72 MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 
his reception, and his life ; to amend the errors of 
which statements, I must have been writing one at 
the very hour of his death ; for I had not time to 
stop its insertion in one of the Shrewsbury papers, 
when I received a short, but most affectionate and 
affecting letter from his son, informing me, ‘ as his 
fathers most valued friend,’ that he expired, in full 
possession of his fine and powerful mental faculties, 
in quiet and cheerful resignation, on the 8th of 
November, 1828. On the morning of his death, he 
had the satisfaction of seeing the first proof-impres- 
sion of a series of large wood-engravings he had 
undertaken, in a superior style, for the walls of 
farm-houses, inns, and cottages, with a view to 
abate cruelty, mitigate pain, and imbue the mind 
and heart with tenderness and humanity ; and this 
he called his last legacy to suffering and insulted 
Nature.” 
