iz 
by a gentleman:who has made the calcu- 
lation, and on whote accuracy I can con- 
fidently rely, that, if the plates for the 
§* Encyclopedia Erttannica” had been en- 
graven on wood initead of copper, (and 
“they could have been done much better 
than thofe are) and allowing the fame fum 
for originally engraving the one as the 
other, the faving on each plate, for one 
impreilion only of that work, would have 
exceeded ten guineas, fo that the total 
gain the proprietors of that work, 
arifins -from this circumftance alone, 
would have exceeded jour thoufand guineas 
on one impreffion only. 
From thefe confiderations, it is obvious 
that every work which can command an 
extenfive fale, and which requires to be 
illuftrated by engravings, will afford a 
much greater profit to the undertaker if 
thefe are executed on wood than on copper. 
And, as the plates can remain equally 
good ior a fecond, a third, or a fourth 
ampreflion, as for the firlt, it will, in fome 
ameafure, fecure a copyright in the book, 
becaufe no one, who has to. pay for new 
engravings, could afford to fell an im- 
preflion fo cheap as he could do who has 
the plates for nothing. | 
The queftion then comes to be, What 
kind of works of general utility admit of 
being illustrated by engravings on wood 
equaliy well as if they were done upon 
copper? I here put works of ta/fe entirely 
out of the queftion, and confider utility 
“only. 
Inthis point of view, the firft place in 
xegard to importance ought, perhaps, to 
be affigned to azatomy. From the f{peci-~ 
mens I have elready:{ecn, 1 am perfeétly 
Gtisfied that anatomical plates can be ex- 
ecuted on wood with all the precifion 
pofible cn copper, and, in fome particu- 
Jars, (efpecialiy thofe where the mutcles 
are reprefented) with much greater ele. 
gance and beauty. A fet of duch plates, 
uf executed from accurate defigns, by 
shaving ‘the whole civilized globe fer a 
market, (the explanations being eafily 
printed in different languages) could be 
afforded at a very low price, io as to bring 
them within the reach of every ftudent of 
"_ phyfic; while the undertaker would be 
infured in a moft abundant profit. 
The next fubje&t of general importance 
ts archite@iure. Woot-engraving is. pe- 
euliarly fitted to. produce beautiful works 
of this clafs,.ata very fmall expence. 
Heraldry is another fubject that admits 
of being illufirated by wood-engravings 
atith fingular propriety, as I am fatisfied 
of from, feme Specimens of. this. fort I 
~y>phave Tately Leen. 
kinds, 
Engraving on Wood....Similes from Homer. 
Mathematical diagrams and machiners 
of every fort, may thus be executed with 
the greateft accuracy and neatnefs. 
In zatural hifiory, the {pecimens ‘that 
BEWICK has given in his béafts and birds, 
thew what it is capable of: For delineat- 
ing infects, thells, and minerals, it is per- 
haps yet better calculated to produce a 
fine efte€&t than in thofe fpecimens that 
have been already exhibited. r 
_ I will not take up more of your paper 
by enumerating a greater number of par— 
ticulars. What I have faid will, I think, 
be fufficient to prove, that the art of en- 
graving on woed promifes to be of much 
utility to faankind in general, by dimi- 
nifhing the price of fome works of pri- 
mary importance to fociety, on which ac- 
count it deferyes to be encouraged and 
cultivated with affiduity.. 
Fan. 1, 1798. N.M. 

For the Monthly Magazine. 
SIMILES OF HOMER, VIRGIL, 
MILTON, (CONTINUED.) 
_ From Wid Beafis. | 3 . 
OMER abounds in fimiles taken 
from obfervation of the various 
AND 
actions and charaéters of the ferocious 
animals, which, in the rnder ftates and 
paitoral occupations of mankind, muft 
be objects of capital importance. Their 
encounters with each other, the devafta- 
tions they cccafion among the domeftic 
and the mutual-warfare carried on 
between them and the human. {pecies, 
cannot fail to imprefs the mind witha 
variety of ftriking ideas. . The. appli- 
cation of images, borrowed from this 
fource, to the circumftances of militar 
tranfa¢tions, is fo obvious, that little 
ingenuity is to be looked for in the dif 
covery either of general er -partievlar 
points of refemblance; and. the merit 
ef comparifons, from this fource, mutt 
chiefly confit in the force and accuracy ~ 
_of defcription. 
The Grecian bard, in 
thefe reipects, is certainly unrivalled: 
every line in his deferiptive pieces is a 
proof that he copied from nature herfelf; 
and his fucceflérs in epic poetry have ~ 
done little more in their happieft efforts, _ 
than judicioufly {eleG@ing, and adorning 
with the beauties of diétion, ‘the various 
circumftances° with which he had > fur- 
nifhed them. 
Amidt the fimiles‘of this clafg, thofe 
in which the Zion forms~ the principal 
figure are by much. the moft-frequentin 
the works of Homer. The generous, 
courage and tervific force of this noble 
) itsy s Veal 
