DRA 



DRE 



small mirror inclined to an angle of 45 

 degrees, serving to reflect the exterior 

 rays on a convex lens set in a tube, and 

 the light streaming from this will convey 

 the true forms and colours of the land- 

 scape to a paper situated at the proper 

 distance to receive them ; this beautiful 

 picture is viewed through an oblong 

 aperture, and may be copied with equal 

 facility and advantage ; indeed the most 

 experienced artist may obtain hints from 

 the camera obscura, which might escape 

 his notice in drawing directly from reali- 

 ty. The literally darkened chamber fur- 

 nishes the means of improvement, though 

 some little contrivance is necessary to 

 use them conveniently, and obviate the 

 unpleasant circumstances attending the 

 drawing of reversed objects ; it may, 

 however, be recollected, that any thing 

 drawn in this position will hecome right 

 on turning the paper ; or the person de- 

 sirous of so doing may place the paper 

 on some low article of furniture, and 

 standing over it, view every part in its 

 proper state ; but the portable camera 

 obscura, being expressly intended for 

 making of correct drawings, should be 

 preferred, as it affords a horizontal plane 

 for the hand to rest on conveniently. 



Transparencies were not long since ex- 

 tremely fashionable, as blinds for win- 

 dows, and substitutes for painted glass ; 

 indeed authors and artists have been 

 known to venture quarto volumes on the 

 subject. Their effect is certainly pleas- 

 ing, when the lights are clear and bril- 

 liant, and the shades judiciously contrasted 

 with them ; but those, like every product 

 of the fine arts under the same circum- 

 stances, become contemptible, when in- 

 correctly executed. The choice of the 

 subject is of great importance in each 

 branch of drawing, and none more so 

 than those for transparencies, for which 

 moon-light and fire-light scenes are ge- 

 nerally adapted, as both are capable of 

 producing great richness in the tints, and 

 when introduced with ruins are more 

 particularly attractive : for instance, the 

 court of an ancient feudal castle, sur- 

 rounded by fragments of walls, pierced 

 With windows of magnificent mould, 

 through which the foliage of the ivy 

 hangs in grand festoons, grouping with 

 the aspiring ash,' the" branches of the lat- 

 ter silvered by moon-light, gleaming be- 

 tween various towers retiring each be- 

 yond the other, and waving over the 

 deep shades of the former, at the same 

 Ume faintly illuminating the gliding fi- 



gures of midnight plunderers, seen pass- 

 ing through the gateway. 



Having excited attention to the nature 

 of the best subjects, it will be necessary 

 to say how they should be treated. Fix 

 the paper intended for this purpose in a 

 straining frame, draw the design, and 

 colour it in the usual manner ; then plac- 

 ing it against a window, examine where 

 the shades require strengthening, which 

 will be sometimes necessary on the back 

 of the drawing, and with the opaque sub- 

 stances of ivory or lamp-black, mixed 

 with gum water; having completed it to 

 the due effect, the brightest parts, as the 

 moon or a fire, are to he impregnated 

 with spirits of turpentine on each side of 

 the paper, and the next lights on one side 

 only ; those must be covered again with 

 a varnish, composed of two equal por- 

 tions of spirits of turpentine and Canada 

 balsam, but with great care, lest it spread 

 beyond the desired limits. The moon 

 must not be coloured, but fire and flame 

 will require red lead and gamboge. 



There is one other process, which will 

 be entertaining to a studious mind, desti- 

 tute of any particular partiality for the 

 arts, which is, preparing a sheet of thin 

 white-brown paper, by passing a brush 

 over it filled with oil of turpentine ; thus 

 made transparent, it is to be strained upon 

 a frame, and placed against any object 

 that may be preferred ; then take a per- 

 forated board suited to the eye, and look 

 ing through it, draw the outline observa 

 ble on the transparent paper with a black 

 lead pencil ; the shading of the object 

 may be obtained very correctly by this 

 means, with a little attention ; but it 

 should be done rapidily, as the position of 

 the shadows continually vary with the 

 motion of the sun : to facilitate this part 

 of the operation, it would be well to make 

 several degrees of colour, and number 

 them as they appear on the paper, in or- 

 der to finish the drawing at more leisure. 



DRAWISG a cast, among bowlers, is 

 winning the end, without stirringthebowl 

 or block. 



DRAWING, ^ne, among taylors, the art 

 of sowing up button-holes, or any rents 

 in cloth, in so nice a manner, as that they 

 cannot be discovered from the entire part 

 of the cloth. 



DREAMS have been described as the 

 imaginations, fancies, or reveries of a 

 sleeping man, and they are said to be de- 

 ducible to the three following causes : 1. 

 The impressions and ideas lately recent- 



