98 Lifr'i Genius, and Personal Habits of Bewick. 



of the superb Crescent, nearly opposite the Old Hall ; and, 

 after the fervid ra}:)tures of again meeting, we settled down 

 into our usual chit-chat. There were three windows in the 

 front room, the ledges and shutters whereof he had pen- 

 cilled all over with funny characters, as he saw them pass 

 to and fro, visiting the well. These people were the source 

 of great amusement : the probable histories of whom, and 

 how they came by their ailings, he would humorously narrate, 

 and sketch their figures and features in one instant of time. I 

 have seen him draw a striking likeness on his thumb-nail, in 

 one moment ; wipe it off with his tongue, and instantly draw 

 another. He told me that, at watering-places, if his name were 

 known, he was pestered with people staring at him, and in- 

 flicting foolish questions ; and he cautioned me always in public 

 to call him the " old gentleman." We dined occasionally at 

 the public table ; and one day, over the wine, a dispute arose 

 between two gentlemen about a bird ; but was soon terminated 

 by the one affirming he had compared it with the figure and 

 description of Bewick, to which the other replied that Bewick 

 was next to Nature. Here the old gentleman seized me by the 

 thigh with his very hand-vice of a grasp ; and I contrived to 

 keep up the shuttlecock of conversation playfully to his high- 

 est satisfaction, though they who praised him so ardently, little 

 imagined whose ears imbibed all their honest incense. On 

 evenings we often smoked in the open windows of his pleasant 

 lodgings, and chatted in all the luxury of intellectual leisure. 

 A cocky wren ran, like a mouse, along the ledge of the win- 

 dow. " Now," says he, " when that little fellow sings, he 

 sings heartily ! " Upon which the merry little creature, as if 

 conscious of our conviviality, and of who heard him, perched 

 on a post, and trilled his shrilly treble with thrilling might 

 and main. Of nights we had music, the young ladies sang, 

 or we read marvellous or merry ballads, or again relapsed 

 into our pleasantries; fully agreeing with the piquant and 

 pithy Venusian poet, that fun is no foe to philosophy, to mix 

 short sallies with our serious discourse, and nothing so sweet 

 as to play the fool when fitting. 



" Misce stultitiam consiliis brevem : 

 Dulce est desipere in loco." 



Of mornings he walked out before the gnats and butterflies 

 (as he called the company) began to frisk : for his most satiri- 

 cal arrows, though always pointed, were never envenomed; 

 mere birdbolts, that he playfully and smartly squandered, not 

 for prey but pastime. There was a neat, clean, pretty damsel 

 that waited on the lodgers, to whom he gave little history 



