under consideration, were Sandby, Parkyns, and Jukes, of Great Britain.

Calcography, a species of engraving in imitation of Chalk drawings, if not invented, was first brought to a high state of excellence and improvement, in the eighteenth century. Those who have been most eminently distinguished in this department of the graphic art, are Messrs. Ryland and Bartolozzi, of Great Britain *.

Mr. Smith, an engraver of London, toward the close of the period embraced in this retrospect, is said to have invented a method of making impressions from his own plates, so to resemble Oil Paintings as to be with difficulty distinguished from them, even by connoisseurs. These impressions are represented as possessing that sort of brightness which is so much admired in Venetian paintings, as resembling them also in permanency, and as being of such a nature as to render a covering of glass, so expensive and frangible a material, altogether unnecessary.

The art of producing Coloured Engravings belongs almost entirely to the period under consideration. About the time of the revival of learning, some artists produced prints of different colours, by means of wood cuts, employing a different plate for each colour. But so much inconvenience and imperfection attended this method, that it was sel

* For this, and for several other articles of information, detailed in the present section, and for some valuable hints on the subject of modern painting, the author acknowledges himself to be indebted to Mr. Archibald Robertson, conductor of the Columbian Academy of Painting in the city of New York, whose ingenuity and taste as an artist are well known in America.

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dom resorted to. No further improvement seems to have been attempted till near the middle of the eighteenth century, when some experiments were made by French artists, with Copperplates, with a view to obtain coloured prints. They also found it necessary to use different plates for different parts of the work; and on this, as well as other accounts, the expense of their plan prevented its general adoption. But toward the close of the century a method was invented of producing an elegant coloured engraving from a single copperplate. The English artists are said to have carried this improvement to the greatest degree of

excellence.

A method of engraving is said to have been lately invented by Mr. Westall, an artist of London, more nearly resembling Drawings than was before known. In 1799 he exhibited a drawing, and the year following a print taken from it, which was so close an imitation as to deceive the eye.

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The art of Engraving on wood had been prac tised in great perfection for several centuries before the eighteenth, but degenerated, and became little used. At the close of the seventeenth century it was in a very low state; and it had almost sunk into forgetfulness, when Thomas Bewick, of Newcastle, a few years ago, revived it. revived it. He is said by some, deed, to be entitled to the honour of reinventing the art; and has certainly brought it to a degree of elegance and perfection unknown to the later engravers. His pupils, Nesbit and Anderson, also have been for a considerable time distinVOL. II.

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guished by their taste and skill in this branch of engraving. To these names may be added that of Dr. Anderson, of New York, who has much signalised himself by his genius for the same art.

A method has been, within a few years, devised of taking off an impression of any figures or writing drawn on the surface of Marble. The advantages of this invention are great ease and freedom of execution, and the facility of multiplying, to a great extent, the number of copies.

The eminent engravers of the eighteenth century were numerous. Among those who have either improved the art, or produced specimens very honourable to their characters, it will be proper to mention a few names. Woollett, Strange, Ryland, Sharpe, and Heath, of Great Britain, stand high in the list of modern engravers. Audran, Monet, Simon, and Beauvarlet, af France, have received much praise; and Porporerti, Bartolozzi, Testolini, and, above all, Morghen, of Italy, deserve to be mentioned with the greatest respect.

SECTION IV.

MUSIC.

In the art of Music the century under consideration furnished several events and characters worthy of being recorded. These relate either to discoveries and improvements in the principles of music, distinguished composers in this art, or those

who have rendered themselves famous by the excellence of their personal performances.

The principles of music have been considerably improved during the last age. The origin and laws of Harmony were little understood before the commencement of this period. Facts and rules were known; and the improvements of the celebrated Corelli, in Counterpoint, at the close of the preceding age, have received great and just praise. But the philosophy of harmony had been very imperfectly developed until M. Rameau, a scientific musician of France, early in the century, undertook the investigation of this subject, and introduced into it more light and order than had been before known. He exhibited the foundation and the principles of harmony, and the source of that pleasure which it affords; he analysed the consonances in music; he explained the mutual dependence of harmony and melody, and formed the laws of each into a distinct code, in a manner more luminous and satisfactory than any of his predecessors*. The result of his labours was given to the world in 1752, when he was considered by many as the great monarch of the musical world, as "a theorist to whom this art was as much indebted as physics and philosophy to Newton." And although this opinion of his merit, entertained by his countrymen, may be more honourable than he deserves, yet the science of music is doubtless indebted to him as one of its greatest cultivators and

* See d'Alembert's Elémens de Mus. Theor. et Prat, suivans les Principes de Rameau, 1762.

improvers, during the age in which he lived *. The system of Rameau has received successive illustrations and improvements from M. d'Alembert, abbé Roussier, and others.

Another great theorist in music was Tartini, an ingenious Italian, who followed M. Rameau; and although the scientific correctness of his work is called in question, it still abounds with most valuable instruction to practical musicians. Το these may be added the large and enlightened works of Marpurg, a great German musician; beside the publications in different parts of the world on particular departments of music, of which even the principal are too numerous to be recounted t.

This new light shed on the principles of music has enabled succeeding artists to carry what is called Modern Symphony, which took its rise long before, to a very high degree of refinement and perfection. Those who have been most distinguished in this department are Vanhall, Haydn, Pleyel, and Mozart, all of Germany, and composers of the first class. In the new style of music introduced by these artists greater attention than formerly is paid to contrast and effect; and it is also distinguished by more sprightliness and variety. And if it be less simple, less easy of acquisition, and, in some instances, less harmonious than that of their immediate predecessors, it contains, at the same time, a greater predominance of air and

*Burney's History of Music, 4to, vol. iv, p. 612, &c. + Ibid.