The last project of Mr Bewick was, to improve at once the taste and morals of the lower classes, particularly in the country, by a series of blocks on a large scale, to supersede the wretched, sometimes immoral, daubs with which the walls of cottages are too frequently clothed. A cut of an Old Horse, intended to head an Address on Cruelty to that noble animal, was his last production : the proof of it was brought to him from the press only three days before he died.

It may be observed, that, in the works of the early masters, in he art of wood engraving, there was little more attempted than a bold outline. It remained for the burine of Bewick to produce a more complete and finished effect, by displaying a variety of tints, and producing a perspective, in a way that astonished even the copperplate engravers, by slightly lowering the surface of the block where the distance or lighter parts were to be shewn. This was first suggested by his early acquaintance Bulmer, who, during the period of their joint apprenticeship, invariably took off, at his master's office, proof-impressions of Bewick's blocks. He particularly printed for his friend the engraving of the Huntsman and Old Hound, which, as has been already observed, obtained for the young artist the premium from the Society of Arts.

Mr Bewick was in person robust, well formed and healthy. He was fond of early rising, walking, and indulging in all the rustic and athletic sports so prevalent in the north of England. Many portraits of him have been engraved and published; but the only full-length portrait of him was executed by Nicholson, and engraved by his pupil Ranson.* It was afterwards proposed by a select number of bis friends and admirers, to have a bust of him executed in marble, as a lasting memorial of the high regard they entertained for his genius and excellent character. The bust was executed by Baily with great fidelity and taste ; and was presented, by the subscribers, to the Council and Members of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle, and now occupies a situation in the most prominent part of the spacious library-room of that useful Institution.

• Mr Audubon reminds me that there is another, and striking, full-length, by Mr Good, whose peculiar mode of throwing the light upon his portraits has been much that he immediately confessed his guilt, and on his knees implored his pardon. This small sketch was afterwards adopted as a tail-piece, which may be seen in the first volume of the British Birds, p. 110.* (First Edition).

Many anecdotes are current among his friends concerning the occasions of many of his vignettes. Among others, one is told of a person, who had for many years supplied him with coals, being convicted of defrauding him in measure, on which occasion he sent him a letter of rebuke for his ingratitude and dishonesty. At the bottom of the letter, he sketched with his pen the figure of a man in a coal cart, accompanied by a representation of the devil close by his side, who is stopping the vehicle immediately under a gallows, beneath which was written, "The end and punish-ment of all dishonest men." This well-timed satire so affected the nervous system of the poor delinquent, and deservedly admired: it is in the possession of the fa mily.

Mr Bewick was a man of warm attachments, particularly to the younger branches of his family. It is known that, during his apprenticeship, he seldom failed to visit his parents once a week at Cherry-Burn, distant about fourteen miles from Newcastle; and when the Tyne was so swelled with rain and land floods, that he could not get across, it was his practice to shout over to them, and, having made inquiries after the state of their health, to return home.

In 1825, in a letter to an old crony in London, after describing with a kind of enthusiastic pleasure the domestic comforts which he daily enjoyed, he says, "I might fill you a sheet in dwelling on the merits of my young folks, without being a bit afraid of any remarks that might be made upon me, such as 'look at the old fool, he thinks there's nobody has sic bairns as he has.' In short, my son and three daughters do all in their power to make their parents happy."

* In page 82 of the same volume is the representation of a cart-horse running away with some affrighted boys, who had got into the cart while the careless driver was drinking in a hedge-alehouse. It is observable, that the rapidity of the cart is finely expressed by the almost total disappearance of the spokes of the wheel; a circumstance, it is believed, never before noticed by an artist.

Mr Bewick was naturally of the most persevering and industrious habits. The number of blocks he has engraved is almost incredible. At his bench he worked and whistled with the most perfect good humour, from morn to night, and ever and anon thought the day too short for the extension of his labours. He did not mix much with the world, for he possessed a singular and most independent mind. In the evening, indeed, when the work of the day was finished, he generally retired to a neighbouring public-house, to smoke his pipe, and drink his glass of porter with an old friend or two, who knew his haunt, and enjoyed the naivete and originality of his remarks. But he luxuriated in the bosom of his fa- mily; and no pleasures he could enjoy in the latter stage of his life, were equal in his esteem to the sterling comforts of his own fireside. He died, as he had lived, an upright and truly honest man ; and breathed his last after a short illness, in the midst of his affectionate and disconsolate offspring, at his re. sidence in West Street, Gateshead, on Saturday November 8. 1828 in the 76th year of his age. His remains were accompanied by a numerous train of friends, to the family burial-place at Ovingham, and deposited along with his parents, his wife (who had died February 1. 1826, aged 72), and his brother previously mentioned.*