The name porcelain is derived from the Italian _porcellana_, signifying
a cowrie shell, on account of the delicate translucent glaze on its
surface. At how early a date the manufacture of pottery began in this
country, before the Roman invasion, is not absolutely known. In the
Anglo-Saxon times the pottery of the Celtic tribes was confined to the
manufacture of cinerary urns and very common utensils of household
use; as they preferred the employment of glass and horn for drinking
purposes, and metal or wood for solid food. In the thirteenth century
pottery was reinstated in public favour; and a great advance was
made in the art, a glaze being employed from the fourteenth to the
beginning of the sixteenth century, when a new description of pottery
was invented, a salt-glazed stoneware, which came into the market with
importations of Italian fayence and oriental porcelain.
It was not until the good Père d'Entrecolles introduced into this
country the learning of that ancient Empire of China, in the mysteries
of the ceramic art, that our own ideas became enlarged and elevated
above the improvements made in our potteries. The Père, being a
resident in a district distinguished for its porcelain manufactories,
sent samples to his own country (A.D. 1727, 1729,) with information as
to the substances employed at King-te-Chin, for which kilns affording
greater heat and suitable for firing the differently-coloured enamels
were employed.
Hard paste was made at Plymouth, Bristol and Lowestoft, and the soft
paste at Chelsea, Bow, Derby, Nantgarw, Liverpool, Pinxton, Swansea,
Rockingham, Worcester, Shropshire and Staffordshire; felspar being
superadded in the latter two manufactories. The soft paste is produced
from an alkaline flux, combining chalk, bone-ash, sand or gypsum.
STRATFORD-LE-BOW.
At Stratford-le-Bow (called "New Canton") soft-paste china was produced
in the old pottery works, believed to have been established in 1730,
though little is known of them till 1744, when Edward Heylin and Thomas
Frye, a painter, took out the first patent, and a second in 1749. The
marks attributed to these works are as here illustrated.
[Illustration]
The glaze on the Bow ware was very brilliant, but sometimes erred
in point of thickness. The blue china was generally decorated with
birds, flowers, figures and Chinese landscapes. A pattern of hawthorn
was a favourite, consisting of two sprigs united. The bow and arrow
mark is usually found on small objects, and the dagger and anchor,
with a crescent at times, appears on figures. A small blue crescent,
with the horns turned up, have also been used. The monogram of Thomas
Frye, sometimes reversed, identified some figures from the Bow works
at a date previous to 1760. Many variations of Frye's signature have
been used by the workmen of this factory; too many for the space at
disposal in these columns. It was carried on for many years by Messrs.
Crowther and Weatherby, who employed some ninety painters, of whom one
was Thomas Craft. The Bow paste is very hard and compact, and therefore
heavy. But the most delicate ware was also produced; as in cups and
saucers, which were like egg-shells in thinness, and of a milky
whiteness.
Under Thomas Frye the china was brought to great perfection. It was
after him we find that the works passed into the hands of Weatherby
and Crowther, and were closed by the bankruptcy of the latter in 1763,
Weatherby having died the previous year.
I may observe that sprigged tea-sets, Dresden sprigs and white bud
sprigs--all very popular patterns--were largely produced at Bow, in
addition to landscapes and dragon services; also statuettes and groups
of figures, vases, etc.
CHELSEA PORCELAIN WORKS.
The Chelsea manufacture of china is said to date from _Cenvirons_,
1745-49, but a species of porcelain was produced in a glass factory
at Chelsea in 1676, established there by some Venetians, patronised
by the then Duke of Buckingham. Clay from Dorsetshire, sand from the
Isle of Wight and kaolin, and chinastone from Cornwall and Devonshire,
were employed at this factory. An anchor sometimes barbed, and at other
times with amulets, and one within a double circle; as also a triangle,
with the name "Chelsea," and the date "1745" beneath it, were the marks
chosen to distinguish this ware. On the finest specimens the anchor is
gilt, on those of second quality in red, brown or purple upon the glaze.
[Illustration]
The porcelain of Chelsea bears some resemblance to that of Venice of
about the same date--the Cozzi period, 1780--which is natural, the
founders of the manufactory having been Venetians; and the porcelain
produced there stands amongst the very first of our English ceramic
works in every respect, ranking higher than that of Bristol. The
workmen were originally procured from Bow, Burslem and other works;
the china manufacture being carried on at first by William the Duke of
Cumberland and Sir Everard Faulkenor, the latter dying in 1755 or 1758,
and the former in 1765, when Sprimont became sole proprietor. Three
blemishes, or spots, characterise the china of this factory, appearing
at equal distances where the glaze has been removed, apparently by
contact with what the article rested upon.
The work executed at the Chelsea factory ranked in the highest place
that was ever attained at others in this country. It was greatly
admired by Wedgwood, and was scarcely inferior to the best at Sèvres.
The whole contents of the manufactory were sold by auction by M.
Sprimont on his retirement; Mr. Duesbury purchasing the house, etc.,
and the remainder of the stock was sold by Christie and Ansell in 1779.
One of the earliest of the Chelsea marks is here given showing the
date; and two anchors side by side and one inverted, in gold, is only
found on the finest examples.
[Illustration]
The early productions of Chelsea were of soft paste, and the glaze
was thick and creamy, much of the white ground being left without
decoration. The pieces with the _bleu de Vincennes_, the peacock green
and turquoise blue, copied from the Sèvres ceramists, were of later
date. Those of claret-colour are very rare. All these self-coloured
examples are highly gilt.
(_To be continued._)
RINGS LOST AND FOUND.
BY DORA DE BLAQUIÈRE.
Nothing is more curious and interesting in the changes and chances of
the world than the stories of things "lost and found." One constantly
hears of such on the best authority, being told by people in whom one
has the most perfect confidence, and who have no reason to deceive
us. Nearly everyone has tales of this kind to tell you when once they
understand your interest in the subject, and generally they are about
some article of jewelry, and nearly always of finger-rings. I have a
large number of notes taken down from people's own lips, some of which
would be too strange to be believed if you did not know the character
of the narrator. Tales of what we call coincidences, of dreams, of
apparitions, all connected with the recovery of certain articles,
appear in the collection, but in the following papers I shall try to
avoid taxing your powers of belief too severely, for though I may
believe what has been related to me, you, not having had my experiences
and knowledge of my sources of information, would probably refuse to
credit them.
One of the most remarkable tales of rings lost and found is that told
of the discovery, in June, 1820, of the signet-ring of Mary, Queen of
Scots, in the ruins of the Castle of Fotheringay. The finder was a
workman named Robert Wyatt, formerly a private in the Prince of Wales's
3rd Foot. In latter years he gained his living as a guide to the ruins
of the castle, and often related to visitors how he assisted in the
digging-up of the drawbridge and the filling-up of the moat; and that
a Scottish gentleman had measured out the banqueting-hall, where the
Queen was executed, and found it correct, and finally, how the ring
was found by himself. It is supposed to have been swept away with the
blood-stained sawdust, and to have fallen from her finger during the
last agonies of her violent death. Wyatt died in September, 1862, at
the good age of 83. It has an inscription, _i.e._, "Henri L. Darnley,
1565," the monogram of H and M bound up in a true lovers' knot, and
within the hoop the lion of Scotland on a crowned shield.
This ring was exhibited at the Stuart Exhibition in 1889 (No. 337 in
the catalogue), but the description is not quite accurate. It was in
the collection of Mr. Waterlow, of Walton Hall, Yorkshire, and a full
account is given in the _Archæological Journal_, vol. xv., p. 253,
and also in _Archæologia_, vol. xxxiii., p. 355. No doubt seems to be
entertained that it was Mary's nuptial ring, as well as the betrothal
one, the date "1565" being that of their engagement, and they were
married the following year.
Mary's rings, indeed, seem to have been addicted to being lost, for
I saw at the Peterborough Exhibition, in 1887, a ring lent by Lord
Wantage, found in the garden of Sywell Hall, which is believed to have
been given by her to one of her attendants there. It has the motto
"_Tre loyalement ma souvreyn_" engraved inside, and is of fine gold.
A thumb signet-ring was found at Borthwick Castle, with her cipher on
it, "M.R.," and is believed to have been lost during her stay at the
castle, to which she fled with Bothwell, 1567. This was at the same
exhibition.
Though called a signet-ring, it is well to say here that a signet-ring
used by her is now in the British Museum, which was formerly the
property of Queen Charlotte, and subsequently belonged to the Duke of
York. The betrothal ring, however, is not a signet, though it might
have been used for sealing.
Another interesting case of a ring lost and found is that of Dean
Bargrave's signet, who was Dean of Canterbury in the days of Cromwell.
This ring was probably either lost or hidden in the deanery garden
when the dean was seized by Cromwell's Roundheads, and dragged to the
Fleet Prison. It was found a few years ago, and was recognised by its
appearance in the portrait of the dean, who has it on his finger. The
portrait now hangs in the dean's study at Canterbury.
In nearly all the cases I am about to relate, I have the names and
addresses of the narrators, and all of them are apparently true, and
quite to be relied upon. The first one was told me by the daughter of
an old lady, who was the daughter of a clergyman in Essex, and nearly
related to one of the Archbishops of Canterbury. She was walking in
the garden of the rectory one day, not long before her marriage, when
in some way a ring she was wearing slipped from her finger, and no
searching availed to recover it. Apparently it was lost for ever.
The path was an ordinary gravelled garden walk, and there seemed no
place where even so small an object could have found a sheltering to
conceal it. The next year, after her marriage, she was paying a visit
to her father at the rectory, and was walking down the same path in
the garden, when she saw the lost ring lying on the ground in front of
her. From the same authority I heard two other stories, the first of a
ring lost in a hay-field while the hay-making was going on. After an
interval had elapsed of a year and a half, one morning the coachman
came in with the lost ring in his hand. He said he had been cutting out
hay from the stack, and had felt something hard against the edge of
his cleaver, and on putting in his hand, he had immediately discovered
the ring. The second story was not of a ring, however, but of a very
valuable scarf-pin, lost by a great fox-hunter while riding through
a gap in a hedge. The next year the same ground was gone over, and
the same gap revisited, which reminded the owner of his lost pin. He
dismounted from his horse, and after a short search, found his pin,
which was sticking upright in the ground near the hedge.
Many of these modern stories of lost and found sound like repetitions
of old ones--"chestnuts," in fact. But they are not; and in this
matter, as well as in others of a different kind, history appears to
repeat itself. The Canadian story which follows is one of these, but
it is quite a new one. It was told me by a friend, and confirmed by
her husband, and by the original letter containing the account of the
dream, which came from far-off Assiniboinia.
The tale begins with a family who dwelt on a farm by the lake of J----
in Ontario; but finding that the rocky land on its shores was not
conducive to successful farming, they moved up to the Great North-West
and took up fresh land in Assiniboinia. The family consisted of the
father and mother, their son and his wife, and several children, and my
tale relates to the son's wife only, who had lost, some years before
her departure, in the garden of the old home, her wedding-ring. To a
woman it will not be at all wonderful to hear that this loss was a
subject of great concern, and also somewhat superstitious fear; for by
many people such a loss is thought to be an omen of ill-luck. Some of
the family still remained on the lake of J----, a married daughter, the
sister-in-law of the loser of the ring. One morning, about two years
after the departure of her family, she had a letter from her brother's
wife, to beg her to go across the lake to the old homestead, for she
had had a very vivid dream about the lost ring; and in this dream she
had seen it, lying at the root of a white flower, a phlox, she thought,
which grew on the right side of the front door, close to the wall of
the house and the door-step.
A few days after the receipt of this letter, Mrs. B---- and her husband
rowed across the lake and visited the old farm. It had never been let,
and a buyer in those regions is hard to find; so the garden paths were
overgrown, and the house neglected and forlorn; but growing by the
front door-step there was a white phlox in full bloom, and taking the
spade they had brought with them, they dug it up, and at its roots they
found the lost wedding-ring.
I also gleaned another story in Canada of the same kind. A worthy
alderman of a small town in Ontario was digging potatoes in his garden
one summer morning, in the year 1894. His wife had several times
summoned him to breakfast, but on her last summons he declared he could
not come until he had dug up one more hill. When he finally came in to
breakfast he brought with him a ring which she had lost in the garden
seven years before, and which he had unearthed in that last potato hill.
A story which I thought very remarkable was told me the other day, and
happened, I believe, at Hastings. A maidservant in the family of a
resident found a brooch in the street, and as it was both pretty and
rather valuable, an advertisement was put into a local paper by the
finder, who wished to discover the owner, but without success. Two
years elapsed, and the girl and her mistress both agreed that there was
no hope of an owner turning up, and so she wore it. The very first day
she put it on she went out, and walking down one of the main roads into
Hastings, she met a lady who, looking at her closely, said, coming up
to her, "I think you are wearing my brooch." The wonderful part of this
story is that the lady was only a visitor, and had not been in Hastings
since the day she had lost her brooch, two years before.
A writer in the _Globe_, a short time ago, gave a very remarkable
account of a coincidence which is said to have been quite
authenticated. A lady finding that the setting of a valuable ring had
become insecure, entrusted it to a lad in her service to take it to the
jewellers to be repaired. She lived on her estate at a short distance
from the neighbouring town, and on his way the messenger had to cross a
wooden bridge over a stream in the park. This, of course, presented the
usual attraction. The boy lingered, and bethinking him of his charge,
took the ring from the case for a closer inspection. But ill-luck
followed him, for the ring suddenly slipped from his hold, and falling
on a muddy bank, disappeared from view. The lad searched in vain; and
being apprehensive that he might be charged with its theft, absconded
from his situation and went to sea. Being a quick and handy boy, he
grew into an energetic and enterprising man; settled in a colony, and
in the course of time realised a large fortune. Returning to England,
he found the estate on which he had formerly served was in the market,
whereupon he bought it and took up his residence in the Manor House.
Walking through his grounds one day with a friend, they came to the
scene of the lost ring, and he related the story which had indirectly
led to his present position. "And that is the very spot where it
dropped," said he, thrusting his stick into the bank. The lost ring was
found upon the stick when it was withdrawn. It had actually impaled
the lost jewel, which was its own startling verification of the story.
The strange part of this tale is that the loser should have been the
finder, for there is nothing marvellous in the misadventure until we
come to the finding of the ring.
One of the interesting things shown at the Stuart Exhibition was the
keys of Lochleaven Castle. I am sure my readers will all remember the
romantic story of Queen Mary's escape from thence in 1568, with the
help of young Douglas, who locked the gates to prevent pursuit, and
then threw the keys into the lake, where they lay until discovered in
1805.
Many people have looked at the dredging and cleansing of the Tiber,
which has been going on for the last few years, with much interest,
in the hope that, during the course of these labours, many precious
objects would be discovered, and amongst others, the spoils of the
Temple at Jerusalem, which were brought by Titus to grace his triumph,
and which may be seen depicted on the inside of the arch erected to
commemorate his victories. Amongst these were the seven-branched
candlesticks and the table of the shewbread. These, with other
treasures, are said to have been thrown into the Tiber.
JAP DOLL SCENT SACHETS.
One of these little ladies travelled safely all the way from Ohio,
United States, wrapped up in a newspaper; her sister came only from
the other side of London, and arrived with a smashed head. Two kind
friends, knowing I am always on the look-out for some novelty for "Our
Girls," were seized simultaneously with the desire, which they carried
into effect, to send me an "idea" by way of a birthday present, and
here is the result.
[Illustration: _FIG. 1_]
The wee "Jap" dolls may be bought for a penny each at many fancy shops.
For Fig. 1, three-quarters of a yard of satin or any good ribbon three
inches wide, and one yard of a contrasting colour an inch wide, is
required. Double the piece of wide ribbon and fringe both ends for an
inch and a half, oversew one side, insert a thick layer of wadding
to within two inches of the top, plentifully besprinkled with sweet
sachet-powder--obtainable at any chemist's--oversew the otherside and
along the bottom above the fringe, cut a hole at the top sufficiently
large to insert the doll's body--poor thing, she requires no legs--fix
it firmly at shoulders and waist, take the narrow ribbon and drape it
gracefully round according to the drawing, leaving a loop for hanging
purposes. Fig. 2 requires but half a yard of wide ribbon, two yards
of quarter-inch ditto, and half a yard of one inch wide. Two little
sleeves are made of the wide ribbon folded lengthwise and fringed at
one end; the remainder is folded, filled, and sewn up. In this case
only the doll's head is retained; there are no arms within those
sleeves as in Fig. 1. A "toby" frill is made with the half yard of
inch-wide ribbon, and the narrow is arranged artistically according to
Fig. 2.
[Illustration: _FIG. 2_]
It is quite possible, of course, to make these sachets with any odds
and ends of silk without buying special pieces of any particular
width. The little dolls and some sachet-powder are the only absolute
necessaries, and, if good colourings are chosen, an array of them look
most tempting and fascinating on a bazaar stall. They should not be
sold for less than sixpence, and in some places might fetch a shilling.
"COUSIN LIL."
LETTERS FROM A LAWYER.