The Sun.
London, England, 1847-12-23 00:00:00

SOCIETY OF ARTS.

-
Last night a very large meeting of the members
and their friends was held in the great room of the
Society's house, John-street, Adelphi; Benjamin
Rotch, Esq., Vice-President, in rotation, was in the
chair. After the usual routine business had been
'gone through, and the minutes of the last meeting
read by the Secretary,
The CHAIRMAN called upon. Mr. Smith Williams
to read a very interesting paper on the Progress of
Lithography in England.
After a few introductory remarks, Mr. WILLIAMS
stated that the discovery of the art of lithography was
like that of many others, purely a work of chance ;
it had been found out when quite a different end bad
been in view. About 1795—the exact period was
not known—Alois Senefelder, the son of an actor, at
Munich, and also an aspirant for histrionic fame,
made the discovery alluded to. He was in the habit
of printing the speeches which' he had to study,
and as copper-plates were' too dear, he tried tin
ones; these were found to be uncertain in their ac-
tion, and he had recourse to stone—a peculiar kind of
stone, known now as lithographic stone, was obtained
by him ; this stone was remarkably porous, and he
was enabled by its means to engrave his speeches
easily, and to draw the letters backwards; in this
state, however, he might have remained, had not
chance directed otherwise, having one day being
desired by his mother to make a note of a certain
household bill, and not having any pens, ink or paper,
he determined on drawing it on the stone; this was
done, and the writing allowed to remain some time ;
it then struck Senefelder if he bit away the stone
round the writing, with acid, he might be enabled to
produce an engraving; the acid was applied, and thus
the discovery was made. The art of lithography, Mr.
Williams said, was one which required the utmost
care and taste, the touches on the stone
must be made at once, from the circumstance that
no retouching would serve to improve that which
was once done wrong. That there 'were four methods
,of lithographing, by means of chalk or grease in a
hardened state, ink or grease in a liquid state, en-
graving with incised lines, and those lines being filled
up with ink, and by transferring drawings on pre-
pared paper to the surface of the stone. Great care
%VHS required to be taken that the outline of the
'drawing should be neat and cleanly executed, and
that it was properly bitten by, the acid ; for, were it
bitten in too deep, the shades- would turn out black
and patchy; and were it not sufficiently bitten in, the
lights would be faint and imperfect. The art of
lithography was an ally to engraving, not a rival, and
as such it was now regarded by English artists, and on
that account 'we wore fast approaching a state of the
highest perfection in it. Mr. Williams was very
warmly applauded frequently throughout his reading
of the communication. The walls of the room were
thickly 'hung with most beautiful specimens of
lithography.

LEONORA, A LOVE STORY.—Speculation has been
busy respecting the authoress of this work, whose
beauty and genius have been particularly alluded to,
and various ladies have been mentioned as being entitled
to the honour of having produced this clever and bril-
liant story; among others, Lady Dufferin, Lady Bles-
sington, Lady Duff Gordon, and Lady Emmeline Stuart
Wortley; but we can asecrt, on good authority, that
neither of these aristocratic writers is the author desired
'to be discovered, who now appears for the first tinie in
the literary arena.
NEWSPAPERS AND RATiwAys.......The sale of news-
papers and periodicals at the different railway stations
in London is becoming so profitable that the companies
now exact a rent from the venders for the privilege. It
is said that the sale of papers and periodicals at the
London-bridge station returns a profit of ten guineas a
week,and that the directors have put the privilege up to
competition at a high figure. The rent payable for this
privilege at the Euston station, is at the rate of 60/. per
annum,. though, until lately, the privilege was accorded
free of payment.—Railway Mies.
A letter from Leipsic, of the 13th December, an-
nounces that the new work by J. Venedey, "Sorwarts
and Ruckwarts in Preussen," (Prussia ; her Rise and
Fall) has been seized by the authorities. A seizure has
also taken place at Heidelberg, of a work, • entitled
" Trausiettoniof the Diet from the Secret Conferences
at Vienna to the year 1845. b

23, 1817.