highest style of art," the portrait of Bunglebutt
as quick as "a flash of lightning."

However, whether the great Bunglebutt is
"beautifully engraved in the highest style of
art" or not, the art and mystery of engraving
a portrait upon steel is not to be accelerated
beyond "putting on the screw," in the shape
of working night and day; this poor Pickpeck
does, but engraving even a book-portrait upon
steel is a work of time for all that; besides
which, Bunglebutt is the proud possessor of a
peculiar obliquity of vision in one eye, and that
simple, if not beautifying, circumstance will
bring much wailing and woe upon Pickpeck,
the engraver, before Bunglebutt is done with.

It happens to be half-past one P.M. on
Monday, when Pickpeck has undertaken the
"flash of lightning" impossibility. The muzzy
and black-as-your-hat photograph has been
delivered to him; the size of the steel plate
has been settled upon; and so, to save time,
although it is two miles out of his way yet on
his way home, Pickpeck posts along to the
steel-plate maker, to order his plate; but
somebody has ordered half a dozen "flash of lightning"
plates five minutes before the arrival of Pickpeck,
so Pickpeek is content to accept the
promise that he shall have his "flash of lightning"
plate last thing on Wednesday night, or first thing
on Thursday morning. Here's delay — what is
to become of "Our empty Coal-cellars, and
What's to fill them?" What is to become of
the panting public? Down with Pickpeck!

Pickpeck returns to his home to prepare for
action. The first serious thing to be accomplished
is, to carefully trace the outline of the portrait.
Pickpeck selects a fine clear piece of gelatine, or
glass paper, fastening it down over the portrait,
which, being a photograph, does not show as
perfectly through the glass paper as Pickpeck
could desire; nevertheless, with the aid of a
magnifying-glass and his properly sharpened
etching-needle, Pickpeck manages to trace, that
is to say, slightly to scratch or cut, on the upper
surface of the glass paper, the outline of
Bunglebutt's majestic countenance, as it shows itself
through the transparent sheet of glass paper.

At length the steel plate arrives; whereupon
Pickpeck well washes with turpentine the
polished side thereof, besides further polishing that
same side by friction with whiting; then he
prepares to lay an etching-ground. Having firmly
fastened a hand vice to one end of the steel plate,
by which it may be held out at arm's length,
then, with sundry pieces of paper crumpled up,
and placed all alight in a fire-shovel, Pickpeck
proceeds to warm the steel plate through, from
the underneath side, against which he is slowly
moving the flame arising from the ignited print
paper; the heat being adjusted to that degree
which, in his long experience, Pickpeck
conceives to be sufficient to cause the
etching-ground to melt and flow freely.

The mysterious compound called
etching-ground — carefully tied up in a piece of silk—is
a small globe, not unlike, in size and colour, a
rather corpulent brandy-ball: a sweetstuff known
to most of us in our childhood.

The steel plate being sufficiently heated,
Pickpeck passes his silk-covered ball of etching
ground up and down the polished side of
the steel plate: the warmth contained in it
causing the etching-ground to flow out freely
through the pores of the silk covering; thus
leaving across the front of the steel plate what
look like so many streaks of treacle. Pickpeck
then takes up his dabber, also made of silk, stuffed
with wadding, and to which a holder is attached;
the entire dabber resembling most completely a
two and a half-inch inverted mushroom. With
this inverted mushroom-looking dabber, Pickpeck
dabs up and down, and backwards and
forwards, over the treacle-like streaks of
etching-ground, until the latter have become beautifully
manipulated into one harmonious and level tint,
very much, in appearance as to colour, like the
top of a hot-cross-bun. One more operation,
and the etching-ground will be complete. Lighting
a wax taper — which, to yield a good body
of flame, has been doubled up into lengths
so as to make a cable of eight wicks, the whole
gently twisted together, and presenting the
appearance of a peppermint-stick:, only not quite
so white to look at — Pickpeck makes of the
steel plate, by holding it at arm's length aloft, a
temporary ceiling above his head, but with the
etching-ground-covered side of the steel plate
turned downwards. Beneath this extemporised
ceiling, Pickpeck flickers the lighted wax taper
of eight wicks to and fro, so that the smoke
arising from the wax-taper flame ascending to
the steel-plate ceiling, that smoke sinks into
and amalgamates itself with the etching-ground,
which is still meltingly hot; the consequence of
this last performance is, when the steel plate
becomes cold, that the mixture of wax-taper
smoke and melted etching-ground has produced
a polished lacquer-like coating on the steel
plate, causing it to resemble a well-japanned
piece of black tea-tray.

The steel plate being quite cold, and the
etching-ground perfect enough to satisfy
Pickpeck — who is very fastidious in all these
operations — he prepares to "turn off the tracing."
Putting the glass paper, upon which the
countenance of the wise Bunglebutt has been cut,
or scratched, or traced, over a piece of white
paper, but with the tracing uppermost, Pickpeck
proceeds to sprinkle a little lead-pencil
dust on it, and then, with a small piece of
cotton rag, sweeps, or brushes, as much of the
lead-pencil dust into the traced lines as they
will hold. He soon ascertains when each line
is well filled, by their suddenly appearing black,
owing to the white paper underneath the
transparent sheet of gelatine, or glass paper.

And now to effect the transfer of the tracing
on to the etching-ground. The glass paper, on
which is the "counterfeit presentment " of the
tremendous Bunglebutt, is laid with the traced
side downwards upon the etching-ground itself,
and, when it is fastened in position, Pickpeck,
with one of his choicest burnishers, proceeds
to burnish over the upper or non-traced-upon
side of the glass paper. The pleasing result of
this operation is, that, as the burnisher passes