MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 245 



as an uncommon thing in the world ; but I startled 

 at the idea of getting into any kind of debt, so I 

 thanked him sincerely, and declined his kind offer. 

 Two other friends of whom I had a high opinion 

 for their truth and integrity were William Lead- 

 bitter, saddler and hardware man, and Francis 

 Coates, bookseller. The former died 3rd August, 

 1 80 1, aged 38, and the latter on the 24th February, 

 1803. An intimacy of long standing had subsisted 

 between the Crawhall family and mine, and I had 

 a particular regard for two of the brothers, Thomas 

 and Joseph, the latter was particularly an amateur 

 of the arts and excelled as a painter, for which 

 nature had furnished him with the requisite 

 powers, but in this he was taken off by his business 

 of a rope maker. I might name others of the like 

 character, but they have left this world long ago, 

 a few of such only being left, both as friends and 

 social companions, and thus noticing them puts me 

 in mind of its being like creeping out of this world, 

 or at least out of this kind of society, for excepting 

 that of my own happy fireside, I think I shall bid 

 all adieu. My warm friend, Mr. William Maving, 

 brush manufacturer, his brother Robert, builder, 

 Mr. Alexander Reid, china dealer, Mr. Adam 

 Hutton, hardwareman, Mr. William Wilson, 

 solicitor, Mr. Robert Gruisburn, stationer, (and 

 occasionally some others) were the last with whom 

 I spent my social evenings. The full moon was 

 generally the signal for our assembling, when we 

 gave full vent to what was uppermost in our 

 minds. At other times some of my evenings were 

 spent much in the same way in company with John 

 Marshall, printer, and others, along w r ith John 

 Ambrose Williams, the editor of the "Durham 



