Many other nursery books of a similar kind might be mentioned as some of the chief attractions that emanated from the "Catnach Press," and which, to the juvenile population, were more eagerly welcomed than the great sensational three-volume novels are by many in our day.

It is remarkable, that at a time when "Art" holds so high a place in popular education, and teaching by object-lessons is adopted as the best method of elementary teaching in infant schools, the books given to young children as rewards or inducements to them to exercise their memories should not be more carefully prepared. In spite of the great advances made in the art of illustration, we still meet with so-called "Toy-Books," the pictures in which are either contemptibly bad or repulsively ugly. It should not be

forgotten, that, to young children, picture-books are the chief means of education, and that, to accustom them to look at badly-drawn and coarsely-executed pictures, is as undesirable as to permit them to hear wrongly-pronounced or vulgar words.

Catnach received a very indifferent education, and that little at the establishment of Mr. Goldie, in Alnwick, where his attendance was very irregular, and this drawback assisted very much in blunting his relish for the higher walks of literature. The father had not carried out the heavenly injunction so much practised in Scotland, by giving to his son the best of blessings "a good education." A great fault he had, and a grevious one, and that was in allowing his own social pleasures to interfere with the mental training of his offspring.

Jemmy had a tenacious love for money, and this propensity he retained throughout life. As a man of business he was rough and brusque in his manners, but this mattered little, as his trade lay amongst a class who were low and insensitive in their habits and modes of living; and

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his many peculiarities, both in speech and dress, would be little heeded by his mixed-medley customers.

It was hardly possible that anything creditable in good printing could emanate from the establishment of Catnach; his stock of type was miserably bad, whilst his wood blocks, which we shall hereafter allude to, were of the rudest kind, and it mattered little what was the quality of the paper so long as the sheets met with a ready sale. The productions issued at the "Catnach Press" were not destined to rank high in the annals of literature; and they bear a sorry appearance when' placed alongside of several works of a similar kind, which were printed at the same period in many parts of the kingdom. In this respect Jemmy Catnach was very unlike his father, for, whilst the former had a niggardly turn in all his dealings, the latter was naturally inclined to the reverse.

Another series of juvenile works of a larger size and price, consists of "The adventurous exploits of Robinson Crusoe," "The butchery and bloody deeds of Jack the Giant Killer," "The treacherous and inveterate hatred that lingered in the bosom of Blue Beard," "The amusing story and career of Tom Hickathrift," "The touching and heart-rending account as portrayed in the story of the Babes in the Wood," "The adventures of Ali Baba; or, the Forty Thieves," and many others, concluding with the ever popular "Old Mother Hubbard and her Wonderful Dog," a fac-similed copy of a true Catnachian Edition here follows, and although the woodcuts in the body of the work are of the most anti-Bewickian character, it is possible to conceive; the piece at the end is very chaste, and said to have been drawn by Thurston, and engraved by Thomas Bewick, for the elder Catnach. The old block has been very much worked, and is still with the others doing duty in the office of the "Catnach Press," Monmouth Court.

She went to the baker's to buy him some bread,
When she came back the dog was dead.
Ah! my poor dog, she cried, oh, what shall I do?
You were always my pride-none equal to you.

She went to the undertaker's to buy him a coffin,
When she came back, the dog was laughing.
Now how this can be quite puzzles my brain,
I am much pleased to see you alive once again.

She went to the barber's to buy him a wig,
When she came back he was dancing a jig.
O, you dear merry grig, how nicely you 're prancing;
Then she held up the wig, and he began dancing.

She went to the sempstress to buy him some linen,
When she came back the dog was spinning.
The reel, when 'twas done, was wove into a shirt,
Which served to protect him from weather and dirt.