134 Mr. Atkinson^ s Sketch of the late T. Bewiclc. 



as far as fourteen or fifteen illustrative cuts, at his death ; and, as a 

 completely new set of appropriate tail pieces, were almost finished 

 for the embellishment of this undertaking, it is most desirable that the 

 principal subjects should be continued by some one adequate to the task, 

 that the world may not be deprived of any of the productions of so 

 celebrated a master. His only son, Mr. Robert E. Bewick, is pro- 

 ceeding in the completion of this desirable undertaking, for which, from 

 his curious fidelity of representation, he is admirably calculated. 



The engravings of Bewick are characterised by great boldness and 

 freedom, combined with the opposite excellences of delicacy of execu- 

 tion and scrupulous fidelity ; but he added to them, from his early and 

 unceasing observation of nature, a knowledge of the manners of her 

 animated productions, from man downwards, which imparts the chief, 

 though to many unaccountable, charm of his designs. This quality is 

 manifest in them all, and is quite unequalled by any other master. 



"With such qualifications for the execution of the works above men- 

 tioned, it may readily be inferred that he was eminently successful. In 

 fact, to naturalists they are invaluable, as the most faithful representa- 

 tions of two branches of the animal creation ; and, to lovers of the fine 

 arts, they present specimens of the long-lost art of Wood Engraving, 

 which, combining excellency of design and execution, can never be sur- 

 passed. 



In improving the taste of the day, there is no doubt they have been 

 eminently instrumental. This is readily perceivable in the repeated 

 copies of all kinds which have been made from his cuts, and have not 

 only found their way into the artist's port-folio, and the multitudinous 

 editions of children's books which have been published, but have been 

 adopted to ornament the most ordinary domestic utensils, plates and 



dishes. 



The benefit they are of, as interesting and instructive books for chil- 

 dren, is not the slightest they confer. How much more noble and rea- 

 sonable it is that a child should derive its first ideas from representations 

 of the works of our Creator, than that the young mind should be over- 

 charged with frightfully distorted images of humanity, endowed often 



