THE TECHNICS OF METAL ENGRAVING. 319 



131. I am a little proud of having independently discovered, 

 and had the patience to carry out, this Florentine method of 

 execution for myself, when I was a boy of thirteen. My good 

 drawing-master had given me some copies calculated to teach 

 me freedom of hand ; the touches were rapid and vigorous, 

 many of them in mechanically regular zigzags, far beyond any 

 capacity of mine to imitate in the bold way in which they^ 

 were done. But I was resolved to have them, somehow ; and 

 actually facsimilied a considerable portion of the drawing in 

 the Florentine manner, with the finest point I could cut to 

 my pencil, taking a quarter of an hour to forge out the like- 

 ness of one return in the zigzag which my master carried 

 down through twenty returns in two seconds ; and so success- 

 fully, that he did not detect my artifice till I showed it him, 

 on which he forbade me ever to do the like again. And it 

 was only thirty years afterwards that I found I had been quite 

 right after all, and working like Baccio Bandini ! But the 

 patience which carried me through that early effort, served 

 me well through all the thirty years, and enabled me to 

 analyze, and in a measure imitate, the method of work em- 

 ployed by every master ; so that, whether you believe me or 

 not at first, you will find what I tell you of their superiority, 

 or inferiority, to be true. 



132. When lines are studied with this degree of care you 

 may be sure the master will leave room enough for you to see 

 them and enjoy them, and not use any at random. All the 

 finest engravers, therefore, leave much white paper, and use 

 their entire power on the outlines. 



133. Next to them come the men of the Renaissance schools, 

 headed by Durer, who, less careful of the beauty and refine- 

 ment of the line, delight in its vigour, accuracy, and complex- 

 ity. And the essential difference between these men and the 

 moderns is that these central masters cut their line for the 

 most part with a single furrow, giving it depth by force of 

 hand or wrist, and retouching, not in the furrow itself, but with 

 others beside it.* Such work can only be done well on copper, 



* This most important and distinctive character was pointed out to 

 me by Mr. Burgess. 



