A pretty bungle we have made of it! Instead of curing the original defect, we have produced a second.

Had we asked an artisan practised in 'planishing,' as it is called, he would have told us that no good was to be done, but only mischief, by hitting down on the projecting part.

He would have taught us how to give variously directed and specially adjusted blows with a hammer elsewhere, so attacking the evil not by direct but by indirect actions.

The required process is less simple than you thought.

Even a sheet of metal is not to be successfully dealt with after those common-sense methods in which you have so much confidence.