264 



THOMAS BEWICK. 



his labours, as so many of his works are tinged with a slight melancholy. He 

 seems to have felt like a man fully aware of his position, and not to be 

 caught doing anything beneath his dignity. Therefore we never find him 

 expounding through his designs, except in a solemn and laboured way, 

 as if overpowered with the responsibility of his task. 



With regard to Bewick's personal character, he was a man full of affection 

 for those who had proved themselves his friends, but apt to have a strong 

 dislike for those who had done anything to make him consider them his 

 enemies ; the former feeling having, at the same time, always the greater 

 influence. He was a man naturally formed for high and noble actions, though 

 now and then his impetuosity led him into positions difficult to justify — 

 occasions so rare as to leave no blemish that cannot readily be overlooked. 

 It has been sometimes said that Bewick was niggardly in his dealings, and in 

 several instances there is some ground for the assertion. Yet, as we may 

 learn by his Will in the Appendix, he did not die by any means rich. Sixty 

 years of arduous labour in the higher walks of art and of teaching were not 

 heavily recompensed by the two thousand pounds sterling accumulated at his 

 death. In pecuniary matters Bewick was entirely influenced by anxiety to 

 provide for those of his own house, and not at all by any miserly desire to 

 hoard. If occasionally " near," he was oftener liberal, and when the cause 

 was good he could bestow with an unstinted hand. 



Bewick's personal appearance — tall, well formed, and healthy — more like 

 a small farmer than a competent artist — lias been several times referred to. 

 His language in conversation was plain and forcible, while at the same time it 

 " exhibited much of that quaintness and shrewd insight into character which so 

 eminently distinguishes the tail-pieces." He was seldom to be found in mixed 

 company, but preferred the society of his children, or the gossipings of his 

 old and tried friends from his own country-side, to what he thought the 

 insipidities of more cultivated people. He was purely English in most of 



