BEWICE, THOMAS, a celebrated was h. at Chertyburn, near New castle-ba-Tyne, in 1753. Apprenticed to Beilby, an engraver in Newcastle, he dis played.suet extraordinary aptitude in his art, that, at the age• of 17, he was intrusted with the cutting of the whole of the diagrams in Mutton's Treatise on. Mensuration. He afterwards illustrated Gay's Fables, obtaining in 1775, for one of the cuts, the "Old Bound," the prize which the:sotiety of arts had offered for the best wood-engraving. In 1790, B., who had entered into partnership with Mr: 13eilby, completed. along with his brother John, who was his pupil, the illustrations for a General Ilisto -y of British Quadrumts, a work which raised nis reputation far above that of any of Ms contempo• 'tries, 'and gained for him the honorable and not undeserved appellation of the reviver of wood-engraving. Considered as works of art, these illustrations are still unrivaled in graphic force of expression and fidelity to nature, though the great. mechanical
improvements in the art introduced since B.'S time have rendered theta inferior in clear ness and delicacy of execution to some of the best cuts of the present day. Assisted by his brother, -B. illustrated Goldsmith's Traveler and Daerted Village, Parnell's Berndt, and Somerville's Chase; and in 1797 appeared the first volume of his History of British 13irds, which was followed in 1804 by the second. This splendid work was entirely IL 's own, his brother having died in 1795. B.'s last work, the unfinished proofs of.which he received the Saturday before his death, which, took place at Gateshead, Nov. 8; 1828, is called "Waiting for Death," and represents an old worn-out with great pathos and truth. 1t was designed to assist in the prevention of cruelty to animals. A large cut of a bull— of the Caledonian B. had many pupils, :some of whoia were afterwards eminent as engraiers.