ENGLISH SPARROW. Ill) ENGRAVING. ENGLISH SPARROW. See House-Spab- Row. ENGLISH VERSIONS. Si'u r.niLE. ENGRAFTING. See Gbaftino. ENGRAILED, gn-grald' (from Fr. engrgler, Id engrail, from en, in + .'/'<"', OF. gresle, hail, from OHG. grioz, Ger. Gries, AS. greot, Eng. yW, gravel). A term in heraldry (q.v.), denoting a line composed of a series of concave semicircles. ENGRAVING. The ail and the process of making incisions in a hard surface, removing a part of the material. The term is limited in its use to such incising when done with deliberate purpose for decorative effect or for a n id of some sort. Engraving may lie divided into that which is done for its own sake, to show in con- trast, with the smooth surface around, and that which is done for the .sake of the print-, which may be taken from it. A surface which has been engraved may be covered with ink or wet color, and paper or the like pressed upon it will take the impression of the parts remaining un- touched, while the hollowed out (engraved) parts
ill not print off. Again, the ink or color may be
forced into the hollowed parts, while the smooth part is wiped clean, and in this case the paper, usually wet, will draw from the engraved lines and spaces the ink which they have contained, while the rest of the paper is left white. The common practice in the United States of using the word 'engraving' for a print from an engraved plate is erroneous and should be avoided. There is still to be mentioned that engraving which is done with the purpose of stamping a soft substance, thereby leaving a relief impres- sion. It is true that in printing on paper from an engraving the broad and black lines are in slight, relief; but this is not particularly desired; it is merely the result of forcing the wet paper into the incisions so as to draw out the ink. In seal-engraving, however, the resulting stamp in which the letters and other characters will be in relief is the object of the work done upon the hard surface. The letters, for instance, are re- versed upon the surface of the seal, but are rightly placed and are legible in the impression on wax or other yielding material. It appears, then, that when hard stones are engraved in in- taglio, the first object may be thought to be that the stone may be used as a seal to produce an impression; but the beauty of the engraved piece itself is such that thousands of intaglios have been cut which are not likely to be used as seals. See Gems. ^ Engraving of the kind first arfove named, name- ly, that of simple intention, done for the effect produced on the surface engraved, is seen in its simplest form where primeval people have cut characters in the surface of rocks and the like. The Greek and Roman inscriptions on stelee, ped- estals, and the like, sometimes extending to great length and containing elaborate public documents, though not generally classed under this name, are engravings of this kind. Xot merely the pos- sibility of being read was under consideration when these stones were cut, but also the decora- tive effect which, though simple — for the lines and shapes of letters are very few and without elab- oration — is still capable of a very refined applica- tion of artistic feeling. The incised Icffcnds on tombstones in European lands and such as fill our own cemeteries are pieces of engraving of the same character; and those who have, examined the headstones of a date previous in the nineteenth century will have observed that considerable decoration in the way of emblems of mortality and simple scrolls ami 'flourishes' are cut in the slate or marble, in addition to the lettering. In
- ili this work, whether in the letters themselves
or iii the decorative scrolls, the charm of the design is to be found not, merely in the curva- ture and proportionate size of the parts, but also in the constantly varying width of I he lines ami, what results from this, the varying slope of the sides of the incision. An incision may be of course flat-bottomed and straight-sided, hut, it is much more CO lonly cut, with two Bloping -ides which meet at the bottom like the letter V. Now, as the width of the sinking becomes greater it is Aery natural, indeed almost inevitable, to decrease the slope. This very difference in the sloping of the sides, added to the difference of their position with regard to a vertical line, or to the horizon, gives a play of light and shade upon these small surfaces which the eye hardly per- ceives unless it is especially trained for the ob- servation of such technicalities, but of which the mind takes cognizance, and finds a variety and play in the design as the direct result of these irregularities. The same causes of decorative effect are found in the smallest engravings. Thus, in a cluster of grass-blades or flower-sprigs incised upon a Japanese plate of bronze or steel, as in the sur- faces of some inch-long nctsukes, it will be noted that a single cut of the graver has varied in the width of the incision made, while retaining the depth very closely from end to end. A combina- tion of such simple incisions gives a play of light and shade of an artistic effect almost incredible when the small size and simple means are con- sidered. The same effect is produced on a much larger scale, and generally with tar less delicacy, in the engraved silverware of European and American makers. Thus a silver tea-kettle may have no decoration upon its body except engrav- ing, and this engraving will take the form of bunches of roses with leafage and flowing scrolls intended perhaps to inclose letters, as a name or the initials of a name, but still intended for decorative effect, and a similar but slighter adornment will appear on spout ami handle. As to engraving that is made for printing upon paper, the use of it in Europe dates from the fifteenth century, and there is much uncer- tainty as to the exact date of the earliest pieces. The story commonly told of the practice of cer- tain engravers in niello (q.v.) of printing impres- sions upon paper as they worked, in order to judge of the progress of their engraving, is prob- able. In fact, it must have been the custom among engraver- in all hard substances at all times to take impressions, either upon wet paper, plaster, or wax, or with ink or color upon scraps of paper or cloth. About the middle of the fif- teenth century the process of printing for the multiplication of copies was introduced, and since that time printing from metal upon paper has been constantly carried on by filling the hollows with ink and pulling it out of the hollows by con- tact with the dampened paper. As to the other process, licit of pulling off on the paper the ink which clings to the unchanged surface, while the parts hollowed out have not taken the ink or at least do not receive the pressure of the paper,
