always his favourite exercise; the bird or figure he did as a task, but
was relieved by working the scenery and back-ground; and after each figure
he flew to the tail-piece with avidity, for in the inventive faculty his
imagination revelled."

Mr. Dovaston visited Bewick, at Buxton, in 1827. Here he relates

"There were three windows in the front room, the ledges and shutters
whereof he had pencilled all over with funny characters, as he saw them
pass to and fro, visiting the well. These people were the source of great
amusement: the probable histories of whom, and how they came by their
ailings, he would humorously narrate, and sketch their figures and
features in one instant of time. I have seen him draw a striking likeness
on his thumb-nail in one moment; wipe it off with his tongue, and
instantly draw another. We dined occasionally at the public table; and one
day, over the wine, a dispute arose between two gentlemen about a bird;
but was soon terminated by the one affirming he had compared it with the
figure and description of Bewick, to which the other replied that Bewick
was next to Nature. Here the old gentleman seized me by the thigh with his
very hand-vice of a grasp; and I contrived to keep up the shuttlecock of
conversation playfully to his highest satisfaction, though they who
praised him so ardently, little imagined whose ears imbibed all their
honest incense."

Bewick's observations on the Dove would alone prove him to have been a
close observer of nature:

"He said, of all birds he thought the dove tribe most beautiful. Their
outline presents every possible variety of the line of beauty; their
colours are brilliant and varied; their notes amorous and soothing; their