158 Notice of British Naturalists. 



histories- which are still wanting in sereral parts of this country."* 

 " If the writer should at all appear to have induced any one of his 

 readers to pay a more ready attention to the wonders of creation, 

 too frequently overlooked as common occurrences ; or if he should, 

 by any means, have lent a helping hand towards the boundaries 

 of historical and topographical knowledge, his -purpose will be 

 fully answered. But if he should not have been successful in 

 any of his intentions, yet there remains the consolation behind, 

 that these pursuits, by keeping the body and mind employed,, 

 contributed to much health and cheerfulness of spirit, even to old 

 age." 



But while writers were thus arising on all sides, and were dil- 

 igently employed in illustrating the zoology of their own country, 

 this science could not yet be said to have becoftie^ m'th^ proper 

 sense of the word, popular. Illustrated books are peculiarly ne- 

 cessary in the pursuit of this study. Such were still expensive, 

 and difficult of attainment. The works of Linnaeus were still 

 concealed in the Latin tongue ; and the'majority, those for whom 

 such a refining study is chiefly to be desired, were thus shut out 

 from the most efiicient means of acquiring a philosophical knowl- 

 edge of the subject. This difficulty was now to be removed. 



In 1790, Thomas 'Bewick first appeared conspicuously before 

 the public, both as a naturalist, and the reviver of the art of en- 

 graving on wood ; and we may justly be allowed to consider the 

 publication of his works as an era in this science, so far as it ren- 

 dered the subject more easily available to the mass of the people. 

 In this year came out the first edition of his ' General History of 

 Quadrupeds ;' a book which went through nine editions before 

 the year 1824. Although he does not confine himself to British 

 animals, he gives, with his usual accuracy of delineation, engra- 

 vings of all the species which were then known. The improve- 

 ment, however, which he afterwards made in his art, will be 

 readily observed by those who compare his earlier style in this 

 work, with the softness and spirit which characterize his birds in 

 the later editions. Thomas Bewick was born in 1753, at Cherry- 

 burn, in Northumberland. His parents were far from being in 



* The intelligence, accuracy, and fullness of Sir John Sinclair's great work, 

 ' The Statistical History of Scotland,' are well known. It was formed on this prin- 

 ciple, and the account of each parish and district contributed by its respective min- 

 ister. 



