Bartsch's monumental work many students of the etchings have striven to
sift the authentic from the false. Needless to say, they disagree. Here are
the figures:--

Bartsch 375 authentic etchings.
Wilson 366 " "
Claussin 365 " "
Blanc 353 " "
Middleton-Wake 329 " "
de Seidlitz 260 " "
Legros 71-113 " "

M. de Seidlitz's list of 260 was arrived at through consultation with
several authorities, and that number is now accepted as approximately
correct.

Our enthusiast knew nothing of the work of the labourers in Rembrandt's
etching vineyard. He was quite ignorant of the expert contributions of Sir
Francis Haden, P.G. Hamerton, and Mr. Frederick Wedmore, although his
father, had he been a communicative man, could have discoursed learnedly on
their efforts. Fate so willed it that he came to Rembrandt's etchings by
chance, and, being sensitively alive to beauty and idealism, they merged
into his life, and became as it were a personal possession.

On a certain day, in the window of one of those delightful London shops
where first editions, prints, pieces of pottery, and odds and ends tempting
to the virtuoso, are exposed for sale, he saw a small opulent picture by
Monticelli. Entering to inquire the price, he discovered, as he had feared,
that it was far beyond his bank balance. At the invitation of the
proprietor, who seemed delighted that his goods should be admired, he