194 



THOMAS BEWICK. 



shows an old man saying grace with closed eyes, while his cat avails herself of 

 the opportunity to make free with his porridge — a block which the Rev. Mr. 

 Cotes, his literary friend, desired Bewick to withdraw ; but Chatto relates 

 that he declined, saying he could not help laughing at the over-righteous 

 man who, " while craving a blessing with hypocritical grimace, and with eyes 

 closed to outward things, loses a present good." The original sketch for this 

 is now in the British Museum. 



In the Advertisement Bewick mentions his indebtedness to the Wycliffe 

 Collection and to Buffon's coloured prints of birds. He states that, "not- 

 withstanding this help, the figures of several birds are still wanting," which 

 was attributed to the difficulties in obtaining many of the rarer animals ; and 

 he apologizes for the long period which had elapsed since the appearance of 

 the Land Birds. 



At the head of the Introduction an old soldier and his comrade exchange 

 salutations and utter laments for the days gone by. The tail-piece to the 

 same teaches how by mutual help difficulties may be overcome : a blind man 

 carrying a lame fellow-traveller across a rivulet. The head- piece to the 

 Contents is an old man on horseback, laden with goods for the market, on a 

 rainy, windy day. Chatto says, " The horse on which he is mounted has 

 become restive, and the rider has both broken his stick and lost his hat. The 

 horse seems determined not to move until it suits his own pleasure ; and it is 

 evident that the old man dare not get down to recover his hat, for, should 

 he do so, encumbered as he is, he will not be able to remount." Bewick had 

 grim pleasure in depicting his fellow-creatures in small troubles like these. 



The first bird is the Sanderling, an engraving not possessing any marked 

 qualification above others for the position it sustains. The Long-Legged 

 Plover is enhanced by a half-caricature of its lengthy limbs in the tail-piece, 

 where a sportsman crosses some water elevated on high stilts. The vignette 

 at page 9, representing a man on a blowy day bending to the blast, while the 

 string of a boy's kite catches his head, is a design of which Bewick did no 



