126 



THOMAS BEWICK. 



characteristic, but the last is overweighted with a heavy rock for a back- 

 ground ; this gives an opportunity, however, for much beautiful engraving in 

 the plants beside the rock. 



The Porcupine and the Hedgehog are blocks over which the artist must 

 have spent some time ; the former taken from life, with the usual faithful 

 result, and the other a lovely piece of engraving, though the subject is 

 not easy to treat. In the Otter design there is a striking transcript from 

 nature in the clump of foliage above the animal. The Great Manis and the 

 Armadillos have been thoroughly drawn, the subject requiring some subtlety 

 in execution. The Walrus wants variety, a quality which the Seal has in due 

 proportion ; while the Sea Bear, like the Walrus, exhibits the influence of the 

 copper-plate, from which it was probably copied. This is the last animal 

 treated in the volume proper, but the addenda contain a description and 

 illustration of the American Elk, a large and fairly faithful representation 

 taken from life. In the background a hunter fires at a horned Elk which 

 is galloping near him. The later editions have this cut immediately after 

 the ordinary Elk. The first issue concludes with a letterpress description of 

 Wild Cattle, supplied by Tunstall, of Wycliffe, which is not introduced in 

 other editions. 



In the second and later editions of the Quadrupeds many other animals were 

 described, and, as will be found in the chapters on subsequent editions, a large 

 number of important illustrations were added. The most noticeable of these 

 was the series of the Bats, which first appear in the second (1791) edition. 

 Their omission was probably due to the uncertainty which prevailed in the 

 author's mind as to the true position of the Bat, occupying as it does a 

 " middle nature between four-footed animals and birds." 



One of the great attractions of the publication of the Quadrupeds was 

 the uncommonly striking, truthful, and satirical tail-piece-vignettes, or tale- 

 pieces, as Bewick loved to call them. The first edition did not contain a large 

 number, but several are among the most famous of Bewick's productions. 



