THOMAS BEWICK. 



119 



the stately animal, turning slightly round, gives a graceful curve to the neck, 

 and the "bold branching horns" are skilfully balanced by the foliage of the 

 tree beside which it stands. The half-anxious, half-inquiring look of the eyes 

 is eminently characteristic, and reveals the deep knowledge the engraver had 

 of the deer's timidity, when, as described in the text, " he approaches a 

 thicket, stops to look round him on all sides, and attentively surveys every 

 object near him." The Fallow Deer was no doubt drawn from life, the feeling 

 of reality through the figure being intense, and great care has evidently been 

 spent on it ; the animal has elegance and repose in every limb, and the quiet 

 watchfulness of the eye is full of understanding. The Roebuck is also a 

 careful engraving, but the animal does not offer the same attractive form as 

 the Fallow Deer : a number of birds in flight above the figure is an effect 

 occasionally employed by Bewick, notably in the farmyard scene at the 

 beginning of the "History of British Birds." In the second and later 

 editions this flight disappears, having probably been taken away to avoid 

 the distraction it produced in the composition. 



The Camel is a ponderous-looking representation, the engraving most 

 likely copied from a copper-plate. In the " Beauties of Natural History," 

 1777, there is a Camel almost identical with this. The Dromedary in 

 "Tommy Trip," 1777, is also very similar to that in the Quadrupeds, which 

 Bewick was just commencing when the announcement of his father's death 

 reached him on Nov. 15th, 1785. This was the first figure done for the 

 volume, and though it does not possess much actual beauty, it evinces 

 some care and perseverance in making the form and tints as correct as 

 possible. This design, reproduced on page 93, also bears the curious 

 combination of wood and copper-plate engraving which is noticeable in the 

 Camel. 



The Wild Boar is a print with some pretensions, but the Common Hog, or 

 Common Boar, as later editions call it, is more true to the life. In the dis- 

 tance some of the same kindred feed at a trough, towards which several 



