the drawings that were certainly made by Mr. Daniel by Drawings made means of this instrument, and the drawings which are said by it. to be made for different panoramas by the same means, afford convincing proofs, that it may be of great practical utility in delineating objects with truth and facility, greatly superior to what can be practiced even by eminent artists without its assistance.

The great advantage of the camera obscura is, that it Its advantages. fixes the objects to be represented upon the surface, so that when the artist has taken his station, and arranged his instrument, he has nothing to do but run his pencil over the objects which he sees lie under his hand, and, in propor tion to his capacity for drawing with correctness and facility the objects which lie before him, will his drawings be masterly, beautiful, and correct. What advantages has the camera lucida to oppose to the disadvantages of the camera obscura, or to put in competition with the advantages which the latter instrument is known to possess?

the camera

The camera lucida is portable in a very small compass; it Advantages of represents objects with more brilliancy and distinctness than lucida. the camera obscura; and it represents them either singly or in combination, with perfect truth and correctness of perspective. What disadvantages has it then to counterbalance these particulars in which it is evidently superior, in a very great degree, to the camera obscura?

tages

This will, perhaps, be best illustrated by referring to Its disadvanthe annexed sketch from nature, which I have drawn with the naked eye; which I attempted to draw with the camera lucida, but could not, and which I have no doubt that I could have drawn with more correctness, facility, and expedition in the camera obscura, than in any other manner.

several years under my eye; they consisted of figures drawn from nature in the fashionable dress of the time, the sketches drawn with much truth and spirit, the finished drawings tinted with so much taste, that I have no doubt the hand that made them was equal to any thing that was afterward produced as Bruce's, and as they were publicly sold as his before he had acquired any public reputation, or excited the tongue of envy to injure him, there is every reason to believe, that they were actually drawn by Mr. Bruce. These drawings were favourites with me so long as I had access to them; but my father's collection was sold after his death, and I know not what became of them.

Whe

instanced.

When I had taken my stand, arranged my paper, and fixed the camera lucida upon it, I had, upon looking into the eye glass, a distinct view of the whole scene, as perfect as the instrument would represent it; but a different arrangement was necessary, before I could have a chance of copying, or, if you please, drawing it: I was to alter the position of the eye glass, so that I should, in the upper part of it, see such of the objects as I was to imitate; and, in the lower part, a distinct representation of the paper and pencil with and upon which I was to draw; these two divisions will admit of different proportions, but, to speak in general terms, we may say, the upper part contains a correct view of part of the objects that are to be drawn, the lower part contains a correct view of the paper on which they are to be drawn, and the pencil by which the drawing is to be made: the operation to be performed is, to look upon the representation of the objects, and the represen tation of the pencil and paper at the same moment, and to copy exactly upon the lower, what is seen upon the upper part of the object glass; this every man will do in proportion to the power he has of imitating the forms of objects Difference be- that are placed before him. The essential difference between tween the two. the camera obscura and the camera lucida is, that the former fixes upon the paper the whole of the picture at one view, and the artist has only to pass his pencil over it to render it permanent, which he has the power to do with more correctness and expedition, and equal facility, as if he was drawing without the use of the instrument. The camera lucida, on the contrary, places before the eye a certain portion of the objects to be imitated, and a certain portion of the paper on which the imitation is to be drawn: the difference between the two operations will be exactly as the difference between tracing and drawing against the window, and copying the same drawing if placed before you upon the table: this is the difference upon a view of the whole proceeding, but, upon descending to minutiæ, other circumstances bear still more against the camera lucida.

The process

farther described.

The circle Fig. 2, Pl. X, contains a representation of so much of the view as can be seen at the same time, with so much of

farther de

of the paper on which, and the pencil by which it is to be The process imitated: of course the draughtsman will copy correctly on scribed. the lower part those objects which he sees in the upper part of the glass; but these objects constitute but a small part of the whole view; if the remainder is to be attained it must be with great trouble and difficulty: it is true that by moving my head to one side, and looking diagonally across the eye glass, I could see objects that were not visible upon looking directly into it, and thus by moving my head from one side to the other I could get all the horizontal lines, and those lines which approach to the horizontal position upon the paper, so that by this method I could get all the horizontal lines that were within the range of the instrument or the drawing: but it was impossible, by any artifice to do as much with the perpendicular lines, or those which approach to the perpendicular direction, without altering the position of the glass, and in doing this it was found impossible to connect the different portions of the scene that were viewed upon changing the position of the glass, with a degree of truth comparable to what may be attained by the camera obscura without any trouble at all.

The reader will perhaps comprehend the difficulty if he imagines the great tree in the foreground to be divided horizontally into four or more parts, each of which must be seen by itself and drawn by itself: the glass must then be shifted so as to see and draw another portion without seeing that which had first been drawn, and so on till the whole was completed. Independent of the trouble and waste of time that would be necessary to shift the glass, if it could be done with accuracy, the circumstance of not being able to see the whole of the scene while one is drawing it, and of course comparing the effect of the whole is extremely unpleasant: the instrument must be removed from the paper before the effect of the drawing could be seen, and if it should be necessary to correct it, it is next to impossible to replace it with sufficient accuracy to avoid making false lines, and of course destroying the truth of the representation.

I have stated the inconveniencies that I have found, in Method of making obviating the

desirable.

inconveniences making use of this instrument, and for which I could not find a remedy; others have, as I am informed, found the same inconveniences, and not been able to obviate them; some may have been more fortunate; and if they have, they will render a very acceptable service by pointing out the means of removing these defects: but, if they should do so, I believe it will still be impossible to produce a view, of any magnitude, by means of the camera lucida, with as much ease, expedition, and in as masterly a manner as an able artist can, if he pleases, draw in the camera obscura. This opinion I must entertain, till I see drawings as masterly in point of execution as Mr. Daniel's views in India, made by means of the camera lucida; I mention Mr. Daniel's views on this occasion, because I have been credibly informed, that they were all drawn in the camera obscura, and, as they are well known, they form a good public standard of comparison.

Mr. Daniel's views.

An instrument for taking views still desirable.

It appears then, that a perfect instrument to be used as a delineator is still a desideratum, and will be obtained when the separate advantages of the camera obscura and the camera lucida can be united in the same instrument, and not be diminished by any of the inconveniences to which each of them is at present subject.

I am, Sir,

T. SHELDRAKE.

Your most obliged Servant,

50, Strand, July 6th, 1809.

References to the Drawing.

Fig. 1. Sketch from nature as it may be seen and drawn immediately in the camera obscura.

Fig. 2. Part of the same view as seen in the camera lucida: the upper half contains a portion of the horizontal lines in the view as reflected in the glass: the lower half shows the pencil imitating the same lines upon the paper, it is obvious that by looking diagonally into the glass the view may be extended so as to take in a portion of those lines which cannot be seen when looking directly into the glass.

Fig. 3. Part of the tree seen in the upper half reflected