was before the pernicious use of chemical 

 compounds was known, or agricultural improve- 

 ments had quickened the eyes of landlords, 

 banished many small farmers, soured their coun- 

 tenances, and altered for the worse the characters 

 of the larger ones that remained. 



Having all my life, at home, at school, and 

 during my apprenticeship, lived under perpetual 

 restraints, when I thus felt myself at liberty, I 

 became, as I suppose, like a bird which had escaped 

 from its cage. Even angling, of which I was so 

 fond, and of which I thought I never could tire, 

 became rather dull when I found I could take as 

 much of it as I pleased. While I was pursuing 

 this sport on a hot day in June, I gave it up; and, 

 laying down my rod awhile, I then tied it up and 

 walked home.. Having resolved to see more of the 

 country, I requested my mother to put me up some 

 shirts, &c., and I told her I was going to see my 

 uncle (her brother) in Cumberland. She soon 

 complied with my request, amidst expressions of 

 fear for my safety ; showing the natural feelings of 



* [A bagpipe, differing from the Scotch, being smaller, and blown, 

 not with the breath, but by a pair of bellows fixed under the left 

 arm. Brockett's Glossary.] 



