JOHN BEWICK. 



i59 



Chase " or " Les Fabliaux." When it is borne in mind that the " Blossoms " 

 was completely finished, while " The Chase " and " Les Fabliaux" were not 

 at the time of John Bewick's death, it is more probable that the letter was 

 written concerning one of the latter : which, it is difficult to say, as the manu- 

 script bears no address. 



" Gentlemen,— I received yours and shall be very happy to undertake your 

 job, if you can allow a sufficient time to do them, but as I am not acquainted with 

 the subjects, nor the size of the cuts, or whether or not the designs are to be made 

 therefrom, cannot pretend to fix a time when they can be done. I could not begin 

 upon them immediately, but I think in the course of a couple of months shall be able 

 to finish a job in hand. If that time can be made convenient to you, shall be happy 

 to serve you, and am 



" Your very humble servant, Jno. Bewick." 



"Les Fabliaux," or Tales abridged from French manuscripts, Bulmer, 1796, 

 contain twenty-five cuts in the first volume, none of which can be said to be 

 very fine. These cuts were partly executed by John when he was residing at 

 Cherryburn in the year in which he died, and are among the last works he 

 executed. After his death a few were completed by Thomas, who also did 

 those in the second volume, which appeared in 1800. These illustrations, 

 when contrasted with the Birds, or the Goldsmith and Parnell Poems, are 

 found to be greatly inferior, the large ones being especially poor. In the 

 first volume the foliage of the tail-pieces deserves at the same time some 

 commendation, and the vignette of armour beside a tree on p. 142 is 

 unusually fine. In the second volume the "Road to Paradise" is carefully 

 drawn, and the " Griseldis " cut has foliage very like that in the Goldsmith 

 and Parnell. 



The chief works of John Bewick have now been described ; a few were 

 finished by his brother soon after his death, and various editions of the more 

 popular were published later, but nearly all appeared during his lifetime. 

 Their list is not so long in proportion to the time he lived as his elder 



