ENGRAVING. 



grass intermixed with plants, since so 

 admirably delineated in etchings. A gold- 

 smith of Florence, named Maso Finiguer- 

 ra, is said to have discovered the art ; 

 but this assertion must undoubtedly 

 merely apply to his obtaining 1 impressions 

 from lines engraved originally without the 

 least idea of such a result ; were we to 

 examine the subject closely, it might be 

 proved, that outlines have been cut in 

 metals, representing figures, &c. from the 

 most remote periods of antiquity, but 

 being subject to decay, they have not 

 reached our time, as the more durable 

 granites have done, embellished with hi- 

 eroglyphics cut in them in a manner 

 which might be printed on paper. Ar- 

 guing from these premises, it may be in- 

 ferred, that the ancients understood the 

 art of engraving in metal, though without 

 conceiving that the copies of their pro- 

 ductions might be multiplied by means 

 of ink on soft white cloth, or similar ma- 

 ter als. Albert Durer, born in 1470, and 

 who died at Nuremberg, 1528, is said to 

 have been the first person on record claim- 

 ing the name of an engraver in the long 

 list of celebrated artists ; but certainly 

 very excellent engraved brass figures, the 

 lines filled with substances to show them 

 more clearly, are now extant on tombs in 

 some hundreds of churches in England, 

 the dates of many of which are prior to 

 the time of his birth. This fact will serve 

 to prove that the printing of engraved 

 plates was discovered between 1470 and 

 1528 ; indeed the perfection that engrav- 

 ing had reached in the latter century 

 plainly demonstrates, that the use of the 

 graver was by no means a modern dis- 

 covery. The encouragement of the fine 

 arts has ever been a distinguishing trait 

 of the inhabitants of the continent of Eu- 

 rope ; it is not wonderful, therefore, that 

 engraving closely followed the footsteps 

 of the parent arts, and flourished there 

 in greater perfection than in England, 

 where they have been in a state ef mise- 

 rable depression till within the last cen- 

 tury, when literature was supposed to re- 

 ceive some aid from the graver ; the book- 

 sellers, taking the hint, have encouraged 

 the predilection of the public, which has 

 operated as a stimulus to the artist, and 

 the consequence is, that the graphic em- 

 bellishments of British topographical and 

 poetical works are equal, if not superior, 

 to any in Europe. 



Historical engravings for the port fo- 

 lio and furniture seemed at one period to 

 advance rapicHy towards perfection, to 

 which the late Alderman Boydell greatly 



contributed; but the death of Str;i. 

 Hall, and Woollet, have been almost fatal 

 to the hopes of the amateur, which rests, 

 in a great measure, upon Heath, Sharp, 

 Bromley, and a few others, as in this par- 

 ticular instance we do not include those 

 eminent foreigners, who have or do at 

 present reside in England. Whatever de- 

 ficiencies we may discover in the prose- 

 cution of the arts in this country is, 

 fortunately, not to be attributed to want 

 of genius, or relaxation from study, in 

 the artist; the chill of apathy in the rich, 

 who view a wretched coloured aquatint 

 with the same or more pleasure than 

 the most laboured production of the gra- 

 ver, is the baleful cause of the languish- 

 ing state of historical engraving. When 

 persons capable of ''affording patronage 

 are taught discrimination, future Wool- 

 lets will fascinate the best judges of en- 

 graving. 



We shall now proceed to explain the 

 methods of executing different descrip- 

 tions of engraving. The graver, an in- 

 strument of steel, is the primary object 

 for engraving on copper; it is square for 

 cutting of broad lines, and lozenge for the 

 finest, and must be tempered to that exact 

 state, which will prevent the point from 

 breaking or wearing by its action on the 

 metal ; to obtain this state, is is customary 

 to heat it when too hard on the end of a 

 red hot poker, till it assumes a straw co- 

 lour, and then cool it in oil ; if held too 

 long, it will become blue, soft, and use- 

 less, till the process of tempering the 

 steel is renewed. As it is possible a 

 graver may be of the proper degree of 

 solidity, except in som^ inconsiderable 

 part, it would be well to rub it on the oil 

 stone till that is ascertained. The graver 

 is inserted in a handle of hard wood, re- 

 sembling a pear with a longitudinal slice 

 cut off, which is to enable the artist to 

 use it as flat on the plate as his fingers 

 and thumb will permit. In order to pre- 

 pare this instrument for cutting a clear 

 smooth line, great care must be taken, in 

 sharpening it, that the original general 

 form should be preserved, by laying the 

 sides flat upon the oil-stone, and rubbing 

 them so as not to round them in the least, 

 after which the graver is to be held sloping 

 towards the person, and rubbed thus till 

 the point is extremely sharp ; besides 

 these precautions, it will be necessary 

 that the point should not be exactly in a 

 right line with the lower part of the gra- 

 ver, but a little higher, that it may not 

 press too deep into the copper. In rub- 

 bing the sides of the graver, the usual 



