142 Fbic Arts. [Chap. X. 



been pronounced by some connoisseurs to be a 

 discovery of great value for perpetuating the works 

 of miniature sculpture. By means of it many re- 

 mains of ancient genius, which were lost to the 

 world in general, may be universally diffused in 

 all their original beauty and excellence *. 



Toward the close of the century under consi- 

 deration, a collection was made, in Paris, of all 

 the Monuments of Sculpture which France could 

 afford, from the eighth to the eighteenth century, 

 and arranged according to the order of centuries. 

 This is the first, and the only collection of the 

 kind, ever made. It is the only school in which 

 the progress of sculpture, during tlie middle ages, 

 can be advantageously studied f . 



SECTION III. 



ENGRAVING. 



This art, which was not known prior to tlie mid- 

 dle of the fifteenth century |, was brought, in the 

 course of the eighteenth, to a degree of relinement 

 and perfection which forms one of the signal ho- 

 nours of the age. And although some specimens 



* Montlily Magazine, Loud. vol. vii. 



f DiSiription Historiquc et Chronologiquc dc's Moimmcns dd 

 Sculpture, rtunis au Musec dts Momimcm Fran^uis ; par Alexandre 

 Lenoir. 



X The nncicnts, it is true, practised engraving on precious 

 .stones and chrystids, with very good success; but this is rather a 

 species of sculpture. The art of engraving on plates of metal, and 

 blocks of wood, from which to take prints ox impressionSj was 

 not known till the period above mentioned. 



