THOMAS BEWICK. 



117 



Buffalo, none are really good ; they were engraved by Bewick from sketches 

 made by others, and they lack what all Bewick's own works possess in so 

 eminent a degree — a feeling of characteristic animation. The Buffalo has a 

 dark mass in the foreground, which is not shown in any but the first three 

 editions. In it and in the Urus there is a feeble attempt at cross hatching, 

 both the white and the black line being essayed, but the result is unsuccessful, 

 and shows how much difficulty Bewick found in the mechanical part of 

 engraving in which modern engravers are so proficient. 



Of the engravings of the Sheep, animals which Bewick could sketch from 

 life, and therefore all fine, 

 the best is the Common 

 Ram, or the Black-faced 

 Ram, as all later editions 

 style it. The sagacious head 

 with " the crooked horn " is 

 full of feeling, and quite 

 worthy of Landseer, and the 

 pastoral piece in the distance 

 adds value to the design. 

 The Leicestershire Breed, 

 dated Sandal, Dec. 22nd, 

 1788, makes the animal stand on the top of the snow which covers the ground; 

 and the Wedder of Mr. Culley's Breed was engraved from a drawing made 

 by Bailey, with whom Bewick lived when at Chillingham. The curious 

 deformed look of the under jaw of the Dunky, or Dwarf Sheep, is explained 

 to be natural, though artistically it might have been rendered better. The 

 fern in the background, cut white against the rock, has a brilliant effect. 

 The Tartarian Sheep was drawn from life, and is more excellent than the three 

 other foreign sheep which follow. 



The Common Antelope is an example how beautifully Bewick engraved 



