THOMAS BEWICK. 



1 1 1 



books, what mode was the most likely to insure success. Upon this subject 

 Mr. Hodgson (then editor of the Newcastle Chronicle newspaper) was consulted, 

 and made fully acquainted with our plan. He entered into the undertaking 

 with uncommon ardour, and urged us strenuously not to retain our first 

 humble notions of ' making it like a school book,' but pressed us to let it 

 ' assume a more respectable form.' " Thus it was determined to make the 

 publication of a kind to give it an immediate place amongst works of a high 

 character, and we have to thank Hodgson for the urgent counsels which 

 gained this point. Otherwise, Beilby and Bewick might not have thought 

 themselves justified in speculating further than the expense of " making it like 

 a school book." 



Bewick, in his Memoir, gives very little information regarding the 

 Quadrupeds. In a letter to his brother John, dated January gth, 1788, 

 he mentions his intention to have the first edition "done by subscription," 

 and in the same month the partners published the prospectus previously 

 referred to. As it is a scarce document, and of considerable interest in 

 connection with the completed work, it is here given at length. 



"Newcastle, January 28//1, 1788. 

 "Proposals | for publishing by subscription | A General History of Quadrupeds, | 

 containing | a Concise Account of every Animal of that kind | hitherto known or 

 described. — With | observations on the Habits, Faculties, and Propensities | of each 

 creature | intended as | A Complete Display of that Part of Animated Nature, | At 

 once Useful, Instructive, and Entertaining. | Embellished with | Accurate Engrav- 

 ings on Wood I of each Animal. | Drawn from the Life, or Copied from the Pro- 

 ductions of the best Authors | on that Subject. | To the Public To add to the 

 number of Publications already extant on this Branch of Natural History, may seem 

 at first View both presumptuous and unnecessary ; but when it is considered that 

 the great expense of the more voluminous Works confines them chiefly to the 

 Libraries of the Wealthy, and that the smaller Publications of this sort are such 

 mean and pitiful Productions as must disgust every Reader of Common Observa- 

 tion, the propriety and usefulness of this undertaking will appear sufficiently 

 obvious. 



" The great care that has been taken to give the true Portrait and Character oi 



