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SENEFELDEB, ALOIS. 



SENEFELDER, ALOIS. 



scenes are not linked together ; the incidents are not prepared. Now 

 Seneca could not have been ignorant of the common rules of tragedy, 

 known universally in his day ; and if he has not attended to them, we 

 are forced to conclude it is with intention that he has done so. 



His tragedies were written to bo read, and they were read with great 

 applause. They have not the rudest attempts at dramatic delineation. 

 A story is chosen, always a well-known one, on which to string 

 descriptions, declamations, and epigrams. The dialogue is tho most 

 appropriate form for such exhibitions, and consequently he has told 

 his story in dialogue. This seems to us the whole matter. Considered 

 in this point of view, they possess great merits of a certain order. 

 Their delineations are uniformly Stoical ; their sentiments ekborated 

 from philosophy, with very little poetry in them; their epigrams 

 admirable. Seneca was not a poet. There was no poetry possible 

 at his time, and if it had been, Seneca's mind was of a reflective, not of 

 an emotive cast. And although most of the poetry in these tragedies 

 is critical, conscious, and reflective although we seldom see that 

 spontaneity of thought and feeling which in true poets springs up from 

 the simplest reflection yet we cannot but be struck with certain 

 passages of unquestioned power and freshness both of thought and 

 expression. There is a magnificent flash of dramatic feeling and 

 expression in his ' CEdipus,' which is worthy of Sophocles or Shakspere, 

 and not borrowed from the former, as so many of his beauties were. 

 It is when CEdipus has put out his own eyes, on learning that his wife 

 Jocasta was also his mother (Jocasta has killed herself, and her corpse 

 is before him on the ground), and determining to wander, blind as he 

 is, from Thebes, the birthplace of his woes, he makes two steps in 

 advance, biit arrests himself for fear of stumbling against his mother ; 



" Siste, ne in matrem incidas." 



This is very pathetic, and shows an intensity of dramatic consciousness 

 which we find nowhere else in Seneca. It is in his ' Medea ' that the 

 celebrated prediction occurs which is generally applied to the discovery 

 of America; with what critical propriety, any one may judge who will 

 take the trouble of turning to it. (' Venient annis,' &c.) 



The tragedies of Seneca were translated into English by Jasper 

 Hey wood, son of the epigrammatist ; by Alexander Neyle, by John 

 Studely, by Thomas Nuce, and by Thomas Newton ; and there appeared 

 a complete edition in 1581, entitled ' Seneca his Tenne Tragedies, 

 translated into English, Mercurii uutrices horse ' (Collier, ' Hist. Dram. 

 Poet.,' iiL, p. 14) ; but the translators by no means adhered to the 

 original, interpolating lines, speeches, and chorusses, as they thought 

 fit. The editions of Seneca are very numerous. The most recent 

 edition of all his works is that of C. F. Fickert, 3 vols. 8vo, Lips*, 1842- 

 45 ; the Bipont, 1809, and that of Ruhkopf, Lips., 1797-1811, are each 

 in 5 vols. 8vo. 



SENEFELDER or SENNEFELDER, ALOIS, the son of a per- 

 former at the Theatre Royal, Munich, was born about 1771 or 1772. 

 The history of this persevering inventor, and of the difficulties with 

 which he had to struggle in bringing the art of lithography into suc- 

 cessful and profitable operation, supplies an interesting illustration of 

 the power of genius to overcome the most adverse circumstances. 

 "When young, Senefelder was inclined to follow the profession of his 

 father, who preferred placing him at the University of Ingolstadt, where 

 he devoted himself to the study of jurisprudence, occasionally indulging 

 his predilection for the stage by performing at private theatres, and 

 by employing his leisure time in dramatic composition. In 1789 he 

 wrote a comedy, called ' Die Madcheukenner,' which was published, 

 and by which he cleared fifty florins. Losing his father soon after, 

 he was compelled from want of pecuniary means to discontinue his 

 studies ; and he tried for some time to devote himself to the stage. 

 Disappointed in his hopes of success as a performer, he resolved to 

 try his fortune as an author, and published a second play, which did 

 not pay his expenses. While this was passing through the press, 

 Senefelder made himself acquainted with the process of printing, and 

 became desirous of procuring the necessary apparatus for printing his 

 own works. Being too poor to gratify this desire, he endeavoured to 

 discover some other mode of printing, but was defeated in several 

 plans by want of means. One of the projects he abandoned from this 

 cause was a kind of stereotyping. He then tried etching on copper, 

 but found difficulties arising from his want of practical knowledge, and 

 still more from the expense of the copper-plates, which he ground and 

 polished after using, to make them available for more than one 

 operation. To diminish this difficulty, he used a piece of fine Kellheim 

 stone for his exercises in writing backwards ; and subsequently tried 

 printing from it instead of copper, though without much success. Of 

 this use of stone, merely as a substitute for copper, Senefelder disclaims 

 the invention ; but his experiments upon it were important, as leading 

 to the discovery of chemical lithography. The next step towards this 

 discovery was occasioned by an incident which curiously illustrates the 

 situation of the needy inventor. Being unacquainted with the compo- 

 sition, used by engravers for covering defective places in their etching- 

 ground, or enabling them to rectify mistakes, he bad invented a kind 

 of chemical ink for the purpose, consisting of wax, soap, and lamp- 

 black. One day, when he had polished a stone-plate for etching^ his 

 mother entered the room, requesting him to write a bill for the 

 washerwoman, who was waiting for the linen. He found that he had 

 not even a slip of paper for the purpose, having used all in taking 



proof-impressions, and that the inkstand was dry ; and as the matter 

 was urgent, he wrote the list on the prepared stone with his chemical 

 ink, intending to copy it at leisure. Some time afterwards, when 

 about to clean off this writing, it occurred to him that, by the appli- 

 cation of aquafortis and water, he might etch the stone so as to leave 

 the writing in sufficient relief for printing from. The experiment 

 succeeded ; and as soon as he had brought this new invention into a 

 practical form, he applied himself to the means of bringing it into 

 operation, so as to gain a livelihood by it. ^ 



Being unable otherwise to raise the necesst^Heapital for the con- 

 struction of a press, the purchase of stones.^Ptper, &c., Senefelder 

 enlisted as a private in the artillery, as substitute for a friend, who 

 promised him a premium of two hundred florins, with which he hoped 

 to procure the means for carrying on his operations in his leisure 

 hours, until he could procure his discharge. With these views he 

 went to Ingolstadt with a party of recruits. But he was doomed to 

 disappointment ; for it was discovered that he was not a native of 

 Bavaria, and therefore could not serve without a special licence. 

 While at Ingolstadt, he was led to conceive the peculiar fitness of his 

 new process for printing music ; and he suggested it to a musician of 

 the Elector's band, named Gleissner, who was preparing some music 

 for publication. In connection with this person a few works were 

 published, which proved the capabilities of the art. The Elector 

 Charles Theodore sent a present of a hundred florins to the printers, 

 and promised an exclusive privilege for the exercise of their art ; but 

 the Electoral Academy of Sciences, before which Senefelder laid a 

 copy of the first work, with an account of the process, acted very 

 differently. He had mentioned the small cost of the press as an 

 illustration of the economy of his invention, and was grievously 

 disappointed when, instead of an honourable mention in the ' Transac- 

 tions ' of the Society, he received a present of twelve florins, with an 

 intimation from the vice-president that his memoir had been favourably 

 received; and that, ts the expense of the press did not, according to 

 his own statement, exceed six florins, he hoped a double compensation 

 would satisfy his expectations. 



The promising aspect of affairs at this time, about 1796, was clouded 

 by the difficulty of constructing a more efficient press than had been 

 used in tho first operations. A rolling-press had been used in the first 

 instance ; but owing to a circumstance which escaped the notice of 

 Senefelder, he failed in his attempt to make a new one. He there- 

 fore made a machine, in which the pressure was obtained by a stone 

 of three hundred pounds weight falling from a height of ten feet ; a 

 plan which produced good prints, but broke the stones after a few 

 impressions. Having a narrow escape from being killed by tho 

 falling stone in this press, Senefelcier abandoned it, and constructed 

 another on a different principle. Such obstacles, and the difficulty 

 of finding suitable persons to employ in the new process, brought the 

 establishment into discredit, and prevented the proprietors from 

 obtaining their expected exclusive privilege during the life of Charles 

 Theodore. 



The lithographic printing here alluded to appears to have been 

 mechanical, as Senefelder informs us that he discovered chemical 

 printing the art which has since attained so high a degree of excel- 

 lence and utility in 1798. Some of the earliest specimens of the 

 art, as applied to pictorial subjects, were executed under the super- 

 intendence of the Rev. Mr. Steiner, director of the Royal School 

 establishments. In 1799 Senefelder obtained an exclusive privilege 

 for Bavaria for fifteen years, and carried on a considerable business, 

 employing his two brothers and two apprentices. As the process was 

 no longer kept secret, many persons visited the offices, among whom 

 was Mr. Andre" of Offenbach. With this gentleman Senefelder entered 

 into partnership, and commenced arrangements for obtaining patents 

 and establishing presses in Vienna, London, Paris, and Berlin. Whilo 

 engaged in this project, he visited London, but without succeeding in 

 his object. Unfortunate circumstances led to a hasty dissolution of 

 this promising partnership, in 1800. For some time afterwards, Mr. 

 Von Hartl, who is described as imperial court agent, took an active 

 part in promoting the invention, the application of which to cotton- 

 printing then excited much attention. A fair prospect which now 

 appeared opening for Senefelder was destroyed by the derangement 

 in the cotton manufacture caused by the suspension of commercial 

 intercourse between England and the Continent, by Bonaparte ; and 

 some improvements which he had effected in calico-printing became 

 useless to him by being divulged by a person employed, before a 

 patent was secured for them. In 18C6 an extensive lithographic 

 establishment was formed at Munich, by Senefelder, in connection 

 with Baron Aretin and others. This partnership lasted about four 

 years, during which period a great variety of works were executed ; 

 some of them for the government. Several other lithographic estab- 

 lishments were also in successful operation in 1809, when Senefelder 

 obtained an engagement which rewarded him for the vicissitudes of 

 the early part of his career, and placed him in comfortable circum- 

 stances for the remainder of his life. A lithographic office was formed 

 about that time for printing the plans of a new survey of the kingdom, 

 of which a great number were required. Owing to an intrigue, the 

 superintendence of this work was not, in tho first instance, given to 

 Senefelder; but in October 1809, he was appointed to the office of 

 inspector of tho Royal Lithographic Establishment, with a salary 



