354 BRITISH BIRDS. 



to excel as an engraver, and the firm having been " apphed 

 to by printers to execute wood-cuts for them,"* Beilby, 

 who had no hking for this branch of engraving, entrusted 

 the execution of the blocks to Bewick, who made so good 

 a job of it that henceforward orders for this particular 

 sort of work increased rapidly. Bewick's progress in 

 engraving was so rapid, and was so well thought of by 

 his master, that he sent some of his apprentice's cuts, 

 executed for " Select Fables," to the " Society for the 

 Encouragement of Arts," and for these Bewick received 

 a premium of seven guineas. In 1 774 Bewick's apprentice- 

 ship came to an end, and he commenced to work on his 

 own account, chiefly for Newcastle printers, till the middle 

 of 1776. In the summer of that year he made an ex- 

 pedition to Scotland, travelling on foot, and afterwards 

 went to London, where he arrived in October, 1776. 

 Bewick disliked the Metropolis, and returning to 

 Newcastle next year, entered into partnership with his 

 former master, Ralph Beilby. For some years Bewick 

 continued to busy himself with the ordinary work of his 

 profession, but at length having come to the conclusion 

 that the figures of animals, as they were represented in 

 the children's books then available, were very inferior, 

 he resolved to try what he could do in that direction, 

 and on the advice of his friend, Solomon Hodgson, book- 

 seller and editor of the " Newcastle Chronicle," he 

 commenced on November 15th, 1785, to cut the figure of 

 the dromedary, f the first of a series of wood-cuts for the 

 " History of Quadrupeds," which was published in 

 1 790. { While Bewick was engaged in drawing and cutting 

 the figures for the " History of Quadrupeds " his partner, 

 who was of "a bookish or reading turn, proposed to write 

 or compile the descriptions, but not knowing much about 

 natural history we got books on that subject to enable 



* "Memoir," p. 59. 



t Those animals which were not familiar to Bewick were copied from 

 Dr. Smellie's "Abridgment of Buffon." 



J It reached an eighth edition in 1824. 



