the art of cutting metals and precious stones, and representing thereon figures, letters, or whatever device or design the artist fancies.

Engraving, properly a branch of sculpture, is divided into several other branches, according to the matter whereon it is employed, and the manner of performing it. For the rudest branch, that of

**ENGRAVING on Wood**. See **Cutting in Wood**.

**ENGRAVING on Copper**, the making, correspondently to some delineated figure or design, such concave lines on a smooth surface of copper, either by cutting or corrosion, as render it capable, when charged properly with any coloured fluid, of imparting by compression... Engraving, an exact representation of the figure or design to paper or parchment.

Whether we consider the art of engraving, with regard to the utility and pleasure it affords, or the difficulty that attends its execution, we cannot but confess, that on every account it deserves a distinguished rank among the polite arts. It is by means of this art that the cabinets of the curious are adorned with the portraits of the greatest men of all ages and all nations; that their memories, their most remarkable and most glorious actions, are transmitted to the latest posterity. It is by this art also, that the paintings of the greatest masters are multiplied to a boundless number; and that the lovers of the polite arts, diffused over the face of the whole earth, are enabled to enjoy those beauties from which their distant situations seemed to have forever debarred them; and persons of moderate fortune are hereby enabled to become possessed of all the spirit, and all the poetry, that are contained in those miracles of art, which seemed to have been reserved for the temples of Italy, or the cabinets of princes. When we reflect, moreover, that the engraver, beside the beauties of poetic composition, and the artful ordinance of design, is to express, merely by the means of light and shade, all the various tints of colours and clair obscuré; to give a relief to each figure, and a truth to each object; that he is now to paint a sky serene and bright, and then loaded with dark clouds; now the pure tranquil stream, and then the foaming, raging sea; that here he is to express the character of the man, strongly marked in his countenance, and there the minutest ornament of his dress; in a word, that he is to represent all even the most difficult objects in nature; we cannot sufficiently admire the vast improvements in this art, and that degree of perfection to which it is at this day arrived. See the article Prints.

Engraving is an art, for the greatest part, of modern invention; having its rise no earlier than the middle of the 15th century. The ancients, it is true, practised engraving on precious stones and crystals with very good success; and there are still many of their works remaining equal to any production of the later ages. But the art of engraving on plates and blocks of wood, to afford prints or impressions, was not known till after the invention of painting in oil.

The different modes of engraving are the following:

In strokes cut through a thin wax, laid upon the copper, with a point, and these strokes bitten or corroded into the copper with aquafortis. This is called etching.

In strokes with the graver alone, unassisted by aquafortis. In this instance, the design is traced with a sharp tool, called a dry point, upon the plate; and the strokes are cut or ploughed upon the copper with an instrument distinguished by the name of a graver.

In strokes first etched and afterwards finished with the graver: by this expedient the two former methods are united.

In dots without strokes, which are executed with the point upon the wax or ground, bitten in with the aquafortis, and afterwards harmonized with the graver, by the means of which instrument small dots are made; or with the graver alone, as in the flesh and finer parts, unassisted with the point.

In dots first etched and afterwards harmonized with the dry point, performed by a little hammer called Engraving opus mallei, or the work of the hammer, as practised by Lutma and others.

In mezzotinto, which is performed by a dark barb or ground being raised uniformly upon the plate with a toothed tool. The design being traced upon the plate, the light parts are scraped off by instruments for that purpose, in proportion as the effect requires.

In aquatinta, a newly invented method of engraving. The outline is first etched, and afterwards a fort of wash is laid by the aquafortis upon the plate, resembling drawings in Indian ink, bister, &c.

On wood, performed with a single block, on which the design is traced with a pen, and those parts which should be white carefully hollowed out; and this block is afterwards printed by the letter-press printers, in the same manner as they print a book.

On wood, performed with two, three, or more blocks; the first having the outlines cut upon it; the second is reserved for the darker shadows; and the third for the shadows which terminate upon the lights; and these are substituted in their turn, each print receiving an impression from every block. This mode of engraving is called chiaro-fuero, and was designed to represent the drawings of the old masters.

On wood and on copper: in these the outline is engraved in a bold dark style upon the copper; and two or more blocks of wood are substituted to produce the darker and lighter shadows, as before.

Of all these modes of engraving, the most ancient is that on wood; or, to speak more properly, the first impressions on paper were taken from carved wooden blocks. For this invention it appears that we are indebted to the brief-malers or makers of playing-cards, who practised the art in Germany about the beginning of the 15th century. From the same source may perhaps be traced the first idea of moveable types, which appeared not many years after; for these brief-malers did not entirely confine themselves to the printing and painting of cards, but produced also subjects of a more devout nature; many of which, taken from holy writ, are still preserved in different libraries in Germany, with the explanatory text facing the figures; the whole engraved in wood. In this manner they even formed a species of books; such as, História sancti Johannis, ejusque Vifiones Apocalypficæ; História Veteris & Novi Testamenti, known by the name of the Poor Man's Bible. These short mementos were printed only on one side; and two of them being pasted together, had the appearance of a single leaf. The earliest date on any of these wooden cuts is 1423. The subject is St Christopher carrying the Infant Jesus over the Sea, preserved in a convent at Buxheim near Memmingen. It is of a folio size, illuminated in the same manner as the playing cards; and at the bottom is this inscription, Cristofori faciem die quacunque tueris. Illa nempe die morte mala non moreris. Millefimo CCCCXV tertio.

Upon the invention of moveable types, that branch of the brief-malers' business, so far as it regarded the Hill, of En-making of books, was gradually discontinued; but the engraving art itself of engraving on wood continued in an improving state; and towards the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th century, it became customary for almost every one of the German engravers on copper. Engraving copper to engrave on wood also. The works of Albert Durer in this style of engraving are justly held in the highest esteem. Italy, France, and Holland, have produced many capital artists of this kind; but for boldness and spirit, we must see the prints of Christopher Jegher, who worked under the direction of Rubens, and was without doubt assisted by that great master.

The invention of that species of engraving distinguished by the appellation of chiaro-scuro, seems also to be justly claimed by the Germans, and first practised by Mair; one of whose prints of this kind is dated 1499. Many excellent works in chiaro-scuro have been produced in France; and in Italy it was honoured with the performances of Titian and Parmegiano; but the attempts of Jackson, Kirkall, and others in England, have not been equally successful. A set of excellent prints in this way have lately been published by J. Skippe, Esq.; a connoisseur and dilettante.

In Germany, about the year 1450, prints from engraved copper first made their appearance. The earliest date of a copperplate print is indeed only 1461; but however faulty this print may be with respect to the drawing, or defective in point of taste, the mechanical part of the execution of it has by no means the appearance of being one of the first productions of the graver. We have also several other engravings, evidently the work of the same master; in which the impressions are so neatly taken from the plates, and the engravings so clearly printed in every part, that, according to all appearance, they could not be executed in a much better manner in the present day, with all the conveniences which the copperplate printers now possess, and the additional knowledge they must necessarily have acquired in the course of more than three centuries. Hence we may fairly conclude, that if they were not the first specimens of the engravers' workmanship, they were much less the first efforts of the copperplate printer's ability. It is likewise to be observed, that Martin Schoen, who is said, with great appearance of truth, to have worked from 1460 to 1486, was apparently the scholar of Stoltzhius; for he followed his style of engraving, and copied from him a set of prints, representing the passion of our Saviour. Now, allowing Stoltzhius to have preceded his disciple only ten years, this carries the era of the art back to 1450, as was said above. There is no ground to suppose that it was known to the Italians till at least ten years afterwards. The earliest prints that are known to be theirs are a set of the seven planets, and an almanack by way of frontispiece; on which are directions for finding Easter from the year 1465 to 1517 inclusive: and we may be well assured, that the engravings were not antedated, for the almanack of course became less and less valuable every year. In all probability, therefore, these prints must have been executed in the year 1464, which is only four years later than the Italians themselves lay any claim to. The three earliest Italian engravers are, Finiguerra, Boticelli, and Baldini. If we are to refer these prints to any of the three, we shall naturally conclude them to be the work of Finiguerra or Baldini; for they are not equal either in drawing or composition to those ascribed to Boticelli, which we know at least were designed by him; and as Baldini is expressly said to have worked from the designs of Boticelli, it will appear most probable that they belong to Finiguerra.

With respect to the invention of etching, it seems to be not well known to whom it is to be ascribed. One of the most early specimens is that print by Albert Durer, known by the name of the Cannon, dated 1518, and thought by some, with little foundation, to have been worked on a plate of iron. Another etching by the same artist is Moses receiving the Tables of the Law, dated 1524. It was also practised in Italy soon after this by Parmigianino, in whose etchings we discover the hand of the artist working out a system as it were from his own imagination, and striving to produce the forms he wanted to express. We see the difficulty he laboured under; and cannot doubt, from the examination of the mechanical part of the execution of his works, that he had no instruction; and that it was something entirely new to him. If the story is true, that he kept an engraver by profession in his house, the novelty of the art is rendered so much the more probable. He died in 1540.

As to that species of engraving in which the modes of etching and cutting with the graver are united, it must have been found necessary immediately upon the invention of etching; it was, however, first carried to perfection by G. Audran, and is now almost universally practised, whether the work is in strokes or in dots.

Engraving in dots, the present fashionable method, is a very old invention, and the only mode discovered by the Italians. Agostino de Musis, commonly called Auguflino of Venice, a pupil of Marc Antonio, used it in several of his earliest works, but confined it to the flesh, as in the undated print of An Old Man seated upon a Bank, with a Cottage in the background. He flourished from 1509 to 1536. We also find it in a print of "A Single Figure standing, holding a Cup and looking upwards," by Giulio Campagnola, who engraved about the year 1516. The background is executed with round dots, made apparently with a dry point. The figure is outlined with a stroke deeply engraved, and finished with dots, in a manner greatly resembling those prints which Demarteau engraved at Paris in imitation of red chalk. The hair and beard are expressed by strokes. Stephen de Launie, a native of Germany, followed the steps of Campagnola; and many of his flight works are executed in dots only. John Boulanger, a French artist, who flourished in the middle of the last century, and his contemporary Nicholas Van Plattenberg, improved greatly on this method, and practised it with much success. It is only, however, of late, that it has been considered as an object worthy of general imitation. John Lutana executed this kind of work with a hammer and a small punch or chisel.

The method of engraving in mezzotinto was invented about the middle of the 17th century; and the invention has generally been attributed to Prince Rupert, though it has also been asserted that he learnt the secret from another. See Mezzotinto.

Engraving in aquatinta is quite a recent invention, and seems at once to have been carried to perfection by Sandby and other living artists. See Aquatinta. Engraving. Engraving with the tool was the kind originally practised, and it is yet retained for many purposes. For though the manoeuvre of etching be more easy, and other advantages attend it; yet where great regularity and exactness of the stroke or lines are required, the working with the graver is much more effectual: on which account it is more suitable to the precision necessary in the execution of portraits; as there everything the most minute must be made out and expressed, according to the original subject, without any licence to the fancy of the designer in deviating from it, or varying the effect either by that matterly negligence and simplicity in some parts, or those bold failings of the imagination and hand in others, which give spirit and force to history-painting.

The principal instruments used in engraving with the tool are, gravers, scrapers, a burnisher, an oilstone, and a cushion for bearing the plates.

Gravers are made in several forms with respect to the points, some being square, others lozenge; the square graver for cutting broad and deep, and the lozenge for more delicate and fine strokes and hatchings. La Boffe recommends, as the most generally useful, such as are of a form betwixt the square and lozenge; and he advises, that they should be of a good length; small towards the point, but stronger upwards, that they may have strength enough to bear any stress there may be occasion to lay upon them: for if they be too small and mounted high, they will bend; which frequently causes their breaking, especially if they be not employed for very small subjects.

The burnisher is used to assist in the engraving on some occasions, as well as to polish the plates. It is seven inches in length, and made of fine steel well polished. The burnisher is formed at one end, and a scraper on the other, each about an inch and a half long from the point: betwixt them, about four inches of the instrument is made round, and serves as a handle; and is thicker in the middle than at the necks, where the burnisher and scraper begin, which necks are only one quarter of an inch in diameter. The principal application of it in engraving, besides its use in polishing the plates, is to take out any scratches or accidental defacings that may happen to the plates during the engraving; or to lessen the effect of any parts that may be too strongly marked in the work, and require to be taken down.

A cushion, as it is called, is likewise generally used for supporting the plate in such a manner, that it may be turned every way with ease. It is a bag of leather filled with sand, which should be of the size that will best fit the plates it is intended to bear. They are round, and about nine inches over, and three inches in thickness.

The cushion, made as above directed, being laid on the table, the plate must be put upon it; and the graver being held in the hand in a proper manner, the point must be applied to the plate, and moved in the proper direction for producing the figures of the lines intended; observing, in forming straight lines, to hold the plate steady on the cushion; and where they are to be finer, to press more lightly, using greater force where they are to be broader and deeper. In making circular or other curve lines, hold your hand and graver steadily; and as you work, turn your plate upon the cushion against your graver, otherwise it will be impossible for you to make any circular or curved line with that neatness and command of hand you by this means may. After part of the work is engraved, it is necessary to scrape it with the scraper or graver, passed in the most level direction over the plate to take off the roughness formed by the cutting of the graver; but great care must be taken not to incline the edge of the scraper or tool used, in such a manner that it may take the least hold of the copper, as it would otherwise produce false strokes or scratches in the engraving: and that the engraved work may be rendered more visible, it may afterwards be rubbed over with a roll of felt dipped in oil. In using the graver, it is necessary to carry it as level as possible with the surface of the plate; for otherwise, if the fingers slip betwixt them, the line that will be produced, whether curve or straight, will become deeper and deeper in the progress of its formation; which entirely prevents strokes being made at one cut, that will be fine at their extremities, and larger in the middle; and occasions the necessity of retouching to bring them to that state. For this reason, it is very necessary for those who would learn to engrave in perfection, to endeavour, by frequent trials, to acquire the habit of making such strokes both straight and curving, by lightening or linking the graver with the hand, according to the occasion. If, after finishing the design, any scratches appear, or any part of the engraving be falsely executed, such scratches, or faulty parts, must be taken out by the burnisher, and further polished, if necessary, by the above mentioned roll.

The plate being thus engraved, it is proper to round off the edges, by using first a rough file, and afterwards a smoother; and to blunt the corners a little by the same means: after which, the burnisher should be passed over the edges to give it a farther polish.

The dry point, or needle, which has been of late much used in engraving, is a tool like an etching point, which being drawn hard on the copper, cuts a stroke, and raises a burr; the burr is scraped off, and there remains a stroke more soft and delicate than can be produced in any other way.

In the conduct of the graver and dry point consists all the art; for which there are no rules to be given; all depending on the habitude, disposition, and genius, of the artist. However, besides the explanations already given, some general observations and directions may not be improper. As the principles of engraving are the same with those of painting, a person cannot expect to attain any considerable degree of perfection in this art who is not a good master of design; and therefore he ought to be well acquainted both with perspective and architecture: for the former, by the proper gradations of strong and faint colours, will enable him to throw backwards the figures and other objects of the picture or design which he proposes to imitate; and the latter will teach him to preserve the due proportion of its several orders, which the painter often entrusts to the discretion of the engraver. In order to preserve equality and union in his works, the engraver should always sketch out the principal objects of his piece before he undertakes to finish them. In working, the strokes of the graver should never be crossed too much in a lozenge manner, particularly in In engraving the representation of flesh, because sharp angles produce the unpleasing effect of lattice-work, and take from the eye the repose which is agreeable to it in all kinds of picturesque designs; we should except the case of clouds, tempests, waves of the sea, the skins of hairy animals, or the leaves of trees, where this method of crossing may be admitted. But in avoiding the lozenge, it is not proper to get entirely into the square, which would give too much of the hardness of stone.

In conducting the strokes, the action of the figures, and of all their parts, should be considered; and it should be observed how they advance towards, or recede from the eye; and the graver should be guided according to the risings or cavities of the muscles or folds, making the strokes wider and fainter in the light, and closer and firmer in the shades. Thus the figures will not appear jagged; and the hand should be lightened in such a manner, that the outlines may be formed and terminated without being cut too hard; however, though the strokes break off where the muscle begins, yet they ought always to have a certain connection with each other, so that the first stroke may often serve by its return to make the second, which will show the freedom of the engraver.

In engraving the flesh, the effect may be produced in the lighter parts and middle tints by long pecks of the graver, rather than by light lines; or by round dots; or by dots a little lengthened by the graver; or, best of all, by a judicious mixture of these together.

In engraving the hair and the beard, the engraver should begin his work by laying the principal grounds, and sketching the chief shades in a careless manner, or with a few strokes; and he may finish it at leisure with finer and thinner strokes to the extremities. When architecture or sculpture is to be represented, except it be old and ruinous buildings, the work ought not to be made very black; because, as edifices are commonly constructed either of stone or white marble, the colour, being reflected on all sides, does not produce dark or brown shades as in other substances. White points must not be put in the pupils of the eyes of figures, as in engravings after paintings; nor must the hair or beard be represented as in nature, which makes the locks appear flowing in the air; because in sculpture there can be no such appearances.

In engraving cloths of different kinds, linen should be done with finer and closer lines than other sorts, and be executed with single strokes. Woollen cloth should be engraved wide, in proportion to the coarseness or fineness of the stuff, and with only two strokes; and when the strokes are crossed, the second should be smaller than the first, and the third than the second. Shining stuffs, which are generally of silk or satin, and which produce flat and broken folds, should be engraved more hard and more straight than others, with one or two strokes, as their colours are bright or brown; and between the first strokes other smaller must be joined, which is called interlining. Velvet and plush are expressed in the same manner, and should always be interlined. Metals, as armour, &c. are also represented by interlining, or by clear single strokes.

In architecture, the strokes which form the rounding object should tend to the point of light; and when whole columns occur, it is proper to produce the effect Engraving, as much as possible by perpendicular strokes. If a grofs stroke is put, it should be at right angles, and wider and thinner than the first stroke. In engraving mountains, the strokes ought to be frequently discontinued and broken, for sharp and craggy objects; and they should be straight, in the lozenge manner, and accompanied with long points or dots; and rocks should be represented by crofs strokes more square and even. Objects that are distant towards the horizon should be kept very tender, and slightly charged with black. Waters that are calm and still are best represented by strokes that are straight, and parallel to the horizon, interlined with those that are finer; omitting such places as, in consequence of gleams of light, exhibit the shining appearance of water; and the form of objects reflected from the water, at a small distance upon it, or on the banks of the water, are expressed by the same strokes, retouched more strongly or faintly as occasion may require, and even by some that are perpendicular. For agitated waters, as the waves of the sea, the first strokes should follow the figure of the waves, and may be interlined, and the crofs strokes ought to be very lozenge. In cascades, the strokes should follow the fall, and be interlined. In engraving clouds, the graver should sport when they appear thick and agitated, in turning every way according to their form and their agitation. If the clouds are dark, so that two strokes are necessary, they should be crossed more lozenge than the figures, and the second strokes should be rather wider than the first. The flat clouds, that are lost infinitely in the clear sky, should be made by strokes parallel to the horizon, and a little waving; if second strokes are required, they should be more or less lozenge; and when they are brought to the extremity, the hand should be so lightened, that they may form no outline. The flat and clear sky is represented by parallel and straight strokes, without the least turning. In landscapes, the trees, rocks, earth, and herbage, should be etched as much as possible; nothing should be left for the graver but perfecting, softening, and strengthening. The dry point produces an effect more delicate than the graver can, and may be used to great advantage in linen, skies, distances, ice, and often in water, especially in small engravings. In most things it is proper to etch the shadows, only leaving the lighter tints for the dry point, graver, &c.

To imitate chalk-drawings, a mixture of varied and irregular dots are used, made more or less soft, to as to resemble the grain produced by the chalks on paper. Every stroke of the chalks on paper may be considered as an infinite number of adjoining points, which are the small eminences of the grain of the paper touched by the chalk in passing over it. When the copper-plate has been polished and varnished, or properly prepared, as in the common method of engraving, the drawing to be imitated may be counterproofed on the varnish of the plate. If this cannot be conveniently done, black lead pencil, or red chalk, must be applied to varnished or oiled paper; and by means of this chalk or pencil, all the traces of the original will be transmitted to the varnish. The outlines of the object must be formed in the etching by points, whose magnitude and distance must be determined by the quality of the strokes in the original. The artist may be provided with pointed instruments or needles of various sizes with single or double points. In forming the light and shade, he should distinguish between those hatches which serve to express the perspective of the object and those which form the ground of it. The principal hatches should be more strongly marked; the middle tints, if etched, should be marked lightly, or they may be left till the varnish is taken off, and be perfected with a greater degree of softness, by needles or the point of the graver, as the original may require. There is nothing peculiar in the method of applying the aquafortis in this kind of engraving; but it may be observed, that it should not be left too long as to corrode the lighter parts too much: if the light parts are sufficiently corroded, they may be stopped out with turpentine varnish and lamp-black mixed together, and the aquafortis may be applied again to the stronger parts; for it will be no detriment to them, if the points which compose the shade burst into one another, provided the extreme be avoided. When the work of the aquafortis is finished, and the varnish taken off the copper, it will be necessary in the softer parts, such as the flesh, &c. to intertittle with proper points; as an effect will be thus produced more delicate than it is possible to attain with the aquafortis only; and the strongest shades will require additional strength to be given them with small strokes of the graver. Drawings made with chalks of different colours may be imitated in this manner, if a plate be provided for every colour.—This method of engraving is intended to form a kind of deception, so that the connoisseur may not be able, on the first inspection, to distinguish between the original drawing and the engraving made in imitation of it; and it is extremely useful, as it serves to multiply copies of drawings left by those masters who excelled in the use of chalks, and thus to form and improve young artists, who could not have access to the originals in the practice of drawing.

Engraving upon Glass. See Chemistry, 2d No. 857.

Engraving on Precious Stones, is the representing of figures, or devices, in relievo or indented, on divers kinds of hard polished stones.

The art of engraving on precious stones is one of those wherein the ancients excelled; there being divers antique agates, cornelians, and onyxes, which surpass any thing of that kind the moderns have produced. Pyrgoteles among the Greeks, and Dioscorides under the first emperors of Rome, are the most eminent engravers we read of: the former was so esteemed by Alexander, that he forbade any body else to engrave his head; and Augustus's head, engraved by the latter, was deemed so beautiful, that the succeeding emperors chose it for their seal.

All the polite arts having been buried under the ruins of the Roman empire, the art of engraving on stones met with the same fate. It was retrieved in Italy at the beginning of the 15th century, when one John of Florence, and after him Dominic of Milan, performed works of this kind no way to be despised. From that time, such sculptures became common enough in Europe, and particularly in Germany, whence great numbers were sent into other countries: but they came short of the beauty of those of the ancients, especially those on precious stones; for, as to those on crystal, the Germans, and, after their example, the French, &c. have succeeded well enough.

In this branch of engraving, they make use either of the diamond or of emery.

The diamond, which is the hardest of all stones, is only cut by itself, or with its own matter. The first thing to be done in this branch of engraving is, to cement two rough diamonds to the ends of two sticks big enough to hold them steady in the hand, and to rub or grind them against each other till they be brought to the form desired. The dust or powder that is rubbed off serves afterwards to polish them, which is performed with a kind of mill that turns a wheel of soft iron. The diamond is fixed in a brass dish; and, thus applied to the wheel, is covered with diamond dust, mixed up with oil of olives; and when the diamond is to be cut facet-wise, they apply first one face, then another, to the wheel. Rubies, sapphires, and topazes, are cut and formed the same way on a copper wheel, and polished with tripoli diluted in water. As to agates, amethysts, emeralds, hyacinths, granites, rubies, and others of the softer stones, they are cut on a leaden wheel, moistened with emery and water, and polished with tripoli on a pewter wheel. Lapis-lazuli, opal, &c. are polished on a wooden wheel. To fashion and engrave vases of agate, crystal, lapis-lazuli, or the like, they make use of a kind of lathe, like that used by pewterers, to hold the vessels, which are to be wrought with proper tools: that of the engraver generally holds the tools, which are turned by a wheel; and the vessel is held to them to be cut and engraved, either in relievo or otherwise; the tools being moistened from time to time with diamond dust and oil, or at least emery and water. To engrave figures or devices on any of these stones, when polished, such as medals, seals, &c. they use a little iron wheel, the ends of whose axis are received within two pieces of iron, placed upright, as in the turner's lathe; and to be brought closer, or set further apart, at pleasure; at one end of the axis are fitted the proper tools, being kept tight by a screw. Lastly, the wheel is turned by the foot, and the stone applied by the hand to the tool, and is shifted and conducted as occasion requires.

The tools are generally of iron, and sometimes of brass; their form is various, but it generally bears some resemblance to chisels, gouges, &c. Some have small round heads, like buttons, others like ferrets, to take the pieces out, and others flat, &c. When the stone has been engraved, it is polished on wheels of hair-brushes and tripoli.

Engraving on Steel is chiefly employed in cutting seals, punches, matrices, and dyes, proper for striking coins, medals, and counters. The method of engraving with the instruments, &c. is the same for coins as for medals and counters: All the difference consists in their greater or less relievo; the relievo of coins being much less considerable than that of medals, and that of counters still less than that of coins.

Engravers in steel commonly begin with punches, which are in relievo, and serve for making the creux or cavities of the matrices and dyes; though sometimes they begin with the creux or hollows; but then it is only when the intended work is to be cut very very shallow. The first thing done, is that of designing the figures; the next is the moulding them in wax, of the size and depth they are to lie, and from this wax the punch is engraven. When the punch is finished, they give it a very high temper, that it may the better bear the blows of the hammer with which it is struck to give the impression to the matrice.

The steel is made hot to soften it, that it may the more readily take the impression of the punch; and after striking the punch on it in this state, they proceed to touch up or finish the strokes and lines, where by reason of their fineness or the too great relievo they are any thing defective, with steel gravers of different kinds, chisels, flatters, &c. being the principal instruments used in graving on steel.

The figure being thus finished, they proceed to engrave the rest of the medal, as the mouldings of the border, the engraved ring, letters, &c. with little steel punches, well tempered, and very sharp.