Gray was five years younger than Bewick. It must, therefore, be assumed that in speaking of him at this stage of the "Memoir," Bewick was anticipating an acquaintanceship which belongs to a somewhat later date.

CHAPTER IV.

"WANDERJAHRE."

ON the 1st of October 1774, the seven years' apprenticeship expired; and Bewick, after working for a short time with his old master at a guinea a week, returned to Cherryburn, where he remained until 1776. He continued to execute woodcuts and other commissions, chiefly for Thomas Angus, a printer of Newcastle, and occupied his leisure, as of old, with angling and field-sports, growing more and more attached to the country sights and ways. His later recollections dwell lovingly upon the genial Christmas festivities of the gentry and farmers, when the air was filled with old tunes, with the cheery notes of the Northumberland small-pipes,' with the buzz

1 A bagpipe, differing from the Scotch, being smaller, and

of the "foulpleughs" or Morrice-dancers; and he sighs for the days gone by, when home-brewed ale was honest malt and hops. In the summer of 1776 the spirit of wandering seized upon him, and, sewing three guineas in his waistband, he made a long pedestrian excursion to Cumberland and the lake country, - thence to Edinburgh and Glasgow. Passing up the beautiful valley of the Leven from Dumbarton to Loch Lomond, he paused to puzzle out the inscription on the monument of Smollett, of whose works he was as great an admirer as Carlyle, and so wandered northward to the Highlands. Here, having made up his mind not to visit any town or stay at any inn, he travelled from one farmhouse to another, meeting everywhere with kindly and simple hospitality, and pursued, at his departure, by the customary bannocks and scones. À propos of one of these leave-takings, occurs the only idyllic passage in the "Memoir" :

"On one occasion, I was detained all day and

blown, not with the breath, but by a pair of bellows fixed under the left arm.-Brockett's "Glossary."

all night at a house of this kind, in listening to the tunes of a young man of the family who played well upon the Scottish pipes. I, in turn, whistled several Tyneside tunes to him; so that we could hardly get separated. Before my departure next day, I contrived by stealth to put some money into the hands of the children. I had not got far from the house till I was pursued by a beautiful young woman, who accosted me in 'badish' English, which she must have got off by heart just before she left the house, the purport of which was to urge my acceptance of the usual present. This I wished to refuse; but, with a face and neck blushed with scarlet, she pressed it upon me with such sweetness-while I thought at the same time that she invited me to return—that (I could not help it) I seized her, and smacked her lips. She then sprang away from me, with her bare legs, like a deer, and left me fixed to the spot, not knowing what to do. I was particularly struck with her whole handsome appearance. It was a compound of loveliness, health, and agility. Her hair, I think, had been

flaxen or light, but was tanned to a pale brown by being exposed to the sun. This was tied behind with a ribbon, and dangled down her back; and, as she bounded along, it flowed in the air. I had not seen her while I was in the house, and felt grieved because I could not hope ever to see her more.'

He left Scotland in a Leith sloop, arriving at Newcastle on the 12th of August 1776. The passage from Leith to Shields was an exceedingly bad one, and it is characteristic of his kindness of heart that during the whole of the time, although worn out for want of sleep, he tended a poor little baby, which had been put into his bunk for security during the utter prostration of its mother.

After remaining long enough in Newcastle to earn the money for his journey, he took a berth in a collier for London, where he arrived in October. In London he had numerous friends. The Gregsons, his old schoolmaster's sons, and distant connections as well, were established there. William Gray, too, was a bookbinder in Chancery Lane and there were others besides.

He got