JOHN BEWICK. 



147 



On May 1st, 1790, a small volume was published which the author, 

 Dr. Trusler, says "is a proper book to amuse and instruct youth, and the 

 price, viz., 3s. half-bound, will hurt no one." It is called "Proverbs Exem- 

 plified and Illustrated by Pictures drawn from Real Life." Dr. Trusler states 

 in his preface that, "having met with an artist (Mr. John Bewick) who knew 

 how to illustrate the follies and vices of mankind better than most men, I have 

 profited by his abilities." The engravings are fifty in number. These exhibit 

 the influence of Holbein's " Dance of Death " over John Bewick's gradually 

 increasing power as a designer and engraver. The best points of the 

 education received from the elder Bewick are also clearly visible, while the 

 designs retain sufficient individuality to be entirely original works. John 

 Bewick was acting on the good advice tendered by his brother in the January 

 1788 letter; he was taking "uncommon pains" to arrive at excellency, 

 and without doubt he found it " turn better out than doing them slightly." 



A similar volume to " Proverbs Exemplified" is one that bears no date, 

 and was not published until some time afterwards, perhaps not until 1800— - 

 the " Bewick Collector " says possibly 18 10. It is called " Proverbs in Verse ; 

 or, Moral Instructions conveyed in Pictures," with fifty-six blocks by John 

 Bewick. The engravings in this are at least equal in merit to those in 

 "Proverbs Exemplified." At page 13 there is one of three little boys bowing 

 and advancing towards their instructor, which is as clever as anything John 

 Bewick did of the kind. The engraving of "Sic Transit Gloria Mundi," at 

 the end, a funeral procession approaching the church, possesses a solemnity 

 and deep sense of feeling unusual in his work. These two blocks also appear 

 in the "Progress of Man and Society," 1791. Many of the cuts in " Proverbs 

 Exemplified" are repeated here, while in the tail-pieces there are a considerable 

 number of new designs. The " Beauties of Creation," 1790, two volumes, has 

 a large number of signed engravings by John Bewick. They are representa- 

 tions of quadrupeds, birds, insects, trees, and flowers, and are interesting 

 specimens of his labour. The " Wallachian Sheep" is signed Lee, and it 



u 2 



