150 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



earth. He had several samples of the china-ware of their making 

 with him, which were, I think, equal to the Asiatic. 'Twas 

 found in the back of Virginia, where he was in quest of mines ; 

 and having read Du Halde, discovered both the petunse and 

 kaulin. 'Tis the latter earth, he says, is the essential thing 

 towards the success of the manufacture. He is gone for a cargo 

 of it, having bought the whole country of the Indians where it 

 rises. They can import it for £13 per ton, and by that means 

 afford their china as cheap as common stoneware. But they 

 intend only to go about 30 per cent under the company." 



We must not conclude from this statement that the ware which 

 Cookworthy had seen had been made in America. It is much 

 more probable that the pieces were some of those produced at the 

 Bow works, within the year that had just passed, from the re- 

 cently discovered American materials. 



Not until 1769 was there any serious attempt made to manu- 

 facture fine porcelain on this side of the water. In Watson's 

 Annals of Philadelphia we find the brief statement that "the 

 desire to encourage domestic fabrics gave rise, in 1771, to the 

 erection of a flint-glass manufactory near Lancaster, by which 

 they hoped to save £30,000 to the province. A china factory, too, 

 was also erected on Prime Street, near the present Navy Yard, 

 intended to make china at a saving of £15,000." In a foot-note 

 the author adds : " This long row of wooden houses afterwards 

 became famous as a sailors' brothel and riot-house on a large 

 scale. The former frail ware proved an abortive scheme." Mr. 

 Charles Henry Hart, of Philadelphia, made the interesting dis- 

 covery, a few years ago, of some old advertisements in the news- 

 papers of that time which threw considerable light on this early 

 American enterprise, and he has kindly placed at my disposal the 

 results of his investigations. The first of these announcements, 

 which appeared in the latter part of the year 1769, is as follows : 



New China-ware. — Notwithstanding the various diflBculties and disadvan- 

 tages, which usually attend the introduction of any important manufacture into a 

 new country, the Proprietors of the China "Works, now erecting in Southwark, 

 have the pleasure to acquaint the puhlic, they have proved to a certainty, that the 

 clays of America are productive of as good Porcelain, as any heretofore manu- 

 factured at the famous factory in Bow, near London, and imported into the colo- 

 nies and plantations, which they will engage to sell upon very reasonable terms; 

 and as they purpose going largely into this manufacture as soon as the works are 

 completed, they request those persons who choose to favor them with commands, 

 to be as early as possible, laying it down as a fixed principle, to take all orders in 

 rotation, and execute the earliest first ; dealers will meet with the usual encour- 

 agement, and may be assured, that no goods under Thirty Pounds' worth, will be 

 sold to private persons out of the factory, at a lower advance than from their 

 shops. All workmen skilled in the different branches of throwing, turning, mod- 

 elling, moulding, pressing, and painting, upon application to the Proprietors, may 



