296 ARIADNE FLORENTINA. 



90. And now that we know the meaning, we are able to 

 discuss the technical qualities farther. 



Both of these engravings, you will find, are executed with 

 blunt lines ; but more than that, they are executed with quiet 

 lines, entirely steady. 



Now, here I have in my hand a lively woodcut of the pres- 

 ent day a good average type of the modern style of wood- 

 cutting, which you will all recognize.* 



The shade in this is drawn on the wood (not cict, but drawn, 

 observe,) at the rate of at least ten lines in a second : Hol- 

 bein's at the rate of about one line in three seconds, f 



91. Now there are two different matters to be considered 

 with respect to these two opposed methods of execution. 

 The first, that the rapid work, though easy to the artist, is 

 very difficult to the woodcutter ; so that it implies instantly 

 a separation between the two crafts, and that your wood en- 

 graver has ceased to be a draughtsman. I shall return to 

 this point. I wish to insist on the other first ; namely, the 

 effect of the more deliberative method on the drawing itself. 



92. When the hand moves at the rate of ten lines in a 

 second, it is indeed under the government of the muscles of 

 the wrist and shoulder ; but it cannot possibly be under the 

 complete government of the brains. I am able to do this 

 zigzag line evenly, because I have got the use of the hand 

 from practice ; and the faster it is done, the evener it will be. 

 But I have no mental authority over every line I thus lay : 

 chance regulates them. Whereas, when I draw at the rate of 

 two or three seconds to each line, my hand disobeys the mus- 

 cles a little the mechanical accuracy is not so great ; nay, 

 there ceases to be any appearance of dexterity at all. But 

 there is, in reality, more manual skill required in the slow 

 work than in the swift, and all the while the hand is 

 thoroughly under the orders of the brains. Holbein deliber- 

 ately resolves, for every line, as it goes along, that it shall be 



* The ordinary title-page of Punch. 



f In the lecture-room, the relative rates of execution were shown ; I 

 arrived at this estimate by timing the completion of two small pieces of 

 shade in the two methods. 



