towards her admirer. In vain mamma threatened before the performance began, and scolded after it was over. I wonder the Stockbroker did not make love to the mother instead of the daughter, for she on these evenings was decidedly the most charming of the two. However, that young gentleman was on such good terms with himself, that he never dreamed of other people not being on good terms with him. He did not understand such little feminine sarcasms as Julia was moved to utter: he thought her coldness was maiden modesty, and her indifference good breeding. Julia was in the toils. Every struggle but entangled her the more. A positive force will generally get the better of a negative. In vain she said, "I will not marry this man." Mrs. Hibberd ended such arguments by telling her that all girls said the same thing-that she was only a foolish chit, and did not know her own mind. Mrs. Hibberd began to take Julia's passionate remonstrances with perfect calmness, and to laugh at her tears. She began to treat her with compassion, and to let her have her own way in small things. Julia made one desperate closing struggle, and appealed to me. What could I say? I promised to speak to Mrs. Hibberd on the subject, and I did so. That good lady spoke, with tears, of her care for her daughter's welfare, and promised that Julia should be free to do as she pleased. She would never force dear Julia into a marriage which she did not like; but she was convinced that Julia was only fighting against her own inclinations, and so forth. I was satisfied. The match was a good match if Julia could bring herself to think so. The next time I went to the Hibberds's was to dinner, on new-year's eve. The little Stockbroker had arrived before me, and he and Mrs. Hibberd were alone in the drawing-room. "Poor Julia," Mrs. Hibberd said, "had a bad headache. The excitement of the morning had been too much for her." Then she went on to tell me the happy news. Julia had accepted the Stockbroker, who had laid his hand and heart at her feet that morning. As I congratulated the happy man, I recalled Julia's desperate appeal of the other day, and thought that women indeed did not know their own minds. I wished much to see Julia; but the evening passed, and she did not make her appearance. I left early that evening, as I was going down by the last train to my little farm in Kent. Thus I had no opportunity of learning the particulars of the great event from Mrs. Hibberd before I went. Two literary friends were to accompany me. I drove to my chambers, took up my two friends, and we started. Were it proper to interrupt my tale as it is arriving at its crisis, I could introduce here an entertaining episode of the conversation of my friends, Tom Brown and Jack White, on the journey. They were very pleasant fellows, having a fund of humour. They had a thousand scandals to tell of mutual friends, of members of our club, of personages high and low, male and female. What a blessing it is that pleasant fellows have now no fear before their eyes of having their noses slit, or their ears cropped, or their backs cudgelled, as in past times. Freedom of speech! a free pass! our land of liberty has them in perfection. As my friends scattered abroad their brilliant stories, I could not help wondering whether I had any hole discoverable in my coat. I remembered it was not a seamless garment, and thought dolefully how possible it was for keen wit to cut the stitches and pick a hole therein. We had need wear suits of mail in these days. We arrived at the station. "A message for you by telegraph, sir,” said the clerk. 1. I opened the missive, which was on the point of being despatched to my farm-house, and read : "Julia is gone-has run away and disgraced herself and her home. She shall never enter my doors again. Come to us." Alas, and alas, for poor little Judy! The intelligence took my breath. Where on earth could she have fled? There was no train to London that night. Should I post? Yes; I would post. My farm lay in the way to the little town where was the posting-house. Sending on to order horses, I alighted at my house for a moment with my friends. I told them, as we drove thither, that something had happened; that I must go back to London; and that they must see in the new year at my farm without me. In my perplexity and sorrow I let drop more than there was occasion to have trusted them with. The staid housekeeper was at the door to receive us. Supper was laid in the low-roofed parlour, where there was a blazing fire and bright lights. "Please, sir," said the housekeeper," a young lady. There were feet on the stairs. Julia rushed in, and threw herself into my arms, sobbing out, "Mamma-was-going-to-make me marry that little Stockbroker; and-and-you are my guardian-and-and I will never go home any more." Looking over my shoulder, I saw Tom Brown and Jack White in ecstatic enjoyment of the scene. I remember that I felt very much inclined to box Julia's ears. "You disobedient child!" I said; "how did you come here? You shall return home with me at once." I remembered that the horses were ordered, and would arrive in a moment. "I will not go home!" said Julia. "You may turn me out if you like." "Disobedient children," I said, "who shut their ears to the voice of reason, must be compelled. Mrs. Primmins" (to the housekeeper) " will you oblige me by helping this young lady THE ART OF ENGRAVING. BY C. T. HINCKLEY, (Second Article.) Steel engraving is performed in the same way as copper-plate engraving, with the exception of some slight modifications in the use of acids. The improved presses used in both kinds of engraving are due to Mr. Jacob Perkins, who may be said to have established steel-engraving by his invention of decarbonizing the plate, so as to make it fit to be engraven on, and also by his interesting method of multiplying impressions on steel-plates. Mr. Perkins' method of transfer-engraving originated in the transfer processes employed in engraving the copper cylinders used in calico-printing. The subject intended to be multiplied is first engraved, either by hand or mechanically, or the two may be combined, in the best style of art, on a plate of soft steel the plate is then hardened. A decarbonized steel cylinder is next rolled over the hardened plate by means of powerful machinery, until the engraved impression appears in relief, the hollow lines of the original being raised on the cylinder. The roller is then re-converted into the condition of ordinary steel, and hardened, after which it can be used for returning the impression to any number of decarbonized plates, each of which is of course an exact counterpart of the original. It is said that each of these plates, when hardened, would give 150,000 impressions without being materially The original plate thus serves only to give one impression to the transfer roller, which in its turn is used to produce any number of plates. Should any accident happen to the transfer roller, another impression can easily be taken from the original plate. worn. In order to decarbonize the plates, they are placed in a verticle position in cast-iron boxes not less than three-fourths of an inch thick, and surrounded on all sides by a stratum of ironfilings not less than half an inch thick; the boxes are then placed in a furnace, and, after being heated, are cooled very slowly by stopping up all the air-passages, and covering the boxes with cinders to the depth of six or seven inches. The decarbonized plates are reconverted into steel by inclosing them in boxes as above, and surrounding them with fine charcoal made from leather; they are left at the proper heat for from three to five hours, and on being taken out are immediately plunged in a vertical position into cold water. Wood-engraving (Xylography) is said to have had its origin in China, the birthplace of many other valuable inventions, and to have been due to the peculiar structure of the Chinese language, in the writing of which a separate symbol is used for each idea, and words are not made up, as with us, by a combination of letters. The number of these symbols or characters is therefore so vast that it would be almost impossible to print their books with moveable types. Their method of printing is therefore as follows: The work to be printed is carefully transcribed upon transparent paper, only one side of which is written on. The sheets are then glued down upon wooden tablets, and all the wood is cut away except that covered by the lines of the writing. From these raised wooden lines impressions are taken. This practice is of ancient date in China, and some of those who have bestowed research on the matter are inclined to fix it about A. D. 930. As far as it is now possible to trace the introduction of woodengraving into Europe, it would appear that the Venetians, in their commerce with the Chinese, early learned this art, and practised it before it was known to other European nations. But the art was eagerly acquired by Germany and the Low Countries, and in 1433, or thereabouts, they carried on a considerable commerce in playing-cards and prints of saints. At that time the engraver on wood was called Formschneider, or figure-cutter, a term still in use. The little prints of saints were rudely executed, and had a great sale among the common people. In Germany they were called Helgen or Helglein; in France Dominos. They were at first sold separately, and thus were soon dispersed and lost; but after a time they were pasted into religious books for the sake of preserving them, and thus probably originated the custom of illustrating books with engravings. From that time the art made decided progress. Blockbooks, as they are called, made their appearance. These were books in which the productions of the wood-engraver were simply collected in the form of volumes, some of which are still extant. One of the earliest, called the Biblia Pauperum, or Bible of the Poor, consists of forty leaves, small folio, printed from the same number of engraved blocks of wood, on one side of the paper only. These prints are placed two by two, facing each other, so that by pasting their backs the book has the appearance of being printed in the usual way on both sides. The use of printed characters in books is closely connected with the origin of wood-engraving, but the exact time of the invention is a disputed point. One of the most generally received accounts of this discovery is thus given by an old German chronicler : "At this time (about 1438), in the city of Mentz, on the Rhine, in Germany, and not in Italy as some have erroneously written, that wonderful and then unheard-of art of printing and characterizing books was invented and devised by John Gutenberger, citizen of Mentz, who, having expended most of his property in the invention of this art, on account of the difficulties which he experienced on all sides, was about to abandon it altogether; when, by the advice and through the means of John Fust, likewise a citizen of Mentz, he succeeded in bringing it to perfection. At first they formed or engraved the characters or letters in written order on blocks of wood, and in this manner they printed the vocabulary called a Catholicon. But with these forms or blocks they could print nothing else, because the characters could not be transposed in these tablets, but were engraved thereon as we have said. To this invention succeeded a more subtle one, for they found out the means of cutting the forms of all the letters of the alphabet, which they called matrices, from which again they cast characters of copper or tin of sufficient hardness to resist the necessary pressure, which they had before engraved by hand." In this latter process the original inventors were greatly aided by Peter Schoeffer, son-in-law to Fust, who shared with the other two in the honours accorded to the worthy citizens of Mentz. An early and celebrated result of the union of typography and wood-engraving was a Psalter printed on vellum by Fust and Schoeffer, at the end of which there is a congratulatory paragraph on the discovery of the art of printing. The large initial letters of this Psalter are beautifully executed, and printed in two colours. The artists of Italy competed successfully with those of Germany in the prosecution of this interesting art, but attention was recalled to German art by the engravings of Albert Durer and his contemporaries, during whose time wood-cutting was in high estimation. At the close of the sixteenth century this art had greatly declined in Germany, but was better understood in France and England than at any previous period. Yet it was reserved to the eighteenth century to give a powerful impulse to the art in England. This was done by Thomas Bewick, who showed, in his "British Birds," a most skilful and effective adaptation of the means his art then afforded of faithfully representing nature. He was undoubtedly the instrument of a great revival in wood-engraving, and led the way in that career of success which has since distinguished the wood-engravers of this country. of ink, and retaining it more tenaciously. The As box-wood is, notwithstanding its hard and compact nature, very much softer than copper and steel, and is, moreover, less equal in density throughout, so the graving-tools must be guided in a different manner, and a check must be put on the force with which they are ordinarily sent forward by the palm of the hand. There are four descriptions of cutting-tools used in wood-engravings, and numerous specimens of each, differing in size and degrees of fineness, are kept at hand. Of the four kinds of tools, the first is the graver-differing little from that of the copperplate engraver, but adapted to the purposes of wood-cutting by having the point ground to a The process connected with wood-engraving peculiar form, by rubbing on a Turkey-stone. chiefly differ from those of copper and steel- Eight or nine gravers, of different sizes, are engraving with respect to the different nature generally required, commencing with a very fine of the material employed. Box-wood is the only one, called the outline tool. This tool, in comkind that can be successfully employed in wood-mon with others, is fixed in a convenient handle engraving. It should be of a clear yellow colour, as equal as possible over the whole surface, without spots or variations of tint, which mark inequality of growth and consequently of hardness, and which are sometimes quite evident in the impressions taken from such blocks, the whiter portions being softer and more absorbent by some, which, as it is received from the turners, is perfectly circular at the end; but part of this rounded end is cut off after the blade is inserted, in order to accommodate the tool to the flat surface of the block, and also to insure its being ready to the hand in the right position for use when laid aside, and then taken up again. Eight or nine gravers are required, beginning with the outline tool, and increasing in size and breadth. The engraver also adapts them to his particular purpose, either by making them finer, or by grinding them down to greater breadth, and rounding them slightly at the points. Gravers are used for nearly every de- | scription of wood-cutting, occasionally not even excepting "tinting"-the technical term applied to cutting series of parallel lines, which, when engraved, form an even and uniform tint. For this process, however, there is a distinct set of tools, thinner, and ground to a much more acute angle at the face. These tools, though thin, ought to be sufficiently strong at the back to prevent their bending when used. Their faces, as well as those of the gravers, should also be rather long than short, for they then cut with much greater clearness, and the shaving of wood turns gently over towards the hand; whereas, when the graver is too obtuse, the shaving, instead of turning aside, coils over before the point of the tool, and hides the pencil-line which the engraver is following. In addition to gravers and tint-tools, there are gouges of different sizes, for scooping out the wood towards the centre of the block, and flat tools, or chisels, for cutting it away towards the edges. A form of flat tool is to be avoided, as the projecting corners are apt to cut under a line, and gives much trouble in plugging, or inserting new wood, on which to replace it. The method of holding the graver is different, when the material is wood, from that employed in copper and steel-engraving. In the latter case, the forefinger is extended on the back of the tool, so as to press the point into the plate. In wood-cutting this is not necessary, but, on the contrary, the force of the hand has to be checked by the thumb, which in small subjects is rested against the side of the block, allowing the blade to move freely, but ever ready to check it in case of a slip. In larger subjects, the thumb accomplishes the same ends by resting on the surface of the block. Engraving requires delicate and skilful workmanship, and makes large demands on the eyesight, as well as on the dexterity of hand of those who practise it. Some parts of the work are generally supposed to require the use of magnifying-glasses, and much of it must necessarily be accomplished by lamplight. The most experienced engravers, however, are slow to recommend the use of glasses to those who can possibly do without their assistance. Young persons commencing the art of wood-cutting seem to imagine that a magnifying-glass must of necessity form part of their apparatus. The sort of glass employed is similar to that of watchmakers, and consists of a single lens fitted into a short tube rather wider at the part applied to the eye. Such aid should only be sought when sight begins to fail; and even then the glass should at first be of low magnifying power. Various means are employed to protect the eyes from the light, and the face from the heat of the lamp. One of these consists in the use of a large glass globe filled with water, which is interposed between the lamp and the engraver's block. By the use of these globes one lamp is sufficient for three or four persons, and each person has a clear and cool light to work by. In damp or frosty weather, the breath of the engraver is apt to injure his work, unless some contrivance be adopted to prevent its playing on the surface of the block. This is usually found in a screen of thin pasteboard or stiff paper, temporarily tied across the mouth and nostrils in such weather. The eyes have their own protection, from a shade which most wood-engravers wear, not only to guard the sight, but also to concentrate the view on the work in hand. Such shades are, however, very objectionable, as they confine hot air close to the eyes, which require for healthy action the free circulation of fresh air. The pupil in wood-engraving commences with the cutting of parallel lines or tints, straight and waved, and then proceeds to simple forms in outline, without any shading that is expressed by cross-lines. Such shading is necessarily difficult in a material where all the parts intended to be light have to be cut away, and the dark lines alone remain standing; and consequently in cross-shading the interstices have to be carefully hollowed out, without injury to the lines, Complicated subjects should be long deferred, and never attempted till decided success has attended the simpler efforts. A SONG OF WINTER. BY MRS. ABDY. The winter has come, and a mantle of snow The song of the murmuring river is still: Around the bright fire a glad circle I see; Kind looks are exchanged, cheerful greetings abound, And winter must ever be welcome to me. The eye may delight in fair gardens of bloom, And court the soft aspect of blue smiling skies; But dear to the heart is the region of home, And soothing the spell of its long-cherished ties: Amid the gay group happy children appear, We join in their pastimes, we share in their glee, Their clear, ringing laughter is sweet to my ear, The winter is welcome to them and to me. Oh! ye, to whom Fortune her favours extends, Throw open your door to your neighbours and Expend not in selfish indulgence your store, friends, Give clothing and food to the suffering poor ; Rejoice in the thought that your widely-spread gold A solace and blessing to others may be; And winter, though rugged, and gloomy, and cold, Will soon be as welcome to you as to me ! |