THOMAS BEWICK. 



"5 



wearily along, while his aristocratic neighbour before him bears a fashionably 

 dressed lady. Beilby found very little to say about the Cart Horse, so he 

 touches on the theme of cruelty to horses, and, no doubt inspired by Bewick, 

 gives vent to the opinions which forty years later called forth the design, 

 " Waiting for Death." 



The Mule and the Ass, the next two figures, are both fully characteristic ; 

 the mule is a steadily drawn living-looking animal, with intelligence in its 

 eye, which, with the distant mule in the design, makes a lively opposition to 

 the toilsome travelling of the pedestrian going in the other direction. The 

 Ass is perhaps scarcely so successful in the figure, but the story told in the 

 background is worthy of some attention. A family of vagabonds are on the 

 march ; the husband lazily and shamefully rides on an ass already heavily 

 laden with panniers, while his wife wearily walks, carrying a babe on her back, 

 and lagging behind with her other child. This is one of the designs which 

 make Bewick's cuts so different and so much preferable to others ; there is a 

 complete story, not very pleasing, but with unswerving fidelity to truth, for of 

 all animals the poor ass suffers more from unfeeling men than any other. 

 Even the heavy panniers and the man's weight do not seem to be enough for 

 it to endure; and Bewick shows the man raising his cudgel to belabour 

 the unfortunate animal. 



Of the ruminating animals, we have first two blocks on one page, the 

 Common Bull and Cow, in later editions called the Holstein or Dutch breed. 

 The large figure of the Bull is somewhat stiff, and is far surpassed by the 

 distant sketch of a man pursued by a maddened bull. The man's hat and 

 wig have dropped in the excitement of the race, but he waits not to pick them 

 up, does not even glance to see where they lie, but rushes on to elude the 

 irritated animal. Small as the figure of the man is, his frightened look and 

 eagerness to be out of danger are patent to the most undiscerning beholder.* 



* The design of the Man chased by a Bull is repeated more than once in other Bewick blocks, and in the 

 " Looking Glass for the Mind " it appears as one of John Bewick's works. 



Q 2 



