record. Such perfection was never before attained, and it justly excited the astonishment of all astronomers, and of the Board of Admiralty. Manufacture of Earthenware and Porcelain. "Etruria! next beneath thy magic hands Glides the quick wheel, the plastic clay expands: DARWIN. The business of creating from a mass of clay "vases, ewers, and urns," which, in the homely language of the potter, is termed throwing, has always excited admiration. One moment, an unfashioned lump of earth is cast on the block; the next, it is seen starting into forms of elegance and beauty. A simple wheel, and hands untutored in other arts, effect this wondrous change. The means appear to be scarcely adequate to the end; and thence the poet, with seeming truth, asserts that "magic hands" perform this work of art. The remotest ages of antiquity lay claim to the invention of earthenware;-probably it was carried to a higher point of improvement than any other of the early manufactures of the world. It could originate only in those regions which produced its essential materials, and thus we find no vestiges of its having existed in countries where clay is unknown. In America, while some regions possess curious specimens of ancient pottery, others, in which the raw material has not been found, present no such antique remains. The natives of these latter countries have availed themselves of such substitutes as nature has provided. The gourd, called calabash, which they ingeniously carve and cut into various forms, affords them as abundant a supply of vessels for holding liquids as their simple modes of life require. The plastic power of clay was early discovered. It appears to have been employed in the most ancient times, as it still is in Egypt, to receive the impression of a seal, the affixing of which on property was probably considered, even at that period, as a legal protection. Job, in one of his poetic similes, says, (chap. xxxviii, 14,) "It is turned as clay to the seal." Many centuries before the art was practised in Europe, the Chinese had brought it very nearly to the degree of perfection which their porcelain now exhibits. In this one branch of art they have undisputed possession of materials of the most perfect combination of colors, of unrivalled brilliance, but of "ideal grace" not one particle. From Asia this art entered Europe through Greece, the land of "creative genius." The Corinthian potters especially displayed, in their designs and execution, exquisite taste and skill. Their works were more prized than diamond or ruby, and were amongst the most valuable decorations in the dwellings of princes. Greece, supplying with porcelain Egypt, the mother country of so many other arts, at length taught it to establish its own pottery, and, spreading the useful art far and wide, to become itself the benefac. tor of other regions. A Phoenician colony, it is supposed, founded the ancient Etruria, whence modern Europe has drawn models of skill and beauty. Though conquerors ought seldom to be regarded as benefactors, the Romans in many instances were such to the nations they sub. dued. Wherever they obtained a permanent empire, they planted their arts and manufactures. Though some maintain that Phoe nícia supplied Britain with earthen vessels in exchange for its metals, there are so many vestiges of Roman manufactures as to corroborate the belief of her being indebted to that people for the art of the potter. In the neighborhood of Leeds the remembrance of a Roman pottery is still recorded in the name of the village which rose upon its site-Potter Newton. Although introduced into Britain at so early a period, the pot ter's art long remained in its rudest state. The coarse red ware only was made, but was not of sufficient beauty or utility to be received as a substitute for utensils and vessels of wood and metal, as earthenware, in its improved state, has since been. In every dwelling, even the humblest, earthenware and china are now essential, and not only in England, but in all the civilized regions of the world. This change was principally effected by the industry and comprehensive mind of one individual-Josiah Wedgwood, the founder of modern Etruria. The Staffordshire potteries, which in his day consisted of a few thinly peopled villages, now present a continued chain of manufactories, extending for miles, in which tens of thousands of people are constantly employed and supported. For centuries previous to the time of which we are speaking, the manufacture of earthenware had, in this country, remained unimproved; and in Europe, generally, it had been almost as stationary. From the east, the wealthy and luxurious of the western hemisphere were supplied with porcelain, valued on ac. count of its rareness rather than for its beauty; while the humbier ranks of society sought no other than metal or wooden domestic utensils, unless they added to these some of the rude works of their native potters. At length, in France, Germany, and Italy, princes and nobles, as if ashamed of the neglect the art had experienced in the most civilized portion of the world, founded in their respective countries porcelain manufactories. These subsequently became of considerable eminence. The Sevres, Dresden, and Berlin porcelain grew in time to be the admiration of Europe, and was mingled with the works of China, which became less prized. But the benefit conferred by these royal and noble establishments was limited. Wealth was expended on them; talents were devoted to them; but their works never circulated throughout all ranks, nor effected any general change in domestic life. they have been limited to the use only of the noble and the rich. These manufactories cannot claim the merit of such general utility as those of England, conducted by a different class of men and upon different principles. Here, unaided by the hand of power, without wealth, and sometimes almost without education, men, the founders of British manufactories, have often started from the level of humble life into prominent and commanding situations. Dispensing means of subsistence and opening prospects of improved condition to thousands, they have acquired an influ ence in their day which nobles might covet. Among this class of benefactors to their race, the late Josiah Wedgwood stood preeminent. His early education, as was usual in his sphere, was very limited. Education in his day was supposed to be incompatible with the habits of a man of business. The disadvantages of this narrow system were early perceived by the intelligent Wedgwood, and his first step to the eminence he afterwards attained was the education of himself. Though apprenticed to a potter, he found leisure for acquisitions in literary knowledge, which subsequently enabled him to sustain a part in the literary and philosophical society of his time. He had no wild or irrational ambition which induced him to attempt attainments beyond his reach: this would have ended in disappointment and downfall. His dignified view was fixed to the improvement of himself and his condition by the most laudable means; and the result, after years of steady application, accompanied with great toil and anxiety, was an ample and distinguished success. About thirty years before he commenced the foundation of his future eminence, an accident had given rise to improvement in the earthenwares of Staffordshire. A potter from Burslem, (the centra of the potteries, and the birthplace of Mr. Wedgwood,) in travelling to London on horseback, was detained on the road by the inflamed eyes of his horse. Seeing the hostler, the horse-docter of those times, burn a piece of flint and afterwards reduce it to a fine white powder, applying it as a specific for the diseased eyes, a notion arose in the mind of the traveller as to the possibility of combining this beautiful white powder with the clay used in his craft, so as to effect a change in the color and body of his ware. The experiment succeeded, and this was the origin of the English white-ware. It will not be foreign to our subject to remark here, how every trifling circumstance that occurs is turned to account, when the mind is seriously at work on any subject. We know that the falling of an apple, the passing of the sun's rays through a vessel of water, the swinging of a suspended lamp, casualties apparently trifling, were fraught with important discoveries, because observed by men deeply engaged in scientific investigations. We are not presuming to place a simple potter on a footing with Newton or Galileo-men of mighty powers; but we claim for him a point of resemblance, because like them he pursued his observations with investigation and experiment, so well directed as to ensure improvement and success. This man, whose name was Ashbury, also brought to his manufactory the superior clays of Devonshire and Cornwall; and as the potter's wheel had been somewhat improved by a person named Alsager, we may consider that, though still vast and unoccupied, the field of improvement was discovered a short time before Mr. Wedgwood entered it. We must here do honor to the French philosopher and naturalist, Reaumur, who at a rather earlier period had been almost the first in forming the connection between science and the arts of life, from that time indissoluble, and ever since producing improvement to which no termination can be foreseen. Science hitherto had been regarded as an abstract pursuit-leading to little practical good, if not unfitting those engaged in it for the pursuits of life. The chemical examination which Reaumur made on oriental china, anticipated what in time the common experiments of the manu facturer might have effected, though not with equal certainty or rapidity. Upon those experiments the Royal French manufactory of Sevres was founded. This instance of the aid which science yielded to a manufacture similar to his own, was not likely to be unheeded by Mr. Wedgwood, and, accordingly, we find him effecting, in England, that union between science and his art, which Reaumur had done in France As soon as his means permitted him to deviate without pecuniary inconvenience from the beaten path, he appears to have employed men of science to aid him in his extended views. One amiable man, Mr. Chisholm, a superior chemist of the time, devoted his whole life to this business. Under the direction of the intelligence and indefatigable spirit of Mr. Wedgwood, he proceeded day by day, from experiment to experiment, until most of the principal objects in view were attained. Varieties of clay were sought for, and the comparative value of their properties for the manufacture in question was ascertained, together with the true proportion of calcined flint with which each variety would unite, and the degree of heat to which each could be submitted. The glaze also, it has been said, gave rise to a most anxious and assiduous investigation on the part of these indefatigable laborers, which ended without their attaining the object they so earnestly desired. The rude brown ware before mentioned had been always glazed with fused salt, by a process uncertain in its results, and one which, producing noxious fumes, rendered an earthenware manufactory a nuisance to its neighborhood. The improvement in this department of the manufacture led to the substitution of white lead for salt; but although the air on glazing days was no longer odious to breathe, the substitute acted as a powerful poison on those employed in this branch of the business. Every precaution which his humanity could suggest Mr. Wedgwood adopted, to prevent the injurious influence of the lead on his work-people: but the poison was too subtle; it was imbibed through the pores as well as inhaled; and paralysis often terminated the lives of those employed in glazing, or rendered a protracted existence an evil to them. Mr. Wedgwood's humane endeavors to discover another substitute for the lead were never realized, although his hopes often represented to him the possibility of its being effected. The evil still exists. The forms and colors were no less objects of his attention than the body of his manufacture. Oxides of metals, particularly those of iron, gave him an endless variety of colors, and for his forms and ornaments he took models from the best standards of grace and beauty which the ancient world afforded him. He also em. ployed both English and foreign artists of merit in modelling and designing. The early talent of Flaxman, and the skilful pencil of Webber, were engaged in his service; of which there are evidences in the perfect imitation of the Barbarini vase he has left behind him, and in the classic designs which decorate the beautiful imitation of jasper which he invented. Thus his manufactory comprehended every thing his art could attain; and taste, conve nience, and comfort could draw thence ample gratification. Excellence was his aim-whether in the common articles of use, or in the choicer productions of his taste; and so ambitious was he |