i6o 



JOHN BEWICK. 



brother's, but only those actually executed by him have been noted, while in 

 the case of Thomas the cuts done in his shop by apprentices, and probably 

 only finished by the master, as well as those wholly executed by his own hand, 

 have to be enumerated. 



After residing some time in London on returning from Northumberland, 

 John again fell into ill-health, and was once more compelled to flee from the 

 atmosphere which agreed so badly with him, and again he sought recreation 

 in the North. Soon he seems to be restored, and once more returned to 

 London, this time not altogether to his former close confining labour, but also 

 to try teaching drawing as a means of livelihood. He obtained a situation at 

 Hornsey Academy, and daily rode there from his work-office. This arrange- 

 ment lasted until, as Thomas says— 



" His health began to decline and he finally left London in the summer of 1795, 

 and returned yet once more to the banks of the Tyne. Here he intended to follow 

 the wood engraving for his London friends, and particularly for Wm. Bulmer, for 

 whom he was engaged to execute a number of blocks for ' The Fabliaux,' or ' Tales 

 from Le Grand,' and for Somervile's ' Chase.' Many of the former he had, I believe, 

 finished in London, and had sketched others on the blocks which he finished at 

 Cherryburn. He had also sketched the designs on the blocks for the ' Chase,' and 

 to them I put the finishing hand after his decease." 



John Bewick died on December 5th, 1795, an< ^ was buried beside his father 

 and mother, in the place where, thirty-three years after, his brother Thomas 

 was to be laid, in the family burial-ground at Ovingham. He was nearly 

 thirty-six years old when he succumbed to the disease which had so long 

 affected him. The " Gentleman's Magazine," in mentioning his death, said, 

 " The works of this young artist will be held in estimation, and the engravings 

 to Somervile's ' Chase ' will be a monument of fame of more celebrity than 

 marble can bestow." Bulmer, his last and loving friend, mourned his death 

 as something above an ordinary loss, and wrote to Thomas testifying how 

 much the news had disturbed him. "He was a young man," he said, 



