THOMAS BEWICK. 



forms of birds with which he was not fully acquainted, and White's 

 History of Selborne, he says, pleased him exceedingly. To these and 

 several other books Bewick acknowledges his indebtedness.* 



It is scarcely necessary to say that had he depended entirely on the 

 knowledge thus acquired he would never have produced works of permanent 

 fame. It was his truthfulness to nature, his ability to grasp whatever was 

 most near the actual fact, his unaffectedness and sincerity, that made him 

 the celebrated artist he became. These, as Mr. F. G. Stephens says, in his 

 Notes on Bewick, "produced a mode of art which is manifestly so great in 

 respect to style that, from the little cuts in the Fables, which were the works 

 of his youth, to the Birds, hardly one is not a treasure of grave yet graceful, 

 dignified yet homely and elegant design." 



On July 1 6th, 1 79 1 , as recorded in his own writings, Bewick started 

 from Newcastle on a visit to Wycliffe. For two complete months he 

 worked among the stuffed specimens in the museum there, making careful 

 drawings — many, if not most, in water colours — of the birds he wanted after- 

 wards to engrave for the proposed publication. These drawings are now 

 the property of the British nation, and are exhibited in the British Museum. 

 One of his letters written while there tells how hard he wrought, and how 

 anxious he was for the welfare of his wife — " My Bell," as he fondly called 

 her — and for the health of his children, more particularly Robert, who had 

 been taken to the seaside to strengthen his constitution. 



" If, upon my return," he says, " I find him recovered, I think I shall be frantic 

 with joy. Indeed, if, upon my return, I find you all well, I shall look upon my fire- 



* In 1744 there was published at Salop a book in two volumes called " Omithologia Nova, or a New General 

 History of Birds." This contains 350 wood engravings equal, and in many cases superior, to those in the " Three 

 Hundred Animals. " The weak parts of the drawings are the claws, they being invariably made too large and clumsy. 

 The Flamingo, the Reeve, the Kingfisher, the Heron, and several of the Parrots, Wrens, and Bullfinches possess 

 considerable excellence. There are a number of tail-pieces, but they are chiefly ornamental. Other editions are 

 dated Birmingham, 1743, and London, 1745. 



