300 ARIADNE FLORENTINA. 



like the other. But is there any reason, do you suppose, fol 

 their being neat, and each like the other ? So far from it, 

 they would be twenty times prettier if they were irregular, 

 and each different from the other. And an old woodcutter, 

 instead of taking pride in cutting these intestices smooth and 

 alike, resolutely cuts them rough and irregular ; taking care, 

 at the same time, never to have any more than are wanted, this 

 being only one part of the general system of intelligent ma- 

 nipulation, which made so good an artist of the engraver that 

 it is impossible to say of any standard old woodcut, whether 

 the draughtsman engraved it himself or not. I should imag- 

 ine, from the character and subtlety of the touch, that every 

 line of the Dance of Death had been engraved by Holbein ; 

 we know it was not, and that there can be no certainty given 

 by even the finest pieces of wood execution of anything more 

 than perfect harmony between the designer and workman. 

 And consider how much this harmony demands in the latter. 

 Not that the modern engraver is unintelligent in applying his 

 mechanical skill : very often he greatly improves the drawing ; 

 but we never could mistake his hand for Holbein's. 



99. The true merit, then, of wood execution, as regards this 

 matter of cross-hatching, is first that there be no more cross- 

 ing than necessary ; secondly, that all the interstices be vari- 

 ous, and rough. You may look through the entire series of 

 the Dance of Death without finding any cross-hatching what- 

 ever, except in a few unimportant bits of background, so rude 

 as to need scarcely more than one touch to each interstice. 

 Albert Durer crosses more definitely ; but yet, in anj r fold of 

 his drapery, every white spot differs in size from every other, 

 and the arrangement of the whole is delightful, by the kind 

 of variety which the spots on a leopard have. 



On the other hand, where either expression or form can be 

 rendered by the shape of the lights and darks, the old engraver 

 becomes as careful as in an ordinary ground he is careless. 



The endeavour, with your own hand, and common pen and 

 ink, to copy a small piece of either of the two Holbein woodcuts 

 (Figures 2 and 3) will prove this to you better than any words. 



100. I said that, had Tenniel been rightly trained, there 



