152 MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 



which they excited ; and poetry appeared in the 

 paper, I was obliged on its account, for some time, 

 to shun " Swarley's Club," of which the writer, 

 George Byles,* was a member, to avoid the warm 

 and sincere compliments that awaited me there. 



I had long made up my mind not to marry whilst 

 my father and mother lived, in order that my un- 

 divided attention might be bestowed upon them. 

 My mother, had, indeed, recommended a young 

 person in the neighbourhood to me as a wife. 

 She did not know the young lady intimately, but 

 she knew she was modest in her deportment, hand- 

 some in her person, and had a good fortune ; and, 

 in compliance with this recommendation, I got 

 acquainted with her, but was careful not to proceed 

 further, and soon discovered that, though her 

 character was innocence itself, she was mentally 

 one of the weakest of her sex. The smirking lasses 

 of Tyneside had long thrown out their jibes against 

 me, as being a woman-hater, but in this they were 

 greatly mistaken. I had, certainly, been very 

 guarded in my conduct towards them, as I held it 

 extremely wrong and cruel to sport with the feel- 

 ings of any one. In this, which was one of my 

 resolves, sincerity and truth were my guides. As 

 I ever considered a matrimonial connection as a 

 business of the utmost importance, and which was 

 to last till death made the separation, while looking 

 about for a partner for life, my anxious attention 

 was directed to the subject. I had long considered 



* George Byles came from one of the southern counties, and com- 

 menced as a teacher in Newcastle. He was gentlemanly in his 

 manners and conversation, and of a most lively and animated cast 

 of character. [A copy of the verses referred to are pasted into the 

 original MSS. of the " Memoir " ; but they are scarcely worth re- 

 printing.] 



