7o 



THOMAS BEWICK. 



cations, however, that are worthy of special mention. About 1779 Bewick 

 executed for a Newcastle bookseller, Joseph Barber, a beautiful cut to be 

 used as a border for his shop-card. The design represents an old tree at 

 each side, one quite withered, the other with some life still remaining, and a 

 fresh branch springing from near the parent root and spreading gracefully 

 along the top of the cut, reaching over and down towards some flowers by 

 the side, the foreground being filled with a pond, well-defined plants, and 

 part of a paling ; the centre of the block was hollow, to allow type to be 

 inserted. It is signed T. Bewick. Barber died in 1781, and the cut was 

 then used first by Humble, and next by Humble and Roddan, his successors. 

 Hugo, the collector, having learned that the block was still in existence, 

 sought for it, and after a long time discovered it in "an obscure and 

 remote town in Northumberland." Another cut he unearthed at the same 

 time was a similar subject, consisting of a light wreath of roses supported by 

 gently twining branches. 



About 1779 Bewick appears to have executed the first cuts of 

 fighting cocks, showing two of the infuriated birds commencing an engage- 

 ment. This was employed for announcements of cock-fights in the news- 

 papers : for in those times such encounters were publicly advertised and 

 attended, and Bewick himself, at least at one time in his life, dearly loved 

 a "main of cocks." From 1779 onwards similar cuts appeared frequently in 

 the northern newspapers. Another design for advertisements, doubtless 

 also by Bewick, was in use at this time. This was for " Lost, Stolen, or 

 Strayed," the cut representing in a miniature way a man on horseback, 

 with a demon riding behind. The latter lays hold of the man, who is 

 presumably a thief running off with the horse, in order to suspend him 

 from the gallows to which they approach. It was a quaint conceit to put 

 this cut at the top of such an advertisement, and suggests that the middle 

 word of the heading more often truly described the case than "Lost" or 

 "Strayed." Among other newspaper cuts done by Bewick during 1781 



