THOMAS BEWICK. 



39 



practice of visiting every morning a farmhouse at Elswick, then a small village 

 about two miles distant from Newcastle, and indulged himself in partaking of hot 

 rye cake and butter-milk, a repast which was regularly prepared by Goody Coxen, 

 the respectable hostess of the cottage, for such of the Newcastle pedestrians who 

 were inclined to enjoy a morning walk before the business of the day commenced." 



What is now known as Elswick is a neighbourhood in the town of New- 

 castle, being one of the wards of the town, which nearly comprises what 

 is called the "West End." But in former times, before the town had spread 

 out so much in that direction, there was " Low Elswick " and " High 

 Elswick." The former lay near the river, not far from where Sir W. Arm- 

 strong's Elswick Engine Works now stand; the latter lay higher up, on what 

 was formerly called Elswick Lane, but is now known as Elswick Road. It is 

 likely that Bewick went along by the Close, to the famous " curds and cream 

 house," which is said to have been situated in Low Elswick, where Armstrong's 

 works now are. This place was long the resort of pleasure-seekers, who hired 

 boats after partaking of curds and cream, and had a row on the river. 



Bewick relates how happy these apprentice years were when he went on 

 his excursions by the river, and he goes on to tell how he trained himself to 

 temperance and exercise by what, in constitutions less hardy than his own, 

 would surely have laid the seeds of future trouble. He, however, did not 

 think so, but considered his method a sure one to health and happiness. 

 He says : — 



" On setting out upon my weekly pedestrian ' flights ' up the Tyne, I never looked 

 out to see whether it was a good day or a bad one ; the worst that ever fell from the 

 skies never deterred me from undertaking my journey. On setting out, I always 

 waded through the first pool I met with, and had sometimes the river to wacle at the 

 far end. I never changed my clothes, however they might be soaked with wet, or 

 stiffened with the frost, on my returning home at night, till I went to bed. I had 

 inured myself to this hardship, by always sleeping with my windows open, by which 

 a thorough air, as well as the snow, blew through my room. In this way I lay 

 down, rolled in a blanket, upon a mattress as hard as I could make it. Notwith- 

 standing this mode of treating myself, I never had any ailment, even in the shape 



