CHOICE EXTRACTS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 237, 25 January 1877, Page 2

CHOICE EXTRACTS.

HOW LITHOGRAPHY WAS DISCOVERED.

After the first triumphant performance of Mozart's opera, " Don Juan," at Munich, the theatre was deserted by all except one man, Alois Senefelder had still much to do. After seeing carefully around the stage that no sparks had ignited about the theatre, he retired to his little room to stamp the tickets for the following day. As he entered the room he had three things in his hand—a polished whetstone for razors, which he had purchased, a ticket stamp moistened with printers' ink, and a check on the theatre-treasury for his weekly pay. He placed the check on the table, when a gust of wind took it, swept it high up in his room for a moment, and then deposited it in a basin filled with water. Senefelder took the wet dried it as well as he could, and then, to m ake sure of it, weighed it down with the whetstone, on which he had before carelessly placed the printing stamp. Returning to his room on the following morning he was surprised to see the letter of the stamp printed with remarkable accuracy upon the damp paper. He gazed long at the check; a sudden thought flashed through his brain ; he wondered if by such means he could not save himself the weary trouble he continually had of copying the songs of the chorus. That very morning he went out and purchased a larger stone, and commenced to make experiments, and, as we all know, finally succeeded in discovering the art of printing from stone —lithography. ♦ A CURIOUS INTERVIEW. Once, after an annual dinner of the English Water-Color Society, J. B. Pyne, the artist, walked home with Turner, that most mystical of painters. It was a walk of more than two miles, but not one word was said by Turner until they reached his own door,. There lie broke the silence with, " I say, Pyne, painting's a rum dodge, isn't it V' and shut the door with a " good night." It might have been of his experience with Gillott, the maker of steel pens, that Turner was thinking when he made that speech. When Gillot had from pens acquired wealth, he desired to possess those objects of art which denote the presence of refinement as well as of money, aiid he went up to London to ask his banker how and where he should buy them. The man of business recommended the various noted artists of the time, among them Turner. Off went the square, podgy, roiigh little- man to Turner's abode, asking at the door if the painter-man was at home. The great artist was busy—he could not see him ; Gillott walked past the maid, up the stairs, and pushed open the studio door. " I say, Turner —that I believe's your name—what's the figure for this picture turning it as if it were a dried codfish toward him. The painter raised his head an instant from the board, and said very carelessly, " Four thousand guineas." " And this other to the right," pursued Gillott, " what's the price of that ?" " Three thousand pounds," was the answer. " And this one on the left V' " Fifteen hundred guineas." " I'll take the three," said Gillott. Then Turner rose and laid down his pencils. " Who the devil are you," he

my be on're the reply I My banker tells me your business, and recommenc^^^^^^^H I have come here to buy pictures." " By George ! you are a droll must say." "You're another, I must say." "But," pursued Turner, "rough and ready though you are, I rather like you. Do you really want to purchase the canvasses you selected V' " Yes, in course I do, or I would not have climbed your blessed stairs this . morning." " Well, Mr. Gillott, I must be frank with you ; when I noticed you in my studio without permission, I thought it a piece of impertinence, and, when you asked me the prices, I thought you did . so as many vulgar people do, for mere curiosity, having no intention of buying, wishing only to know what valuation I put upon my works, and I gave you a price which suited my humor. Two of the pictures are already disposed of; the other, the first one you spoke of, is at your acceptance for a thousand pounds." " I will take it," said the princely Gillott ; " and I want you to make me three or four others at your own price." Thus the penmaker and the eccentric artist became friends, and warm friends too." Thus writes Mr. J. E. Freeman in Appleton's Journal.