The Brother and Sister. " Select Fables," 1784. 

 From the original block by Thomas Bewick. Lent by the Rev. Mr. Pearson. 



CHAPTER XI. 



DEATHS IN THE FAMILY. BEWICK'S MARRIAGE. 



FTER the publication of the "Select Fables," and before Bewick had com- 



menced work on the cuts of the Quadrupeds, the family were visited 

 by a series of heavy calamities which impressed Bewick very strongly. Mrs. 

 Bewick, the mother of the artist, was of that benevolent nature, peculiarly 

 appropriate, and happily not uncommon, to matrons. She was well known 

 at Ovingham, as being a helpful and sympathetic nurse in all matters of 

 emergency, and it was not unusual for her advice to be asked and taken by 

 the people of the country-side. One evening towards the end of January, 

 1785, as related by her son, she was suddenly summoned to see a young 

 woman who had been taken alarmingly ill. The nearest road lay over a marsh, 

 and as this appeared to be frozen, Mrs. Bewick did not hesitate to go over 

 what otherwise was a somewhat dangerous place. Unfortunately, the frost 

 was not so strong as it appeared, and the surface giving way, she got a severe 



