s distinguished from other kinds of painting by the smallness and delicacy of its figures and faintness of the colouring; on which account it requires to be viewed very near.

Sect. I. Of Drawing and Designing.

To succeed in this art, a man should be perfectly skilled in the art of designing or drawing; but almost people who affect the one, know little or nothing of the other, and would have the pleasure of painting without giving themselves the trouble of learning to design (which is indeed an art that is not acquired without a great deal of time, and continual application), inventions have been found out to supply the place of it; by means of which a man designs or draws, without knowing how to design.

The first is chalking: that is, if you have a mind to do a print or design in miniature, the backside of it, on another paper, must be blackened with small-coal, and then rubbed very hard with the finger wrapped in a linen cloth: afterwards the cloth must be lightly drawn over the side so blackened that no black grains may remain upon it to foil the vellum you would paint upon; and the print or draught must be fastened upon the vellum with four pins, to keep it from shifting. And if it be another paper that is blackened, it must be put between the vellum and the print, or draught, with the blackened side upon the vellum. Then, with a blunted pin or needle, you must pass over the principal lines or strokes of the print, or draught, the contours, the plaits of the drapery, and over every thing else that must be distinguished; pressing so hard, that the strokes may be fairly marked upon the vellum underneath.

Copying by squares is another convenient method for such as are but little skilled in the art of designing, and would copy pictures, or other things, that cannot be chalked. The method is this: The piece must be divided... divided into many equal parts by little squares, marked out with charcoal, if the piece be clear and whitish, and the black can be fairly seen upon it; or with white chalk, if it be too brown and dusky. After which, as many squares of equal dimensions must be made on white paper, upon which the piece must be designed; because, if this be done immediately upon vellum, (as one is apt to miscarry in the first attempt), the vellum may be foiled with false touches. But when it is neatly done upon paper, it must be chalked upon the vellum in the manner before described. When the original and the paper are thus ordered, observe what is in each square of the piece to be designed; as a head, an arm, a hand, and so forth; and place it in the corresponding part of the paper. And thus finding where to place all the parts of the piece, you have nothing to do but to form them well, and to join them together.

By this method you may reduce or enlarge a piece to what compass you please, making the squares of your paper greater or less than those of the original; but they must always be of an equal number.

To copy a picture, or other thing, in the same size and proportion, another method is, to make use of varnished paper, or of the skin of a hog's bladder, very transparent, such as is to be had at the gold-beaters. Talc or sizing will likewise do as well. Lay any one of those things upon your piece; through it you will see all the strokes and touches, which are to be drawn upon it with a crayon or pencil. Then take it off; and fastening it under paper or vellum, set up both against the light in the manner of a window; and with a crayon, or a silver needle, mark out upon the paper or vellum you have put uppermost, all the lines and touches you shall see drawn upon the varnished paper, bladder, talc, or sizing, you have made use of, and which will plainly appear through this window.

After this manner, making use of the window, or of glass exposed to the light, you may copy all sorts of prints, designs, and other pieces, on paper or vellum; laying and fastening them under the paper or vellum upon which you would draw them. And it is a very good and a very easy contrivance for doing pieces of the same size and proportion.

If you have a mind to make pieces look another way, there is nothing to be done but to turn them; laying the printed or drawn side upon the glass, and fastening the paper or vellum upon the back of it; remembering to let your lights fall on the left side.

A good method likewise to take a true copy of a picture in oil, is to give a touch of the pencil upon all the principal strokes, with lake tempered with oil; and to clap upon the whole a paper of the same size: then passing the hand over it, the touches of the lake will stick and leave the design of your piece expressed upon the paper, which may be chalked like other things. But you must remember to take off with the crumb of bread what remains of the lake upon the picture before it be dry.

You must likewise make use of pounce, made of powdered charcoal put in a linen-rag; with which the piece you would copy must be rubbed, after you have pricked all the principal strokes or touches, and fastened white paper or vellum underneath.

But a finer and easier help, than all these, for one who knows nothing of designing, is a mathematical compass; it is generally made of ten pieces of wood, in form of rulers, half a quarter of an inch thick, half an inch broad, and a foot long, or more, according as you have a mind to draw pieces of a greater or less size. To facilitate the construction of this instrument, a figure is given, with an explanation of the manner in which it is to be used.

The little board A is to be of fir, and covered with linen or any other cloth; because the piece you copy, and the vellum or paper you copy upon, must be fixed upon it. Upon this board must the compass also be fixed with a pin, by the end of the first foot B, deep enough to keep it close, but not so deep as to hinder it from turning easily. When you have a mind to reduce things, place your original on the side of the foot C, and the vellum or paper you would draw upon on the side of the foot B; removing the vellum, or drawing it nearer, according as you intend to reduce or enlarge.

In order to enlarge a piece, you have nothing to do but to change the places of your original and your copy; placing the last towards C, and the other on the side of B.

And in both one and the other method, a crayon or leaden needle must be put in the foot under which the vellum lies; and a pin, a little blunted, in that over the original, with which all the traces are to be followed; conducting the pin with one hand, and with the other pressing gently upon the crayon or needle that marks the vellum. When the crayon or needle bears sufficiently upon the vellum, you have no occasion to touch it.

By this instrument you may also draw in equal dimensions; but in order to this, the compass must be fixed in another manner upon the board; for if it is to be fastened upon it by the middle at D, your original and your copy must be fixed on each side of this middle foot, at the equal distances, or from corner to corner; that is, from C to E, when the pieces are large. One may likewise draw several copies at once of equal and different dimensions.

When your piece is marked out upon the vellum, you must pass with a pencil of very clear carmine over all the traces, to the end they may not be effaced as you work; then clean your vellum with the crumb of bread, that no black may remain upon it.

Your vellum must be pasted upon a little plate of brass or wood, of the size you would make your piece, to keep it firm and tight; but this pasting must be on the edges of your vellum only, and behind the plate; for which purpose your vellum must exceed your plate above an inch on every side; for the part you paint upon must never be pasted; because it would not only give it an ill look, but you could not take it off if you would. Cut off the little flags and locks of the vellum; and wetting the fair side with a linen-cloth dipped in water, clap the other upon the plate with a clean paper between them; so much as hangs over must be pasted upon the back of the plate, drawing it equally on all sides, and hard enough to stretch it well.

**Sect. II. Of Materials.**

The chief colours made use of for painting in miniature, are

- Carmine. - Venice and Florence lake. - Rose