278 



MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 



pursuing his business in London. I have not gone 

 down in regular succession with my pupils ; but I 

 have noticed all those who, in my estimation, were 

 worth notice.* And, now when the time is fast 

 approaching for my winding up all my labours, I 

 may be allowed to name my own son and partner, 

 whose time has been taken up with attending to all 

 the branches of our business : and who, I trust, will 

 not let wood-engraving go down ; and, though he 

 has not shown any partiality towards it, yet the 

 talent is there, and I hope he will call it forth. t 



[* Of John Jackson, 1801-48, the projector of the "Treatise on 

 Wood Engraving," it will be observed that Bewick says nothing, 

 and the Bewick MSS. contain many evidences that he was not a 

 favourite with the family.] 



[f Robert Elliot Bewick, Bewick's only son, was born 26 April, 

 1788, and died unmarried 27 July, 1849. He seems to have suffered 

 all his life from ill-health, which his sister attributes to the effects of 

 inoculation with impure matter. He was a minute and accurate 

 draughtsman, and a mediocre engraver on copper and wood. He 

 never evinced the talent above referred to. His father took him 

 into partnership in January, 1812, and at Bewick's death in 1828 he 

 continued the business. There is an oil-painting of R. E. Bewick 

 when a boy, by John Bell, in the Museum of the Natural History 

 Society at Newcastle.] 



