From the time of their first introduction, woodcuts of sacred subjects appear to have been known in Suabia and the adjacent districts by the name of _Helgen_ or _Helglein_, a corruption of _Heiligen_, saints; and in course of time this word also came to signify prints or woodcuts generally. It would seem that originally the productions of the wood-engraver were considered as imperfect till they were coloured; and as the St. Christopher, the Annunciation, and others of an early date, appear to have been coloured by means of a stencil, there is reason to conclude that most of the "Helgen" of the same period were coloured in the same manner. In France the same kind of cuts, probably coloured in the same manner, were called "_Dominos_,"--a name which of itself indicates the affinity of the subjects with those of the _Helgen_. Subsequently, the word "Domino" was used to signify coloured or marbled paper generally; and the makers of such paper, as well as the engravers and colourers of woodcuts, were called _Dominotiers_. Though we cannot reasonably suppose that the cut of St. Christopher, with the date 1423, was the very first of its kind, there is yet reason to believe that the art of wood-engraving was then but little known. As the earliest woodcuts are observed to be coloured by means of a stencil, it would seem that at the time when wood-engraving was first introduced, the art of depicting and colouring figures by means of a stencil was already well known; but as there are no cards engraved on wood to which so early a date as 1423 can be fairly assigned, and as at that period there were professional card-makers established at Augsburg, it would appear that wood-engraving was employed on the execution of "_Helgen_" before it was applied to cards, and that there were stencilled cards before there were wood-engravings of saints. Though this conclusion be not exactly in accordance with an opinion which I have expressed in another work,[106] it is yet that which, on a further investigation of the subject, appears to be best supported by facts, and most strongly corroborated by the incidental notices which we have of the progress of the Briefmaler or card-painter from his original profession to that of a wood-engraver in general. [Illustration: Old Stencilled Cards in the British Museum. No. 1 (p. 88.)] [Illustration: Old Stencilled Cards in the British Museum. No. 2 (p. 88.)]