earn, from Bosse's "Treatise," how the Dutch painter had managed to
produce his strange and startling effects and his mysterious tones, the
fantastic play of his lights and the silence of his shadows. Rembrandt's
etchings on the one hand, and Bosse's book on the other, were the causes
of my resolution to learn the art of engraving, and of my subsequent
entry into the studio of Calamatta and Mercuri.

As soon as I knew how to hold the burin and the point, these grave and
illustrious masters placed before me an allegorical figure engraved by
Edelinck, whose drapery was executed in waving and winding lines,
incomparable in their correctness and beauty. To break my hand to the
work, it was necessary to copy on my plate these solemnly classical and
majestically disposed lines. But while I cut into the copper with
restrained impatience, my attention was secretly turned towards
Rembrandt's celebrated portrait of Janus Lutma, a good impression of
which I owned, and which I thought of copying.

To make my _debut_ in this severe school--in which we were allowed to
admire only Marc Antonio, the Ghisis, the Audrans, and Nanteuil--with an
etching by Rembrandt, would have been a heresy of the worst sort. Hence
to be able to risk this infraction of discipline, I took very good care
to keep my project to myself. Secretly I bought ground, wax, and a
plate, and profited of the absence of my teachers to attempt, with
fevered hands, to make a fac-simile of the Lutma. I had followed the
instructions of Abraham Bosse with regard to the ground, and I proceeded
to bite in my plate with the assistance of a comrade, Charles
Noerdlinger, at present engraver to the king of Wurtemburg, at Stuttgart,
whom I had admitted as my accomplice in this delightful expedition.

You may well imagine, my dear Monsieur Lalanne, that I met with all
sorts of accidents, such as are likely to befall a novice, and all of
which you describe so carefully, while at the same time you indicate
fully and lucidly the remedies that may be applied. The ground cracked
in several places,--happily in the dark parts. My wax border had been
hastily constructed, and I did not know then, although Bosse says so,
that it is the rule to pass a heated key along the lower line of the
border, so as to melt the wax, and thus render all escape impossible.
Consequently the acid filtered through under the wax, and in trying to
arrest the flow, I burned my fingers. Furthermore, when it came t