ON DRAWING, WRITING, AND MJ^AStJRINS. f)5 



uniformity of tint. Some, indeed, are of opinion, that engravings derive 

 a great brilliancy from the hatches that are employed in shading them, and 

 that minute inequalities of colour make every tint more pleasing. In draw- 

 ings with chalk, however, the advantage of rubbers is unquestionable. The 

 lines of a drawing may be made to have an appearance of greater freedom 

 than those of an engraving; they should be parallel, and when they are 

 crossed, moderately oblique to each other; their direction should be governed 

 by that of the outline. Engravings in mezzotinto exhibit no lines: but they 

 are deficient in spirit and precision: the effect of aqua tinta approaches much 

 nearer to that of drawing, and it has a similar advantage in the mode of pro- 

 ducing its liglits and shades. (Plate VI. Fig. 79.) 



It is well known, that the best pencils are made of English black lead, or 

 plumbago. Of black chalks, the Italian is harder and more generally useful 

 than the French : red chalk has the disadvantage of not being easily removed, 

 either by bread or by Indian rubber, without leaving a brownish mark. All 

 these chalks are of the nature of a soft schistus or slate: they may be made 

 to adhere firmly to the paper, by dipping the drawings in milk freed from 

 cream, or even in water only, which dissolves the size or gum of the paper. 

 Sometimes a grey paper is used, which serves for a middle tint, and lessens 

 the labour, the lights and shades only being added in white and black chalks. 



Crayons consist of colours mixed up with gum water, or other adhesive 

 substances, and usually also with some chalk, plaster, or pipe clay, so as to 

 be of a proper consistence for working in the manner of chalks. The prin- 

 cipal inconvenience attending them is their want of adhesion to the paper: 

 the paper must therefore not be too smooth. 



For drawings washed in light and shade only, the materials employed are 

 Indian ink, the black liquor of the cuttle fish, or bistre, which is extracted 

 from soot: both these last produce a browner and richer tint than the Indian 

 ink. In using these washes, as well as water colours, there is a great diversity in 

 the methods of different artists: some work with a dry pencil, others with a 

 full one : some begin all their coloured drawings in black only, others use 

 colours from the beginning. When a full pencil is used, care must be taken 

 that no part of the same tint dry sooner or later than the rest. When body 



