ig6 



THOMAS BEWICK. 



visitation to these lands. The cut was drawn from a bird preserved at 

 Wycliffe, and is exceptionally fine, coming from such a usually unsatisfactory 

 source. The Bittern is one of the large cuts of the series, and one of those 

 the background of which is as beautiful as the figure itself.* The succeeding 

 tail-piece of " an old codger fettling his hooks " is one of the charming series 

 of angling cuts; and the next on page 52, here reproduced on page 33, 

 gives an angler standing ankle-deep in the flowing water — a fine sketch, and 

 carried out with pleasing effect. The vignette following the Curlew 

 represents a noted character — a tanner — enjoying the sport of seeing three 

 thoughtless boys chase a dog at whose tail is strung the proverbial tin pan : 

 the frightened look of the poor dog is a contrast to the pleasure depicted on 

 the man's face and to the eagerness of the youthful torturers. Bewick is 

 said to have watched for a long time to see how leather leggings were worn 

 by a tanner of the Westgate, Newcastle, so that he might be correct. 



The Whimbrel, engraved by Henry Hole, one of Bewick's pupils, is a 

 pretty cut, with its half- misty distance : the roundness of the back was altered 

 afterwards, as it was drawn from a badly prepared specimen. The tail-piece 

 shows a sportsman who, in shooting at a woodcock, now flying away, has hit 

 a magpie, which has fallen dead, while the man strongly expresses his disgust 

 at his ill-luck, looking round at the woodcock while he reloads for another, 

 and, let us hope, a better result. The Woodcock is a wonderful specimen of 

 Bewick's art. A fac-simile of it is given on page 134, executed by Jackson 

 for the " Treatise on Wood Engraving." 



The Common Snipe, given here as a fac-simile on page 1 , is almost equal 

 to the Woodcock, and the purely English background has an impression of 

 direct truthfulness and of a perfect transcript from nature. The other two 

 cuts of Snipes are not far behind this ; and the landscape of the Judcock is 



* The following note was written by Bewick in a volume having the Bittern coloured. This copy, which contains 

 several other interesting notes, is now in the possession of Professor Corfield. " One of these birds from which the 

 print was coloured was sent to me on November 14th, 1817, being shot in Sutton Pasture. It exactly accorded with 

 the description." 



