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Rh To enjoy a proof properly, I think, it is necessary to appreciate the qualities of old liand-niade paper. An etcher always uses this when lie can get it, and it is quite a pleasure to see liini tenderly handle, say the flyleaf from an old book printed on Dutch paper — the way he will rustle it with his fingers, hold it up to the light, nibble a bit off the corner, smell it to judge of the amount of si/e it ])rol)ably contains, and lay it upon a white mount to enjoy the effect of its beautiful golden colour. Ileally, a bit of old paper is very full of cliaracter, and owing to this and its colour, and the dryness and crisjiness that comes with age, it im])arts wonderful qualities to a proof printed upon it. Therefore an etcher with tiiis knowledge has so many more resources for expressing Jiis ideas than one who does not print himself. The particular method he chooses will depend upon his subject, but whatever method it be, it will be one that helps and not hides his vork. There are one or two professional printers in the world, who can do a great deal of this for the plates intrusted to them, but only one or two. Of course a great deal of what is called ' artistic " printing is very dreadful, being indeed mere ' smudge,' or what Whistler calls ' treacle.' Etchers of to-day enter into a great heritage, and the revival of etching in England thirty years or so ago is the beginning, I believe, of a great era of engraving. At one time etching was looked upon as an imperfect kind of engraving, and was used mainly by engravers to bite in the lines they intended to finish with the burin. Rembrandt, the greatest master of etching yet, really created it as a distinct art, and the wonder of his work with lines grows upon one the more it is studied. But at the time it was revived in England (Haden and Whistler were among the first), it is said that scarcely one in a thousand knew even what the word meant. Haden's name will always be remem- bered with gratitude; for the influence of both his work and writing has made itself widely felt. It was hoped that some of his etchings might be reproduced for this article to show the manner of his work, but Mr. Haden thinks that the processes used for magazine reproductions in England are not capable of conveying any idea of an etciier's work. Mr. Whistler has been more indulgent, and has allowed two of his proofs to be photographed for reproduction. Whistler is, I think, the greatest master of pure etching since Rembrandt. The first plate reproduced is one of the famous ' Thames ' set — among the first he did. No man has ever done work like this, and certainly no one will do this kind of work better. The earnest drawing and character in them ama/.es one, and the grim determination there is to express everything of the subject that was possible with the copper acts upon one like a mental tonic. These are very generally appreciated now, but at the time they were done, Mr. "^Vhistlei- says, they were laughed at and misiuiderstood as much, says he, ' as is my present work, which is the result of all these years' study and work. It is always the same: if you are earnest, you must always be working ahead of people — they will come to understand it at last.' The other example of his work reproduced is one of his latest plates taken from among a very wonderful set he is just completing. I don't know how much of the original the reproduction will suggest (of course reproduction by a method of block printing can never give much idea of a proof from a plate, but is better than nothing at all, which, without being in London, one is very likely to see), but the proof 'as ery fair and lovely. Betw een these two examples there are many plates in different manners, some of the proofs very rare, alas ! and difficult of access. Till these have been seen, no notion of AVhistler's powers as an etcher can be even guessed at. From a very early period he has printed his own proofs, and he gives them a very beautiful quality peculiar to himself. I said at the beginning that there was a good deal of carping at impurity of method in engraving and etching. I believe there will be more to carp at in a little time ; for it seems likely that at no distant date the imaginary line that divides etching from engraving will disappear, and that one word or the other will include all forms of working on plates to be printed from. The only distinctive point be- tween them is that in etching the markings in the plate are made by acid, and in engraving by cutting them in with tools : and even this does not hold good throughout, for an a([uatint is called an en- graving, while every bit of the work is done by acid. From a collector's or a literary point of view, it is more comfortable to have a complete set of rules under which every proof ought to allow itself to be catalogued, but strong artistic feeling, or any wide knowledge of the methods used to produce engrav- ings, always tends to a very broad-minded view as to the limitations of method. If the result be beautiful, what matter as to the means by which it was wrought. Recent developments in the manner of working- plates have puzzled many people ; and indeed, with- out a very practical and wide acquaintance with them, it would be diflicnlt to explain how much of the work is done.