THOMAS BEWICK. 



29 



The Discontented Ass. 

 "Select Fables," 1776. 



illustrating the third part, Fables in Verse. These fourteen, with one exception, 

 are repeated — -printed from the same blocks — in the 1784 edition, and they show 

 the immense advance Bewick had made in his art in a short time. The cuts at 



the beginning of the volume are the early work 

 of Bewick, while the fourteen referred to are 

 known to be his work of a later period. In the 

 former we have the young engraver struggling 

 against technical difficulties, and not quite able 

 to overcome them ; in the latter we have the 

 artist growing into the moralist, telling the 

 story of the fable with strong, firm hand, not 

 yet indeed quite perfectly, but in a manner sufficiently plain to mark the true 

 genius of the engraver. A fac-simile of the Discontented Ass at page 148 

 is introduced here to show the style of the early cuts in the 1776 Fables, and 

 at the same time an impression is given from the original block of the same 

 subject in the 1784 edition, page 

 142. The treatment is quite dif- 

 ferent, but the smaller cut is 

 nearly as well drawn as the 

 larger, and though less of a 

 picture, possesses some artistic 

 value, especially when taken in 

 comparison with other cuts of 

 the period. The Bears and the 

 Bees at the head, and the Sow 



The Discontented Ass. "Select Fables," 1784. From 

 the original block engraved by Thomas Bewick. 

 Lent by the Rev. Mr. Pearson. 



and Peacock at the end of this chapter, both appear in the 1776 and the 1784 

 editions, as also does the Butterfly and Boy on page 17, all being printed from 

 the original blocks executed by T. Bewick. The only cut in the 1776 edition 

 which does not appear afterwards is the illustration to the fable of the Bee, the 

 Ant, and the Sparrow. This is here given as a reproduction from the rare 



