ATHENS. 273 
The silversmiths were occupied in making 
coarse rings for the Albanian women ; and the 
poor remains of Grecian painters in fabricating, 
rather than delineating, pictures of Saints and 
Firgins. Their mode of doing this may serve 
to shew how exactly the image of any set of picture*. 
features, or the subject of any representation, 
may be preserved unaltered, among different 
artists, for rrfany ages. The prototype is always 
kept by them, and transmitted with great care 
from father to son (for in Greece, as in China, 
the professions are often hereditary, and remain 
in the same family fora number of generations): 
it consists of a piece of paper upon which the 
outline and all the different parts of the design, 
even to the minutest circumstance, have been 
marked by a number of small holes pricked with 
the point of a pin or a needle. This pattern is 
laid on any surface prepared for painting, and 
rubbed over with finely-powdered charcoal : the 
dust falling through the holes leaves a dotted 
outline for the painter, who then proceeds to 
apply the colours much after the same manner, 
by a series of other papers having the places 
cut out where any particular colour is to be 
applied. Very little skill is requisite in the 
finishing; for, in fact, one of these manufacturers 
might with just as much ease give a rule to 
VOL. VI. T 
