He did not
like the idea, though he believed himself fully able to carry it
out. There was a risk, he thought, which he had not meant to
undertake; but on the other hand the reward was great. He put
forth all his skill to produce the imitation and completed it in
ten days to his entire satisfaction. He understood the preparation
of seals as well as the rest of his art, and had no difficulty in
making a die which corresponded precisely with the wax. In the
first place he took off the impression carefully with kneaded
bread. From this with a little plaster of Paris he reproduced the
seal, which he very carefully retouched with a fine steel
instrument until it was quite perfect. Over this again he poured
melted lead, thus making a hard die with which he could stamp the
wax without danger of breaking the instrument. Once more he
retouched the lead with a graving tool, using a lens for the work
and ultimately turning out an absolutely accurate copy of the seal
used in the Chancery office. He made experiments as he proceeded,
and when he was at last satisfied he turned to the actual forgery,
which was a longer matter and required greater skill and patience.
Nothing was omitted which could make the fraud complete. The
parchment assumed the exact shade under his marvellous
manipulation.
Pages:
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373