these wearing influences: the delicate ridges of the dry-point work flatten down, and the edges of the etched lines become blunt. After a very little while the difference in the impressions grows more and more noticeable; then comes the touching-up of the plate, in an endeavor to restore--in a measure--its former brilliancy and freshness; naturally this modifies the appearance of the print to some extent. The first of these retouches are probably made by the artist himself; later on, as the plate again wears, it may have passed into the hands of dealers, who, in turn, have the copper touched up repeatedly for further printing. Thus you may have a Rembrandt print, from the original copper, yet without even the echo of that which the great master had originally expressed. This applies not to Rembrandt etchings only, but to prints in general; whatever the print, the first essential must always be to secure a good impression of it. [Illustration: JANUS LUTMA Rembrandt] [Illustration: TOBIT BLIND Rembrandt] We cannot leave Rembrandt without glancing at one of those sketchy little prints which, upon examination, reveal to us his big-hearted knowledge of human nature and his keen powers of observation. Here is the old Tobit, a groping figure, eloquently described by means of a few telling lines in its pathetic, helpless blindness, the little dog acting as a guide. [Illustration: THE SPINNER Adriaen van Ostade] [Illustration: THE TRAVELERS Jacob Ruysdael] The influence of Rembrandt on his contemporaries and on subsequent artistic productions is very great indeed; none of his followers, gifted though they be, approach him in excellence and universality. To the Northern mind there is a great fascination in presentments of the life of the common people. Brouwer, Brueghel, Teniers are among those partial to this theme, and each of them has done some experimental work with the etching-needle. In Germany we find plates relating to peasant life among the prints of Dürer, Holbein, and the little masters. Rembrandt has devoted a good many plates to character sketches of beggars and of peasants. Among the other Dutch etchers the greatest interpreter of the peasantry is without doubt Adriaen van Ostade. He shows them to us at their homes, or at the tavern, smoking, drinking, dancing, merrymaking. The gay, sunny side of their existence is revealed in his fifty etchings, which display a thorough command of the medium employed. In the scene which has been chosen as an example of his powers, we discern the sympathetic interest in country life which characterizes all his work. Jacob Ruysdael, the landscape painter, has sketched on the copper a number of characteristic subjects, none, perhaps, finer than this clump of sturdy, gnarled oaks, with roots bathed in a shallow pool. The distant trees are flooded with sunlight, while the foreground is toned down to a lower key. All this is done in the simplest possible manner. The whole plate speaks