GERMAN SCHOOLS OF ENGRAVING. 349 



so." Only under the worst and cheapest plates for the Sta- 

 tioner's Almanack, or the like, one saw sometimes, "Drawn 

 and engraved by so-and-so," which meant nothing more than 

 that the publisher would not go to the expense of an artist, 

 and that the engraver haggled through as he could. (One 

 fortunate exception, gentlemen, you have in the old drawings 

 for your Oxford Almanack, though the publishers, I have no 

 doubt, even in that case, employed the cheapest artist they 

 could find.*) But in general, no engraver thought himself 

 able to draw ; and no artist thought it his business to en- 

 grave. 



But the fact that this and the following lecture are on the 

 subject of design in engraving, implies of course that in the 

 work we have to examine, it was often the engraver himself 

 who designed, and as often the artist who engraved. 



And you will observe that the only engravings which bear 

 imperishable value are, indeed, in this kind. It is true that, 

 in woodcutting, both Purer and Holbein, as in our own days 

 Leech and Tenniel, have workmen under them who can do all 

 they want. But in metal cutting it is not so. For, as I have 

 told you, in metal cutting, ultimate perfection of Line has to 

 be reached ; and it can be reached by none but a master's 

 hand ; nor by his, unless in the very moment and act of de- 

 signing. Never, unless under the vivid first force of imagina- 

 tion and intellect, can the Line have its full value. And for 

 this high reason, gentlemen, that paradox which perhaps 

 seemed to you so daring, is nevertheless deeply and finally 

 true, that while a woodcut may be laboriously finished, a 

 grand engraving on metal must be comparatively incomplete. 

 For it must be done, throughout, with the full fire of temper 

 in it, visibly governing its lines, as the wind does the fibres 

 of cloud. 



* The drawings were made by Turner, and are now among the chief 

 treasures of the Oxford Galleries. I ought to add some notice of Ho- 

 garth to this lecture in the Appendix ; but fear I shall have no time ; 

 besides, though I have profound respect for Hogarth, as, in literature, 

 I have for Fielding, I can't criticise them, because I know nothing of 

 their subjects. 



