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NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. iv. OCT. 7, 1911.
The copperplate engraving ' Bird-Catching
-at Orkney ' I find was published in Pennant's
' Arctic Zoology,' first edition, 1784 (second edition 1792), and copied in The European Magazine for May, 1785 ; but each of those plates differs from mine in the size of the
.engraved surface.
The net on the hind- quarters of the horse in the tail-piece at p. 254, vol. i. of ' The Birds,' first edition, 1797, is intended to
catch the dung for manure ; but I should like to know if this was a common practice in Bewick's time, or merely a bit of his humour.
J. G. Bell states in his ' Catalogue of Bewick's Works,' 1851, that no demy copies of the second (1805) edition of ' The Birds ' were printed, but in the appendix to Bewick's memoir, 1862, p. 341, a letter to Mrs. M. (London), dated 20 May, 1805, is given, in which Bewick says, " A second edition of both volumes of 'The Birds' is now at press" ; and in the letter to Messrs. Vernor, Hood & Sharpe, dated 14 September, 1805, given in full in Mr. D. C. Thomson's ' Life and Works of Thomas Bewick,' 1882, Bewick says, " A new edition, consisting of 500 sets of the ' British Birds,' in two volumes demy, is now ready for delivery" evi-
. dently the edition referred to in the letter to Mrs. M. (the original of the latter letter
as now in the Hornby Library, Liverpool).
I think the explanation is that there was undoubtedly, as Bewick states, an edition demy 8vo size printed in 1805, but consisting of a copy of the 1805 edition of vol. i. and
.an exact reprint of the first (1804) edition of vol. ii., both of the volumes being dated 1804. I have two volumes as described bound alike, but of course that does not prove that they were issued together. Of the second (1805) edition of vol. ii. there do not appear to have been any demy copies, none being known to be in existence.
Mr. D. C. Thomson at p. 191 of his ' Life ' says : "It may be useful to note that the first volumes of ' The Birds ' which bear the
.date 1804 are simply second (1805) editions with a different title-page." This is so in the case of the demy copies, as stated above ; but there is another edition of vol. i., royal 8vo, dated 1804, which must have been issued later than 1805, as it contains all the additional cuts that are given in the 1816 edition. The companion vol. ii., royal 8vo, is also dated 1804, but is a reprint of the first edition of that date, with the exception of the tail-pieces at pp. 136 and 269, which
. are in the second state.
The Addenda to the ' British Birds ' on
seven pages, with four figures of birds, and
two tail-pieces, printed by Edw. Walker
and undated, must have been printed after
May, 1822, as that date is referred to in the
text on p. 1. They were really Addenda
to the two supplements published sepa-
rately in 1821 ; and the cuts of the three
land birds, one water bird, and two tail-
pieces, with the text descriptive of them,
were included in the supplements (still
dated 1821), and usually bound up with
the fifth (1821) edition of 'The Birds,' but
sometimes with other editions.
WHITE LINE.
NAPOLEON RELIC IN INDIA. There has
been some correspondence recently in The
Times and other papers with respect to the
discovery of a sketch by Capt. Marryat of
Napoleon, and the following note of another
sketch of him may interest readers of
' N. & Q.'
Many years ago in India an officer then in command of the fort of Chunar, near Benares, showed me a small oil sketch of the head of the Emperor on a pillow surrounded by clouds. On the back of the canvas was pasted a piece of paper which had been partially destroyed by white ants, on which could still be deciphered the legend, written in a very fine foreign hand, " Esquisse cinq heures apres la mort en presence du General B nd."
The history of the painting related to me by the owner amounted to this only. A sergeant of Artillery had said to him : " Sir, you like old things, and in the bazaar there is an old picture that may suit you." This was the sketch, which was bought for a song. I forget the particular bazaar, but think it was in Northern India.
It seems probable that the sketch was made by Madame Bertrand, and that it was made in the presence of her husband, the General. I saw it mentioned lately that Madame Bertrand was something of an artist, and that on the Bellerophon she made a sketch of the Emperor which she gave to a naval officer on board.
But how can we account for this sketch in an Indian bazaar ? Those who years ago amused themselves by hunting for curiosities in the bazaars of Upper India will remember the variety of interesting objects with which the search was occasionally rewarded. I have myself rescued several small objects which told the sad tale of
