already learn of his earliest efforts, of the labours of his own hands, which evidently indicate an elevated aim, and a force bearing upwards mere handicraft into the region of true plastic Art: as, again, from that remarkable incident, recorded in the history of the Borough of Stoke, when he himself threw the first specimens of the black Etruscan vases, while Bentley turned the lathe. Secondly, because the very same spirit, which presided in the production of the Portland or Barberini vase, or of the finest of the purely ornamental plaques, presided also, as the eye still assures us, in the production not only of déjeuners, and other articles of luxury, intended for the rich, but even of the cheap and common wares of the firm. The forms of development were varied, but the whole circle of the manufacture was pervaded by a principle one and the same. Thirdly, because it is plain that Wedgwood was not only an active, careful, clear-headed, liberal-minded, enterprising man of business,—not only, that is to say, a great manufacturer, but also a great man. He had in him that turn and fashion of true genius, which we may not unfrequently recognise in our Engineers, but which the immediate heads of industry, whether in agriculture, manufactures, or commerce, and whether in this or in other countries, have more rarely exhibited.

32. It would be quite unnecessary to dwell on the excellences of such of the works of Wedgwood, as belong to the region of Fine Art strictly so called, and are not, in the common sense, commodities for use. To these, all the world does justice. Suffice it to say, in general terms, that they may be considered partly as imitations, partly as reproductions, of Greek art. As imitations, they carry us back to the purest source. As reproductions, they are not limited to the province of their originals, but are con

ceived in the genuine, free, and soaring spirit of that with which they claim relationship.

33. But it is not in happy imitation, it is not in the successful presentation of works of Fine Art, that, as I conceive, the specialty of Wedgwood really lies. It is in the resuscitation of a principle; of the principle of Greek art : it is in the perception and grasp of the unity and comprehensiveness of that principle. That principle, I submit, lies, after all, in a severe and perfect propriety; in the uncompromising adaptation of every material object to its proper end. If that proper end be the presentation of Beauty only, then the production of Beauty is alone regarded; and none but the highest models of it are accepted. If the proper end be the production of a commodity for use and perishable, then a plural aim is before the designer and producer. The object must first and foremost be adapted to its use as closely as possible: it must be of material as durable as possible; and while it must be of the most moderate cost compatible with the essential aims, it must receive all the beauty which can be made conducive to, or concordant with, the use. And because this business of harmonising use and beauty, so easy in the works of nature, is arduous to the frailty of man, it is a business which must be made the object of special and persevering care. To these principles the works of Wedgwood habitually conformed.

34. He did not in his pursuit of Beauty overlook exchangeable value, or practical usefulness. The first he could not overlook, for he had to live by his trade; and it was by the profit, derived from the extended sale of his humbler productions, that he was enabled to bear the risks and charges of his higher works. Commerce did for him, what the King of France did for Sèvres, and the

Duke of Cumberland for Chelsea; it found him in funds. And I would venture to say, that the lower works of Wedgwood are every whit as much distinguished by the fineness and accuracy of their adaptation to their uses, as his higher ones by their successful exhibition of the finest art.

35. Take, for instance, his common plates, of the value of I know not how few, but certainly a very few, pence each. They fit one another as closely as the cards in a pack. At least I, for one, have never seen plates that fit like the plates of Wedgwood, and become one solid mass. Such accuracy of form must, I apprehend, render them much more safe in carriage. Of the excellence of these plates we may take it for a proof that they were largely exported to France, if not elsewhere, that they were there printed or painted with buildings or scenes belonging to the country, and then sent out again as national manufactures. Again, take such a jug as he would construct for the washhand-table of a garret. I have seen these, made apparently of the commonest material used in the trade. But, instead of being built up, like the usual, and much more fashionable, jugs of modern manufacture, in such a shape that a crane could not easily get his neck to bend into them, and that the water can hardly be poured out without risk of spraining the wrist to lift over the weight, they are constructed in a simple capacious form of flowing curves, broad at the top, and so well poised that a slight and easy movement of the hand discharges the water.

36. A round cheese-holder, or dish, again, generally presents in its upper part a flat space, surrounded by a curved rim: but a cheese-holder of Wedgwood's will make itself known by this, that the flat is so dead a flat,

and its curve so marked and bold a curve: thus at once furnishing the eye with a line agreeable and well-defined, and affording the utmost available space for the cheese. I feel persuaded that a Wiltshire cheese, if it could speak, would declare itself more comfortable in a dish of Wedgwood's, than in any other dish.

37. Again, there are certain circular inkstands by Wedgwood, which are described in the twenty-first section of the Catalogue. It sets forth the great care which had been bestowed upon the mechanical arrangement, with a view to the preservation of the pen, and the economical and cleanly use of the ink. The prices are stated at from sixpence to eight shillings, according to size and finish. I have one of these; not however black, like those mentioned in the Catalogue, but of his creamy white ware. I should guess that it must have been published at the price of a shilling, or possibly even less. It carries a slightly recessed upright rectilinear ornament, which agreeably relieves a form otherwise somewhat monotonous. But the ornament does not push this inkstand out of its own homely order. It is so tasteful that it would not disgrace a cabinet, but so plain that it would suit a counting-house. It has no pretension: all Wedgwood's works, from the lowest upwards, abhor pretension.

38. While he always seems to have in view a standard of excellence indefinitely high, he never falls into extravagance or excess. I do not mean to say that all the wares, which proceeded from his furnaces, are alike satisfactory; but I am confident that it is easy, even from his cheaper and lower productions, without any reference to the higher, to prove him to have been a man of real genius, thoroughly penetrated with the best principles of art.

39. I have spoken of Wedgwood's cheapest, and also of

his costliest, productions. Let me now say a word on those which are intermediate. Of these, some appear to me to be absolutely faultless in their kind: and to exhibit, as happily as the remains of the best Greek art, both the mode and the degree in which beauty and convenience may be made to coalesce in articles of manufacture. I have a déjeuner, nearly slate-coloured, of the ware which I believe is called jasper ware. This seems to me a perfect model of workmanship and taste. The tray is a short oval, extremely light, with a surface soft as an infant's flesh to the touch, and having for ornament a scroll of white riband, very graceful in its folds, and shaded with partial transparency. The detached pieces have a ribbed surface, and a similar scroll reappears, while for their principal ornament they are dotted with white quatrefoils. These quatrefoils are delicately adjusted in size to the varying circumferences: and are executed both with a true feeling of nature, and with a precision that would scarcely do discredit to a jeweller.

40. Enough, however, of observations on particular specimens of your great master's work. But let me hazard yet a few words on the general qualities of his business and his productions.

41. It seems plain that, though uneducated in youth for any purpose of art, he contrived to educate himself amidst the busy scenes of life. His treatise on the pyrometer shows that he had studied, or at any rate acquired, all the science applicable to his business: his account of the Barberini vase proves, that he had qualified himself to deal personally, and not only through artists or partners or assistants, with the subjects of classical antiquity. But nothing can be more characteristic