[41]. In my ardent wish for the perfect happiness and union of the sister Isles, I have suffered my sanguine imagination to wish and hope that some great convulsion of nature might some day happen to throw up the bed of the sea between them, so as to unite them both in one; and present a south-western rocky front to the ocean. I see no harm in indulging in such reveries; they may, indeed, be visionary, but they are innocent ones.
[42]. This fable was written and illustrated by T. Bewick, for his “Fables of Æsop,” and is now published for the first time.
[43]. The vignette at page 53, vol. i, last edition of the “History of British Birds,” will be found printed with two additional blocks as a title page to the second edition of the “Quadrupeds,” quarto, without letterpress, 1824.
[44]. The publisher, Dr. Trussler, quaintly observes, “It is a very proper book to amuse and instruct youth, and the price, viz. 3s., half-bound, will hurt no one.”
[45]. “Fabliaux, or Tales abridged from French Manuscripts of the 12th and 13th Centuries. By M. Le Grand. Translated into English verse, by G. L. Way, Esq.” 1796.
[46]. It appears from the autograph letter here copied, that Thomas Bewick at one time contemplated emigrating to America. The name of his correspondent is not known.
[47]. The lady here indicated was the wife of an officer. She was an amateur artist, and was a frequent visitor when at Newcastle.
[48]. An eminent publisher by whom he had been employed to embellish an extensive work.
NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE:—
ROBERT WARD, PRINTER, FOOT OF DEAN STREET.