156 



JOHN BEWICK. 



and after the Birds and Quadrupeds there are few finer specimens of his 

 engraving than in " The Chase." 



The work begins with an essay on Somervile and a preface by the author, 

 and then Book I. of the poem commences. The frontispiece to this is an 

 incident after the chase, when the spoils of the day — a dead stag and a hare — 

 with various implements of hunting, lie at the foot of an oak-tree, two pointers 

 keeping watch over them. To the poem itself there is a head-piece, where on 

 the banks of a river a huntsman is whipping up his hounds ; at the end is a 

 tail-piece of several Beagles which lie waiting underneath a thickly foliaged 

 tree, the effect of the various coloured dogs being greatly heightened by the 

 dark background. On the title to Book II. a stag drinks at a well, a very- 

 graceful beautiful animal, powerfully drawn and charmingly engraved; the 

 head-piece to the letterpress being a hunter dismounted, and amidst a throng 

 of hounds holding up a fine hare. The composition is well managed, except 

 that the trunk of the tree is placed in the centre of the design, while in the 

 engraving the foreground is so black as almost to appear unfinished. The 

 tail-piece to this Book is the death of a Tiger, the chase of which is described 

 in the poem. The ferocity and rage of the royal brute fairly overpowered by 

 his enemies are ably depicted. The cut on the title of the Third Book shows a 

 Lion's head and skin and hunting material. The head-piece is a fox hunt, 

 one of the most spirited of all John Bewick's works. The hounds chase the 

 fox very closely, and poor Reynard is seen in the foreground fleeing like 

 lightning from his pursuers. The chase seems actually to move along, and 

 the dash and vigour of the impetuous animals are splendidly accurate. The 

 tail-piece represents King George III. at a chase in Windsor Park ; and wit- 

 nessing the misery of the hunted stag, he rebukes the "disappointed hungry 

 pack" in the manner mentioned in the poem. The King is nearest the 

 spectator, but he wants life, and appears somewhat inanely riding amidst 

 his courtiers. The trumpeter sounds the close of the chase, while the poor 

 wearied stag labours up an incline in the background. Farther off the 



