THOMAS BEWICK. 



75 



A Shepherd and a Young Wolf. "Select Fables," 1784. 

 From Bewick's original block. Lent by the Rev. Mr. Pearson. 



These are given on pages 22 and 32. Of Bewick's capacity for drawing 

 human figures, we have the Country Maid and the Milk Pail, page 67, the 

 Brother and Sister, page 80, and the Butterfly and Boy, page 17, the last 

 also from the 1776 Fables. These 

 figure subjects have much of the 

 feeling that John Bewick imparted 

 to his work, and a likeness will 

 readily be seen between them and 

 those by the younger brother on 

 pages 2 1 and 66. The Beggar and 

 his Dog, page 46, is very similar 

 to a design of one of the vignettes 

 in the Birds, at page 84 of the 

 second volume. Of landscapes 



we have the Oak and the Willow on page 66, the Sheep and Bramble 

 Bush on page 40, while the Shepherd and Young Wolf above contains a 

 well-drawn figure of an animal really suspended in mid-air, and a glimpse 

 of mountain scenery. With animals only, we have the Lion, Tyger, and Fox, 

 on the opposite page; and embracing human figures, the Bear and two Friends, 

 page 61, and the Discontented Ass, on page 29. 



These blocks passed from the hands of Saint's executors to Wilson and 

 Spence, of York, who occasionally employed a few to embellish their 

 publications. They subsequently became the property of Charnley, a 

 bookseller of Newcastle, who used them to illustrate an edition of " Select 

 Fables," published in 1820, after removing some of the ornamental borders. 

 In this, which is uniform in size with the Quadrupeds and Birds, the letter- 

 press is different from the 1784 edition.* 



* There were two ediiions of the "Select Fables" printed in 1784, varying slightly from each other. The 

 Fables with Reflections are longer, and those in verse shorter, in one than in the other. Vignettes are inserted at 

 pages 122, 125, and 152, and there are differences in the letterpress at pages 123, 143, 144, 145, 151, 152, 164, 

 and onwards. 



L 2 



