MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 1 1 7 



by degrees to bear the mode of life I have been 

 describing, were to try it, unprepared, the experi- 

 ment would be at their peril. My travelling 

 expenses for the day, were commonly only a penny 

 or twopence for crossing the water. On the 

 hottest day, I was never made violently to perspire, 

 but only felt a dampness on my brow. I carried 

 no useless weight of fat about me, and the 

 muscular parts were as hard as it was possible to 

 be on any human being. On being asked by a 

 gentleman an acquaintance whom I met at 

 Ovingham what I got to drink on such hot 

 days, on my road, my reply was " Nothing." 

 He had not been used to such doings himself; 

 and was surprised, and could hardly believe me. 

 He earnestly persuaded me to try the experiment 

 of the amazing good a glass of brandy and water 

 would do me in hot weather. This I took no 

 notice of for some time.: at length, however, on 

 a thundery, hot day, on being scorched with heat, 

 and in danger of being struck w r ith lightning, 

 which darted from a sky almost as black as ink, 

 I stepped into a public house in Crawcrook, and, 

 for the first time in my life, called for a glass of 

 brandy and water. I w T as then about 28 years 

 old, and surely I thought this brandy and water 

 was the most delicious beverage in the world. 

 This would not be worth noticing, but only on 

 account of its being a beginning to me, and which 

 I did not, when occasion pressed me, leave off for 

 some years afterwards. I often called in, almost 

 every Sunday morning, for my glass, while my 

 route lay on that side of the river, and until being 

 quizzed for visiting " Maggy Hay's bonny lasses." 

 I then left off, and walked up the north side of 



