nd woodcutting were out of place in this
field. They were, like his tonal exactitude that made holes in the wall,
a distraction and an offense against interior decoration.

Jackson's business, therefore, did not prosper. In a last effort to stir
up public interest he published, in 1754, his well-known little book,
_An Essay on the Invention of Engraving and Printing in Chiaro Oscuro_,
illustrated with eight prints in "proper colours." It sold for two
shillings and sixpence. The style was rather florid but his arguments
were presented with such vigor that it is easy to see why critics have
found it difficult to refrain from quoting at length. The main body of
text is only eight pages long, with an additional eight pages of
subsidiary descriptive material attached to the pictures.

On the title page appeared his favorite passage from Pascal, used
previously on the title page of the _Enquiry_: "Ceux qui sont capables
d'inventer sont rares: ceux qui n'inventent point sont en plus grand
nombre, et par consequent les plus forts." The first few pages of the
_Essay_ enlarge on this theme:

It has been too generally the Fate of those who set themselves to
the Inventing any Thing that requires Talents in the Discovery, to
apply all their Faculties, exhaust their Fortune, and waste their
whole Time in bringing that to Perfection, which when obtained, Age,
Death, or Want of sufficient Supplies, obliges them to relinquish,
and to yield all the Advantages which their Hopes had flattered them
with, and which had supported their Spirits during their Fatigues
and Difficulties, to others; and thus leave behind them an
impoverish'd Family incapable to carry on their Parent's Design, and
too often complaining of the projecting Genius of that Father who
has ruin'd them, tho' he has enriched the Nation to which he
belonged, and to which of Consequence he was a laudable Benefactor.

He proceeds in this bitter vein for a time, then brings into the open
the main purpose of the book:

Another Reason perhaps is, that the Artist being totally engaged in
the Pursuit of his Discovery, has but little Time to apply to the
Lovers and Encouragers of Art for their Patronage, Protection, and
Supplies necessary for the carrying on such a Design, or he has not
Powers to set the Advantage which would result from it in a true
Light; nor communicate in Words what he clearly conceived in Idea:
for certainly there are M