every possible scrap of information, and trained by the constant observation of good examples, he will find himself in the possession of a good and a valuable collection with the minimum amount of monetary cost. But what he lacks as capital in pounds, shillings, and pence, he must put into his hobby in indefatigable industry, and strive to know thoroughly that particular field to which he intends to devote himself.
The Revival of Etching.—The next great period of etching brings the art down to modern days. Méryon, the great French master, stands at the head of the French revival. Wilkie and Geddes, both Scotsmen, had graduated in etching, and Crome had bitten-in his favourite Mousehold Heath. But these stand as isolated as does William Blake in his poetry, who owned no immediate literary forbears, and whose spirit was ahead of his time. These etchers' work coming where it did made it remarkable.
The revival of etching in France was heralded by the work of Ingres, Delacroix, and Corot, all painters who practised etching. But Méryon (1821-1868), in the middle of the nineteenth century, was the great master whose freedom of line portrayed Paris as he saw it through the eyes of a poet. His etchings, like those of Rembrandt before him and Whistler and Seymour Haden after him, are most highly esteemed by all collectors. Méryon bravely fought against Fate. Originally a painter, he was obliged to follow etching by reason of colour-blindness. All the time he was producing his masterly plates he endured great privation and received little recogni-
