and that their biography has until now been entirely neglected. The family of Elers is one of considerable antiquity in the northern part of Lower Saxony, where several places, as for instance Elersdorf, Elersdorpt, and Elerswolf, bear their name. In Hamburg, hereditary posts of honour and distinction were long attached to the family. Of this family was Admiral Elers, who was commander of the fleet at Hamburg, and who married a princess of the royal house of Baden. By this marriage it appears the Admiral had one son, named Martin Elers, born in 1621. After his father's death, this Martin Elers is said to have asserted his claim to some of the Baden family honours and distinctions, which were made the subject of long and expensive litigation, and in the end judgment was given against him in the Aulic Councils of the Empire. Disappointed at the result, and affected by the great expense attending the litigation, Martin Elers at once removed into Holland. In 1650 this Martin Elers married a daughter of Daniel Van Mildret, a rich burgomaster of Amsterdam, with whom he is said to have received a tun of gold as dower. In the house of this burgomaster, the queen of King Charles I., Henrietta Maria, is reported to have sought an asylum, and to have frequently nursed their daughter on her lap. By this marriage Martin Elers had two sons-John Philip and David; the first one being named after the Elector of Mentz, who was his godfather (Queen Christina of Sweden holding him in her arms at the baptismal font). Martin was a man of considerable ability and learning, and was appointed ambassador to several courts.

John Philip Elers was a good chemist and an excellent mechanician, and was held in much esteem by Boerhave. On the Revolution of 1688, he with his brother accompanied the Prince of Orange, afterwards King William III., to England. The Prince, however, did nothing to further the

For much of the information contained in this notice of the family of Elers, I am indebted to Major Lacy, whose wife is a lineal descendant of this Admiral Elers.

fortunes of the family, except the granting of a pension of three hundred a year to the sister of the Elers, who became the second wife of Sir William Phipps, the founder of the house of Mulgrave. Elers, or rather, I believe, the two brothers, settled in Staffordshire, John Philip having married a Miss Banks (whose sister had married into the Vernon family), in August, 1699. The story of the success of their manufacture of pottery, and of the not very creditable means used to worm out their secret, I have already told. On leaving Staffordshire, John Philip Elers settled for a time at Battersea, or Vauxhall, and from thence removed to Dublin, where he embarked in commercial speculations. David Elers became a merchant in London, and, dying unmarried, was buried at Battersea.

John Philip Elers left a son, Paul, born in Dublin, who was brought up to the bar, and had his chambers in the Temple. Of this gentleman a somewhat amusing anecdote is told. He had, it seems, an intimate friend, a member of the family of Grosvenor. Mr. Grosvenor being on the point of marriage to an heiress of the Hungerfords, of Black Bourton, Oxfordshire, had arranged with his friend, Mr. Elers, to go down with him to draw up the marriage settlements. While this was going on, Mr. Grosvenor and his bride-elect quarrelled, and the lady transferred her affections and her estates to Mr. Elers. They were shortly afterwards married, and Mr. Elers gave up his profession, and retired to the estate he had thus acquired. He soon, however, became involved, and ultimately, after cutting off the entail, the estates passed into the hands of the Duke of Marlborough. Mr. Elers had a family of nine children-Paul George, lieutenant of the 70th Regiment; John, in the navy; Maria, married to Richard Lovell Edgeworth, and consequently mother to Maria Edgeworth, from whom she inherited her talents as well as her name; Louisa, married to the Rev. Alexander Colston; Charlotte, married to the Rev. John Kirby; Diana, married to the Rev. R. Welchman; Rachel, married to Capt. Hopkins, R.M., who was killed on

board the Bellerophon, at the Battle of the Nile; Amelia, married to D. Baldey, R N.; and Jane, who died unmarried. The eldest son, Paul George Elers, married a Miss Debonaire, and by her had three sons, one of whom was a major in the 43rd Regiment; another (George) was captain in the 12th regiment; and the third (Edward) a lieutenant in the navy, who married Eliza Younghusband. By this lady he had four children. Mr. Elers died while the children were yet young, and his widow afterwards married Admiral Sir Charles Napier, who gave the children his own name in addition to that of Elers. The name of Elers has thus, in the direct line, become extinct. These children are-MajorGeneral Edward Hungerford Delaval Elers-Napier; Elizabeth Ann Elers-Napier, married to Colonel Cherry, 1st Madras Light Cavalry; Capt. Charles George Elers-Napier, R.N.; and Georgiana Elers-Napier, now the wife of Major Lacy.

CHAPTER IV.

MANUFACTURE OF TOBACCO-PIPES.-CHRONOLOGICAL SERIES OF EXAMPLES.-TILES FOR GARDEN KNOTS.—THE WEDGWOODS. - JOHN WEDGWOOD. PUZZLE JUGS. EARTHENWARE CRADLE.-DELFT WARE.-ENGLISH DELFT WARE.-UNIVERSALITY OF BLUE IN POTTERY.-EMBOSSED STONE WARE.DISCOVERY OF THE USE OF FLINT, BY ASTBURY.-PATENTS FOR GRINDING FLINT.-PATENT FOR DAMASKING, ETC.— RALPH SHAW. — LITIGATION WITH OTHER POTTERS. POSSET POTS.DR. THOMAS WEDGWOOD, JUNIOR.-RALPH WOOD.

AMONG the many descriptions of fictile art made in the pottery district, TOBACCO-PIPES had, from many years before Plot's time, been made at Newcastle-under-Lyme, and Astbury, soon after he commenced at Shelton, appears to have begun to use the Biddeford pipe-clay, for coating over and washing the insides of vessels. By constant improvements on this, the white dipped ware, or white stone ware, was soon produced. The maker of tobacco-pipes at Newcastleunder-Lyme, in 1676 and thereabouts, was Charles Riggs, of whom Plot makes mention.

It may be interesting to my readers, while thus alluding to the manufacture of tobacco-pipes in the potteries, to know something of their forms at the time when Plot wrote, as well as in preceding and later times. This will be best done by aid of the following illustrations. In the reign of Elizabeth, the pipes-which are now and then dug up, and are in our day, from their small size and peculiar shapes, known as "fairy pipes," and other similar names-were usually, it appears, of the elongated form. Pipes of this shape are

correctly appropriated to the reign of Elizabeth, through examples being known bearing makers' names, who are

proved to have lived in that reign. The next, here shown, is of the time of James I. or Charles

I., in which reigns there appears to have been a considerable diversity of form, as here shown from engrav

ings of the period; the dates being, Fig. 1, 1630; Fig. 2, 1632; Fig. 3, 1640; Fig. 4, 1642. The latter, it will be seen, is of the same shape as those of the preceding reign, and was in general use for a long period.

The next examples show the prevailing shapes in the time of the Commonwealth, and the reign of Charles II., the five smaller engravings being selected

3

4

from traders' tokens of the period, of the following dates :—

3

1

Fig. 1, 1650; Fig. 2, 1666; Fig. 3, 1668; Fig. 4, 1668; and Fig. 5, 1669.

Pipes of an elongated form, such as next shown, are usually ascribed to the time of William III., and, being found more plentifully in those localities where his Dutch