“Engraving in dots without strokes, is 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. It is also frequently effected with the graver only, without the assistance of the point, particularly in the flesh and finer parts. This mode of engraving has also been practised in England with the most distinguished success.

"Engraving in dots, called opus mallei. This mode is supposed to have been first practised by Janus Lutma. The design is first etched, and is afterwards barmonized with the dry point, performed with a small hammer, from which it takes its name,

"Aquatinta. In this lately invented style of engraving, the outline is first etched, and afterwards a sort of wash is laid on, by means of the aquafortis, which is particularly prepared for that purpose. By this mode of engraving, drawing in Indian ink, bister, and other washes, are very successfully imitated.

"On wood, performed by a single block. The design is traced on the wood with a pen, and those parts which should be white are carefully hollowed out. The block is aftewards printed by the letter-press printers. It is satisfactorily proved, that this, the earliest mode of engraving, led to the invention of printing.

"On wood in different blocks. This particular style is called chiar-oscuro, and was designed to imitate the drawings of the old masters. It is performed with two, three, or more blocks, the first having the outline cut upon it, the second is reserved for the darker shadows; and the third for the shadows which terminate upon the lights: these are substituted in their turn, each print receiving an impression from each block.

"On wood and on copper. In this mode, the outline is engraved in a bold, dark style, on the copper; and two or more blocks of wood are used to produce the darker and lighter shadows as above mentioned."

In so copious a list of names, it would be easy to select numbers who were of considerable eminence; but we shall take a very few which mere chance led us first to examine.

"Francis Le Piper. He was the son of a Kentish gentleman of Flemish extraction, and was born about the year 1640. His father, who was in possession of a considerable estate, gave him a liberal education, intending him for

2

a merchant, but his inclination leading him entirely to drawing, he rambled over great part of Europe to study painting. He was of a gay and facetious turn of mind, and the subjects he treated were usually humorous and comical, and were chiefly painted in black and white. Most of his performances were produced over a bottle; and the theatre of his exertions was the Mitre Tavern, at Stocks Market, or the Bell, in Westminster, which were adorned by the productions of this jovial artist. He drew landscapes, which he etched on silver plates for the tobacco-boxes of his friends. Towards the latter part of his life his circumstances were sufficiently reduced to make it necessary for him to think of turning his talents to some account. Becket employed him to design his mezzotintos, and he drew several of the heads of the Grand Signiors, for Sir Paul Rycaut's History of the Turks. On the death of his mother, his fortune being re-established, he launched again into a course of pleasure, contracted a fever, and being bled by an ignorant surgeon, who pricked an artery, he died in 1698, aged about 58.

"Benjamin Wilson.

This artist was a native of Leeds, in Yorkshire. Having shown some talent for drawing, he was sent to London when young, and was recommended to Dr. Berdmore, Master of the Charter-house, who took him under his protection. It is uncertain whether he was regularly educated in the Art, but by his natural disposition, and assiduous application, he became a very reputable painter of portraits. He was among the first of the portrait-painters of his time, who endeavoured to introduce a better style of relief, and of the chiar oscuro, into his pictures, and his heads are coloured with more warmth and nature than those of the generality of his contemporaries. About the year 1773 he was appointed Master Painter to the Board of Ordnance, which he retained till a few years before his death. He died at his house in Great Russell-street, in 1788. We have several etchings by this Artist, among which are the following:

"An Old Man's Head, with a hat and feather, and a ruff; in imitation of Rembrandt.-A small landscape lengthways; in imitation of the same master. -His own Portrait, in a wig, with very little drapery.-A coarse etching, entitled The Repeal. It was published upon the repeal of the American Stamp Act, and contains the portraits of the leading men of the ministerial party.

"William Woollett. This eminent English engraver was born at Maid

stone,

mate connexion, which continued, without the least interruption, more than 59 years. While batchelors we daily sought each other out. While passing through the married state, which continued in each about 40 years, the same friendly intercourse continued; and while widowers the affection suffered no abatement, the secrets of one were the secrets of both. His life was a continued series of vivacity, good humour, and rectitude. I have reason to believe he never did a bad act knowingly, or uttered a bad word. A man may have many friends, but seldom has, at the same time, more than one bosom friend; the cabinet is generally fitted for one jewel only. In taking a retrospective view of a protracted life, I find six of these cabinet counsellors, from whom

nothing was hidden; five were separated

by removal of place, and one by death.

"1811. At the age of 82 I considered myself a young man; I could, without much fatigue, walk 40 miles a day, but, during the last six years, I have felt a sensible decay; and, like a stone rolling down the hill, its velocity in creases with the progress: the strings of the instrument are, one after another, giving way, never to be brought into tune. My father died of the gravel and stone at the age of 67; his brother of the same disorder at 51. I first perceived the gravel at 27, but it was for many years of little consequence, In 1804 I went to Worcester to the sale of an estate, which, being ended, I spent the evening with five or six gentlemen, all strangers to me. The conversation turning upon the above complaint, I remarked that, during the last 20 or 30 years I had been afflicted with the gravel, and had had three or four fits every year, which continued, with excruciating pain, from one to four or five days. I will,' said one of the gentlemen, tell you a certain cure. Abstain from spirits, wine, and malt liquor; drink cyder, perry, or milk: and, although it will not totally eradicate the gravel, you will never have another fit. I replied that I never drank spirituous liquors, and seldom wine, but daily used the produce of malt; that though I had four cyder farms Í could not conveniently be accommodated with cyder or perry, but was fond of milk.-Though I had but little expectation from this tavern prescription, I have followed it during the last seven years, in which time I have not drank a quart of malt liquor, or had a fit of the gravel. The only evil attending this change of beverage is, that when I call for milk upon a journey, it is apt to co

ver my landlady's face with a cloud; but her countenance brightens up when I pay the price of wine.

"November 17 I walked 12 miles with ease.

"1812. In 1742 I attended divine service at Castle Gate Meeting, in Nottingham. The minister, in elucidating his subject, made this impressive remark that it was very probable in 60 years every one of that crowded assembly would have descended into the grave. Seventy years have elapsed, and there is more reason to conclude that I am the only person left. This day, Oc tober 11, is my birth-day; I enter upon my 90th year, and have walked 10 miles."

Here the kind-hearted Veteran's Diary is ended; and his beloved daughter takes up the pen.

"Mine," says Miss Hutton, "is the melancholy task of laying the capstone on the building.' I undertake it with tears to the memory of my father and friend.-Minute as the foregoing narrative is, I hope a few additional particulars of its author and subject will not be unacceptable. These may be the more readily pardoned, as I look upon my father's history to be the most complete picture of human life, from its springing into existence, to its wearing out, by the natural exhaustion of the vi tal principles, that ever was drawn by man; and the few touches that are added will be chiefly such as mark the progress of decay, and put the finishing stroke to the whole. In the year 1791 my father carefully inspected the remains of the City of Verulam, and had begun a history of that place, which was undertaken with the same ardour and spirit of research as his History of the Roman Wall. This he intended for his friend Mr. Nichols; but his remarks were destroyed at the riots, and he could never resume the subject.-In 1796, after we had lost my beloved mother, my father's affection and mine being less divided, centered more upon each other. On our journey to Barmouth it was so evident, that we were sometimes taken for lovers, and sometimes for husband and wife. One person went so far as to say to my father, You may say what you will, but I am sure that lady is your wife.' At Matlock, at the age of 79, my father was a prodigy. He was the first acquaintance and guide of new comers, and the oracle of such as were established in the house. Easy and gay, he had an arm for one, a hand for another, and a smile for all. When he was silent he was greatly admired for his placid and benign countenance. At

table

with a c htens up

ttended fr eeting, isk

in elust

impressive

probate

that ended its e elapsed onclude th

that the giving up an argument was meritorious, and that having the last word was a fault.-My father's love of peace made him generally silent on those inexhaustible subjects of dispute and animosity, religion and politics. His sufferings at the riots drew his sentiments from him, and he gave them without reserve they will be found too liberal for the present day. Public opinion, like the pendulum of a clock, cannot rest in the centre. From the time, of the riots it has been verging towards bigotry and slavery. Having reached its limits, it will verge towards the opposite extremes, infidelity and anarchy. Truth is the centre; and, perhaps, my father's opinions may not have been wide of the mark."

П.

I enter ked 10

d Vel

his be

ton, "

.

he foreground."

and sate

These

d, as

be the ma

fe, from

It's w

on of the

draw:

at are

the

4

In like manner the affectionate daughter fills up a few of the outlines in her father's life, and brings us to the bed of sickness, which terminated his earthly existence, Sept. 20, 1814. In conclusion she says,

"My father recollected with gratitude to Providence the success that had crowned the exertions of his youth.

I

How thankful ought to be,' he would say, for the comforts that surround me. Where should I have been now if I had continued a stockinger? I must have been in the workhouse. They all go there when they cannot see to work. I have all I can wish for: I think of these things every day.' My father seldom spoke of his death; but I have reason to believe he constantly watched its approach, and was sensible of every advance he made towards it. Some expressions I have mentioned tend to prove this; and while I was at Malvern he said to bis attendant, shall not be long for this world.'My father bas delineated his own character in the history he has written of his life. Little more remains to be said, and I hope that little will not be too much. I think the predominant feature in my father's character was the love of peace. No quarrel ever happened within the sphere of his influence, in which he did not act the part of a mediator, and endeavour to conciliate both sides; and, I believe, no quarrel ever happened where he was concerned in which he did not relinquish a part of his right. The first lessons he taught his children were, GENT. MAG, March, 1917.

"The History of the Family of Hutton, from 1570 to 1798," forms an Appendix; and in the body of the work is incorporated a particular "Narrative of the Riots in Birmingham, July 14, 1791, particularly as they affected the Author."

38. The Crisis; or, a Letter to the Right Hon. the Chancellor of the Exchequer, stating the true Cause of the present alarming State of the Country; with a Remedy, at once safe, easy, and efficacious. The whole deduced from unerring Principles. 8vo. pp. 86. Hatchard.

WE enterely agree with this Writer's assertion, that

"In this Country every man must know, if he possesses only a tolerable share of common understanding; and, if he possesses common honesty, he will likewise be ready to acknowledge, that (under Divine Providence) a very large portion of those blessings we have hitherto enjoyed, are chiefly to be ascribed to the sound wisdom and strict integrity which uniformly characterize the deliberations of his Majesty's Ministers."

The causes of the present general distress, and the remedy the Writer proposes, he shall himself unfold.

"The whole of our present evils arise from the sudden check given to productive industry, in the first step of our ascending scale to political or artificial power; namely, to Agriculture. The farmer being in the first instance affected, by reason of his rent and outgoings being subject to a fixed standard of nominal value, under the operation of a lease; whereas, all the products of

his