4- Lifi-i Genius^ and Personal Habits of Bewick, 



hame singing to your mammies." He was particularly fond 

 of playing with little children, who, notwithstanding his bulky 

 appearance, and extreniely rough face, suffered themselves 

 to come unto him ; and among the num^erous and ill-sorted 

 contents of his capacious pockets, he generally (like the all- 

 hearted Dandy Dinmont) had an apple, a whistle, or a bit of 

 gingerbread, together with pencil ends, torn proofs, scraps of 

 sketches, highly tinted with the yellow ooze of huge pigtail 

 quids, in divers stages of mastication. 



Yet gentle, generous, and playful as he was, his personal 

 strength and courage was prodigious : and notwithstanding 

 his ardent feelings of humanity towards all animals, particu- 

 larly dogs, horses, and birds, in defending many whereof he 

 had drawn himself into scrapes ; yet, when his own safety was 

 at stake, he could repel an attack with a vigorous heart and 

 arm : for he told me, as how going into a tanyard, a great 

 surly mastiff sprang upon him, and how he caught said mastiff 

 by the hind legs, and " fetched him, wi' his cudgel, such a 

 hell o' a thwacker owre the lumbar vertebrae, that sent him 

 howling into a hovel." 



My pleasantest time was at nights, when, without strangers, 

 I enjoyed the full flow of talk while smoking with my noble- 

 hearted friend, and his son, Robert Elliot Bewick, a modest 

 ingenious youth, remarkable for his surprising skill in playing 

 on the Northumbrian pipes ; and whose elegant taste and 

 talent for drawing I cannot better praise than by calling him 

 " a chip of the old hlochr The two younger daughters were 

 interesting by their unobtrusive attention and courtesy, show- 

 ing manners that give ease and grace to society, and kindness 

 that cannot be mistaken. Of his eldest daughter, Jane, 

 whom he called his " right hand," I feel it difficult to speak 

 in print, lest even the gentlest truth offend her unaffected 

 modesty ; so resort to The Poet, touching his Desdemona : — 



A maiden never bold ; 



Of spirit so still and quiet, that her motion 



Blush' d at herself: a maid 



That paragons description, and wild fame ; 

 One that excels the quips of blazoning pens,' 

 And in the essential vesture of creation 

 Does bear all excellency." 



She was mistress of her father*s house, which she conducted 

 with silent and quiet management, so that every thing seemed 

 done by enchantment, without bustle or disturbance, and all 

 without hurry or care. She corrected the press for his works, 

 and saw to the getting them up ; wrote his letters of business, 

 and kept his house and workshops in order. Her greatest 



