plain and lucid a manner as
in M. Lalanne's admirable "_Traite de la Gravure a l'Eau-forte_." In the
laudable endeavor to be complete, most of the similar books now extant
err in loading down the subject with a complicated mass of detail which
is more apt to frighten the beginner than to aid him. M. Lalanne's
_Treatise_, on the contrary, is as simple as a good work of art.

It may, however, be incumbent upon me to offer a few words of excuse
concerning my own connection with the bringing out of this translation;
for, at first sight, it will, no doubt, appear the height of
presumption, especially on the part of one who is not himself a
practising artist, to add an introductory chapter and notes to the work
of a consummate master on his favorite art. But what I have done has
not, in any way, been dictated by the spirit of presumption. The reasons
which induced me to make the additions may be stated as follows.

It is a most difficult feat for one who has thoroughly mastered an
accomplishment, and has practised it successfully for a lifetime, to
lower himself to the level of those who are absolutely uninformed. A
master is apt to forget that he himself had to learn certain things
which, to him, seem to be self-evident, and he therefore takes it for
granted that they _are_ self-evident. A practised etcher thinks nothing
of handling his acid, grounding and smoking his plate, and all the other
little tricks of the craft which, to a beginner, are quite worrying and
exciting. It seemed to me best, therefore, to acquaint the student with
these purely technical difficulties, without complicating his first
attempts by artistic considerations, and hence the origin of the
"Introductory Chapter." Very naturally I was compelled, in this chapter,
to go over much of the ground covered by the _Treatise_ itself. But the
diligent student, who remembers that "Repetition is the mother of
learning," will not look upon the time thus occupied as wasted.

The notes are, perhaps, still more easily explained. M. Lalanne very
rarely stops to inform his reader how the various requisites may be
made. Writing, as he did, at and for Paris, there was, indeed, no reason
for thus encumbering his book; for in Paris the Veuve Cadart is always
ready to supply all the wants of the etcher. For a London reader, Mr.
Charles Roberson, of 99 Long Acre, whom Mr. Hamerton has so well--and
very properly--advertised, is ready to perform the same kind office. But
fo