“Etruria! next beneath thy magic hands
Glides the quick wheel, the plastic clay expands:
Nerved with fine touch, thy fingers, as it turns,
Mark the nice bounds of vases, ewers, and urns;
Round each fair form, in lines immortal trace
Uncopied beauty and ideal grace.”--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.
[Illustration: New Zealander drinking from a Calabash.]
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 similies, says (chap. xxxviii, ver. 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 colours 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 benefactor of other regions.
A Phœnician 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 subdued. Wherever they
obtained a permanent empire, they planted their arts and manufactures.
In this country, though some maintain that Phœnicia supplied Britain
with earthen vessels in exchange for its metals, there are so many
vestiges of Roman manufactures as to corroborate the belief of our being
indebted to that people for the art of the potter. In the neighbourhood
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 potter’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 account of its rareness rather than for its
beauty; while the humbler 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
Sêvres, 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 influence 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 downfal. 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 centre of the potteries,
and the birth-place 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-doctor 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 colour
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 our 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 honour to the
French philosopher and naturalist, Réaumur, who at a rather earlier
period had been almost the first in forming the connexion 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 Réaumur made on
oriental china, anticipated what in time the common experiments of the
manufacturer might have effected, though not with equal certainty or
rapidity. Upon those experiments the Royal French manufactory of Sêvres
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 Réaumur 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 labourers,
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 neighbourhood. 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 endeavours to discover another substitute
for the lead were never realized, although his hopes often represented
to him the possibility of this being effected. The evil still exists.
The forms and colours 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 colours, 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 employed 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 Barberini
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,
convenience, 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 to maintain
the reputation of his manufacture, that he sacrificed every article
which came from the oven in an imperfect state.
Such was the eminence Wedgwood reached as a manufacturer, that he
carried every thing before him. His ware displaced foreign china in his
own country, and spread itself over every part of Europe--not only
ornamenting the palace, but filling the cottage with means of comfort
and cleanliness. No ware could be sold that had not his name stamped on
each article. _Wedgwood_ became a generic term--the question being also
asked on the Continent, “Have you any Wedgwood?” He secured this
preeminence by the excellence of his productions, and not by exclusive
advantages. He always steadily refused to obtain patents for his
inventions, saying, “the world is wide enough for us all.”
⁂ We shall endeavour, in a future number, to give a general
statistical view of the Potteries of England.
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_The most unhappy._--Cosroes, King of Persia, in conversation with two
philosophers and his Vizir, asked--“What situation of man is most to be
deplored?” One of the philosophers maintained, that it was old age
accompanied with extreme poverty; the other, that if was to have the
body oppressed by infirmities, the mind worn out, and the heart broken
by a heavy series of misfortunes. “I know a condition more to be
pitied,” said the Vizir, “and it is that of him, who has passed through
life without doing good; and who, unexpectedly surprised by death, is
sent to appear before the tribunal of the Sovereign Judge.”--_Miscellany
of Eastern Learning._
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_Rat Conquest._--The most complete conquest ever made in England by
invaders, is said to have been made by the Hanoverian rats that were
accidentally introduced, and which have literally extirpated the
original rat of the country.
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_Public Servants._--In an admonition addressed by the present Emperor of
China to the officers of his government, is this remarkable passage--“He
who sincerely serves his country, leaves the fragrance of a good name to
a hundred ages; he who does not, leaves a name that stinks for tens of
thousands of years.”
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