THOMAS BEWICK. 



99 



was not nearly so good as his woodcuts ; besides, he was probably fired with 

 ambition to make a wood engraving equal in size as well as importance to 

 these two plates, and having got four pieces of boxwood joined together, he 

 commenced his engraving. From Tunstall's letter it is evident Bewick had 

 had under consideration the desirability of introducing the cow prominently 

 beside the bull ; but apparently finding it so troublesome to obtain satisfac- 

 tory sketches, and from the increased difficulty in the composition of the 

 design, he preferred to make a large drawing of the bull in the foreground, 

 with others only seen in the far distance.* 



The design of the Chillingham Bull, as shown in the fac-simile (which is 

 taken partly from one on paper in the possession of Mr. M. Mackey, Newcastle, 

 and partly from Mr. E. Gray's vellum impression), represents the bull 

 standing impatiently pawing the earth, the full side length of the animal 

 shown, with the head slightly turned towards the spectator, foam dropping 

 from its mouth. Overhead and in the background there is a mass of foliage, 

 and in the front various plants, sufficiently realised for their classes to be dis- 

 tinguished. At the right in the distance two of the wild animals appear. The 

 engraving proper measures 7§ by 5! inches, but, when first printed from, it 

 had a beautiful and separately wrought border three-quarters of an inch broad. 



Tunstall, on receiving the impressions, said he considered the figure well 

 engraved and with much expression, though, "on looking again at the 

 engraving I think," he wrote, "the shading of the muzzle rather faint, and 

 there seems to be a white line straight down from the mouth, but this last 

 may probably have happened in the taking off, though observable in all;" 

 and then he asks, as in an after-thought, while he hits the truth, " Can it be 

 meant to show the foam ? " 



The chief beauty of the Chillingham Bull lies in the marvellously varied 



* In the "View of the Agriculture of Northumberland," published in 1797, there is a representation of 

 Chillingham Cattle, drawn by J. Bailey (Bewick's friend) in 1794, and engraved on copper by Neele, of the 

 Strand. It shows the Bull and Cow prominently ; but it is poorly designed, and quite unlike Bewick's engraving 

 of the Bull. The drawing of the Cow, however, has some good qualities. 



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