The work of Sir Robert Strange as a book-plate engraver has been already referred to. Both Lumisden's and Dr. Drummond's book-plates were probably executed after Strange's departure from England, and therefore after 1745. His continental visit was rendered necessary, or at least expedient, by the manner in which he had identified himself with the Stuart cause during the then recent troubles. He had joined the Jacobite Life-Guards, and employed his artistic ability in designing pay-notes for the Jacobite soldiers. After studying some time in Paris under Le Bas, he returned to England, where he remained till 1760. He then went back to the Continent, where his ability was freely appreciated, and where he was loaded with decorations at Rome and Florence. England at length recognised his merit, and in 1787 the King conferred upon him a knighthood, which he lived for five years to enjoy. His devotion to the House of Stuart never altered; the inscription beneath one of his most celebrated portraits reads 'Charles James Edward Stuart, _called_ the Young Pretender.' After the days of Strange, an innumerable number of artists sign their names to English book-plates; yet, with three exceptions, the names of none are known to fame till we come to those of a comparatively recent date. The exceptions are Francis Bartolozzi, John Keys Sherwin, and Thomas Bewick. Bartolozzi, the man of whom Sir Robert Strange displayed such ill-concealed jealousy, began to work in England about four years after the accession of George III., though it was some years before his worth was appreciated by the people with whom he came to reside. None of his book-plates belong to a date prior to 1770 or 1780. He removed to Lisbon in 1802 to take charge of the National Academy, and while there, it will be remembered, engraved an Englishman's book-plate in 1805 (see p. 95). His death took place at Lisbon in 1815. Sherwin was born in poverty, and, owing largely to his own folly, died in it, after having at one time amassed a considerable sum of money. He was a pupil of Bartolozzi, gained the Royal Academy gold medal in 1772, and was appointed Engraver to the King in or about 1785. His book-plate work is referred to at p. 72. Thomas Bewick, who, as we have seen (pp. 108-13), was the most prolific of any English engraver of book-plates, was born at Cherry Burn, in Northumberland, in 1753, and died in 1828. The incidents in his history are too well known to need repetition here, and his work upon book-plates has been already mentioned. It may be, however, noticed that his earliest book-plate is dated in 1797, the year in which he published the first volume of his _British Birds_. FOOTNOTE: [16] See Article in _Bibliographica_, vol. ii. p. 422. CHAPTER XIII ODDS AND ENDS