expressing transparency or opacity by greater or less
openness of line, (for the same depth of tint is producible by lines
with very different intervals.)

Texture of surface is only in a measure in the power of the steel,
and ought not to be laboriously sought after; nature's surfaces are
distinguished more by form than texture; a stone is often smoother
than a leaf; but if texture is to be given, let the engraver at
least be sure that he knows what the texture of the object actually
is, and how to represent it. The leaves in the foreground of the
engraved Mercury and Argus have all of them three or four black
lines across them. What sort of leaf texture is supposed to be
represented by these? The stones in the foreground of Turner's
Llanthony received from the artist the powdery texture of sandstone;
the engraver covered them with contorted lines and turned them into
old timber.

A still more fatal cause of failure is the practice of making out or
finishing what the artist left incomplete. In the England plate of
Dudley, there are two offensive blank windows in the large building
with the chimney on the left. These _are_ engraver's improvements;
in the original they are barely traceable, their lines being
excessively faint and tremulous as with the movement of heated air
between them and the spectator: their vulgarity is thus taken away,
and the whole building left in one grand unbroken mass. It is almost
impossible to break engravers of this unfortunate habit. I have even
heard of their taking journeys of some distance in order to obtain
knowledge of the details which the artist intentionally omitted; and
the evil will necessarily continue until they receive something like
legitimate artistical education. In one or two instances, however,
especially in small plates, they have shown great feeling; the
plates of Miller (especially those of the Turner illustrations to
Scott) are in most instances perfect and beautiful interpretations
of the originals; so those of Goodall in Rogers's works, and
Cousens's in the Rivers of France; those of the Yorkshire series are
also very valuable, though singularly inferior to the drawings. But
none even of these men appear capable of producing a large plate.
They have no knowledge of the means of rendering their lines vital
or valuable; cross