66 'poor potters" at Burslem were "more civilised" than "the better sort (so-called) at Congleton." The following is an extract: "1760, March 8th.-Went from Wolverhampton to Burslem (near Newcastle-under-Lyme), a scattered town on the top of a hill, inhabited almost entirely by potters, a multitude of whom assembled at five in the evening. Deep attention sat on every face, though as yet accompanied with deep ignorance; but if the heart be toward God, He will in due time enlighten the understanding. 66 Sunday, 9th.-I preached at eight to near double the number, some quite innocent of thought. Five or six were laughing and talking till I had near done; and one of them threw a clod of earth, which struck me on the side of the head, but it neither disturbed me nor the congregation." "1761, March 9th.-Preached at Burslem at half-past five, in an open place on the top of the hill, to a large and attentive congregation, though it rained almost all the time, and the air was extremely cold. The next morning (being Good Friday) preached at eight, and again in the evening. The cold considerably lessened the congregation-so small are the things which divert mankind from what ought to be the means of their eternal salvation." "1764, July 20th.-It rained all day till seven in the evening, when I began preaching at Burslem. Even the poor potters here are a more civilised people than the better sort (so called) at Congleton." The Act of Parliament for the proposed Grand Trunk Canal having been obtained, after constant and unwearied anxiety, the honour of cutting the first sod was wisely accorded to Mr. Wedgwood, its most prominent, most energetic, and most liberal promoter. This important ceremony -important, as it proved to be, not only to the potteries, but to the kingdom at large-was performed with all necessary formalities on the 26th of July, 1766. The first sod was cut by Josiah Wedgwood, on the declivity of Brownhills, on a piece of land within a few yards of the bridge which now crosses the canal. Brindley, the engineer, and many influential persons, were present, and each cut a sod, or wheeled away some earth after Wedgwood had set the good example. In the evening a bonfire was lit in Burslem, a sheep was roasted whole in the market-place, a feu de joie was fired in front of Mr. Wedgwood's house, and all the usual demonstrations of joy were indulged in to their hearts' content by the potters of the district. Thus this important undertaking was fitly inaugurated by the man who had taken the most active part in its promotion, and to whom the neighbourhood was indebted for so many benefits. The history of the progress of this canal, which has been pleasantly and graphically told by Mr. Smiles, would form a pleasing episode in the memoirs of Wedgwood, but it is enough for my present purpose to say that it was carried on with all the energy, and all the tact and skill, of which the truly wonderful nature of Brindley was capable, until his death. For six years he laboured closely and assiduously at it, and after his death, in 1772, the remaining portion of the work was successfully completed by his brotherin-law, John Henshall. The wonder with which the operations of Brindley, the "Prince of Engineers," especially as regarded his immense cutting of the Harecastle Tunnel, were looked upon by the inhabitants of Burslem, is well told in a letter quoted by Mr. Smiles, dated 1767, and written by an inhabitant of Burslem to a friend in a distant part of the country. It is as follows: "Gentlemen,-Come to view our eighth wonder of the world, the subterraneous navigation which is cutting by the great Mr. Brindley, who handles rocks as easily as you would plum pies, and makes the four elements subservient to his will. He is. as plain a looking man as one of the boors of the Peak,* or as one of his own carters; but when he speaks, all ears listen, and every mind is filled with wonder at the things he pronounces to be practicable. He has cut a mile through bogs, which he binds up, embanking them with stones which he gets out of other parts of the navigation, besides about a quarter of a mile into the hill Yelden, on the side of which he has a pump worked by water, and a stove, the fire of which sucks through a pipe the damps that * James Brindley was, it will be remembered, a native of Tunstead, in the High Peak of Derbyshire. would annoy the men who are cutting towards the centre of the hill. The clay he cuts out serves for bricks to arch the subterraneous part, which we heartily wish to see finished to Wilden Ferry, when we shall be able to send coals and pots to London, and to different parts of the globe." The zeal which Wedgwood showed in the furtherance of this scheme is thus well expressed in the private manuscript to which I have before had occasion to refer. When he once fairly took up the subject, "business, family, everything, gave place to this important object, for many months in the year 1765. Drawing around him the few that then thought with him on the subject, or were inclined to take an active part, they concerted on the means of gaining friends, and overcoming opposition. At this time the principle itself of the utility of canal navigation was disputed, and if any advantages were admitted, they did not appear to a very powerful class of the people as of sufficient importance to counterbalance the injuries they apprehended to themselves. Here was a great deal of intellectual ground to be cleared, and the contest was not for this or that modification, but whether the thing itself should exist at all. In this struggle Mr. Wedgwood was certainly the foremost and most active person, and for three months, during the progress of the Bill in Parliament, was nearly as much lost to his private connections as though he had been in China. The canal in question was called the Grand Trunk, because it was foreseen that many lesser ones would break out of it, as has since happened. It is upwards of ninety miles in length, joining the Trent about a mile below Cavendish Bridge, in Derbyshire, and terminating in the Duke of Bridgwater's Canal, in Preston Brook, in Cheshire. The internal passage through the hill at Harecastle is an object of great curiosity, being a mile and three quarters in length, and crossing many veins. of coal, which are got at a small expense, being thus laid dry, and the canal is greatly benefited by the supply of water. Mr. Brindley began this work on both sides at the same time, and his workmen met in the middle. The con trivances of this great man, by which he executed stupendous works in a short time that seem to have required ages, have been properly noticed in the account of his life in the 'Biographia Britannica,' the materials for which were furnished by Mr. Wedgwood, who lived in habits of intimacy and friendship with him, and ever revered his memory. Mr. Wedgwood was the first treasurer of the canal, and an active member of the committee for making and carrying it on for more than twenty years." The Grand Trunk Canal was finished by Mr. Henshall, brother-in-law to Brindley, in May, 1777, and was immediately productive of the greatest benefit to the neighbourhood. Trade increased, freight of goods was lowered to about the rate of thirteen shillings per ton, where fifty shillings had before been paid, the despatch and receipt of goods was more rapid and more certain, and the whole district assumed a vitality which has gone on regularly increasing to the present day. If for no other reason, the part he took in the carrying out to a successful issue the scheme of canal communication, to which undoubtedly the Staffordshire potteries owe their prosperous increase, would fully entitle Josiah Wedgwood to the thanks of his country, and to be ranked among the foremost benefactors of mankind. CHAPTER IX. JOSIAH WEDGWOOD TAKES INTO PARTNERSHIP HIS RELATIVE THOMAS WEDGWOOD. RALPH WEDGWOOD. HIS POT WORKS IN STAFFORDSHIRE AND YORKSHIRE.-HIS INVEN- ALEXANDER CHISHOLM. -INTRODUCTION OF "BASALTES," OR "EGYPTIAN BLACK" WARE. HAVING by this time firmly established the manufacture of his staple commodity, "Queen's Ware," and placed its production on a sure and lasting basis, and having by the improvements of the roads, and the construction of the canal, removed the only impediments which seemed to fix a limit to its consumption, from a want of easy and more rapid conveyance of raw materials to, and finished goods from, the pot district, Wedgwood felt that it was time to relieve himself to some extent from the weight of a constant personal supervision. He desired to be more free from this now established branch of his business, in order that he might devote himself more to the study of chemistry, and of clays and other mineral substances, with a view to the production of those higher classes of goods for which his manufactory afterwards became so justly famous. "With this view, and to reward the merit of a worthy man, a relation, Mr. Thomas Wedgwood, who had been some years a faithful and industrious foreman in the manufactory," he entered into partnership with that gentleman, giving him a share of the profit in, with the entire direction of, that N |