middle of the last century, lived in and near Burslem; and among them were several members of the Wedgwood family, who seem to have been moderately wealthy manufacturers. We read of John and Aaron and two Thomases; but the Wedgwood, par excellence, was Josiah.

Josiah Wedgwood was born in 1730, at Burslem, where his father, Thomas Wedgwood, carried on the Churchyard Pottery, as it was called. Josiah received. very little schooling. At the early age of eleven he worked with his father as a thrower; he and his brother Richard worked in the two corners of a small room at this employment. Richard subsequently enlisted as a soldier; but Josiah never left the associations with which he was early surrounded. Though he did not leave them, however, his career was to be marked by a wonderful extension of them. His first commercial proceedings were in partnership with a Mr. Harrison; but the partnership was soon dissolved, and he established a pottery at Burslem, near those of his relations. He made knife-hafts, green tiles, tortoiseshell and marble pottery, and other articles somewhat out of the common course. His works gradually increased in extent, and he introduced successive improvements in white-stone pottery, creamcoloured pottery, and other kinds.

The circumstances which brought Wedgwood into note arose out of a partnership which he formed with Mr. Bentley, and with whom he opened a warehouse in London. This Mr. Bentley was a man much above the common order: he had a cultivated mind, a refined taste, and a wide circle of acquaintance among artists and virtuosi. From these persons, or through their means, he obtained the loan of vases, busts, cameos, intaglios, medallions, seals, and other works of art; and these were sent down to Burslem, where the ingenuity of Wedgwood was exercised in producing imitations of them in pottery. Sir William Hamilton supplied specimens from Herculaneum; other specimens of ancient vases were furnished from other quarters; and prints and drawings were lent or purchased in furtherance of the object. Josiah Wedgwood surmounted, one by one, the numerous difficulties incident to such a novel and delicate kind of work; and the colour, elegance, firmness, and durability of his imitations of the antique became more and more widely known. The courts of Europe were desirous to obtain specimens of them; and agents were sent over from France, Russia, Germany, and Holland. Whenever there were distinguished visitors at Trentham, the seat of the Marquis of Stafford (in the neighbourhood), it was customary for them to ride over to see Mr. Wedgwood's works, at Burslem. In this it is now known that Mr. Wedgwood gained credit for even more than his due; for the ingenuity of many of his contemporaries was quite thrown into the shade by the lustre of his name.

Wedgwood made a few articles of cream-colour for Queen Charlotte, who afterwards ordered a complete

in the mode of finishing. The service was highly approved: the pattern became the Queen's pattern, and the ware the Queen's ware; and under these titles the ware brought to Wedgwood such an amount of business as speedily made him a wealthy man: his works of art brought him fame, but his works of everyday utility placed him in the position of an opulent manufacturer.

The next novelty was jasper-ware, which had great celebrity for many years. This is a beautiful and fine kind of pottery, which can be so coloured with metallic oxides as to impart a tint to any part of the surface, and leave the rest a pure and delicate white: it was much employed for cameos, and for profile likenesses of eminent persons. He also made busts of black Egyptian ware.

Mr. Wedgwood, in 1768, established another Pottery (having already three or four), a little to the west of Shelton, and near it he built a mansion for himself and a street of houses for his work-people. To this group (as we mentioned in a former page) he gave the name of Etruria, from the name of the ancient country which produced so many beautiful vases and urns in pottery. Etruria became the chief point of attraction in the Pottery district; for Wedgwood's name was by this name known throughout Europe. There was a largeness of view about Wedgwood, in most of his arrangements, which marked him as much as his inventive talent. In working out his plans, there was a liberality, a magnitude, which astonished many of his contemporaries.

The incident of the Barberini, or Portland Vase, was a striking example in point. This exquisite production of ancient art, shortly after being brought to England, was put up to auction. The Duchess of Portland was exceedingly anxious to become the possessor of it; and she outbid the competitors one after another. There was one bidder, however, who refused to yield: as often as she raised the proffered price he did so likewise. The biddings thus ran up to an unusually high sum; and the Duke of Portland, who was present, wished to ascertain why this pertinacity was exhibited. The competitor was Wedgwood, the potter, who desired to obtain possession of the vase, that he might make copies of it in pottery. The Duke on hearing this, proposed that Wedgwood should cease his biddings, on condition that the vase should be lent to him for a sufficient time: this proposal was accepted; and the Duchess became the owner of the Barberini (thenceforward the Portland) Vase, at the unprecedented sum of eighteen hundred guineas. Wedgwood then brought all the resources of his art into work, to produce imitations, as exact as possible, of the vase. He succeeded to a degree which astonished everybody he obtained a subscription-list, for copies, at fifty guineas each; but so elaborate was the work, that he is understood to have lost money by it as a commercial speculation. This, however, was one feature in Wedgwood's career: his beautiful works of art brought him dis

tinction rather than wealth; but this distinction was a stepping-stone to the acquisition of fortune, in those branches of the manufacture where (the number of copies being reckoned by thousands rather than by units) commercial profits are more likely to accumulate. One of the most notable of all the improvements in Staffordshire pottery, the printing of a pattern in black, was introduced by Wedgwood, about 1767. He was not the inventor of the method, but he was the first to get it known in the district. The method was by printing on the glaze; but the subsequent and still more successful system of printing in blue colour before the glazing, appears to have been totally distinct from any of Wedgwood's productions.

There were some very judicious views propounded by Mr. Wedgwood in 1785, which, while intended for another object, illustrated the importance of the Pottery manufacture at that time. The Government in that year entered upon an inquiry, how far it would be desirable to abolish the system of commercial restrictions and disabilities then existing between Great Britain and Ireland, and to render the intercourse between the two countries free and unrestricted. In the course of some evidence given on this subject Mr. Wedgwood said: "Though the manufacturing part alone, in the Potteries, and their immediate vicinity, gives bread to fifteen or twenty thousand persons; yet this is but a small object, when compared with the many others which depend on it. 1st, The immense quantity of inland carriage it creates throughout the kingdom, both for its raw materials and finished goods. 2nd, The great number of people employed in the extensive collieries for its use. 3rd, The still greater number employed in raising and preparing its raw materials in several distant parts of England, from near the Land's End, in Cornwall, one way along different parts of the coast, to Falmouth, Teignmouth, Exeter, Poole, Gravesend, and the Norfolk coast; the other way to Bideford, Wales, and the Irish coast. 4th, The coasting-vessels, which, after having been employed at the proper season in the Newfoundland fisheries, carry these materials coastwise to Liverpool and Hull, to the amount of more than 20,000 tons yearly; and at times when, without this employment, they would be laid up idle in harbour. 5th, The further conveyance of these materials from those ports, by river and canal navigation, to the Potteries, situated in one of the most inland parts of this kingdom. And, 6th, The re-conveyance of the finished goods to the different parts of this island, where they are shipped for every foreign market that is open to the earthenwares of England."

The remainder of Wedgwood's career need not be traced. There cannot be a question that, in enriching himself, he enriched the district generally; for the taste which he had created led to an increased demand from all quarters, which Staffordshire was fitted to satisfy. It was no longer deemed necessary to look to foreign countries for anything like ornamental works in pottery. Wedgwood had shown that Staffordshire

could not only produce such, but could invent wholly new and original kinds.

The whole of the wares hitherto mentioned in connection with the history of the Pottery district were distinct and different from porcelain or china. This latter is translucent and almost vitreous in its substance; but the clays and sands of Staffordshire, however they may be modified, produce only opaque varieties of ware. Why it was that China could produce such a beautiful substance, and that no one in Europe could equal it, was a standing subject of inquiry for a long period. Père d'Entrecolles, a Jesuit missionary to China in the early part of the last century, was enabled to send home to France a few specimens of the materials employed in making porcelain, together with a description of two materials called kaolin and petuntse, and an account of the great Chinese manufactory at King-te-ching. Réaumur, in France, and Bötticher in Saxony, prosecuted researches into the best mode of imitating the Chinese porcelain; both succeeded to a certain extent, and gave origin, respectively, to the manufactories at Sèvres and Dresden. The attention of various persons in England was by this time attracted to the subject. Mr. Cooksworthy, a resident at Plymouth, discovered, after a good deal of research, that Cornwall contains clays almost precisely similar to the kaolin and petuntse sent to Europe by d'Entrecolles: the Cornish clay yielding the former, and Growan stone the latter. Cooksworthy procured a patent for his discovery, which was first tried at Bristol; but the enterprise failed; and the Staffordshire Potteries purchased the patent in 1777; since which time porcelain as well as pottery has been one of the staple products of the district.

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One of the most recent points of interest in the history of the manufacture is the revival of methods for making tesselated pavements, analogous in principle, if not in materials, to those made eighteen centuries ago by the Romans, of which many specimens have been met with in England. An opportunity will occur presently for saying a little on this matter. to the state of matters in the present day, everything that has ever yet been made at the Staffordshire Potteries is now made, or would readily be made, if the fashion were to revive; while every year introduces something new in the manufacture. What the total amount of the manufactures may be, it is quite impossible to say-or, at any rate, the estimate would be very little better than a rude guess. We know, from the official accounts, that the declared value of the earthenware exported in the years 1846, 1847, 1848, was about £800,000 per annum; but what proportion this bears to the value of the quantity retained for home consumption cannot be officially ascertained; for earthenware is, fortunately, not an exciseable article.

A PEEP INTO THE WORKSHops. We must now fulfil the promise of taking a glance into the interior of one of the banks, to see the

general character of what is there going on, if not to obtain a minute knowledge of such affairs. It matters not whither we go; for these establishments are very much alike in the essential features, although differing considerably in size. The reader may therefore suppose himself in any one of the Pottery towns he may please; but he had better carry his imagination into a large establishment, where porcelain as well as earthenware is made.

We enter the gates, then, and find ourselves surrounded by buildings of all shapes and sizes. If it be a recently built concern, the buildings may be symmetrically arranged around a rectangular court; but if (as is often the case) the establishment has been gradually adapted to the growing requirements of the firm, the chances are that the buildings are scattered with great irregularity over a large area of ground. Messrs. Copeland's great works, at Stoke, are of this latter kind. They are said to cover no less than ten

or twelve acres. They were founded by Josiah Spode (the first of three bearing that name), pretty nearly a century ago; and they were brought into note by the Spode's ware, which used to be so much in request. Advancing trade has led to additional buildings, until the whole is now a perfect scene of bustle. There have been times, we believe, when nearly a thousand persons have been employed at once within the works; but even if the average number were two-thirds of this amount, it would still be adequate to the production of enormous quantities of ware; and yet there are establishments in all the Pottery towns which reach this latter-named limit. In the works in question. there is quite a labyrinth of courts and passages, bounded by buildings in every direction, so that it is difficult to obtain a clear idea of the arrangement of the place. The buildings themselves, however, are definite enough in their appropriation. In many cases the whole of the buildings surrounding one court, or

quadrangle, are appropriated to one kind of work, and the group, or square, is named aecordingly: thus, there are the plate-square, the saucer-square, the dish-square, the coloured-body-square, the printer's square, and so forth. Another division, the black bank, is devoted to the making of black ware. The porcelain-square, or china bank, is larger, cleaner, and more regular than the others, as it is connected with work in which great nicety is requisite. There are said to be in these works seven biscuit-ovens, fourteen glaze-ovens, and sixteen enamelling-kilns, for the various kinds of work. In the wide open area of the works, of which a cursory glance may be obtained from the railway, are large heaps of stone, flint, chert, clay, gypsum, marl, and coal, landed from the canal which flows past the works, and ready to take their respective parts in the labours of the establishment.

If we could look through the works of the magnates of the district, the Woods, the Davenports, the Ridgways, the Mintons, &c.-we should see but varied phases of the same scene which the Copeland works at Stoke present; and one will serve as a type for all, as regards our present object. Our Cut No. 6 will convey a pretty general idea of the interior of such establishments; while Cut No. 7 exhibits one of the

firing ovens, which act such an important part in the manufactures of the district.

In respect to the operations carried on within such works, they commence, of course, with the preparation of the materials employed; and these materials differ according to the kind of ware to be made; but, generally speaking, flint and some kind of clay are employed. For the finest kinds of porcelain the substances employed are flint, Cornish stone, Cornish clay, and calcined bone: the flint seems to impart a vitreous and strengthening quality; the clay a plastic or working quality; and the bone a semi-transparent quality. Most of the flint is brought from the neighbourhood of Gravesend; the fine clays from Cornwall and Dorset, the coarse clays from the neighbourhood of the Potteries themselves, and bone from any or all quarters.

Flint requires to be calcined, or burned, before it is fitted for use in making porcelain or earthenware; and this is effected by placing the rough flint stones in a kiln, interstratified with coal, and setting fire to the mass when taken from the kiln, the flints are easily pounded by the ponderous blows of a series of ironshod stampers. All the materials are then separately ground to a fine powder, in a wet state; and the next stage is to mix them up into a liquid mixture called

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