90 
NATURE NOTES 
portion of the work now before us, that which relates to the 
travels and field-work in North America where the experiences 
of the day were written down at night while fresh in the mind, 
or the pages which are devoted to his journeys to England and 
France, and which contain his impressions of persons seen and 
places visited. For the generality of readers few pages can 
possess more attraction than those in which Audubon has 
described the personal appearance, manners, and conversation 
of the many gifted naturalists upon whom he called, or to whom 
he was introduced. 
Here is his account of a visit to the celebrated wood-engraver, 
Thomas Bewick : — 
“ After ascending a long road or lane we arrived at Bewick’s dwelling, and I 
was taken at once to where he was at work and saw the man himself. He came 
to me and welcomed me with a hearty shake of the hand, and took off for a 
moment his half clean cotton nightcap, tinged with the smoke of the place. He 
is tall, stout, has a very large head, and his eyes are further apart than those of 
any man I remember just now. A complete Englishman, full of life and energy 
though now 74 (April 13, 1827), very witty and clever, better acquainted with 
America than most of his countrymen, and an honour to England. Having 
shown me the work he was at, a small vignette cut on a block of box wood, not 
more than 3 in. by 2 in., representing a dog frightened during the night by false 
appearances of men formed by curious roots and branches of trees, rocks, &c., he 
took me upstairs and introduced me to his three daughters. . . . The old 
gentleman and I stuck to each other ; he talked of my drawings and I of his 
wood cuts till we liked each other very much. Now and then he would take off 
his cotton cap, but the moment he became animated with the conversation the 
cap was on, yet almost off, for he had stuck it on as if by magic. His eyes sparkled, 
his face was very expressive, and I enjoyed him much more I am sure than he 
supposed.” 
April 16. — “ I breakfasted with old Bewick this morning quite sans efrcmonie, 
and then the old man set to work to show me how simple it was to cut wood ! 
But cutting wood as he did it is no joke ; he did it with as much ease as I can 
feather a bird ; he made all his tools, which are delicate and very beautiful, and 
his artist shop was clean and attractive.” 
Two days after that he paid a farewell visit to the old wood- 
engraver. 
“ As we parted he held my hand closely and repeated three times ' God 
preserve you.’ I looked at him in such a manner that 1 am sure he understood I 
could not speak. I walked slowly down the hilly lane, and thought of the 
intrinsic value of this man to the world, and compared him with Sir Walter Scott. 
The latter will be for ever the most eminent in station, being undoubtedly the 
more learned and more brilliant of the two : but Thomas Bewick is a son of 
Nature . . . he is an inventor and the first wood cutter in the world.” 
In six months’ time Audubon was again in Newcastle, and 
on October 18 we find the following entry in his journal : — 
“This morning I paid a visit to old Mr. Bewick. I found the good gentleman 
as usual at work, but he looked much better, as the cotton cap had been discarded 
for a fur one. He was in good spirits and we met like old friends.” 
The following year Bewick came to London and paid a visit 
to Audubon, at his lodgings in Great Russell Street. 
August 30. — “While Mr. Swainson was sitting with me, old Bewick and his 
daughters called on me. Good old man ! how glad I was to see him again. It 
was, he said, fifty-one years since he had been in London, which is no more 
