BRITBMDINDS EDITED BY H. F. WITHERBY, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. ASSISTED BY W. P. PYCRAFT, A.L.S., M.B.O.U. SOME EARLY BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS AND THEIR WORKS. BY W. H. MULLENS, M.A., LL.M., M.B.O.U. VIII. THOMAS BEWICK (1753 1828) AND GEORGE MONTAGU (1751 1815). IT is difficult to determine what position Thomas Bewick holds among the principal British ornithologists; it is difficult indeed to determine whether he was, in the strict sense of the word, an ornithologist at all. It was by a series of entirely unforeseen events that Bewick continued...
352 BRITISH BIRDS. found himself called upon to write even a portion of the famous " History of British Birds " that bears his name, and it certainly cannot be said that the text of that work contains anything of much originality or importance. "It is respectable but no more," and would by itself, founded as it was on the style of Pennant, and admittedly deriving most of its information from his works,* in all probability have attracted but scant and passing attention. And yet this work of Bewick has met with extraordinary success, it has passed through edition after edition; it has instructed and delighted thousands upon thousands of readers, and has in the opinion of onef who was fully competent to judge, done more than any other work in existence, Gilbert White's " Natural History of Selborne " alone excepted, to promote the study and pursuit of ornithology in this country. This great popularity and widespread influence of Bewick's " History of British Birds " arose solely from the brilliance and fidelity of the wood-cuts, with which he was able to illustrate that work. What Bewick and his fellow-author together entirely failed to do with the pen, he alone most successfully accomplished with the burin and the graver. Such was Bewick's skill, and so wonderful his power of transferring his impressions to paper, that his engravings of birds, especially of those which he was enabled to draw from life, or from freshly-killed specimens, remain even to this day amongst the finest black and white illustrations of the kind which we possess. Their effect therefore at the time of their appearance, J and for many years afterwards, may be easily understood, and this, coupled with the fact of Bewick's general renown as an artist and with the charm of the curious and often beautiful tail-pieces with which he and his pupils adorned his work, made * " Memoir of Thomas Bewick," p. 162. f Newton, " Diet, of Birds," Introd., p. 19. J Pennant's fourth edition of the " British Zoology," which appeared in 1776, contained numerous plates of birds, but they were not very successful.
SOME EARLY BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS. 353 his name one to be ever associated with the study of British ornithology. Claims to be considered a scientific naturalist he had none, and yet his works will be remembered and revered, when those of far more erudite and accomplished writers have passed away. Many books have been written about Thomas Bewick, his art, and his " life and times," but by far the best account of the artist and his work is to be derived from the " Memoir " which he compiled between the years 1822 and 1828, and on which he was still engaged at the time of his death.* It was written for the information of his daughter Jane and her brother and sisters, and is a bulky volume of some 316 pages. From it we learn that Thomas Bewick was born in August, 1753,f at his father's house of Cherryburn, near Eltringham, in Northumberland, and was baptized at the neighbouring church of Ovingham, on August 19th of that same year. Thomas was the eldest son of John Bewick, who farmed some eight acres of land at Cherryburn, and leased a small colliery at Mickley Bank. Of Bewick's somewhat tempestuous youth it is here necessary to say but little ; he was educated first at Mickley School, and afterwards by the Rev. C. Gregson, of Ovingdean. At a very early age he developed a taste for drawing, and in spite of constant reproof for " misspending " his time, he tells us that " many of my evenings at home were spent in filling the flags of the floor and the hearthstone with my chalky designs." From this the transition to pen and ink, and brush and colour, was rapid ; and the young artist soon commenced to decorate the walls of his neighbours' houses with rude pictures, chiefly consisting of hunting scenes. At the age of fourteen young Bewick was apprenticed to Ralph Beilby, of Newcastle, an engraver in a considerable way of business. Under Beilby's tuition Bewick soon began * The " Memoir " was first published in 1862 and again in 1887. f Bewick kept his birthday on August 12th, but there is a doubt about the exact date.
354 BRITISH BIRDS. to excel as an engraver, and the firm having been " applied to by printers to execute wood-cuts for them,"* Beilby, who had no liking for this branch of engraving, entrusted the execution of the blocks to Bewick, who made so good a job of it that henceforward orders for this particular sort of work increased rapidly. Bewick's progress in engraving was so rapid, and was so well thought of by his master, that he sent some of his apprentice's cuts, executed for " Select Fables," to the " Society for the Encouragement of Arts," and for these Bewick received a premium of seven guineas. In 1774 Bewick's apprenticeship came to an end, and he commenced to work on his own account, chiefly for Newcastle printers, till the middle of 1776. In the summer of that year he made an expedition to Scotland, travelling on foot, and afterwards went to London, where he arrived in October, 1776. Bewick disliked the Metropolis, and returning to Newcastle next year, entered into partnership with his former master, Ralph Beilby. For some years Bewick continued to busy himself with the ordinary work of his profession, but at length having come to the conclusion that the figures of animals, as they were represented in the children's books then available, were very inferior, he resolved to try what he could do in that direction, and on the advice of his friend, Solomon Hodgson, bookseller and editor of the " Newcastle Chronicle," he commenced on November 15th, 1785, to cut the figure of the dromedary,f the first of a series of wood-cuts for the " History of Quadrupeds," which was published in 1790. J While Bewick was engaged in drawing and cutting the figures for the " History of Quadrupeds " his partner, who was of " a bookish or reading turn, proposed to write or compile the descriptions, but not knowing much about natural history we got books on that subject to enable * "Memoir," p. 59. t Those animals which were not familiar to Bewick were copied from Dr. Smellie's "Abridgment of Buffon." t It reached an eighth edition in 1824.
THOMAS BEWICK, from the engraving by F. Bacon, after the picture by James Ramsay.
HISTORY OF BRITISH BIRDS. THE FIGURES ENGRAVED ON WOOD BY T. BEWICK. VOL. I. CONTAINING THE HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF LAND BIRDS. NEWCASTLE: PRINTED BY JOL. HODGSON, TOR BEILBY & BEWICK : SOLD BY THEM, AND C. C. & J. ROBINSON, LONDON. [Pries l/. IJ. in Boards.] 1797-
GEORGE MONTAGU, from the Original Miniature in the possession of the Linnsean Society, London.
SOME EARLY BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS. 357 him to form a better notion of these matters." These descriptions Bewick helped to revise and correct. When, however, the title page was in preparation, Beilby wished to appear as the author, and desired the book to be announced as being " by R. Beilby " ; but although this idea was abandoned through the influence of Mr. Hodgson, the foundation of the quarrel between Bewick and Beilby was commenced, which finally led to the dissolution of their partnership. The " History of Quadrupeds" proved so great a success, being appreciated by young and old alike, that Bewick began to turn his thoughts to a " History of British Birds."* For this purpose he commenced to study various works on the subject, and informs us that " in addition to Pennant's works, [he] perused ' Albin's History of Birds,' Belon's very old book,f Willoughby and Ray, etc. Mr. John Rotherham gave me ' Gesner's Natural History,' with some of these I was in raptures. Willoughby and Ray struck me as having led the way to truth and to British Ornithology.... I was much pleased with ' White's History of Selbome.' Pennant, however, opened out the largest field of information, and on his works I bestowed the most attention. The last of our ornithologists, and one of the most indefatigible, was the late Col. George Montagu, author of the ' Ornithological Dictionary' " {Memoir, pp. 161, 162.) In addition to the time he devoted to the works above mentioned, Bewick, who at the beginning of his undertaking had made up his mind " to copy nothing from the works of others, but to stick to Nature as closely as I could," availed himself of an invitation from Mr. Constable, the owner of " Wycliffe," * This project was, however, in full consideration in 1790, vide letter from John Bewick (1760-1795). Robinson's " Thomas Bewick: his Life and Times," p. 94. t L'Histoire de la Nature des Oyseaux, avec leurs descriptions, & naifs portraicts.... Par Pierre Belon du Mans, Paris, 1555. 1 vol. folio. This work of Belon's, though not so diffuse as Conrad Gesner's " Historia Avium " of the same date, is nevertheless the most trustworthy authority of that period.
358 BRITISH BIRDS. to visit the museum there, which contained the collection of birds formed by Marmaduke Tunstall,* For nearly two months Bewick remained at " Wycliffe," making drawings from the specimens there (some of these being in water-colour) and commenced to engrave from them as soon as he returned to Newcastle, Finding, however, " the very great difference between preserved specimens and those from Nature... I never felt satisfied with them... and was driven to wait for birds newly shot or brought to me alive." All this, of course, involved considerable delay, but " after working many a late hour upon the cuts " the first volume of " British Birds," entitled " Land Birds," appeared in 1797. " Mr. Beilby," as Bewick tells us (Memoir, p. 171), "undertook the writing or compilation of this (the first) volume, in which I assisted him a great deal more than I had done with the * Quadrupeds.' " Bewick was therefore surprised to find that Beilby was determined on being recognised as the sole author of the book. To this claim Bewick strongly objected, and although through the intervention of mutual friends, the title-page of the first volume merely bore the legend " Printed... for Beilby and Bewick," neither of them being named as authors,f they found it impossible to work in harmony any longer, and their partnership was dissolved, Bewick buying up Beilby's share in the " Quadrupeds " and the first volume of the " Birds." Bewick was now thrown upon his own resources as an author, and by consulting all the available authorities, and making use of his own knowledge and observations, he composed the text of the second volume, entitled " Water-Birds." This appeared in 1804, and in the preface Bewick states that " owing to a separation of * Marmaduke Tunstall (1743-1790), the anonymous author of the " Ornithologica Britannica," London, 1771, 1 vol. folio. For an account ot" his life, vide Fox's " Synopsis of the Newcastle Museum," where his collection now is. It was for this same Marmaduke Tunstall that Bewick had in 1789 executed his famous wood-cut of the " Chillingham Bull." f c/. conclusion of Preface to 1st vol. " British Birds."
SOME EARLY BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS. 359 interests between the editors... the compilation and completion of the present work devolved upon one alone." He also acknowledges his obligations to the Rev. H. Coates, the vicar of Bedlington, for " literary corrections." A facsimile title-page of the first volume of the first edition of " British Birds " is here given, that of the second volume is somewhat similar, but Beilby's name does not appear in it. The collation of the book is as follows : Vol. 1 ; pp. XXX., title, preface, introduction and contents, + pp. 335, f 117 figures of birds, and 91 tailpieces. Vol. 2 ; pp. XX. -j- pp. 400, -f- 101 figures of birds, and 139 vignettes. The first edition was printed on paper of three different sizes, viz., imperial, royal, and demy 8vo, that of the latter size being of two qualities, thick and thin. The publishing prices were 21s., 18s., 13s., and 10s. 6d. respectively, and of the imperial paper copies (of the first issue) only twenty-four were printed. The prices of the second volume being 24s., 18s., and 12s. Of the first volume of the " British Birds " there were two issues, both bearing the same date, viz., 1797 ; the second issue being, however, printed in 1798. The first issue may be determined from the fact that on the reverse of page 335 the third edition of " Bewick's Quadrupeds " is announced, while in the second, the fourth is advertised.* The success of the " History of British Birds " was immediate and complete, six editions were issued in Bewick's lifetime, and in the year 1847, an eighth,f edited by John Hancock with great skill, and containing some twenty extra tail-pieces, which Bewick had executed for a projected " History of British Fishes," * For further particulars, cf. Newton, " Diet. Birds," Introd., p. 20. f Dates of the eight editions of Bewick's " Birds " are as follows : 1st, 1797-1804; 2nd, 1805; 3rd, 1809; 4th, 1816; 5th, 1821 (with Supplement); 6th, 1826; 7th, 1832; 8th and last, 1847.
360 BRITISH BIRDS. appeared, this edition being in many respects the best. The " Birds " marked Bewick's high-water mark as an artist, the only book of any real importance which he subsequently produced being " /Esop's Fables," in 1818. As has above been mentioned, the value of the " History of British Birds " rests on its wood-cuts alone, and although it has been frequently stated that Bewick had from his youth upwards a great leaning towards the study of birds, a careful investigation seems to show that he only possessed the ordinary interest in Nature common to most intelligent boys brought up in the country; indeed, on his own showing his chief delight as a youth consisted in joining the local " hunting parties." and in observing the habits of the various " beasts of the chase." It is true that in his "Memoir " he makes some not infrequent mentions of his early observations and interest in ornithology, and he further enlarges on this subject in the preface to the sixth edition of his " Birds " ; but it was only in human nature that a man who had seen edition after edition of his ornithological writings eagerly absorbed by the public, should come to consider himself as a zoologist, both by inclination as well as study. Be this as it may, the excellence of his wood-cuts* stands out beyond all doubt or question, and the debt we owe to the memory of Thomas Bewick is great and lasting. Of the remainder of Thomas Bewick's life we can here make but the briefest mention. His wife (Isabella Elliot, of Ovingdean), whom he had married in 1786, died in 1826, and in November, 1828, at the ripe old age of seventy-five, he followed her to the grave, and lies buried by her side in Ovingham churchyard, " at the west end of the church near the steeple." He continued working * Although Bewick seems to have been the first engraver to use wood-blocks for the representation of birds with any signal success, the process had, of course, been made use of on the Continent for that purpose, while in this country it had already been employed in 1743 to illustrate a work entitled " Ornithologia Nova: or a new General History of Birds," a second edition of which, with a somewhat different title, appeared in 1745.
SOME EARLY BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS. 361 to the close of his busy life, and when seized with his fatal illness was engaged on a large block entitled, " The Old Horse waiting for Death." George Montagu, whose " Ornithological Dictionary " has already been referred to, as having been issued while Bewick was engaged on the compilation of the second volume of his " Birds," was born at Lackham, in Wiltshire, in 1751. He entered the army at an early age, and served as a captain in the 15th Regiment of Foot during the American War. He afterwards settled down at Easton Grey, in Wilts, and became acting colonel of the County Militia. He died at Kingsbridge, in Devonshire, in August, 1815. Montagu was a prolific writer,* but his reputation rests on his " Ornithological Dictionary," a work so able and so well-known that it is only necessary to say that its merits have been as widely acknowledged abroad as at home ; and to quote Coues' dictum "It is one of the most notable treatises on British Birds, as a vade meeum which has held its place at a thousand elbows for three-quarters of a century." The full title of the book is as follows : - Ornithological Dictionary; / or, / Alphabetical Synopsis / of / British Birds. / By / George Montagu, F.L.S. / In two volumes, / Vol. I. [Vol. II.]. London : / Printed for J. White, Fleet Street, / by T. Bensly, Bolt Court. / 1802. Two Vols. 8vo. Collation : Vol. I. pp. 2 un. -f- pp. XLIII., + pp. un. (being sheets B-Y) -f Slip of Errata. Plate of CM Bunting. Vol. II., Title + pp. un. (sheets B-Y) + Slip of Errata. A supplement (unpaged) exceeding in bulk the two volumes of the original edition, with 24 plates, was issued by Col. Montagu in 1813 ; and there were numerous editions and re-issues after his death. * For a list of his works on Natural History vide " Agassiz," Vol. III.,. p. 614.