and Queen Street, very near to the new Wedgwood Institution now in course of erection. At the time of which I write, however, Brick Street was not formed, but was a part of the ground belonging to the manufactory, and was, indeed, waste land, covered with "shard rucks," and other unmistakable evidence of the potter's art. Queen Street then, too, was little better than a lane, but was dignified with the name of Queen Street, through Wedgwood being now appointed Queen's potter, and there making his celebrated Queen's

ware.

CHAPTER VI.

JOSIAH WEDGWOOD.-DID NOT TAKE OUT PATENTS.-HIS OWN VIEWS CONCERNING THROWING OPEN THE MANUFACTURE. ENOCH WOOD'S COLLECTION OF POTTERY.-INVENTION OF PRINTING ON EARTHENWARE. SADLER AND GREEN, OF LIVERPOOL.-NOTICES OF ADAM AND JOHN SADLER, AND OF GUY GREEN.-BADNESS OF THE STAFFORDSHIRE ROADS. -WARES SENT BY PACK-HORSES TO LIVERPOOL.- MR. MAYER'S MUSEUM.-MR. S. C. HALL'S COLLECTION OF WEDGWOOD WARE." QUEEN'S WARE."—BURSLEM DIALOGUE.

So liberal-minded, so open in disposition, so devoid of selfish feelings, and so ready to impart to others the knowledge he had gained, was Josiah Wedgwood, that in his "Queen's," or "cream-coloured ware," as in most other matters, he did not secure to himself by patent, as almost every other person would have done, his improvements in the manufacture of earthenware; and thus all the potters in the district immediately, to the utmost of their skill, imitated his ware and his patterns. It is remarkable that of all his inventions only one, and that the least important, was secured to him by patent, as I shall soon have occasion to show. In reference to his Queen's ware, Josiah Wedgwood himself thus writes a few years later on. This remarkable passage I quote from an exceedingly rare paper by himself, in my possession:

"When Mr. Wedgwood discovered the art of making Queen's ware, which employs ten times more people than all the china works in the kingdom, he did not ask for a patent for this important discovery. A patent would greatly have limited its public utility. Instead of one hundred manufactories of Queen's ware there would

have been one; and instead of an exportation to all quarters of the world, a few pretty things would have been made for the amusement of the people of fashion in England. . . . . It is upon these principles, and these only, that he has acted in this business."

A little further on, still speaking of "stone ware, Queen's ware, or porcelain," Wedgwood says

"It is well known that manufacturers of this kind can only support their credit by continual improvements. It is also well known that there is a competition in these improvements in all parts of Europe. In the last century Burslem, and some other villages in Staffordshire, were famous for making milk-pans and butter-pots, and by a succession of improvements the manufactory in that neighbourhood has gradually increased in the variety, the quality, and the quantity of its productions, so as to furnish, besides the home consumption, an annual export of useful and ornamental wares, nearly to the amount of two hundred thousand pounds; but during all this progress it has had the free range of the country for materials to work upon, to the great advantage of many landowners and of navigators. Queen's ware has already several of the properties of porcelain, but is yet capable of receiving many essential improvements. The public have for some time required and expected them. Innumerable experiments have been made for this purpose," &c.

Of the early "Queen's Ware," a specimen, authenticated

as being made at the "Bell Works," is preserved in the Museum of Practical Geology, having previously formed a part of the collection of Mr. Enoch Wood-a collection illustrative of the staple Staffordshire manufacture, which ought

L

never to have been dispersed. This example, a butter-boat of excellent form, is here engraved.

A few years before this time, Messrs. John Sadler and Guy Green, of Liverpool, had brought out their invention of printing on earthenware tiles, which process had occupied their attention for some years. John Sadler, it appears, from what information has been collected by my friend Mr. Mayer, F.S.A., of Liverpool-who owns one of, if not the, finest private museums in the kingdom, and whose public spirit in the cause of antiquities is beyond all praise-was the son of Adam Sadler, a favourite soldier of the great Duke of Marlborough, and was out with that general in the Low Countries war. Whilst there, he lodged in the house of a printer, and thus obtained an insight into the art of printing. On returning to England on the accession of George I., he left the army in disgust and retired to Ulverstone, where he married a Miss Bibby, who numbered among her acquaintance the daughters of the Earl of Sefton. Through the influence of these ladies he removed to Melling, and afterwards leased a house at Aintree. In this lease he is styled "Adam Sadler, of Melling, gentleman." The taste he had acquired in the Low Countries abiding with him, he shortly afterwards, however, removed to the New Market, Liverpool, where he printed a great number of books-amongst which, being himself an excellent musician, one called "The Muses' Delight" was with him an especial favourite. His son, John Sadler, having learned the art of engraving, on the termination of his apprenticeship bought a house from his father, in Harrington Street, for the nominal sum of five shillings, and in that house, in 1748, commenced business on his own account. Here he married a Miss Elizabeth Parker, daughter of Mr.

I cannot forbear expressing a profound regret-a regret shared in by all lovers of English fictile Art-that this collection, made long ago, at immense labour and at considerable cost, should have been allowed to be frittered away and destroyed. Some of the examples are now in the Museum at the Mechanics' Institution, Hanley, others are in the Museum of the Athenæum at Stoke, and others again are in the Museum of Practical Geology, London.

Parker, watchmaker, of Seel Street, and soon afterwards became engaged in litigation. Having got together a good business, his fellow-townsmen became jealous of his success, and the corporation attempted to remove him as not being a freeman of Liverpool, and therefore having no right to keep a shop within its boundaries. Disregarding the order of removal, the corporation commenced an action against him, which he successfully defended, and showed that the authorities possessed no power of ejection. This decision was one of great importance to the trading community, and opened the door to numberless people to commence business in the town.

Mr. John Sadler was, according to Mr. Mayer, the first person who applied the art of printing to the ornamentation. of pottery, and the story of his discovery is thus told:-Sadler had been in the habit of giving waste and spoiled impressions from his engraved plates to little children, and these they frequently stuck upon pieces of broken pot from the potworks at Shaw's Brow, for their own amusement and for building dolls' houses with. This circumstance gave him the idea of ornamenting pottery with printed pictures, and, keeping the idea secret, he experimentalised until he had nearly succeeded, when he mentioned the circumstance to Guy Green, who had then recently succeeded Mr. Adam Sadler in his business, Guy Green was a poor boy, who spent what halfpence he could get in buying ballads at Adam Sadler's shop, who, taking a fancy to the boy, who was intelligent beyond his age or his companions, took him into his service and encouraged him in all that was honourable. John Sadler having, as I have said, mentioned his discovery to Guy Green, the two "laid their heads together," conducted joint experiments, and having ultimately succeeded, at length entered into partnership. This done, they determined to apply to the king for a patent; which, however, under the advice of friends, was not done.

The art was first of all turned to good account in the decoration of tiles-"Dutch tiles," as they are usually called;