THOMAS BEWICK. 



171 



typical of Liberty. The " Literary Miscellany," or, as Bewick calls it in his 

 Memoir, " Elegant Selections from various Authors," was published in parts 

 in and about 1799, each part containing one or two unimportant blocks by 

 Bewick. " Recreations in Agriculture," by Anderson, who conducted " The 

 Bee," was published in London as a periodical, commencing 1799, and in it 

 there are several engravings after Bewick, and one signed by him, a view of 

 St. Machar Cathedral, Aberdeen. This is a very poor production ; the per- 

 spective is faulty, and the foliage about the worst Bewick ever attached 

 his name to — if indeed he actually engraved the block. 



In 1800 the first edition of the " Charms of Literature," in Prose and 

 Poetry, was published in Newcastle, having eight woodcuts in each volume ; 

 the best being Wolkmar and his wife, Harley's visit to Bedlam, and Louisa 

 Venoni. In 1801 Nicholson of Poughnill published the " Elegiac, Shaw's 

 Monody, &c," containing a clever block illustrating the " Elegy on my dying 

 Ass Peter," engraved by Bewick, the turn of the ass's head being amusingly 

 expressive, while the knee-breeched man is a very well-drawn figure. " Morn- 

 ing's Amusement," by Mrs. Mathews, is a beautiful little York book, illus- 

 trated with a number of Fable cuts. "Anecdotes of the Clairville Family" 

 is a similar publication, and, as will be gathered from our list at the end, 

 there are a number of York publications which are almost all illustrated 

 with engravings executed for Fables, many of them of the greatest beauty. 



"A Short Treatise on that Useful Invention called the Sportsman's 

 Friend," by H. U. Reay, was published in June, 1801. The invention is 

 shown in an etching by Bewick to be simply a peg to which was attached a 

 rope for the horse's bridle, and the peg driven into the ground. This plate is 

 signed, but possesses little artistic merit. The other two illustrations are 

 woodcuts, also full octavo pages, and much better than the frontispiece 

 etching. The Bay Pony is as fine a Quadruped as Bewick ever drew. The 

 landscape behind was probably a recollection of some Highland scene, and 

 possesses considerable variety, with church, cottage, mountain, and loch. 



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