E£50I.e - a 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
“YILL you allow me, through the 
medium of your ufeful Publica- 
tion, to do juftice to the character of a 
much efteemed perfon, to whofe refpeéta- 
bility, as an artaft and a man, a numerous 
train of friends will give their moft wil- 
ling teftimony. In the Supplement to the 
Encyclopedia Britannica, under the article 
Wood-cuts, he is introduced to the public 
Notice in the following injurious manner: 
“© He (i. €. young Bewick) was bound 
_apprentice toa Mr. Beilby, of Newcaftle, 
an engraver on metal of the lowef? order, 
mvbho was feldom engaged in any thing more 
dificult than cutting the face of a clock. 
This man,” Ge. 
Now, though Mr. Beilby does by no 
means claim, no: his friends for him, to 
be ranked among the higheft order, from 
which his fi:uation in a country-town ne- 
ceflarily precluded him, yet, that he does 
not delerve to be fpcken of in this con- 
temptuous manner, any of your readers 
may eatly convince himfelf, by turning 
to Brand’s Hiftory of Newcaltle, where 
they will find {ome plates executed by this 
artift in no mean ftyle, particularly ‘*Thorn- 
ton’s Tomb-plate,’’ and the Plan of the 
Town of Newcaftle. It ought to be 
known, too, that at the.time ‘* young 
Bewick”” was bound apprentice to Mr. 
Beilby,he was then engaged in executing the 
mathematical cuts for Dr.Hutton’s Menfu- 
ration, and for the mathematical part of the 
Lady’s Diary, publifhed by the fame author, 
As Mr. Beilby has never laid any claim 
to the merit of reviving the art of en- 
graving on wood, there was no occafion 
whaicver for the introduétion of his name 
into a hiltory of the art. He faw, indeed, 
the rifing merit of his pupil, and had dif- 
cernment enough to encourage it: parti- 
cularly, it was by his advice that applica- 
Account of Beilby and Bewick. 
413 
tion was made to the Society for the En- 
couragement of Arts, &c. for the premium 
for the beft engraving on wood*; which 
Mr. Bewick obtained; during bes apprens 
ticefbip, and not, as Dr. Gleig has fated, 
after he went to London. . 
It ought, befides, to be further attended 
to, that, on Mr. Bewick’s return to his 
native place, he entered into a partnerfhip 
with this ** engraver of the loweft order,” 
which fubfifted for many years: and that 
while he was engaged in preparing thole 
accurate reprefentations of quadrupeds, and 
of Britifh land-birds, which have obtained 
for him fuch deferved celebrity, the greater 
part of the former work, and the whole of 
the latter, was compofed by Mr, Beilby; 
whole fervices, however, in this refpeét 
(as indeed might naturally be expected), 
were never noticed by the public, being 
loft in the blaze of excellence difplayed by 
his quondam pupil. | 
I cannot conclude this brief vindication 
of the charaéter of Mr. Beilby, without 
exprefling my regret, that Dr. Gleig 
fhould have fuffered his valuable work to 
be ftained with fo grofs a calumny, which 
could not have happened, if, when colle&t- 
ing materials for his Hiftory of Weod- 
engraving, he had applied to the mof ob- 
vious fource of accurate informatton—the 
eminent, artift, to whofe fuperior talents 
the world isindebted for the revival, or ra 
ther the invention (for, as the Dogtor him- 
felf has jufily ebfersed, the ancient mode 
of wood-cutting is different in many re- 
{pects) of this capital branch of the graphic 
art. WiLttiam TURNER, 
Newceaftle, May 12, 1801. 
* 'The cut which obtained the premium was 
one of a feries intended for an edition of Gay’s 
Fables (the fubje&, the Qld Hound}, afer- 
wards publifhed by T. Saint, of Neweaftle 5 
the frontifpiece of which was engraved by 
Mr. Beilby. } 
MEMOIRS OF EMINENT PERSONS. 
MEMOIRS of the DUKE of PARMA. 
IS Royal Highnels Ferdinand Lewis 
-de Bourbon, Duke of Parma and 
Piacenza, was born on the 2oth of Janua- 
ry, 1751. He was fonof the Duke Don 
Philip, Infant of Spain, third fon of King 
Philip V. formerly Duke of Anjou. Al- 
though the Duchy of Parma is the pet- 
tie principality in Italy, hardly contain- 
ing an extent of ninety miles from eaft to 
weft, and thirty-five from fouth to north, 
it has been uncommonly confpicuous in 
the Italian hiftory, ever fince it became 
an independent principality of the Houle 
Monrity Mas, No: 73.. 
of Farnefe; This celebrity originated in 
the conne&tion of the duchy with the 
Court of Rome, in the great number of 
illuftrious men of the name of Farnefe, 
in their misfortunes, and efpecially in 
their magnificence of every kind, in Parma, 
in Rome, and in their fiefs in the kingdom 
of Naples. 
The Jaft heir of this illuftriaus family 
was Elizabeth, Queen ta Philip V. fo 
juftly celebrated for her high and generous 
mind, The Prince Don Philip was, among 
her children, he who inherited\mo 
her character in this refpe&. Accordingly, 
4 i 238 
