### Clue: Art from French, for example, is beginning to thrill author (8)
### Answer: ESSAYIST 
 ### Explanation: Definition: author
 ES(French for "are", an archaic English word for which is "art") + SAY(for example, as in, say, "it looked like a big dog, say, a mastiff") + IS + **the 1st letter of**(beginning to) "thrill".