gems, glyptic, engraved gems, agate, cameo, intaglio, shell, ancient gems, Rome, Greece, ancient jewelry, rings

It has been very truly observed that no man can properly write the history of any sect, unless he be himself a zealous member of the sect whose history he writes; and the same rule holds equally good for all writings upon the arts. No one is fitted to be a trustworthy guide in any department of creative art, unless he has begun his education by collecting with enthusiastic interest all the productions of that particular art that came within his reach, and paying (as Goethe remarks of this very study) “many a heavy fee for his apprenticeship.” The writings of mere theorists, however learned and industrious, are after all mere compilations, which, even when taken from the works of others of larger knowledge in their speciality, prove valueless when referred to in cases of difficulty, through their misconception or neglect of what is really essential in their originals, and the prominence they give to purely accidental circumstances. For we always find that in his description of technical processes, the theoretical writer will enlarge upon unimportant details, and pass over others altogether indispensable for effecting the end in view. To give a characteristic example—a writer upon gem-engraving in a certain standard work gravely talks of gems being cut with blunt steel tools smeared with oil, omitting all mention of the harder substance applied in the form of powder, in which alone the power of cutting resides.