WHITE -LINE ENGRAVING FOR RELIEF-PRINTING. 



189 



the production of the "maniere criblee" prints. Dr. Wiltshire simply 

 allowed himself to be misled by the somewhat unfortunate expression 

 "a more curious than happy combination of intaglio-engraving with 

 relief-engraving," used by Mr. Hymans. Had he looked at the matter 

 more from the practical-technical than from the theoretical-literary point 

 of view, and had he, moreover, consulted all the historical material at 

 command, the problem would have been less puzzling to him. Looked 

 at in the light thus to be obtained, the last vestige of uncertainty be- 

 setting this question, and which caused even Mr. Hymans to character- 

 ize the cribhSs as the productions of a " curious and irrational art," will 

 quickly vanish. 



% Art has its material as well as its ideal side, and so far as the former 

 is concerned the artist is absolutely dependent upon his means. The two 

 small illustrations which accompany this article (Figs. 48 and 49) look 

 at first sight as if both were taken from " dotted prints " of the fifteenth 

 century. Nevertheless they are separated from one another, as to period, 



Fig. 48. 



Fragment fiiom a "Dottej> Print" of 



the Fifteenth Century. 



Fig. 49. 



Fragment from a Wood-Engraving 



by Thomas Bewick. 



by at least 300 years. Fig. 48 is a fragment of a crible, " The Stigmatisa- 

 tion of St. Francis," attributed to the last third of the fifteenth century, 

 and published, in a reduction, in Dr. Wiltshire's "Catalogue of Early 

 Prints," vol. l, PI. iv. Fig. 49, is a bit from a wood-engraving by Bewick, 

 which appeared in " Poems by Goldsmith and Parnell," 1795, and is 

 reproduced in Dobson's " Thomas Bewick and his Pupils " (Boston, 

 1884), p. 79. In the fragments here given, Fig. 48 is reduced about one- 

 third, while Fig. 49 is enlarged about one-half, thus eliminating from 

 the comparison, at least to some degree, the disturbing element of 



