who delivers his plate to
him, and is anxious to be instructed in all that relates to the taking
of impressions.

87. =Natural Printing.=--The printer now begins his explanations as
follows:--

I place the plate on the sheet-iron box (the plate-warmer); it there
acquires the necessary degree of heat, and I then spread the printing
ink over it by means of this ball; the ink penetrates into the lines,
and completely covers the whole surface of the plate; I remove the
excess of ink with a coarse muslin rag, precisely as this is done in all
other kinds of plate printing; I now clean the plate with the palm of my
hand, so that no ink is left on it anywhere but in the lines; I finally
wipe the margins of the plate evenly, so as to leave a delicate tint on
the etched part only, and then I put the plate into the press. The plate
is laid on the travelling-board or bed of the press, which runs between
two cylinders of iron or hard wood; on the plate I lay a piece of paper,
slightly moistened, and I cover the whole with several thicknesses of
flannel; I turn the wheel of the press, and the cylinders, turning on
themselves, carry along the travelling-board, which, in passing between
them, is subjected to great pressure. The paper is thus pressed into the
lines on the plate, and this process is facilitated by the elasticity of
the flannel. You see now that your plate has come out on the other side
of the rollers (or cylinders): we have given the press only one turn,
although, as a rule, the plate is passed through the press twice, by
making it travel back again under the rollers. This imparts strength to
the impression; but occasionally the lines are not rendered as
delicately and with as much precision, as with only one turn. I remove
the flannel, and very carefully lift the paper; it has absorbed the ink:
we have before us a _natural proof_, which shows the exact state of the
plate (see Pl. I.). Line-engravings are printed in the same manner; with
this difference, however, that the tint, more or less apparent, which is
preserved on an etching, is not allowed to remain on a plate engraved
with the burin.

88. =Artificial Printing.=--The printing of etchings very frequently
differs from the simple method just described. It must be varied
according to the style of execution adopted by the etcher; and, as much
of the harmony of the plate may depend upon it, it sometimes rises to
the dignity of an art, in which the artist and the