Portrait Engraving of William Cecil, Lord Burghley

Note: Dots on image are random, in a stipple pattern, or part of a handmade line, it is likely an early, high-quality copy of an engraving. It appears to me to have stipple engraving or hand applied dots, Popular around 1780–1830, this technique uses a needle or a toothed tool called a “roulette” to punch or rock into the metal plate, creating dots to produce soft, tonal, and shaded effects. These dots are irregular and, while used for shading, are still a form of, and not a replacement for, engraving.

This is a plate from “Portraits of Illustrious Personages of Great Britain”  by Edmund Lodge Published by for Harding, Mavor and Lepard., 1823