20 
MEMOIR OP THOMAS BEWICK. 
almost indestructibility,* of the wooden block, is be- 
sides secured ; since it is not subjected to the scrap- 
ing and rubbing, which so soon destroys the sharp- 
ness of the lines upon copper : and there is a har- 
mony produced in the page, by the engraving and 
the letter-press being of the same colour ; which is 
very seldom the case where copper-plate vignettes 
are introduced with letter-press. 
It is difficult, perhaps impossible, to trace the his- 
tory of wood-engraving, its early principles, the 
causes of its decay, &c., till its productions came to 
sink below contempt. But for its revival and pre- 
sent state we are unquestionably indebted to Bewick 
and bis pupils. 
Thomas Bewick was bom August 12. 1753, at 
Cherry-Bum, in the parish of Ovingham, and coun- 
ty of Northumberland. His father, John Bewick, 
had for many years a landsale colliery at Mickley- 
Bank, now in the possession of his son William. 
John Bewick, Thomas's younger brother, and coad- 
* Many of Mr Bewick’s blocks have printed upwards of 
300,000: the head-piece of the Newcastle Courant above a 
million-; and a small vignette for a capital letter in the 
Newcastle Chronicle, during a period of twenty years, at 
least two millions. 
