150 MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 



natural history we got books on that subject 

 to enable him to form a better notion of these 

 matters. With this I had little more to do 

 than furnishing him, in many conversations and 

 by written memoranda, with what I knew of 

 animals, and blotting out, in his manuscript, what 

 was not truth. In this way we proceeded till the 

 book was published in 1790.* 



It is worthy of remark that while the title page 

 was in hands, Mr. Beilby wished to be made the 

 author of it, and wrote in his name as such "by 

 R. Beilby." On Mr. Hodgson seeing this, without 

 saying a word he stroked the name out with a pen, 

 while Mr. Beilby was looking on. I knew nothing 

 of this transaction for some time afterwards and it 

 might have passed so, for anything I cared about 

 the authorship, or whose name was put to it as 

 such. It was sufficient for me that I had the 

 opportunity of giving vent to my feelings and 

 gratifying my desires in doing my part of the work. 

 The greater part of these wood cuts were drawn 

 and engraved at night, after the day's work of the 

 shop was over. In these evenings, I frequently 

 had the company of my friend the Rev. Richard 

 Oliphant,t who took great pleasure in seeing me 



[ * The first edition consisted of 1500 copies, Demy 8vo., at 8s. , 

 and 100 Royal 8vo., at I2s., and contained 200 figures and 104 

 tail-pieces. A second and enlarged edition (12 additional figures 

 and four tail-pieces), appeared in 1791, and a third in 1792. In 

 1824, an eighth edition was reached.] 



t Afterwards curate of Longhorsley. [A note by Miss Bewick 

 says " My father said of him [Mr. Oliphant] that ' he was a bundle 

 of knowledge.' He was a frequent visitor at the Forth when my 

 father married and when I was born. He ' stood up ' as they say 

 as my godfather. He gave me on the occasion a crown piece of 

 Charles II., which my father engraved, and which I still have. He 

 afterwards married a lady who had a boarding-school at Longhorsley 

 where he was curate." (Bewick MSS.)] 



