wood-engraving was at, when a public society deemed it worthy
a reward; yet even in this are readily visible some lines and touches of
the future great master of this delicious art. He never omitted visiting
itinerant caravans of animals, from whose living looks and attitudes he
made spirited drawings. This led to his _History of Quadrupeds_,
1790; the first block, however, of which, he cut the very day of his
father's death, Nov. 15, 1785. From this work he obtained very
considerable celebrity; which led him shortly to draw and engrave the
wild bull at Chillingham, Lord Tankerville's, the largest of all his
wood-cuts, impressions of which have actually been sold at twenty
guineas each; and also the zebra, elephant, lion, and tiger, for Pidcock
(Exeter 'Change,) copies whereof are now extremely scarce and valuable.
He also executed some curious works on copper, to illustrate a _Tour
through Lapland_, by Matthew Consett, Esq.; and his _Quadrupeds_
having passed through seven editions, his fame was widely and well
established. The famous typographer, Bulmer, of the Shakspeare Press
(a native of Newcastle,) now employed John Bewick, who, at the age of
fourteen, had also been aprenticed to Bielby, in co-operation with
his brother Thomas, to embellish a splendid edition of Goldsmith's
_Deserted Village_ and _Hermit_, Parnell's _Poems_, and Somerville's
_Chase_. The designs and execution of these were so admirable and
ingenious, that the late king, George III. doubted their being worked
on wood, and requested a sight of the blocks, at which he was equally
delighted and astonished. It is deeply to be lamented we have so few
specimens of the talents of John Bewick, who died of a pulmonary
complaint, 1795, at the early age of thirty-five.

I now, in this hasty, feeble, and divaricated biographical sketch,
approach the great and favourite work of my admired friend, _The
History of British Birds_. The first volume of this all-delighting
work was published in 1797, jointly by Bielby and Bewick, but was
afterwards continued by Bewick. This beautiful, accurate, animated,
and (I may really add) wonderful production, having passed through six
editions, each of very numerous impressions, is now universally known
and admired.

The first time I had _personal_ interview with my venerable friend
was at Newcastle upon Tyne, on Wednesday, October 1, 1823, after
perambulating the romantic regions of Cumberland and Westmoreland, with
my frien