formation to the lower clafs of people; if fuch a class may be faid to exift in New England, where every man thinks himself at least as good as his neighbour, and believes that all mankind are, or ought to be, equal. The people from their childhood form habits of canvaffing public affairs, and commence politicians. This naturally leads them to be very inquifitive. This defire after knowledge, in a greater or leffer degree, prevails throughout all claffes of people in New England; and from their various modes of expreffing it, fome of which are blunt and familiar, bordering on impertinence, ftrangers have been induced to mention impertinent inquifitiveness as a diftinguishing characteriftic of New England people.-Each man alfo has his independent fyftem of politics; and each affumes a dictatorial office. Hence originates that restless, litigious, complaining fpirit, which forms a dark shade in the character of New Englandmen.

Before the American war, which introduced into New England a flood of corruptions, with many improvements, the Sabbath was obferved with great ftrictnefs; no unneceffary travelling, no fecular business, no vifiting, no diverfions, were permitted on that facred day. They confidered it as confecrated to divine worship, and were generally punctual and ferious in their attendance upon it. Their laws were ftrict in guarding the Sabbath again every innovation. The fuppofed feverity with which thefe laws were compofed and executed, together with fome other traits in their religious character, have acquired, for the New Englanders, the name of a fuperftitious bigotted people. But fuperftition and bigotry are fo indefinite in their fignifications, and fo variously applied by perfons of different principles and educations, that it is not eafy to determine how far they deferved that character. Leaving every perfon to enjoy his own opinion in regard to this matter, we will only obferve, that, fince the war, a catholic tolerant fpirit, occafioned by a more enlarged intercourfe with mankind, has greatly increased, and is becoming univerfal; and if they do not break the proper bound, and liberalize away all true religion, of which there is much danger, they will counteract that ftrong propensity in human nature, which leads men to vibrate from one extreme to its oppofite.

There is one distinguishing characteristic in the religious character of this people, which we must not omit to mention; and that is, the custom of annually celebrating fafts and thanksgivings. In the fpring, the feveral governors iffue their proclamations, appointing a day to be religiously obferved in fafting, humiliation, and prayer, throughout their respective ftates, in which the predominating vices, that particularly call for humiliation, are enumerated. In autumn, after harveft, that gladsome era in the hufbandman's life, the governors again iffue their proclamations, appointing a day of public thanksgiving, enumerating the public bleffings received in the courfe of the foregoing year. This pious cuftom originated with their venerable ancestors, the first fettlers of New England; and has been handed down as facred through the fucceffive generations of their pofterity. A custom fo rational, and fo happily calculated to cherish in the minds of the people a fenfe of their dependence on the great Bene

The people of New England generally obtain their eftates by hard and perfevering labour: They of confequence know their value, and fpend with frugality. Yet in no country do the indigent and unfortunate fare better. Their laws oblige every town to provide a competent maintenance for their poor; and the neceffitous ftranger is protected and relieved from their. humane inftitutions. It may in truth be faid, that in no part of the world are the people happier, better furnished with the neceffaries and conveniences of life, or more independent, than the farmers in New England. As the great body of the people are hardy independent freeholders, their manners are, as they ought to be, congenial to their employment, plain, fimple, and unpolished. Strangers are received and entertained among them with a great deal of artlefs fincerity and friendly unformal hofpitality. Their children, thofe imitative creatures, to whofe education particular attention is paid, early imbibe the manners and habits of thofe around them; and the ftranger, with pleasure, notices the honeft and decent refpect that is paid him by the children as he paffes through the country.

As the people, by reprefentation, make their own laws and appoint their own officers, they cannot be oppreffed; and living under governments which have few lucrative places, they have few motives to bribery, corrupt canvaffings, or intrigue. Real abilities and a moral character unblemished are the qualifications requifite in the view of most people for offices of public truft. The expreffion of a wish to be promoted is the direct way to be difappointed.

The inhabitants of New England are generally fond of the arts, and have cultivated them with great fuccefs. Their colleges have flourished beyond any others in the United States. The illuftrious characters they have produced, who have diftinguished themselves in politics, law, divinity, the mathematics and philofophy, natural and civil history, and in the fine arts, particularly in poetry, evince the truth of these observations.

Many of the women in New England are handsome. They generally have fair, fresh, and healthful countenances, mingled with much female foftnefs and delicacy. Thofe who have had the advantages of a good education (and they are confiderably numerous) are genteel, eafy, and agreeable in their manners, and are fprightly and fenfible in converfation. They are early taught to manage domeftic concerns with neatness and economy. Ladies of the first rank and fortune make it a part of their daily bufinefs to fuperintend the affairs of the family. Employment at the needle, in cookery, and at the fpinning-wheel, with them is honourable. Idlenefs, even in thofe of independent fortunes, is univerfally difreputable. The women in the country manufacture the greatest part of the clothing of their families. Their linen and woollen cloths are ftrong and decent. Their butter and cheese are not inferior to any in the world.

Dancing is the principal and favourite amusement in New England; and of this the young people of both fexes are extremely fond. Gaming is practifed by none but those who cannot or rather will not find a reputable employment. The gamefter, the horfe-jockey, and the knave, are equally defpifed, and their company is avoided

ced to the form of a Roman province: after that, the Engli ifland was conquered as far north as the friths of Dunbarton and Edinburgh, by Agricola, in the time of Domitian; whereupon a great number of the Britons, in the conquered part of the island, retired to the weft part called Wales, carrying their language with them.

New avoided by all who would fuftain fair and irreproachErgland, able characters. The odious and inhuman, practices of English. duelling, gouging, cock-fighting, and horfe-racing, are fcarcely known here. The athletic and healthy diverfions of cricket, football, quoits, wrestling, jumping, foot-races, &c. are univerfally practifed in the country, and fome of them in the most populous places, and by people of almost all ranks. Squirrel-hunting is a noted diverfion in country places, where this kind of game is plenty. Some divert themselves with foxhunting, and others with the more profitable sports of fishing and duck-hunting; and in the frontier fettlements, where deer and fur-game abound, the inhabitants make a lucrative sport of hunting them. In the winter feafon, while the ground is covered with fnow, which is commonly two or three months, fleighing is the general diverfion. A great part of the families throughout the country are furnished with horfes and fleighs.

Trade.

New England has no one ftaple commodity. The ocean and the forefts afford the two principal articles of export. Cod-fifh, mackarel, fhad, falmon, and other fish, whale-oil, and whale-bone, mafts, boards, féantling, staves, hoops, and shingles, have been and are still exported in large quantities. The annual amount of cod and other fifh for foreign exportation, including the profits arifing from the whale-fifhery, is estimated at upwards of half a million.-Befides the articles enumerated, they export from the various parts of New England fhips built for fale, horfes, mules, live ftock, pickled beef and pork, pot-afh, pearl-afh, flax-feed, butter and cheese, rum, &c. The balance of trade, as far as imperfect calculations will enable us to judge, has generally been against New England; not from any unavoidable neceffity, but from her extravagant importations. From a view of the annual imports into New England, it appears that the greatest part of them confifts of the luxuries, or at beft the difpenfable conveniences of life; the country affords the neceffaries in great abundance.

ENGLISH, or the ENGLISH Tongue, the language fpoken by the people of England, and, with fome varia. tion, by thofe of Scotland, as well as part of Ireland, and the rest of the British dominions.

The ancient language of Britain is generally allow ed to have been the fame with the Gallic, or French; this ifland, in all probability, having been firft peopled from Gallia, as both Cæfar and Tacitus affirm, and prove by many ftrong and conclufive arguments, as by their religion, manners, customs, and the nearness of their fituation. But now we have very small remains of the ancient British tongue, except in Wales, Cornwall, the islands and highlands of Scotland, part of Ireland, and fome provinces of France; which will not appear ftrange, when what follows is confidered.

Julius Cæfar, fome time before the birth of our Saviour, made a defcent upon Britain, though he may be faid rather to have discovered than conquered it; but about the year of Chrift 45, in the time of Claudius, Aulus Plautius was fent over with fome Roman forces, by whom two kings of the Britons, Togodumnus and Caractacus, were both overcome in battle: whereupon a Roman colony was planted at Malden in Effex, and the fouthern parts of the island were reduVOL.. VIII. Part I.

The greatest part of Britain being thus become a Roman province, the Roman legions, who refided in Britain for above 200 years, undoubtedly diffeminated the Latin tongue; and the people being afterwards governed by laws written in Latin must neceffarily make a mixture of languages. This feems to have been the first mutation the language of Britain fuffered.

Thus the British tongue continued, for fome time, mixed with the provincial Latin, till, the Roman legions being called home, the Scots and Picts took the opportunity to attack and harafs England: upon which King Vortigern, about the year 440, called the Saxons to his affiftance; who came over with feveral of their neighbours, and having repulfed the Scots and Picts, were rewarded for their fervices with the ifle of Thanet, and the whole county of Kent; but growing too powerful, and not being content with their allotment, difpoffeffed the inhabitants of all the country on this fide of the Severn*: thus the British tongue was in a great # See Eng measure deftroyed, and the Saxon introduced in its land, N°13 ftead.

What the Saxon tongue was long before the conqueft, about the year 700, we may observe in the most ancient manufcript of that language, which is a glofs on the Evangelifts, by Bishop Edfrid, in which the three first articles of the Lord's prayer run thus:

"Uren fader thic arth in heofnas, fic gehalgud thin noma, fo cymeth thin ric. Sic thin willa fue is heofnas, and in eortho," &c.

In the beginning of the ninth century the Danes invaded England; and getting a footing in the northern and eaftern parts of the country, their power gradually increased, and they became fole mafters of it in about 200 years. By this means the ancient British obtained a tincture of the Danish language; but their government being of no long continuance, did not make fo great an alteration in the Anglo-Saxon as the next revolution, when the whole land, A. D. 1067, was sub-dued by William the Conqueror, duke of Normandy in France: for the Normans, as a monument of their conqueft, endeavoured to make their language as generally received as their commands, and thereby rendered the British language an entire medley.

About the year 900, the Lord's prayer, in the ancient Anglo-Saxon, ran thus:

"Thue ur fader the eart on heofenum, fi thin nama gehalgod; cume thin rice fithin will a on eorthan fwa, fwo on heofenum," &c.

About the year 1160, under Henry II. it was rendered thus by Pope Adrian, an Englishman, in rhyme : "Ure fader in heaven rich, "Thy name be halyed ever lich, "Thou bring us thy michel bleffe : "Als hit in heaven y doe,

"Evar in yearth been it also," &c.

Dr Hicks gives us an extraordinary specimen of the

R

English,

-42.

English English, as fpoken in the year 1385, upon the very fubject of the English tongue.

As it is knowe how meny maner peple beeth in this lond; ther beeth alfo fo many dyvers longages and tonges. Notheless Walfchemen and Scots that beeth nought medled with other nation, holdeth wel nyh hir firite longage and fpeche; but yif the Scottes, that were fometime confederate and woned with the Pictes, drawe fomewhat after hir speche; but the Flemynges, that woneth on the weft fide of Wales, haveth loft her ftrange fpeche, and fpeketh Sexonliche now. Alfo Englifhemen, they had from the begynnynge thre maner fpeche; northerne, foutherne, and middel fpeche in the middel of the lond, as they come of thre maner of peple of Germania: notheless by commyxtion and mellynge first with Danes, and afterwards with Normans, in meny the contrary longage is apayred (corrupted).

"This apayrynge of the burth of the tunge is bycaufe of tweie things; con is for children in fcole agenft the ufuage and maner of all other nations, beeth compelled for to leve hir own longage, and for to construe hir leffons and here things in Frenfche, and fo they haveth fethe Normans come first into Engelond. Also gentlemen children beeth taught to fpeke Frenfche from the tyme that they beeth roked in here cradel, and kunneth fpeke and play with a childe's broche; and uplondiffche men will lykne hymfelf to gentilmen, and fondeth with great befyneffe for to fpeak Frenfche to be told of.-Hit feemeth a great wonder how Englifchemen and hir own longage and tonge is fo dyverfe of fown in this oon iland; and the longage of Normandie is comlynge of another lond, and hath oon maner foun amonge alle men that fpeketh hit arigt in Engelond. Alfo of the forefaid Saxon tonge that is deled (divided) a three, and is abide fcarceliche with fewe uplondiffche men is greet wonder. For men of the est, with men of the weft, is, as it were, undir the fame partie of hevene accordeth more in fownynge of fpeche, than men of the north with men of the fouth. Therefore it is that Mercii, that beeth men of myddel Enge lond, as it were, parteners of the endes, understondeth bettre the fide longes northerne and foutherne, than northerne and foutherne understondeth either other. -All the longage of the Northumbers and fpechialliche at York, is fo fcharp, flitting, and frotynge, and unfchape, that we foutherne men may that longage unethe understonde," &c.

In the year 1537, the Lord's prayer was printed as follows: "O oure father which arte in heven, hallowed be thy name: let thy kingdome come, thy will be fulfilled as well in erth as it is in heven; geve us this daye in dayly bred," &c. Where it may be obferved, that the diction is brought almoft to the prefent standard, the chief variations being only in the orthography: By thefe inftances, and many others that might be given, it appears, that the English Saxon language, of which the Normans defpoiled us in a great measure, had its beauties, was fignificant and emphatical, and preferable to what they impofed on us. "Great, verily (fays Camden), was the glory of our tongue before the Norman conqueft, in this, that the old Englifh could exprefs, moft aptly, all the conceptions of the mind in their own tongue, without borrowing from any." Of this he gives feveral examples.

Having thus fhown how the ancient British language English was in a manner extirpated by the Romans, Danes, and Saxons, and fucceeded by the Saxon, and after Engraving. that the Saxon blended with the Norman French, we fhall now mention two other caufes of change in the language. The firft of thefe is owing to the Britons having been a long time a trading nation, whereby offices, dignities, names of wares, and terms of traffic, are introduced, which we take with the wares from the perfons of whom we have them, and form them anew, according to the genius of our own tongue; and befides this change in the language, arifing from commerce, Britain's having been a confiderable time fubject to the fee of Rome, in ecclefiaftical affairs, muft unavoidably have introduced fome Italian words among us. Secondly, As to the particular properties of a language, our tongue has undergone no fmall mutation, or rather has received no fmall improvement upon that account: for, as to the Greek and Latin, the learned have, together with the arts and feiences now rendered familiar among us, introduced abundance; nay, almost all the terms of art in the mathematics, philofophy, phyfic, and anatomy; and we have entertained many more from the Latin, French, &c. for the fake of neatnefs and elegancy: fo that, at this day, our language, which, about 1800 years ago, was the ancient British, or Welth, &c. is now a mixture of Saxon, Teutonic, Dutch, Danish, Norman, and modern French, embellished with the Greek and Latin. Yet this, in the opinion of fome, is fo far from being a disadvantage to the English tongue as now fpoken (for all languages have undergone changes, and do continually participate with each other), that it has fo enriched it, as now to render it the moft copious, fignificant, fluent, courteous, and mafculine language in Europe, if not in the world.

ENGRAFTING, in Gardening. See GRAFTING, GARDENING Index.

66

ENGRAILED, or INGRAILED, in Heraldry, a term derived from the French grefly, hail;" and fignifying a thing the hail has fallen upon and broke off the edges, leaving them ragged, or with half rounds, or femicircles, ftruck out of their edges.

ENGRAVING, the art of cutting metals and precious ftones, and reprefenting thereon figures, letters, or whatever device or defign the artist fancies.

Engraving, properly a branch of fculpture, is divided into feveral other branches, according to the matter whereon it is employed, and the manner of performing it. For the rudeft branch, that of

ENGRAVING on Wood, fee WOOD, Engraving on. ENGRAVING on Copper, the making, correfpondently. to fome delineated figure or defign, fuch concave lines on a fmooth furface of copper, either by cutting or corrofion, as render it capable, when charged properly. with any coloured fluid, of imparting by compreffion an exact representation of the figure or defign to paper or parchment.

Whether we confider the art of engraving, with regard to the utility and pleasure it affords, or the difficulty that attends its execution, we cannot but confefs, that on every account it deferves a distinguished rank among the polite arts +. It is by means of this art + See Pothat the cabinets of the curious are adorned with the lite ARTS, portraits of the greatest men of all ages and all na

N° 13.

The outline is firft etched, and afterwards a fort of wash Engraving. is laid by the aquafortis upon the plate, refembling drawings in Indian ink, bister, &c.

On wood, performed with a fingle block, on which the defign is traced with a pen, and those parts which fhould be white carefully hollowed out; and this block is afterwards printed by the letter-prefs printers, in the fame manner as they print a book.

On wood, performed with two, three, or more blocks, the firft having the outlines cut upon it; the fecond is referved for the darker fhadows; and the third for the fhadows which terminate upon the lights; and these are fubftituted in their turn, each print receiving an impreffion from every block. This mode of engraving is called chiaro-fcuro, and was defigned to reprefent the drawings of the old masters.

Engraving. tions; that their memories, their most remarkable and moft glorious actions, are tranfmitted to the lateft po. fterity. It is by this art alfo, that the paintings of the greatest masters are multiplied to a boundless number; and that the lovers of the polite arts, diffufed over the face of the whole earth, are enabled to enjoy thofe beauties from which their distant fituations feemed to have for ever debarred them; and perfons of moderate fortune are hereby enabled to become poffeffed of all the fpirit, and all the poetry, that are contained in thofe miracles of art, which feemed to have been referved for the temples of Italy, or the cabinets of princes. When we reflect, moreover, that the engraver, befide the beauties of poetic compofition, and the artful ordinance of defign, is to exprefs, merely by the means of light and fhade, all the various tints of colour and clair obfcure; to give a relief to each figure, and a truth to each object; that he is now to paint a sky ferene and bright, and then loaded with dark clouds; now the pure tranquil ftream, and then the foaming, raging fea; that here he is to exprefs the character of the man, ftrongly marked in his countenance, and there the minutest ornament of his dress; in a word, that he is to represent all, even the most difficult objects in nature; we cannot fufficiently admire the valt improvements in this art, and that degree of perfection to which it is at this day arrived. See the article PRINTS.

Engraving is an art, for the greatest part, of modern invention; having its rife no earlier than the middle of the 15th century. The ancients, it is true, practifed engraving on precious ftones and cryftals with very good fuccefs; and there are ftill many of their works remaining equal to any production of the later ages. But the art of engraving on plates and blocks of wood, to afford prints or impreffions, was not known till after the invention of painting in oil.

The different modes of engraving are the following: In ftrokes cut through a thin wax, laid upon the copper, with a point, and these ftrokes bitten or corroded into the copper with aquafortis. This is called etching.

In ftrokes with the graver alone, unaffisted by aquafortis. In this inftance, the defign is traced with a fharp tool, called a dry point, upon the plate; and the ftrokes are cut or ploughed upon the copper with an inftrument diftinguished by the name of a graver.

In ftrokes first etched and afterwards finished with the graver: by this expedient the two former methods are united.

In dots without ftrokes, which are executed with the point upon the wax or ground, bitten in with the aquafortis, and afterwards harmonized with the graver, by the means of which instrument small dots are made ; or with the graver alone, as in the flesh and finer parts, unaffifted with the point.

In dots first etched and afterwards harmonized with the dry point, performed by a little hammer, called opus mallei, or the work of the hammer, as practised by Lutma and others.

In mezzotinto, which is performed by a dark barb or ground being raised uniformly upon the plate with a toothed tool. The defign being traced upon the plate, the light parts are fcraped off by inftruments for that purpose, in proportion as the effect requires.

In aquatinta, a newly invented method of engraving.

On wood and on copper: in these the outline is engraved in a bold dark ftyle upon the copper; and two or more blocks of wood are fubftituted to produce the darker and lighter shadows, as before.

Of all thofe modes of engraving, the most ancient is that on wood; or, to speak more properly, the first impreffions on paper were taken from carved wooden blocks. From this invention it appears that we are indebted to the brief-malers or makers of playing-cards, who practifed the art in Germany about the beginning of the 15th century. From the fame fource may perhaps be traced the first idea of moveable types, which appeared not many years after: for thefe brief-malers did not entirely confine themselves to the printing and painting of cards, but produced alfo fubjects of a more devout nature; many of which, taken from holy writ, are ftill preserved in different libraries in Germany, with the explanatory text facing the figures; the whole engraved in wood. In this manner they even formed a fpecies of books; fuch as, Hiftoria fancti Johannis, ejufque Vifiones Apocalyptica; Hifloria Veteris et Novi Teftamenti, known by the name of the Poor Man's Bible. Thefe thort mementos were printed only on one fide; and two of them being pafted together, had the appearance of a fingle leaf. The earliest date on any of thefe wooden cuts is 1423. The fubject is St Chriftopher carrying the Infant Jefus over the Sea, preferved in a convent at Buxheim near Menningen. It is of a folio fize, illuminated in the fame manner as the playing cards; and at the bottom is this infcription, Chriftoferi faciem die quacunque tueris. Illa nempe die morte mala non morieris. Millefimo CCCC• XX° tertio.

Upon the invention of moveable types, that branch Strutt's of the brief-malers bufinefs, fo far as it regarded the Hift. of Enmaking of books, was gradually difcontinued; but the graving. art itself of engraving on wood continued in an improving ftate; and towards the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th century, it became customary for almost every one of the German engravers on copper to engrave on wood alfo. The works of Albert Durer in this ftyle of engraving are justly held in the higheft efteem. Italy, France, and Holland, have produced many capital artifls of this kind; but for boldness and spirit, we must fee the prints of Chriftopher Jegher, who worked under the direction of Rubens, and was without doubt affified by that great

mafter.

Engraving. guithed by the appellation of chiaro fcurs, feems alfo to be juftly claimed by the Germans, and firft practifed by Mair; one of whofe prints of this kind is dated 1499. Many excellent works in chiaro fcuro have been produced in France; and in Italy it was honoured with the performances of Titian and Parmegiano; but the attempts of Jackfon, Kirkall, and others in England, have not been equally fuccefsful. A fet of excellent prints in this way have lately been published by J. Skippe, Efq. a connoiffeur and dillettante.

Strutt's

In Germany, about the year 1450, prints from engraved copper first made their appearance. The earlieft date of a copperplate print is indeed only 1461; but however faulty this print may be with refpect to the drawing, or defective in point of tafte, the mechanical part of the execution of it has by no means the appearance of being one of the first productions of the graver. We have alfo feveral other engravings, eviHift. of En-dently the work of the fame mafter; in which the graving. impreffions are fo neatly taken from the plates, and the engravings fo clearly printed in every part, that according to all appearance they could not be executed in a much better manner in the prefent day, with all the conveniences which the copperplate printers now poffefs, and the additional knowledge they must neceffarily have acquired in the courfe of more than three centuries. Hence we may fairly conclude, that if they were not the firft fpecimens of the engraver's workmanthip, they were much lefs the firft efforts of the copperplate printer's ability. It is likewife to be obferved, that Martin Schoen, who is faid, with great appearance of truth, to have worked from 1460 to 1486, was apparently the fcholar of Stoltzhirs; for he followed his ftyle of engraving, and copied from him a fet of prints, reprefenting the paffion of our Saviour. Now, allowing Stoltzhirs to have preceded his disciple only ten years, this carries the era of the art back to 1450, as was faid above. There is no ground to fuppose that it was known to the Italians till at least ten years afterwards. The earlieft prints that are known to be theirs are a fet of the feven planets, and an almanack by way of frontispiece; on which are directions for finding Eafter from the year 1465 to 1517 inclufive and we may be well affured, that the engravings were not antedated, for the almanack of course became less and less valuable every year. In all probabi. lity, therefore, thefe prints muft have been executed in the year 1464, which is only four years later than the Italians themselves lay any claim to. The three earlieft Italian engravers are, Finiguerra, Boticelli, and Baldini. If we are to refer thefe prints to any of the three, we shall naturally conclude them to be the work of Finiguerra or Baldini; for they are not equal either in drawing or compofition to thofe afcribed to Boticelli, which we know at leaft were defigned by him; and as Baldini is expressly faid to have worked from the defigns of Boticelli, it will appear most probable that they belong to Finiguerra.

With respect to the invention of etching, it seems to be not well known to whom it is to be afcribed. One of the most early fpecimens is that print by Albert Durer, known by the name of the Canon, dated 1518, and thought by fome, with little foundation, to have been worked on a plate of iron. Another etching by

2

the fame artift is Mofes receiving the Tables of the Engraving. Law, dated 1524. Law, dated 1524. It was alfo practifed in Italy foon after this by Parmegiano, in whofe etchings we difcover the hand of the artist working out a fyftem as it were from his own imagination, and ftriving to produce the forms he wanted to exprefs. We fee the dif ficulty he laboured under; and cannot doubt, from the examination of the mechanical part of the execution of his works, that he had no inftruction; and that it was fomething entirely new to him. If the ftory is true, that he kept an engraver by profeffion in his houfe, the novelty of the art is rendered fo much the more probable. He died in 1540.

As to that fpecies of engraving in which the modes of etching and cutting with the graver are united, it muft have been found neceffary immediately upon the invention of etching; it was, however, firft carried to perfection by G. Audran, and is now almost univerfally practifed, whether the work is, in ftrokes or in dots.

Engraving in dots, the prefent fashionable method, is a very old invention, and the only mode difcovered by the Italians. Agoftina de Mufis, commonly called Auguftine of Venice, a pupil of Marc Antonio, used it in feveral of his earlieft works, but confined it to the flesh, as in the undated print of An Old Man feated upon a Bank, with a cottage in the back ground. He flourished from 1509 to 1536. We alfo find it in a print of " A fingle figure flanding, holding a cup and looking upwards," by Giulio Campagnola, who engraved about the year 1516. The back ground is executed with round dots, made apparently with a dry point. The figure is outlined with a ftroke deeply engraved, and finished with dots, in a manner greatly refembling thofe prints which Demarteau engraved at Paris in imitation of red chalk. The hair and beard are expreffed by strokes. Stephen de Laulne, a native of Germany, followed the fteps of Campagnola; and many of his flight works are executed in dots only. John Boulanger, a French artist, who flourished in the middle of the last century, and his cotemporary Nicholas Van Plattenberg, improved greatly on this method, and practifed it with much fuccefs. It is only, however, of late, that it has been confidered as an object worthy of general imitation. John Lutma executed this kind of work with a hammer and a fmall punch or chiffel.

The method of engraving in mezzotinto was invented about the middle of the 17th century; and the invention has generally been attributed to Prince Rupert, though it has also been afferted that he learnt the fecret from another. See MEZZOTINTO.

Or the method of engraving in aquatinta, a short and general account has already been given under that word. See AQUATINTA. But as fome farther information relating to this branch of the art of engraving has fallen in our way, we embrace this opportunity of laying it before our readers.

Engraving in aquatinta, was originally invented by Le Prince, a French artift. For a long time, his procefs was kept fecret; and his prints, it is faid, were at firft fold for drawings. As a proof that the art rofe at once to perfection, as has already been mentioned, the

prints.