8 1 o2 Notices of New Books. 



rendered so failbfully ; the scraps of country life have never been 

 depicted so truthfully. Nevertheless, it is a great mistake to quote the 

 supposed writings of Bewick with expressions of admiration, or to 

 bestow unmeasured praise on descriptions of the merits and demerits 

 of which he was equally innocent. To Mr. Beilby credit must be 

 given for any excellencies discoverable in these volumes, and to Mr. 

 Beilby must be assigned any blame for their numerous inaccuracies. 

 The present volume, full of the genuine thoughts of a good and 

 noble-minded man, is an evidence of his inability to vrrile English 

 clearly and forcibly ; the construction of the sentences is clumsy, and 

 the meaning not unfrequently obscure : but regarding the " Memoir" 

 in its true light, a legacy to please and amuse his children, it is a 

 most valuable contribution to the biography of a most worthy man. 



Three chapters are devoted to wood-engraving and book-illustration 

 generally, and are well worth the most attentive perusal ; they abound 

 in valuable instruction and hints which every engraver ought to study : 

 the process of lowering the surface of the wood for the distances is 

 especially deserving of notice, and should be adopted by every one 

 who desires to attain excellence. It is, however, impossible to give 

 these chapters entire within the limits of this Journal, and to divide 

 or abridge them would render them almost useless. 



With regard to the illustrations of this " Memoir," veneration for 

 the name of Bewick requires that the truth must be told ; they are 

 altogether unworthy of him, and the conclusion at which every one 

 competent to form an opinion must arrive is, that they were rejected 

 by the artist himself as failures ; many of them are poor and con- 

 fused in design, most of them feeble in execution, perhaps the feeble- 

 ness of age or infirmity. Some of the fishes — alas ! a very few of 

 them — must be excepted from this censure ; for instance, the John 

 Dory, p. 297, and the Lump Sucker, p. 317 ; but there is every rea- 

 son to rejoice that the projected 'History of British Fishes ' was 

 never completed, but left for the master mind of a Yarrell, under 

 whose guidance the wood engraver has illustrated a work which, like 

 Bewick's ' Birds,' is equally a boon to the naturalist and a credit to 

 the country. Nevertheless, though we may doubt the judgment, we 

 must admire the spirit that has dictated the publication of these 

 relics : it is as the payment of a legacy to a public by whom Bewick 

 was beloved and admired. " Thomas Bewick gently sighed away his 

 last breath at half-past one on the morning of the 8th November, 

 1828." So concludes the editor of this " Memoir." Let us add, — 

 he was possessed of virtue, honour, integrity, perseverance, courage 



