148 Mr. Atkinson's Sketch of the late T. Bewick. 



sense and knowledge of character, we may trace the origin of the same 

 qualities for which Bewick was so remarkable. 



His language was extremely forcible, and the words he made use of, 

 those calculated in the plainest and most familiar manner to convey his 

 meaning ; I regret that partly on this account, which rendered his ex- 

 pressions, at times, rather coarse, and partly from the difficulty of con- 

 veying the character of his dialect, dependent in a great measure on 

 variety of intonation, I must abstain from introducing here what 

 might otherwise have been amusing. 



In consequence of this difficulty in giving the idea of his pronunci- 

 ation, I shall remark that it was undisguisedly broad, though without 

 the burr or mal-pronunciation of the letter R, characteiistic of most 

 Northumbrians, 



" Like Hotspur spe.aking thick," 



but with all their variety of intonation, and leave the rest to the imagi- 

 nation of the reader. 



His own sketches of the language of his countrymen, are among the 

 best I know ; they are recollections of scenes which had made an im- 

 pression in his youth, and were sometimes written on scraps of paper 

 for the amusement of his friends 5 I subjoin a fragment of one.* 



* " Aehy — Aehy" — ^Icih she, " yeh may say what yeh leyke, but Ize suer aws reet, aw 

 ken weel eneugh when he was bwoarn, fir I meynd aw was up at the Mistrisses suen ee 

 th' moarning, ith th' howl oh wounter, when in cam little Jenny runnin — ' Muther ! 

 Mutlier ! sez she, there cums little Andra Karr, plish-plash throw the clarts, thockin and 

 blowin, wiv his heels poppin out ov clogs every step, leyke twe little reed taties — wiv a 

 hare's scut iv his hat, and the crown of his head and teheyteed hair stannin up throw't' — 

 ' poor fellow (sez the Mistress) aws warn a keahm hesn't been iv his head this twe 

 months — Andra, Andra ! — whats the mayter ? * * * * 



Whees there' (sez the Mistris) ? ' Wey, there's our Dehym, an Isbel, and Barbary, an aw so 

 oad Mary, cummin tappy lappy owr the Stob-Cross-Hill, and Jack Gorfoot gallopin by An- 

 ty's garth neuk on the oad gray meer, with Margery the Howdy behint him, fit to brik their 

 necks' — ' Aehy (sez the Mistris) an I mun away tee — whares the' fayther Andra?' — 'Wey 

 (sez Andra,) I so him stannun at th' lown end oh the Byer, wouv his jazey neet cap on, and 

 his hands iv his kwoat pockets, beayth thrimpt owr his thees — an glowrin about, but I saw 

 nowse he wis leukin at.' — ' Sit down Andra — oh the trow steahyn' — see doon sat Andra, 

 and weyhpt his nwoase on his kwoat kufF — ' meayk heayst lass, an bring him (poor fella) a 

 shive of butter an breed — cut him a good lounge, an strenkle a teahyt oh sugar on't, ' " &c. 



